(1) The Sixth Sense of Modern Psychology

Modern psychology focuses its research on the deep layers of consciousness, and thus analyzes the activities of consciousness into consciousness and subconsciousness. In psychology, the definition methods of subconsciousness and consciousness are different. Consciousness has a clear connotation, while subconsciousness is a general definition of a collection. The consciousness that cannot be realized is collectively called subconsciousness. It can be seen that the sixth sense belongs to the subconscious mind.

What is the sixth sense?

It is generally believed that the term "sixth sense" is roughly consistent with "intuition". But it’s not just the word “thesixth sense” that describes intuition. Others include: hunch, inspiration, insight, inner voice or foreboding. I personally think that using "intuition" and "sixth sense" is more representative of modern psychology's explanation of this issue. Intuition refers to the feeling that does not use the reflex function of the five senses, and the terms "sixth sense" and "subconscious" are defined in the same way. They are defined by a set of elimination methods.

Western psychologists believe that consciousness receives external stimuli through the five senses: hearing, vision, taste, smell and touch, then organizes and analyzes them, and finally understands them. The subconscious mind will receive more things that are missed by the conscious level. They are not obtained through language or logical reasoning. This information is stored in our brains for many years without our noticing it. When they emerge to the level of consciousness and become a recognizable feeling, it is what we call "intuition" and "sixth sense".

In other words, the sixth sense is a floating object in the subconscious mind, and it is a floating object that can be recognized by the conscious mind.

What is the nature of the sixth sense mentioned in modern psychology? There are many opinions from the Buddhist point of view. Mr. Nan Huaijin believes that it is just the sixth sense: "Modern psychology has a good name called 'sixth sense'. In fact, it is just a part of the sixth consciousness of consciousness-only theory. Western psychology treats it as It is called the 'sixth sense'" ("Zongjinglu Brief Introduction"). "In the field of special psychology, terms such as 'inspiration' and 'sixth sense' are sometimes mentioned. Strictly speaking, they are just a special function of 'consciousness.'" Mr. Nan believes that the sixth sense is a unique Shadow consciousness is the manifestation of a function of the sixth consciousness. “Consciousness-only theory names this potential function of the ‘sixth consciousness’ as ‘lone shadow consciousness’, also known as ‘one-headed consciousness’. The function of this 'lone shadow consciousness' can be separated from the 'first five consciousnesses' and act independently. The most significant scope of its activities can be summarized in three situations: (1) When dreaming. (2) Neuropathy, mental illness, or even coma due to other illnesses. (3) When in a certain state of meditation. Therefore, from the standpoint of consciousness-only theory, the ‘subconscious’, also known as the ‘subconscious’, and the ‘sixth sense’ that modern psychology understands, only understand the role of the ‘lone shadow consciousness’. " ("Taoism, Tantra and Eastern Mysticism")

The issues involved here are relatively complex. From the perspective of modern psychology, the sixth sense is definitely not something within the category of consciousness, it belongs to In the subconscious mind. The question now is whether the subconscious mind is the sixth consciousness in Buddhism, or whether the subconscious mind is not only related to the sixth consciousness in Buddhism, but also has the content described by the eighth consciousness. Only by clarifying this issue can we understand it. You can better understand the sixth sense.

(2) Mind in Buddhism

In Buddhism, everything is divided into mind, mind, color and mind. There are five types of non-corresponding dharmas and unconditioned dharmas. The mental dharma is the "mind consciousness"; the mental dharma is the function and action of the mental dharma; the physical dharma refers to the root dust; the non-corresponding dharma of the mind means that there is no role for the mind in the dharma world. The directly related part. The unconditioned method refers to the truth of the mind. In general, Buddhism believes that all things are based on the mind, so in general, the sixth consciousness is also the seventh consciousness, and even the eighth consciousness. Consciousness is a unified mind. The five centers are the foundation.

The basic function process of the mind is as follows: the root dust interacts with the seeds in the eighth consciousness, the sixth consciousness distinguishes the external environment, and the seventh consciousness not only distinguishes but also adheres to it. In this In the process, materials from the eighth consciousness are taken and processed together with the sixth consciousness, making them become "things" in people's eyes. Fundamentally speaking, these three kinds of consciousness are manifestations of different functions of one mind. Its essence is the Dharma Realm.

The function of the sixth sense is to distinguish, so obviously, it is far-fetched to say that the sixth sense is the sixth sense. Moreover, the single-headed function of the sixth consciousness is an independent process of discrimination based on its own habits of discrimination. It is contemplative, but it does not rely on external roots. Therefore, it is obviously different from what floats out of the subconscious mind and is realized by the conscious mind as mentioned in The Sixth Sense. Therefore, we cannot say that the sixth sense is consciousness.

Fundamentally speaking, the eighth consciousness is the entire world. In this sense, things that are not consciously aware of in modern psychology naturally belong to the eighth consciousness. But what modern psychology calls the subconscious is opposed to the material world. It is a collection of psychology, not a concept in the realm of law. Therefore, in terms of the meaning of the famous saying, it is not the eighth consciousness.

The reason why I want to talk about this issue is because it involves the issue of the realization of the eighth consciousness. This realization is related to the sixth sense.

All things with and without leakage are cultivated into seeds, and this seed is hidden in the eighth consciousness. At the same time, the seventh consciousness holds on to the eighth consciousness as "self" and gives rise to various manifestations based on this seed. The seeds mentioned have the function of producing fruits. In this process, current things have two causes and final results. One is karma and the other is concentration.

Subconscious floating objects are sometimes concentration and sometimes karma. In other words, the sixth sense is sometimes the result of concentration and sometimes the result of karma. What can be manifested by karma is the material world and body in one's own place; by concentration, material worlds and bodies in other places can be manifested, as well as material phenomena such as sound and light. The sixth sense is a kind of awareness of floating objects in the subconscious mind. People can perceive things related to the seeds of the eighth consciousness in a certain karma or in a certain state of concentration. However, it is obvious that what the sixth sense perceives is generally intermittent and has no stability. This is because most of the sixth sense is not the perception obtained in deep meditation.

(3) Jung explains the sixth sense

In modern psychology, the most in-depth study of the subconscious mind is the psychoanalytic theory. As we all know, there are three representative figures in the field of psychoanalysis. The first is of course Freud, who is the main leader of psychoanalysis; the other two are Adler, the representative writer of individual psychology, and Jung, the representative writer of analytical psychology. .

Among these three, Jung is the most mature in analyzing the subconscious mind. The analytical psychology founded by Jung is by far one of the most exciting doctrines in micropsychology and the one that has gone the deepest among many psychologists. In Jung's writings, the subconscious mind is called the unconscious. He said: "Consciousness, a spiritual phenomenon, has a certain narrow nature. At a given moment, it can only contain a few coexisting contents, and all that remains is unconsciousness. Only through the continuous movement of consciousness, Only then do we gain a sense of progression, a general understanding or perception of the world of consciousness. We can never gain the entire image because our consciousness is too narrow; we can only glimpse the gleam of existence." "Consciousness is complete. It is the product of perception and orientation of the external world” (“Theory and Practice of Analytical Psychology”). Jung placed special emphasis on using intuition to discover the unconscious, and he often did so in his own medical practice. Jung believed that the unconscious is a huge storehouse of history. From this point of view, the sixth sense itself is also the content of one's own spiritual world.

So how does the unconscious float into consciousness? Jung did not give an accurate description of this. But we seem to be able to see something from this passage: "Unconscious processes are not directly understood; they are only revealed in their products. According to the special properties of these products, we imagine that there must be something hidden behind them. Plant something." ("Ibid.").

Here, he uses the word "product", which I think is particularly important. It illustrates Jung's belief that the sixth sense floating out from the subconscious mind operates unconsciously. The operation of the unconscious, or the operation of all spiritual things, and even everything in the Dharma Realm, is the manifestation of the mind. Therefore, the sixth sense also originates from the eighth consciousness.

We should try our best to understand the eighth consciousness from the two perspectives of "containment" and "function". They are not entities, they are processes, like waterfalls. They are one thing or multiple things, but they are not this thing or multiple things. The things known by the sixth sense actually all come from what we call "heart". Naturally, this "heart" is not just consciousness, not just sixth consciousness, or it is not consciousness in essence.

Our daily habits of "analysis" were not rated highly by Jung either. Moreover, he believes that the West is good at analysis, which is a weakness of Westerners. He even said that philosophers have no idea what thinking is. He said, "We can no longer continue to pursue any traditional psychological concept that ignores the existence of the unconscious and psychology." ("The Undiscovered Self")

Once, a doctor asked If you have questions about Jung's views and methods, please ask Jung to clarify what his intuition is. Jung said very frankly that he had no way to describe this matter. His understanding of patients was often just intuition. From his writings, we also feel that he may believe that the Chinese "Tao" is related to the unconscious. He said: Chinese people understand things differently from Westerners. For example, on the street, many people are walking. What Chinese people need to understand is: what do many people on the street "mean", that is, what are the "many people" as a whole? What does it mean? And Westerners analyze: Where do these people come from, what do they want to do, and who are they? Jung believed that a deep understanding of the unconscious requires learning the Chinese "Tao", and it is said that he himself practiced it in retreat. There are even people who specifically study the relationship between his views and Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Many of his views on "archetypes" and "unconsciousness" are indeed similar to many Buddhist learning methods. But he said his psychology was just one perspective on understanding the human mind. It is just an opinion. He sympathizes with religion but does not consider his opinion to be religious.

In Buddhist theory, the ability to analyze is mainly the sixth consciousness. The unconscious does not belong to the category of analysis, so the unconscious is a collection except the sixth consciousness. From this point, we can be sure that the sixth sense must be directly related to the eighth consciousness.

(4) Explanation of Buddhist supernatural powers

The sixth sense in modern psychology is the awareness of ordinary people. Why do you say this? Because the sixth sense is not stable. When people relax and enter a relatively unobstructed state, sometimes subconscious floating objects will appear. Or, if we focus on one thing to a certain extent, this ordinary meditation will also give us a sixth sense. The former is karma, and the latter is concentration.

In general, supernatural powers are the result of meditation practice. In Buddhism, meditation and wisdom are not practiced separately. In other words, the achievements of concentration and wisdom must be the same. If you only have the achievement of meditation, you are not a Buddhist practitioner at all. The key point of Buddhism is wisdom, and the so-called wisdom is the view of emptiness. Therefore, we will know that there is such a situation. Among the Arahants who have achieved cessation, they are divided into two types, one with supernatural powers and the other without supernatural powers. When the Buddha was still alive, there was a bhikshuni who had attained the fruit of Arahantship and was insulted by a strong man. She had no supernatural powers and could do nothing about it. At this time, Lian Sini, who had also attained the fruit of Arahantship, understood the matter with her supernatural powers and flew in front of her with her supernatural powers. She rescued. In Mahayana, a bodhisattva who truly possesses supernatural powers in the Buddhist sense must be a bodhisattva who has achieved samadhi.

However, in practice, liberated persons without supernatural powers are always a special case. According to descriptions in Buddhist scriptures, most Arhats possess supernatural powers. In other words, the emptiness and supernatural powers are present at the same time.

It is recorded in the Buddhist scriptures that Brahma was very proud of his own state. When he saw that he was the only one in this state, he thought that he had obtained eternal light and happiness.

At this time, the Buddha entered Samadhi, disappeared into Brahma, and ascended into the void on the top of Brahma, indicating that Buddhism is higher than Brahma. At this time, Maha Kassapa, Maudgalyana and other venerable venerables observed this matter with their pure eyes and entered the top of Brahma without losing their body shape. Only then did Brahma realize that the realm he had attained was not the highest. He asked Venerable Maud Lian if many of the Buddhist disciples had this ability. Venerable Maud Lian said that other disciples of the Sravakas also have such magical powers, and said: "If you can eliminate all omissions and know other minds, you can manifest gods and transform all living beings."

In Buddhism, The real "sixth sense" is to eliminate all outflows. This achievement is naturally not intermittent, and there is no attachment to this "sixth sense". In comparison, the sixth sense of ordinary people is meaningless. It has nothing to do with the path to liberation.

"Sense" can also be called sense. It's okay to pass. The truly unimpeded nature is the elimination of all taints. The supernatural powers that ordinary people obtain occasionally or through certain meditations are not real powers.

The nature of the sixth sense does not lie in the sixth sense itself, but in its relationship with our wisdom.

Ten manifestations of the sixth sense

1. I have had some dreams, and the dreams really happened.

2. I have been to a new place and found that the scenery there is familiar, but I have never set foot in this place before.

3. You often know what others are going to say before they speak.

4. Often have very normal premonitions.

5. Sometimes there are strange sensations in the body, such as tingling on the skin or internal organs or the feeling of ants crawling.

6. Before the phone rings, you can predict that it will ring.

7. I once thought about someone I hadn’t seen for a long time, and sure enough, I met him within two days.

8. I once thought of some physiological reactions, such as suffocation, general weakness, etc., but disaster soon occurred.

9. I have had some colorful dreams.

10. I have heard some unexplainable sounds.