Why Can the Manas Perceive the External Six Sense Objects Beyond the Supreme Faculty?

The essential realm (dravya-viṣaya) is the shared object-aspect, the common object-aspect of all tathāgatagarbhas, produced and transformed by the real seeds of the four great elements; it is the most real among material forms. Afterwards, each individual tathāgatagarbha, like a mirror reflecting an image, manifests the essential realm through its perceiving-aspect, turning it into the outer object-aspect, which the manas can then condition upon; this image differs greatly from the essential realm. The outer object-aspect of the six sense objects is a realm with essence (bhāva-āśraya-viṣaya), while the shadow manifested by the tathāgatagarbha based on the essential realm is a mirror image. What the seven consciousnesses can condition upon is forever only the result of the manifestation of seeds, never the seeds themselves.

The manas can condition upon the realms of the six sense objects, not merely the mental objects (dharma-viṣaya) upon the five sense objects. First, because the manas is the determining consciousness: for the manifestation of all dharmas, the manas must first make the determining choice before the dharma can arise. If the manas could not condition upon the five sense objects, how could the five consciousnesses arise and discern the five sense objects? Who makes the determination for the five consciousnesses to arise and discern the specific five sense objects? If the manas does not decide to discern the marks of the five sense objects, the tathāgatagarbha could not bring forth the eye consciousness seeing forms, the ear consciousness hearing sounds, and so on, nor could the eye faculty, ear faculty, and so on approach their objects. That is to say, the five consciousnesses are not autonomous consciousnesses; they cannot determine their own arising and existence. Only with the decision of the determining consciousness can the five consciousnesses arise to discern the specific five sense-object realms of the manas. Therefore, the manas must condition upon the five sense objects in order to know their marks.

The manas plays a leading and driving role with respect to the six consciousnesses; if the manas does not wish to discern the six sense objects, the six consciousnesses cannot arise. While asleep, the inner six sense objects continuously appear in the supreme faculty (indriya); it is only because the manas does not wish to discern them that sentient beings cannot wake up. As long as the five faculties exist, the tathāgatagarbha will necessarily transmit the outer six sense objects through the five faculties and manifest the inner six sense objects in the supreme faculty. It is the same during unconsciousness, and the same in meditative concentration; otherwise one could not emerge from samādhi or wake up. First there are the faculties and the objects, then consciousness arises; where there is consciousness there is necessarily an object, but where there is an object there is not necessarily consciousness.

Since the manas can condition upon the skeletal remains of past lives, can condition upon that lotus flower in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) in the West, and can condition upon the people, events, and things of past lives, it should be said that the manas can condition upon the outer six sense-object realms outside the supreme faculty. If the outer six sense objects could only be conditioned upon by the manas after being transformed into the inner six sense objects within the supreme faculty, then with so many dharmas existing outside the supreme faculty, none of which the manas could condition upon, the manas would not be the consciousness that silently encompasses all dharmas. This would contradict the Buddha's sacred teachings and would also not accord with the facts.

When the tathāgatagarbha conditions upon the essential realm, its perceiving-aspect can perceive the essential realm; afterwards it must manifest the same mirror image. When the manas conditions upon it, the manas, relying on the tathāgatagarbha's perceiving, has its own perceiving nature and can also perceive the marks of the outer six sense objects. However, this outer six sense-object mark is a mirror image conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha after it perceived the essential realm; what the two perceive differs. If the manas wishes to discern the mirror image, it will prompt the tathāgatagarbha to bring forth the six consciousnesses to discern the mirror image, but what the six consciousnesses discern is the mirror image manifested once again by the tathāgatagarbha within the supreme faculty, which differs from the mirror image of the outer six sense objects.