The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Fascicle Three: The Manas and Dharma Objects Are False and Illusory

Original text:阿难。汝常意中。所缘善恶。无记三性。生成法则。此法为复。即心所生。为当离心。别有方所。阿难。若即心者。法则非尘。非心所缘。云何成处。若离于心。别有方所。则法自性。为知非知。知则名心。异汝非尘。同他心量。即汝即心。云何汝心。更二于汝。

Explanation: Ānanda, the dharmas that your manas constantly grasps at—dharmas of the three natures of wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral (avyākṛta)—generate the dharma-objects. Is this dharma-object produced within the mind of the manas, or does it arise in a separate location apart from the mind of the manas? Ānanda, if the dharma-object is produced within the mind of the manas, then the dharma-object is not a sense-object (dust), and the manas cannot condition it; then how could the manas become the place where faculty and object make contact? If the dharma-object, apart from the manas, has a separate place of arising, then does the self-nature of the dharma-object possess knowingness or not? If the dharma-object possesses knowingness, it is called a mind; a mind other than you, which is not a sense-object, would be the same in nature as another being's mind. If it is both you and your mind, then why would your mind be twofold in relation to you, Ānanda?

Original text:若非知者。此尘既非。色声香味。离合冷暖。及虚空相。当于何在。今于色空。都无表示。不应人间。更有空外。心非所缘。处从谁立。是故当知。法则与心。俱无处所。则意与法。二俱虚妄。本非因缘。非自然性。

Explanation: If the dharma-object does not possess knowingness, then it is not a mind but a sense-object. Yet this dharma-object is not form, sound, smell, or taste; it lacks the five sense-object forms of contact and separation, warmth and coolness, and it also lacks the mark of empty space. Where, then, does this dharma-object, which is neither form nor space, reside? It cannot be represented by material form, nor can it be represented by space. In the human world there should not exist a dharma-object beyond empty space—there is no dharma beyond empty space. A dharma-object apart from the manas cannot be conditioned by the manas, so no location can be established for it: the manas is not the location of the dharma-object, and the dharma-object is not the location of the manas. Therefore it is said that the dharma-object and the mind of the manas both have no location; thus the manas and the dharma-object are both illusory. They are fundamentally not of the nature of causes and conditions, nor of the nature of naturalness—they are all of the nature of the tathāgatagarbha.

The manas makes contact with the dharma-object and gives rise to the mind consciousness. The dharma-object includes the dharma-objects upon the five sense-objects and the subjectively imagined realm, and its nature comprises three kinds of dharmas: wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral. For example, when someone performs generosity and does good deeds, the tathāgatagarbha manifests this dharma-object and transmits it to the manas. The manas makes contact with the dharma-object and thereby conditions it; if interested, it will give rise to the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna) to further discern this dharma-object; if not interested, the consciousness accompanied by the five senses will not arise. When the tathāgatagarbha manifests yesterday's fight and transmits it to the manas, the manas makes contact with this subjectively imagined realm; if interested, it will give rise to the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) to discern and deliberate upon this dharma-object of the subjectively imagined realm. Therefore the manas must always be together with the dharma-object, in the same location, inseparable; otherwise there would be no dharma-object, and the manas would not condition it.