What Are the Objects of Cognition of the Sixth and Seventh Consciousnesses?

Question: Apart from sense-object marks, consciousness cannot arise. Therefore, when the fifty-one mental factors of the first seven consciousnesses operate, they must necessarily cognize certain sense-object marks. The first five consciousnesses can only cognize the object-aspects of the five sense-objects, which belong to material form (rūpa-dharma). As for the objects cognized by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, do they include both material form and mental dharmas?

Answer: One of the conditions for the arising of the six consciousnesses is the contact between faculty and sense-object; the six sense-objects are a necessary condition for the arising of the six consciousnesses. However, the condition for the manas to arise and remain active without ceasing is that there must be seeds of the three realms, with craving and desire. Although the manas has existed since beginningless kalpas, it has also, since beginningless kalpas, been afflicted with the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and possesses ignorance (avidyā).

The operating condition of the mental factors (caittas) is this: as long as a consciousness exists, the mental factors necessarily accompany the mind consciousness in its functioning; consciousness operates precisely in the form of mental factors.

The objects cognized by the first five consciousnesses are the five sense-objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, which do not belong to mental sense-objects. The material-form dharmas cognized by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are the mental sense-objects based upon the five sense-objects; there is also the Image-Only Object; there are also the mental dharmas—the eight consciousnesses and the mental factors of the eight consciousnesses; and there are also dharmas that are neither material nor mental, such as the formations dissociated from mind (citta-viprayukta-saṃskāra).