The Relationship Between Inner Mental Sense-Objects and Outer Mental Sense-Objects

Question: Does the tathāgatagarbha only condition real dharmas, that is, earth, water, fire, and wind—the ten material forms of the five faculties and five sense-objects? Then the height of mountains and the size of trees that we see—are these real dharmas or provisional dharmas? Can the tathāgatagarbha condition them? If it does not condition them, then who created the differences in the material world—the differences in the size, shape, and color of objects?

Answer: Real dharmas are the outer five sense-objects—the objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch—but they also include the outer mental sense-objects, such as visible form, expressive form, and form without expressive character on the object of form. Thus the height of mountains outside and the size of trees are also real dharmas, and the tathāgatagarbha can also condition them. Because when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to a material form, it does not merely give rise to the manifest colors of the object of form; it must simultaneously give rise to the mental sense-objects such as visible form, expressive form, and form without expressive character. Otherwise the object of form would not be a complete object of form—it would have only the one appearance of color. The same applies to the objects of sound, smell, taste, and touch: all have the existence of outer mental sense-objects.

If there were no outer mental sense-objects, and the object of form consisted only of manifest colors, then all objects of form would have only color, without visible form, expressive form, or form without expressive character. There would be no shape, no height, no size, no length, breadth, squareness, roundness, or thickness; no distinguishing marks of variety and kind; no expressive forms and forms without expressive character such as beauty and ugliness, loftiness, uprightness, grandeur, tree rings, softness and hardness, and so on. The objects of form of the universe's material world would have only differences of color; apart from that, everything would be a blur, an undifferentiated chaos.

In that case, not only could karmic seeds not be realized, but the tathāgatagarbha's transformation of the myriad things would also become extremely simple. The great thousand worlds would have only brilliant colors with no shape or substance, and thus no practical value whatsoever. What sentient beings saw would be a field of color with no distinctions of length, breadth, squareness, roundness, size, beauty, or ugliness. Then all objects of form and matter would be unusable, and sentient beings could not survive in such a material world.

In reality, when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to material forms, it uses the seeds of the four great elements to completely transform and manifest all kinds of different material forms, including color, shape, posture, quality, degree of softness and hardness, and other such contents. Then, when sentient beings see forms, the tathāgatagarbha, relying on the outer six faculties, transmits the complete object of form to the supreme faculty, including the mental sense-objects. With the manas directing the seeing of forms, the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness together can discern the complete object of form. This is the principle of the tathāgatagarbha manifesting images like a mirror: the manifested image is similar and identical to the outer object of form. It is impossible for the inner mental sense-objects to appear without the outer mental sense-objects.

The five-aggregate physical bodies of sentient beings also belong to material form and are real dharmas, including all forms and appearances, which already exist in the mother's womb—all are personally conditioned by the tathāgatagarbha. If there were no outer mental sense-objects, a person would have only color, without limbs, head, five faculties, sex, age, appearance, temperament, height, fatness or thinness, learning, cultivation, and so on—no visible form, expressive form, or form without expressive character. If, when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the physical body, it gave rise only to manifest colors, then no one could be called a human being, and no one would know what they were. Likewise, all objects of form would be unrecognizable as anything; the world would be a chaos of color alone. Such a thing could not possibly exist.

Therefore, mental sense-objects such as visible form, expressive form, and form without expressive character are also real dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha both gives rise to them and can condition them, and can rely on them to transform and manifest the inner mental sense-objects. What sentient beings discern is the complete object of form, with all information fully present—not inner mental sense-objects conjured out of nothing. The same is true of the other sense-objects: all have outer mental sense-objects, and the inner mental sense-objects exist in reliance on the outer mental sense-objects, not born from the inner five sense-objects.

The tathāgatagarbha transmits the real dharmas to the supreme faculty, where they become provisional dharmas. The manas conditions them; if it is interested and wishes to discern them in detail, yet cannot discern them itself, the tathāgatagarbha, at the point of contact between faculty and sense-object, gives rise to the six consciousnesses to discern them. When the eye faculty contacts the inner object of form, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the eye consciousness therein; when the ear faculty contacts the object of sound, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the ear consciousness; when the nose faculty contacts the object of smell, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the nose consciousness; when the tongue faculty contacts the object of taste, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the tongue consciousness; when the body faculty contacts the object of touch, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the body consciousness; when the manas contacts the mental sense-objects, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the mind consciousness. The six consciousnesses can then manifestly discern the inner six sense-objects.