The Five Sense Consciousnesses Cannot Discern the Subjectively Imagined Realm as a Dharma Object.

Question: Memory consists of dharma-dust seeds stored in the tathāgatagarbha; the object-aspects of the first five dusts cannot be stored, because the dust-images recalled can only correspond with the mind consciousness, and the first five consciousnesses cannot discern the recalled dust-images, right?

Answer: All dharmas can be stored as seeds. All actions and creations of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and all the people, events, objects, and principles one has experienced—that is, the entire realm of the six dusts—are all stored as seeds by the tathāgatagarbha. Afterwards, when the manas grasps at, deliberates, and seeks to discern, the tathāgatagarbha, in accordance with the manas's mental factor of volition (cetanā), transmits the seeds out to become dharma-dust, which is the subjectively imagined realm. After the manas has cognized it, if one wishes to discern it in finer detail, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) to discern it one by one—this is what is called recollection, and that is why recollection contains details.

The realms brought forth in recollection belong to dharma-dust, which the five consciousnesses cannot discern; therefore the five consciousnesses have no function of recollection. The object-aspects of the first five dusts are also stored as seeds in the tathāgatagarbha. When the causes and conditions are complete, the tathāgatagarbha will also output the five dusts, and then, in accordance with the manas's mental factor of volition, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the six consciousnesses to discern them. However, this no longer counts as recollection.