Dharma Sense-Objects and Meditative States

Mental sense-objects include material mental sense-objects, mental dharmas as sense-objects, and mental sense-objects that are neither material nor mental. Material mental sense-objects are Form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana; mental dharmas as sense-objects include the seven consciousnesses and their mental factors, and also include the eighth consciousness and its mental factors; those that are neither material nor mental include formations dissociated from mind (citta-viprayukta-saṃskāra). For devas of the formless realm in meditative concentration, the mind consciousness also takes the concentration state as its object, which is an Image-Only Object. The mind consciousness's deliberation requires an Image-Only Object; it may deliberate on material mental sense-objects, may deliberate on mental dharmas as sense-objects, or may deliberate on both—it is not fixed.

In the living environment of devas of the formless realm there is no form, and thus there is no Form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana; so there is no environment as such, only the Image-Only Object of mental sense-objects, which arise directly from the seeds of the tathāgatagarbha—thus it is not impossible for there to be material mental sense-objects in the form of concentration-fruit form.

If the concentration state contained mental sense-objects of the seven consciousnesses and their mental factors, the mind consciousness would have to take the seven consciousnesses and their mental factors as its object, and then how coarse the mind consciousness's activity would be—could this be possible? It is impossible. No matter who it is, if the seven consciousnesses and their mental factors are present in the concentration state, the mind consciousness must be deliberating, and this concentration state is shallow—below the second dhyāna. From the second dhyāna upward there is no initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra), no examination or deliberation; only from the first dhyāna downward, including the first dhyāna, are there initial application and sustained examination and deliberation.

Form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana is the mental sense-object manifested upon the five sense-object forms, called material mental sense-objects; it is also composed of the seeds of the four great elements.

Mental dharmas as sense-objects are the eight consciousnesses that the mind consciousness can correspond to and discern, together with all the mental factors of those consciousnesses. When the mind consciousness possesses wisdom—especially after the transformation of consciousness into wisdom—the mind consciousness can discern the eight consciousnesses, as well as a portion of the mental factors of the eight consciousnesses; when it can discern them all, that is the buddha's fruition stage of the third transformation of consciousness into wisdom. The manas, relying on the mind consciousness, can also discern mental dharmas as sense-objects; after enlightenment, what it discerns increases somewhat, after the transformation of consciousness into wisdom it can discern a greater portion, and after attaining buddhahood it can discern all of them.