Facts speak louder than eloquence, and also louder than theory.

Question: One theory in Yogācāra holds that the mind consciousness is the dominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya) of the five sense consciousnesses; therefore, the mind consciousness must arise prior to the five sense consciousnesses, or arise simultaneously with them—it cannot arise after the five sense consciousnesses, right?

Answer: The real experience in meditative concentration (samādhi) is that the eye consciousness and ear consciousness first discern forms and sounds for one instant, and only then does one discover the subtle dharmas of forms and sounds—this is discovered by the mind consciousness. This is a fact. Perhaps the mind consciousness takes one extra instant to discern, so that it can discern the mental sense-objects a bit more clearly and can recognize what the mental sense-objects are; its time of discrimination is one instant longer than that of the five sense consciousnesses. But such a short span of time is negligible. The vast majority of people without meditative concentration will never discover this fact. Whether in worldly matters or in the Buddha-Dharma, facts are always more important than theories. Studying Buddhism is precisely to realize the true facts of all dharmas, not to rigidly study theories that one cannot verify, with the result that wisdom fails to arise and liberation cannot be attained.