Is the Outer Mental Sense-Object a Real Dharma?

Question: Does the tathāgatagarbha only take as its object real dharmas, that is, earth, water, fire, and wind; the ten material forms: 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 derivative dharmas? Can the eighth consciousness take them as its object? If it does not, then who created the differences in the inanimate world, the differences in the shapes and forms of objects, their size and shape?

Answer: Real dharmas are the external five sense objects—the objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch—but they also include the external mental sense-object, such as the visible form, expressive form, and non-expressive form present within the object of form. Thus the height of mountains and the size of trees outside are also real dharmas, and the tathāgatagarbha can also take them as its object. Because when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to a material form, it does not merely give rise to the visible colors of the object of form; it must simultaneously give rise to the mental sense-objects such as the visible form, expressive form, and non-expressive form of the object of form. Otherwise, the object of form would not be a complete object of form—it would have only the single appearance of color. The same applies to the objects of sound, smell, taste, and touch: all have the existence of external mental sense-objects.

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

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

In reality, when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to material forms, it uses the seeds of the four great elements to manifest completely the various different kinds of material forms, including color, shape, posture, quality, degree of softness or hardness, and other such contents. Then, when sentient beings see forms, the tathāgatagarbha, relying on the external six faculties, transmits the complete object of form to the supreme faculty, including the mental sense-object. With the manas directing the seeing of forms, the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness can then jointly discern the complete object of form. This is what is meant by the saying that the tathāgatagarbha manifests images like a mirror: the images it manifests are similar and identical to the external objects of form. It is impossible for an inner mental sense-object to appear without an external mental sense-object.

The five-aggregate physical bodies of sentient beings also belong to material form and are real dharmas, including all appearances, which exist already in the mother's womb; all are objects directly taken by the tathāgatagarbha. If there were no external mental sense-objects, a person would have only color, without limbs, head, the five faculties, sex, age, appearance, temperament, height, build, learning, cultivation, and so on—without visible form, expressive form, or non-expressive form. If, when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the physical body, it only gave rise to visible 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 unidentifiable as anything; the world would be an undifferentiated chaos of color alone. Such a thing could not possibly exist.

Therefore, the mental sense-objects such as visible form, expressive form, and non-expressive form are also real dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha both gives rise to them and can take them as objects, and can rely on them to manifest the inner mental sense-object. What sentient beings discern is the complete object of form, in which all information is fully present—not an inner mental sense-object conjured out of nothing. The same is true of the other sense objects: all have external mental sense-objects, and the inner mental sense-object arises in dependence on the external mental sense-object, not in dependence on the inner five sense objects.

The tathāgatagarbha transmits the real dharmas to the supreme faculty, where they become derivative dharmas. The manas takes them as its object; 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 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-object, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the mind consciousness. The six consciousnesses can then arise and discern the inner six sense objects.