The Image-Only Object is the virtual image manifested within the supreme faculty (rūpa-prasāda)

Question: Is the Image-Only Object manifested within the supreme faculty? Does it have its own separate seeds?

Answer: The Image-Only Object is manifested within the supreme faculty, and it does have its own separate seeds. The Image-Only Object does not belong to the mental sense-objects associated with the five dusts; it has nothing to do with the five dusts. It is not form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana within the supreme faculty, but arises from separate karmic seeds. It is a mental sense-object discerned solely by the solitary mental consciousness, not a mental sense-object discerned jointly with the five sense consciousnesses. However, the Image-Only Object is also influenced by the supreme faculty. When the supreme faculty is impaired, the manifested Image-Only Object appears distorted. For example, people with cerebellar atrophy often experience hallucinations; the Image-Only Objects they discern are all erroneous cognition (non-valid cognition), not conforming to actual circumstances. After the patient discerns these confused and disordered Image-Only Objects, erroneous notions arise, and they will speak incoherently, unlike normal people.

Because the manas usually contacts mental sense-objects at the brain, discerning the mental sense-objects at the brain, and the mind consciousness likewise discerns the mental sense-objects at the brain, never going outside the brain; and since both the manas and the mind consciousness can contact the Image-Only Object, the Image-Only Object also does not depart from the brain. Therefore, when the brain has pathological changes, the Image-Only Object becomes disordered. The Image-Only Object forms images in a separate region within the brain's supreme faculty, not together with the five dusts, nor together with the form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana upon the five dusts. The mind consciousness that discerns the mental sense-objects upon the five dusts is the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses (pañcavijñāna-sahagata-manovijñāna), while that which discerns the Image-Only Object is the solitary mental consciousness. Although their names differ, in essence they are one mind consciousness; and although it is one mind consciousness, it can simultaneously discern the mental sense-objects upon the five dusts and the Image-Only Object. The seeds of the Image-Only Object come separately from the tathāgatagarbha, and are not the same seeds that generate the five dusts.

When our mind is tranquil, we can observe: whenever our mind stirs, or when we set the mind in motion, does it not simultaneously tug at the pulsing of the brain's nerves, then the twitching of the facial nerves, and only afterward the corresponding reactions of the hands, feet, and whole body? If so, this shows that the movement of the mind can drive the movement of the material body. When the mind stirs, there is also the movement of the solitary mental consciousness and the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses, as well as the movement of the manas. Thus the conscious mind does not depart from the brain, and the images of the six dusts and the Image-Only Object do not depart from the brain.

The "golden stars" seen when one's eyes flash with stars are an Image-Only Object, produced due to material form. When a person's blood pressure is abnormal and dizziness occurs, sometimes the eyes will flash with golden stars; in reality this is a hallucination—no real golden stars exist. Yet this Image-Only Object of golden stars is still related to material form and to the brain. So where do the golden stars appear? They should appear within the brain, because neither the manas nor the mind consciousness goes outside the brain to condition all mental sense-objects. When the brain is diseased or obstructed, or lacks nutrition, the mind consciousness cannot recall things and the Image-Only Object does not manifest. This shows that the Image-Only Object is closely related to the material form of the brain. From another perspective, when we are recollecting and daydreaming, brainwaves fluctuate, which shows that the discernment by the manas and the mind consciousness of the Image-Only Object affects the brain; thus the Image-Only Object forms images within the brain—it is a virtual image.

If the Image-Only Object did not appear within the brain, it would appear outside the body. So can the Image-Only Object appear outside the body, in empty space? Can the six consciousnesses discern outside the body, in empty space? Can the manas operate outside the body, in empty space? If the manas and the mind consciousness could discern in empty space, then the consciousness in space could be shared by everyone, without distinction between self and others. After you discern something, I would know it; when you are full, I would not be hungry—in fact, this is impossible. If you resolve to cultivate, I would be resolved too; if you attain enlightenment, I would attain enlightenment too, because it would be a consciousness in space, with no distinction between you and me. When I am contemplating the Buddha in my mind, the Buddha's thirty-two marks are my Image-Only Object. If the Image-Only Object were in empty space, then everyone could see it; everyone is also contemplating the Buddha, and all would have merit and its benefits—in fact, this is impossible. Even the empty space we see is the space within the supreme faculty, not outside the mind; the space discerned by the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness is also within the supreme faculty, also an image. In summary, the Image-Only Object is an image within the supreme faculty, a virtual appearance, and is not real.