On the Phenomenon of Persistence of Vision

Question: Human vision has the phenomenon of persistence of vision—the actual material form has already ceased, yet the image lingers for a while. Is this lingering image the Image-Only Object discerned by the mind consciousness?

Answer: Vision is a joint function of the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness. When vision persists, what persists should be the manifest form (rūpa) seen by the eye consciousness, but at the same time there is certainly the mind consciousness discerning the visible form, expressive form, and non-expressive form; the mind consciousness must also have a persisting function. The eye consciousness alone cannot have the function of visual persistence; otherwise it would not be a complete material sense-object. What persists is not an Image-Only Object; an Image-Only Object is discerned solely by the solitary mental consciousness, whereas here the eye consciousness is still discerning jointly. It is because of the function of visual persistence that we feel the act of seeing form is continuous, and that the material sense-object discerned is also continuous. In fact, neither is continuous; rather, they arise in one instant and cease in the next instant—they are intermittent, ceasing and then continuing again.