The First Five Consciousnesses Cannot Discern Images-Only Dharma-Objects

Question: Are memories the seeds of dharma-dhātu stored in the tathāgatagarbha, while the objective aspects of the first five sense objects cannot be stored? This is because the recollected sense objects can only correspond to the mental consciousness, and the first five consciousnesses cannot discern the recollected sense objects, right?

Answer: All dharmas can be stored as seeds. All actions created through bodily, verbal, and mental karmas, all experienced events involving people, objects, and principles—that is, all objects of the six sense fields—are stored as seeds by the tathāgatagarbha. Subsequently, when the manas (mental faculty) seeks to perceive and discern them, the tathāgatagarbha, in accordance with the mental factor of deliberation (cetanā) of the manas, releases these seeds to manifest as dharma-dhātu, which constitutes the exclusive mental realm (pratyakṣa-pratibhāsa). After the manas has grasped this, if it wishes to discern in detail, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the isolated mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna) to discern them one by one. This is what is referred to as recollection, hence recollection contains details.

The realm recollected belongs to dharma-dhātu and cannot be discerned by the five sense consciousnesses; therefore, the five sense consciousnesses lack the function of recollection. The objective aspects of the first five sense objects are also stored as seeds in the tathāgatagarbha. When conditions are sufficient, the tathāgatagarbha will again project the five sense objects. Then, based on the mental factor of deliberation of the manas, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the six consciousnesses to perform discernment. However, this does not constitute recollection.