The Operational Characteristics of the Tathāgatagarbha Do Not Belong to the Realms of the Five Sense Objects

At the moment of enlightenment, it is also the solitary mental consciousness that finds and realizes the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha; the five sense consciousnesses do not participate in witnessing it. Although the mind consciousness realizes the tathāgatagarbha while the eye consciousness sees forms, the ear consciousness hears sounds, and the nose consciousness smells scents, the mode of activity of the tathāgatagarbha can only be observed by the mind consciousness alone. The mode of activity of the tathāgatagarbha does not belong to the realm of the five sense objects and is unrelated to them; therefore, the five sense consciousnesses cannot be aware of it.