Can There Be Outer Five Sense-Objects Without Outer Mental Sense-Objects

Only when the mental sense-object combines with one of the five sense-objects can a single sense-object realm be formed. The mental sense-object and the five sense-objects cannot be separated; once separated, nothing exists at all—there would be no form, no sound, no scent, no taste, no touch, and no mental sense-object. In the sense-object composed of the mental sense-object combined with the five sense-objects, the proportion of the mental sense-object is very large; it is almost dominated by the mental sense-object. For example, with the form sense-object\: color belongs to the realm of the five sense-objects, discerned by the eye consciousness; apart from that, everything else is the mental sense-object, discerned by the mind consciousness. Only when the discernment of these two consciousnesses are combined together is the form sense-object completely discerned—neither can be lacking. Especially if the mental sense-object discerned by the mind consciousness is missing, then nothing exists at all. Therefore, without the mental sense-object, the realm of the five sense-objects could not possibly exist at all. The sense-object realm is a single unity, and it cannot lack the mental sense-object.

For example, a person's physical body is composed of colors and the form-related mental sense-object. The colors are discerned by the eye consciousness, while everything else is content discerned by the mind consciousness, including tallness or shortness, fatness or thinness, body weight, temperament, appearance, age, personality, disposition, health or ill health, and so on. Therefore, without the mental sense-object, there would be no physical body. Thus, when sentient beings' tathāgatagarbha gives rise to their physical bodies, it must simultaneously give rise to colors and the mental sense-object, and to sound sense-objects and the mental sense-object; these together constitute the essential realm of the sentient being's physical body. When others look at it, they also see the sentient being's illusory transformed realm—one's own inner six sense-objects. Without outer mental sense-objects, having only the outer five sense-objects is impossible; a standalone realm of the five sense-objects does not exist. In the mundane world, no such dharma exists.