Material Form Arises Prior to the Six Consciousnesses

The eleven kinds of material form — the five supreme faculties (indriya), the five sense objects, and the material form included in the dharma realm (material form as mental sense-object) — must necessarily arise prior to the six consciousnesses; otherwise the six consciousnesses could not appear. After the six consciousnesses arise, they can propel the appearance of the subjectively imagined realm; the subjectively imagined realm also arises from the manas's deluded imagining, allowing the mind consciousness to discern it, and further propels the continued arising and illusory transformation of the subjectively imagined realm. When faculty and object make contact, the conscious mind subsequently arises; the mind consciousness will not arise before the inner mental sense-object appears. When the manas contacts the outer mental sense-object, the mind consciousness cannot arise — no mind consciousness is produced. Because the manas is obscured by ignorance, when it discerns all dharmas it does not know their substance, does not know their true characteristics, and cannot eradicate ignorance to give rise to wisdom; this causes the functions of the six consciousnesses to be obstructed and limited. When the mind consciousness studies and learns the Buddha-dharma, constantly permeating the manas, once the manas understands the principles, it will then realize that the worldly dharmas of the five aggregates are all subject to arising, ceasing, and change, unreal, empty, and without self; and going further, it will realize that the substance of both the five-aggregate body and all dharmas is the nature of tathāgatagarbha.