大乘百法明門論開宗義決 1.98

1.98

Regarding "arising without depending on conventional designation and without depending on other faculties or objects": "Not depending on conventional designation" means not having to depend on conventional names such as form, sound, or fragrance to grasp the meaning of what it grasps. "Not depending on other faculties" refers to the conceptualizing faculty; it means that the arising of eye-consciousness takes its object purely spontaneously without waiting for the mental faculty to first conceptualize before cognizing. If one takes an object like a vase, one must depend on conventional designations as well as color, fragrance, etc., before the conception of a vase arises. "Not depending on other objects" means that objects such as form are each composed of multiple particles; as when the eye sees form, it merely sees the form directly, without having to separately cognize the four great elements, sound, fragrance, taste, touch, and other remaining objects before cognizing the characteristic of form. Hence it is called "not depending on other objects."