The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning of the Word "Dharma" c19.s2.30

c19.s2.30

a perceptive faculty and a corresponding object. Here we must at first (consider the instance) of mental cognition reposing on the operation of the intellect and on a mental (not sensuous) object.¹ Is this object a real cause in the same sense as the intellect? or is it a mere (passive) object realized by the intellect? If it were a real active cause, how could events which must happen after the lapse of a thousand æons, or those which never will happen, possibly constitute an active cause of the corresponding cognition? And the Final Deliverance, which is synonymous with the total cessation of every operation of all the elements of existence, how can it constitute a really active cause of its own conception? But if, on the other hand, such objects are mere passive objects of the operating mind, then I maintain that they may be future and may be past.