ABSTRACT
The Yogācāra argues that all waking cognitions are without a real substratum in the external world, like dream-cognitions, because they are cognitions. Cognitions have no substratum in external objects in the dreamstate. Waking cognitions of a pillar, a wall, and the like are cognitions; hence waking cognitions also must be without a substratum in external objects. Waking cognitions are on a par with dreams. Even as there are no external objects corresponding to dream-cognitions, so there are no external objects corresponding to waking cognitions. If it be argued that waking cognitions of the pillar, the wall, etc., are definite and determinate and consequently cannot be wrong and objectless, it may equally be argued that dream-cognitions also are definite and determinate during the dream-state, and there is no difference between dream-cognitions and waking cognitions in their character. The subjective idealist starts from ideation and reduces perception to ideation. Ideas and images are mental; percepts are continuous with images. Hence percepts also are mental. 1
