ABSTRACT
Kapila defines perception as a cognition which takes the form of an object, being related to it. 1 Vijñānabhikṣu elucidates the definition by saying that perception is the psychic function (buddhivṛtti) which goes out to the object and is modified by the particular form of that object to which it is related. The psychic function itself is not produced by the proximity of the object, but only its particular mode is produced by it, which inheres in the psychic function. The psychic function goes out, like the flame of a lamp, through the gateways of the sense-organs, to the external object which is proximate to it, and is modified by the particular form of the object. 2
