It (an object) does not exist  as it appears, but it
　　   does not exist in every respect. (Y20)

　　   A　　 relevant　　 metaphor　　 occurs　　 in　　 the
　　   La^nkaavataara-suutra, which likens the operation of
　　   imagination   of  what  is  false  to  a  magician's
　　   conjuration:

　　   Depending  upon grass, wood, shrubs, and creepers...
　　   all beings  and forms  take  shape...  which  appear
　　   endowed  with  individuality  and material  body....
　　   Like-wise...  the  false  imagination  recognizes  a
　　   variety of appearances.(43)

　　   Experience may have an illusory aspect, like a magic
　　   show, but it does not arise  in a vacuum.  The grass
　　   and creepers in the metaphor represent the objective
　　   cause  (aalambanapratyaya)  or  basis  (a`sraya)  of
　　   consciousness,  the  "mere  thing"  (vastumaatra) ,
　　   while   the  beings   and  forms   are  the   verbal
　　   designations   of  the  experience,  which,  however
　　   illusory, is  dependent  upon  objects.  A classical
　　   Yogaacaara metaphor invoked by Sthiramati is that of
　　   a rope mistaken  for a snake in the dark or due to a
　　   magical trick:

　　   The  nature  of a snake  is absent  from  the  rope;
　　   therefore, the rope  is empty  with  regard  to that
　　   (that is, a snake) at all times, but the rope is not
　　   empty  in every  way (that  is, is not nonexistent).
　　   (Y14)

　　　　　　　　　　　　  P.233

　　　　  The Yogaacaara concept of "consciousness  only"
　　   does not imply the existence of the experiencer  and
　　   the nonexistence  of external phenomena, nor does it
　　   absolutize  abhuutaparikalpa  or aalayavij~naana  as
　　   the basal structure of abhuutaparikalpa.  Sthiramati
　　   is quite explicit about not intending to subordinate
　　   the object to the subject or make the object somehow
　　   reducible to the subject:

　　   Subjectivity  (graahakatvam) is not  possible  if no
　　   object  (graahya) exists.  (Y26) Since  there  is no
　　   object  in  the  absence  of  a subject, it  is  not
　　   possible  for there to be a subject when there is no
　　   object, (Y11)

　　   To uphold the sole existence  of the subject or even
　　   of consciousness  itself  would be to fail to attain
　　   the  nondual, transcendent  wisdom  of a bodhisattva
　　   that this text means to impart  (Y27).  It is simply
　　   that  the  subject  and  object, in  their  oneness,