The World of Black Boxes
Introduction
The "black box" is a metaphor for a dark and narrow space or place. Our brain is dark and narrow, just like a black box, even though the space the brain allows us to perceive seems vast. Our perceiving activity takes place within the brain's black box; the dharmas we perceive are also within the brain's black box; both the perceiver and the perceived are within the black box. Therefore, we sentient beings live inside a black box. Given this, how unreal and unreliable our perception is, how illusory and unreal the dharmas we perceive are, and even the brain we depend on is subject to arising, ceasing, and change—then what exactly is the world of the five aggregates? Or is it nothing at all? This question is enough to overturn all our understanding of life accumulated over lifetime after lifetime and throughout countless kalpas. So please contemplate deeply as you read along, in order to elevate your understanding of life and obtain the true wisdom of liberation!
Chapter One: The Black Box Is the Vast World We Live In
I. The Definition of the Black Box
A black box generally refers to the sealed container that records an aircraft's flight and performance parameters, used to analyze and determine the cause of a plane crash. The black box discussed in this book does not refer to the flight recorder mentioned above (the worldly black box), but rather to a dark, narrow, sealed-off region within the brain that admits no light. In Buddhist studies, the black box refers to the location of the supreme faculty (indriya) in our brain. This area is wrapped by the cerebral cortex, and inside it is pitch black; because it is not on the surface of the body, light cannot reach it, so it is dark. Our naked eye cannot see it; only after surgery can it be seen, or by one who possesses the divine eye. We provisionally call it the black box.
The black box in the brain is the five supreme faculties, including the visual perception area, the auditory perception area, the olfactory perception area, the gustatory perception area, and the tactile perception area; as well as the motor and language central nervous systems, including part of the cerebral cortex, the telencephalon, the brainstem, and the cerebellum, etc. And the so-called vast world and broad expanse we come into contact with, as well as the numerous six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma, are all within the black box in the brain, so we live inside the black box.
II. Why We Are Said to Live Inside the Black Box
Because all the dharmas we can know and all the six sense objects we can come into contact with are, based on the six sense objects outside the brain's supreme faculty, manifested by the eighth consciousness—like a mirror displaying its reflections—into images of the inner sense objects of the six dusts within the brain's supreme faculty. What we recognize and know is this image inside the black box. The eighth consciousness, through the five faculties, transmits the particles of the outer sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma into the brain's supreme faculty, whereupon images of the inner sense objects of the six dusts arise within this black box. After faculty and object make contact, the eighth consciousness produces the six consciousnesses at the point of contact; once the six consciousnesses arise, they must perceive and process the inner sense objects of the six dusts within the black box.
The inner six dusts include all the form objects we see, all the sounds we hear, all the smells we sniff, all the taste objects we savor, all the touch objects we feel, and all the dharma objects we think about and perceive. The six consciousnesses arise within the black box of the supreme faculty, and what they perceive is the inner six dusts within the black box. This is the entirety of the vast world we live in, so we live inside the black box.
III. How to Prove That We Truly Live Inside the Black Box
(1) For example, if the nerves at the back of the brain responsible for vision are severed, we immediately cannot see form objects, cannot see empty space, and cannot see light. Why can we not see? Because the visual transmission central nerves have been severed—they are the channel that transmits the particles of the outer sense objects. If this channel is cut, or if the eye's supreme faculty is damaged, the four great element particles of the form object cannot be transmitted into the black box of the supreme faculty, the eighth consciousness cannot manifest the inner form object based on them, and eye consciousness cannot arise. Without consciousness there is no form either—one is simply a blind person. This shows that when we see forms, we see the form objects at the black box of the supreme faculty, not the original form objects outside. We also cannot see the original empty space outside in its true form; the empty space we see is also at the black box, merely a shadow. Even if we could see the worlds of the ten directions, we would be seeing the worlds of the ten directions at the black box of the supreme faculty, not the real world outside. So, is the world we live in large or not?
By the same reasoning, the sounds we hear, the smell objects we sniff, the taste objects we savor, and the touch objects we feel are all inner sense objects at the brain's supreme faculty, never outside the black box. That is to say: the black box is the faculty, the inner faculty; the six dusts manifest here, as inner dusts; the six consciousnesses arise here, as inner consciousnesses. Therefore, the contents perceived by the six consciousnesses are all contents within the black box of the supreme faculty; the world we live in is all here, at the black box.
(2) For example, a paralyzed patient cannot sit up or walk because the nerves at the supreme faculty at the back of the brain responsible for bodily movement have necrotized. The touch objects that should arise, via the transmission nerves, at the supreme faculty in the body cannot be produced; the touch objects cannot arise through the transmission nerves at the supreme faculty in the body, and thus body consciousness and consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna) also cannot arise, so of course the body cannot move.
Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down are commanded by the manas through the brain's central nervous system; the command is transmitted through the nervous system to the nerves at the back of the brain responsible for walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, and then transmitted onward to the nervous system of the whole body. Only when the body faculty receives the command can body consciousness, together with consciousness accompanied by the five senses, walk, stand, sit, and lie down normally. If the nervous system of the body faculty responsible for these activities is injured or destroyed, body consciousness cannot normally carry out the instructions for walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. If the muscles are weak and the supply of qi and blood is insufficient, one also cannot walk, stand, sit, or lie down normally. Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down are controlled by the brain's supreme faculty; the touch objects that induce body consciousness and mind consciousness are within the supreme faculty, and what body consciousness and mind consciousness touch and feel are the touch objects within the black box of the supreme faculty.
When the body faculty's nervous system is damaged, the body will no longer feel pain, because the eighth consciousness can no longer produce the touch object of pain at the black box of the supreme faculty, and there is no body consciousness or mind consciousness to perceive the painful sensation of the touch object. So when the body feels pain, where exactly is the sensation of pain? It is within the black box that the sensation of pain arises, as well as the body's various sensations. The same is true of bodily itching—itching is perceived at the black box, and what is perceived is the touch object at the black box.
(3) For example, when a toe hurts, is it really the toe that hurts? When a hand itches, is it really the hand that itches? If something goes wrong with the black box, we will feel neither pain nor itch. Yet when the toe hurts or the hand itches, we all believe it is truly the foot hurting and the hand itching, not knowing that it all happens at the black box of the supreme faculty, yet we feel it is the toe hurting. The sensations of hunger, thirst, fatigue, fullness, and so on that we feel all occur within the black box, are all felt within the black box, and are all feelings of the touch objects within the black box, never outside it. In short, all our sensations are mistaken perceptions, produced by erroneous discriminations over lifetime after lifetime; since beginningless kalpas we have been deceived by our own ignorance.
(4) When we hear the heavenly sounds coming from the universe and sky, we often think we have truly heard sounds from the external sky, that we have truly heard the sound of wind and rain in the air; in fact, they are all sounds within the black box, all illusory shadows. When the ear's supreme faculty or its transmission nerves malfunction, no matter how loud the sound outside, we ourselves cannot hear it, while others can all hear it. So what we hear is the sound within the black box, not the sound outside.
The world we live in is right there at the black box—it is just that size. Our conscious mind discriminates all dharmas within the black box, yet still imagines it is roaming through boundless skies. It is like in a dream, when we think we have truly soared into the sky, truly returned to the past, or leaped into the future—yet in the end we have not left the bed by even a hair's breadth. We cannot go anywhere; we live inside the black box.
(5) Take the example of a person in a vegetative state to illustrate the function of the black box. A vegetative person, as the name implies, has a body as rigid and immobile as a plant, with almost no sensory responses. This means that part or most of the nerves at the supreme faculty have necrotized and become unusable. But they are not completely dead; if they were completely dead and utterly unusable, the manas would decide to leave the physical body and seek a new usable body for itself, and would not stubbornly guard a withered city. The manas's judgments about the physical body all come from the dharma objects of the body faculty manifested by the eighth consciousness, so the manas can perform a certain degree of perception. This coarse, rough discriminative wisdom He does possess, and without being taught, He can discriminate by nature.
As for the vegetative person still sustaining life without dying, the manas has not left; He feels the body is still useful and can serve Him, so He remains extremely attached and unwilling to leave. What use is the vegetative person then? He still has faint consciousness, sometimes able to feel pain and lack of self-mastery (avaśatā), and occasionally able to recognize family members. He can discriminate some contents of the six dusts in a very simple and crude way, only not comprehensively, not subtly, and not clearly—just knowing a rough image. Even so, the manas is unwilling to abandon it, still clinging with attachment, holding onto a thread of hope. One can see that the most pitiable is still the manas: due to its stubborn clinging to life and the physical body, it grasps at everything—imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva)—and therefore is the pitiable one.
That the vegetative person still has faint consciousness shows that the nerves of the supreme faculty at the back of the brain have not completely necrotized, and some of the six dusts can still enter the black box of the supreme faculty, where shadows are manifested. Then the frail supreme faculty, together with a portion of the abnormal six dusts, the two combining in contact, when the faint conscious mind arises, will perform weak discrimination. Sentient beings are truly pitiable. If the supreme faculty becomes entirely unusable and not a bit of the six dusts can enter, then the six consciousnesses cannot arise, the physical body cannot be used, and the manas will certainly decide to leave. Life is actually so fragile—existing between one breath and the next; it can end the moment it says it will end, utterly vulnerable to a single blow.
Thus the five faculties, six dusts, and six consciousnesses can no longer be used by the manas; the manas can no longer linger—whether it wants to let go or not, it must let go—and it will decide to leave, take rebirth anew, and seek a new physical body for its own use. If the vegetative person's six consciousnesses cease and cannot re-arise, the manas will leave. He knows the six consciousnesses can no longer appear, that He can no longer discriminate the six dusts, and that the body can no longer be used; He will certainly leave the physical body, and then the person dies. Since the person has not died, the manas exists, and the conscious mind also occasionally exists. Among the five consciousnesses, some consciousness exists: eye consciousness can sometimes see form objects and see people, ear consciousness can hear sounds, and the phenomenon of not wanting to eat also appears.
The example of the vegetative person shows that we live inside the black box, and the entire world is right there. When the nerves in the brain that govern bodily activity necrotize, a person cannot walk and the body cannot move. This shows that the back of the brain is our entire mechanism and mystery—our whole world is there. The supreme faculties of the five faculties are all in the brain region, each in a different location, each with its own dedicated neurons responsible for receiving the five dusts. If the tactile nerves are damaged, even if the body bleeds or a hand or foot is severed, one does not know cold, heat, or pain, let alone bodily itching.
(6) Now scientists researching special abilities have used instruments to detect and pinpoint the origin of this function at the back of the head. Every time we encounter a major accident, we instinctively cover our heads to protect the back of the brain. This is the manas's natural reaction, also called habituation; subconsciously we know that place is important—it is the root of life.
The supreme faculties of the five faculties are all at the back of the brain, and the eighth consciousness also manifests the six dusts there. After the five supreme faculties plus the manas—the six faculties—make contact with these inner six dusts, the eighth consciousness then gives birth to the six consciousnesses at the supreme faculty at the back of the brain, and the six consciousnesses discriminate the six dusts at the black box at the back of the brain; thus we can see forms, hear sounds, smell scents, taste flavors, feel touches, and think of dharmas. Everything we have experienced over lifetime after lifetime has occurred within this small black box; we live here just as if we lived in the vast sky.
(7) Although the conscious mind is formless and without characteristics, not inside, outside, or in between the physical body, it still has a place of arising. Consciousness can only arise where faculty and object make contact; for consciousness to contact the six dusts is to contact the six dusts within the black box. The six dusts are manifested at the supreme faculty at the back of the brain, so consciousness naturally contacts the six dusts within the brain's black box, discriminating the six dusts in the black box of the supreme faculty and then processing them. Therefore we live inside the black box, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching within it, experiencing joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
IV. The Black Box Is a Virtual World
(1) All Dharmas Are Shadows Within the Black Box
Contemplate carefully: are not all these dharmas we come into contact with extremely illusory? Whether the forms we see, the sounds we hear, the scents we smell, the flavors we taste, or the touches we feel, they are all shadows within the black box; yet it feels as if we have truly seen the vast sky outside, as if we have seen some form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharma outside, as if we have heard some sound outside—when in fact we are all contacting shadows within the black box. If we can contemplate this principle well, eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) will not be too difficult. This requires us to diligently cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi) and merit, but even these practices are cultivated within the black box, never outside it. The black box is the brain's supreme faculty—a virtual reality world constructed for us by the eighth consciousness.
The six sense objects we contact are all at the brain's supreme faculty. Even if we can contact the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) and the worlds of the ten directions, it is still there; empty space and sunlight also manifest there. Whatever we contact and whatever we can perceive are all dharmas at the brain's supreme faculty. If this content is contemplated well (vipaśyanā-caryā), one can completely eradicate the view of self, no longer taking the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) as self, no longer taking the eighteen realms as real; the contemplation of illusoriness may manifest, and further, the contemplation of dreaming and the contemplation of mirror images.
The degree of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) realized varies from person to person, with the prerequisite that one must realize the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Contemplating in this way, one can realize that all dharmas are entirely conjured forth, and the mind will have this cognition, firmly accepting this principle. When we study Buddhism and cultivate, if merit and meditative concentration are complete, then from any aspect or angle we can realize the Buddha-dharma and comprehend it thoroughly. Practice is truly inconceivable.
(2) The Land of Bliss Is Also a Shadow Within the Black Box
Someone may ask: If I am reborn in the land of bliss at the time of death, where is the land of bliss? Is it real or illusory? Of course, the land of bliss we can contact is also an image conjured forth by the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. We cannot contact the relatively real land of bliss outside; the relatively real land of bliss outside was jointly created and is jointly sustained by the tathāgatagarbhas of Amitābha Buddha and all sentient beings who have karmic connections with Amitābha Buddha and the land of bliss.
Among the eight consciousnesses, only the eighth consciousness can truly contact the so-called real material form of the land of bliss outside; our six consciousnesses cannot contact it and can only contact the images conjured forth by the eighth consciousness within the black box. Then, if one can reach the land of bliss, which land of bliss does one reach? Where exactly is the land of bliss? One should know this in one's mind, and one can also understand where the eighth consciousness creates the lotus flower. In fact, both the outer and inner sense-object aspects of the land of bliss exist, and both the outer and inner sense-object aspects of the lotus flower exist, yet what one can contact is all the mental image.
If we can be reborn in the land of bliss, have we truly gone and truly been born? At the time of rebirth, do the Amitābha Buddha and the bodhisattvas outside truly come to welcome us? Is there truly a lotus flower outside for us to sit upon? Who can sit on a real lotus flower? Even the bed and chairs in our own homes cannot truly be sat upon. We cannot truly dwell in the relatively real land of bliss outside; even if we dwell there, we dwell in the images conjured forth by our own eighth consciousness, dwelling in the land of bliss within the black box. All dharmas are conjured; not one dharma is real. The eighth consciousness creates the lotus flower and the land of bliss within the black box; if the six consciousnesses can take it as object, they take this image as object and cannot contact the substantive land of bliss. This is an extremely important cognition; contemplate it well and earnestly, and one can eradicate the view of self, and will gradually eradicate the clinging to self, after which one can attain liberation.
