Brief Discussion on Material Elements (Draft)

Eighteen: What Are the Three Realms?

The three realms: the realm of real nature (xing-jing), the realm of carried substance (dai-zhi-jing), and the subjectively imagined realm — all are the sense-object realms corresponding to the seven consciousnesses. Beyond these, there is also the realm of fundamental substance, which does not correspond to the seven consciousnesses.

The realm of real nature is the manifest color, or the manifesting object, corresponding to the five consciousnesses; the realm of carried substance is the sense-object realm corresponding to the seventh consciousness and the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna); the subjectively imagined realm is the sense-object realm corresponding to the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta). The realm of real nature and the realm of carried substance are sense-object realms transmitted from the realm of fundamental substance into the supreme faculty/ultimate sense faculty (indriya).

Substance can also be called the four great element particles; matter containing the four great element particles is called the realm of fundamental substance and the realm of carried substance. The realm of fundamental substance changes from the very beginning of transmission, transforming into the sense-object realm visible to the seventh consciousness; when it enters the five faculties and the supreme faculty, it is changed again, continuously changing throughout the process of transmission, and finally becomes the realm of real nature and the realm of carried substance. For example, a flower is the realm of fundamental substance; when the first mirror reflects it, the flower becomes an image in the mirror, resembling the flower of the realm of fundamental substance, yet its substance is different. Then another mirror reflects the flower in the first mirror, and the image of that flower appears again in the second mirror; this image differs from the previous two images, though it also has parts in common, but it is more illusory and unreal, having changed even more. In this way, with ten mirrors reflecting one another layer upon layer, what would the final image be? The world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), with its six sense objects and myriad dharmas, is exactly like this.