The Distinctions and Connections Among Fundamental Object, External Six Sense-Objects, and Internal Six Sense-Objects

The external six dusts existing in the universe are collectively produced and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha of all sentient beings. They are maintained by the tathāgatagarbha using the seeds of the four great elements. The four great elements are produced and extinguished kṣaṇa by kṣaṇa; thus, the external six dusts are also produced and extinguished kṣaṇa by kṣaṇa. The external six dusts represent the most fundamental material dharmas, composed of substantial seeds forming relatively concrete material dharmas. Strictly speaking, they are called the fundamental state, which is perceived by the tathāgatagarbha. The mental faculty cannot perceive it, and the six consciousnesses are even less capable of perceiving it. Nevertheless, the fundamental state itself also undergoes kṣaṇa-by-kṣaṇa production, cessation, and transformation. During the process of the production, cessation, and transformation of the seeds of the four great elements, these seeds radiate outward and disseminate into each tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, we can perceive that matter is surrounded by magnetic fields and energy.

The tathāgatagarbha retrieves the radiated seeds of the four great elements, and only after they are retrieved are they called the external six dusts. The tathāgatagarbha then transmits the seeds of the four great elements from the external six dusts into the supreme meaning faculty through the five sense faculties. The five sense faculties refer to the various nervous systems of the body. For example, the eye faculty includes the vitreous body and neural transmission systems, which transmit the minute particles of the four great elements emitted by external matter to the eye’s supreme meaning faculty at the back of the brain, forming the internal form dust. When the internal form dust settles into the eye’s supreme meaning faculty, contact occurs between the faculty and the dust. In reality, both the external and internal form dusts are first perceived by the mental faculty. After perception, if the eye faculty wishes to know specifically, the eye consciousness and mental consciousness arise; if the mental faculty does not wish to know specifically, we remain unaware of such form dust. The dharma dust accompanying the five dusts is transmitted simultaneously with them: the form dharma dust is transmitted together with the form dust through the eye faculty, the sound dharma dust with the sound dust through the ear faculty, the smell dharma dust with the smell dust through the nose faculty, and similarly for the taste and tactile dharma dusts.

This means there are many dharmas within the supreme meaning faculty. When the mental faculty does not wish to perceive them, the six consciousnesses cannot perceive them, and we remain unaware of the dharmas transmitted through the five sense faculties. If there are no obstructions or errors in the nervous system’s transmission, the internal six dusts formed somewhat resemble, or very closely resemble, the external six dusts, because the internal six dusts are reflections of the external six dusts. The external six dusts, in turn, are reflections of the fundamental state, much like reflections in a mirror. The internal six dusts we perceive are like reflections in a mirror, while the external six dusts we cannot directly perceive correspond to the actual objects outside the mirror. Those objects are more real than the internal six dusts and align more closely with the original fundamental state of the six dusts. The fundamental state is composed of substantial four great elements, which the mental faculty cannot directly access. Only after the tathāgatagarbha, mirror-like, retrieves the four great elements from that fundamental state and transforms them can the mental faculty come into contact with them.