Does the Image-Only Object Have Seeds?

The visual and auditory hallucinations experienced by people with cerebellar atrophy belong to the Image-Only Object without substance. A person who does not exist at all—yet he can see him, while others cannot; a sound that does not exist at all—yet he can hear it, while others cannot. The forms and sounds he encounters all arise from nothing, like wind coming from an empty cave. If a person with cerebellar atrophy clearly sees A but takes it to be B, then B is an Image-Only Object with substance, carrying a certain substance of A; B does not exist apart from A, and apart from A there is no B.

Do such Image-Only Objects have seeds? Cerebellar atrophy is karmic retribution; there are karmic seeds, and when the karmic seeds ripen, the retributive result of cerebellar atrophy appears, which is also suffering—not only is the mind tormented, the body is tormented as well. After hallucinating for a long time, one becomes extremely fatigued, and sedative-type drugs must be used to control it. Thus the Image-Only Object consumes brain cells and brain energy. The mental sense-object of the Image-Only Object is not formed by the tathāgatagarbha outputting seeds of the four great elements from the mind-essence, but it does require a certain amount of subtle particles of the four great elements within the brain's nerve cells. Beings without a supreme faculty would not exhibit the phenomenon of cerebellar atrophy and would not need to consume brain cells and brain energy.

The manas accords with karmic seeds and accords with karmic retribution. When karmic retribution manifests, the manas is in a pathological state, engaging in wild, random thoughts; the tathāgatagarbha follows along and accords with conditions to manifest the karma, conjuring up the states imagined by the manas. When the solitary mental consciousness sees them, it takes them to be real, and so in the eyes of others the person appears deranged and abnormal.

As for the Image-Only Object with substance, it is the tathāgatagarbha, based on presently existing sense-objects, taking a portion of the four great elements to conjure up another Image-Only Object, which seems unrelated to the present state. After the mind consciousness grasps it, it takes it to be real, and to others the person appears deranged. The root of the illness lies in the manas, in the karmic actions of past lives; the retributive result experienced in this life is illusory and false.

Ordinary worldlings of normal mind are not so different from those with cerebellar atrophy or the mentally ill: all the dharmas they see are also unreal and untrue, induced by karmic power, arising from nothing, like wind from an empty cave. They do not see the true dharma, yet upon the true dharma they falsely see illusory objects with substance, Image-Only Objects, and nature-objects. All these states carry the substance of the tathāgatagarbha, the truth of the tathāgatagarbha, the essence of the tathāgatagarbha—yet they do not know it; they see only the false and the illusory. This is truly inverted delusion and madness.

The root of the illness lies in the manas, summoned by the karmic power of ignorance. When the karma dissolves and the illness recedes, what is seen is restored, and one will see the true and the real; the false marks vanish and the illusions recede, and without illness there is naturally coolness and clarity.

Who is not an ill person? If there is one who is not ill, let him come forth and see.

Slap! A slap comes down, the illness recedes and the obstructions dissolve, returning to the original—just as it always was!