Are the Six Internal Dusts Electrical Signals or Mental Images?

Question: When light enters the eye, the photoreceptor cells inside the eye convert the light source into electrical signals, which are then transmitted via the optic nerve to the visual cortex of the brain. What then decodes these electrical signals into images?

Answer: What are called electrical signals? "Electricity" refers to energy, and "signals" refer to particles; both are composite entities formed from the four great seeds. The inner six dusts perceived by our six consciousnesses are all minute particles formed by the four great seeds, possessing a certain energy, and can conveniently be termed electrical signals. If the inner six dusts are electrical signals, what are the outer six dusts? In what form do both the inner and outer six dusts manifest? The outer six dusts are likewise minute particles formed by the four great seeds, lacking substantial form or characteristic of materiality, and also possess a certain energy, so they too can be called electrical signals. Therefore, both the inner and outer six dusts manifest in the form of electrical signals. However, there is a distinction between the electrical signals of the inner and outer six dusts. The outer six dusts are illusorily formed by the tathāgatagarbha using the four great seeds; they are false, like the reflections outside a mirror. The inner six dusts are transmitted and altered electrical signals; they are false upon false, illusion upon illusion, like the image within a mirror.

When light reaches the superior faculty (indriya) of the eye root, if the mental faculty (manas) seeks to grasp and perceive, the eye consciousness and mental consciousness arise. These two then jointly perceive the electrical signals of the light, and the electrical signals manifest in the form of visual appearances within the minds of these two consciousnesses. Whichever consciousness perceives, the corresponding appearance arises within that consciousness. Therefore, when the six consciousnesses perceive sense objects (dusts), there is no involvement of any decoding process. If one insists on calling it decoding, it would be mistakenly recognizing the particles of the four great elements as having specific forms and appearances, mistaking these forms and appearances as truly existent, and then clinging to them.

For example, a child uses a pile of small parts to assemble a puzzle, turning the parts into an object, and then clings to that object, becoming endlessly attached and desirous of it. Similarly, the four great seeds are like the component parts, the six sense objects (dusts) are like the puzzle, and the six consciousnesses, upon recognizing the sense objects, assemble the minute particles of the four great elements into the six sense objects. They then cling to and crave them, much like a child playing house—it is extremely childish. When one fully realizes this entire process through direct experience, then all dharmas are seen to be non-existent, leaving only the empty tathāgatagarbha. Yet, one does not cling to it either, and thus one arrives at the ultimate goal and attains Buddhahood. Since all dharmas are non-existent, what is the point of engaging in so many activities every day?