The Black Box World (V)

Someone may ask: if I am reborn in the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī) at the time of death, where is the land of bliss? Is it real or illusory? Of course, the land of bliss that we can come into contact with is also an image conjured forth by the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. We cannot come into contact with the relatively real land of bliss outside. That relatively real land of bliss outside is jointly created and jointly upheld by the tathāgatagarbhas of Āmitābha Buddha and of all sentient beings who have karmic affinity with Āmitābha Buddha and the land of bliss.

Among the eight consciousnesses, only the eighth consciousness can truly come into contact with the so-called real material form of the land of bliss outside; our six consciousnesses cannot come into contact with it and can only come into contact with the images conjured forth by the eighth consciousness. So if one can reach the land of bliss, which land of bliss does one reach? Where exactly is the land of bliss? One should now understand this in one's mind, and one can also understand where the eighth consciousness creates and manifests the lotus.

In fact, both the land of bliss as an outer representation and as an inner representation exist, and the lotus as both an outer representation and an inner representation also exist.

If we can achieve rebirth, is it truly a going and a being born? At the time of rebirth, do the Āmitābha Buddha and the bodhisattvas outside truly come to welcome us? Is there truly a lotus outside for us to sit upon? Who can sit on a real lotus? Even the bed and chairs in our own home cannot truly be sat upon.

We cannot truly dwell in the relatively real land of bliss outside; if we dwell anywhere, it is within the images conjured forth by our own eighth consciousness—dwelling in the land of bliss inside the black box. All dharmas are illusory transformations; not a single dharma is real. The eighth consciousness creates and manifests the lotus and the land of bliss within the black box. If the six consciousnesses can take it as an object, they take this image as their object and cannot come into contact with the substantive land of bliss. This is a very important realization. If one earnestly and practically engages in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on it, one can eliminate the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), and will also gradually eliminate self-grasping, and thereby attain liberation.