Black Box World (9)

After all sentient beings have discerned the six sense objects, they all believe that what they have discerned are the real six sense objects, believing these six sense objects to be real. Consequently, they give rise to feelings such as craving and aversion toward the six sense objects; after these feelings arise, they begin to deliberate (manasikāra), and after deliberating, they make choices, generating a decisive mind that determines how to act. This entire series of mental factors is thus produced, and moreover, they must continue to operate repeatedly, because the objects of experience are taken as real. After the five universal mental factors have been produced in sequence, the order among them will change, and they will also repeat; the transitions among these mental factors are very complex, depending on whether one is interested in the six sense objects being contacted, whether the six sense objects are easy to discern clearly, whether the six sense objects are important, and so on.

Not only are the visual objects we see and the sounds we hear all inner nimitta images, all within the black box, but everything our body feels is also an inner nimitta shadow. What the body consciousness perceives, and even what the mind consciousness can perceive, are all inner nimitta shadows—all are six sense objects within the black box, all images transformed by the eighth consciousness, all illusory and without real substance. For example, what the body consciousness perceives: when sitting on a bed, one knows whether the bed is soft or hard; when sitting on a sofa, one knows whether the sofa is soft or hard, and whether the body feels comfortable. These contact objects (sparśa) we take to be real, but in fact none of them is real; we are merely discriminating shadows, all engaged in activity within the black box. As for the outer nimitta, only the eighth consciousness can contact it—it is not within the black box.