The Black Box World (Thirteen)

As for the inner representation: that mountain is composed of the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind. When we want to look at it, our own tathāgatagarbha comes into contact with that external mountain and takes in the four great subtle particles of earth, water, fire, and wind that constitute it. After these subtle particles are taken in, they are continuously transmitted to our eye faculty, to the eyeball, into the vitreous body, to the optic nerve, and onward to the supreme faculty at the back of our brain; the tathāgatagarbha then immediately transforms these subtle particles into the manifest colors of the inner representation.

The external representation of that mountain is jointly upheld by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings with common karma. And the mountain within our inner representation? It is a shadow manifested by our own tathāgatagarbha in accordance with the external representation—the external representation being transformed into the inner representation. This involves a great many profound mysteries, touching upon questions of extremely deep Yogācāra wisdom.

The mountain we see contains so many mysteries, and the entire process of seeing the mountain contains even more. How does the tathāgatagarbha uphold that external mountain? It is that the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings together, moment after moment, output the four great seeds to jointly transform, uphold, and alter that mountain; that mountain is also changing moment by moment. Therefore, after thousands and tens of thousands of years, that mountain too will change and disappear. This is the principle behind the saying that the blue sea turns into mulberry fields, and mulberry fields turn into the blue sea.

The entire earth is changing. Why does it change? Because it is summoned by the karmic conditions of sentient beings. Thus the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings with common karma output the four great seeds moment after moment, jointly transforming and sustaining these external representations—mountains, waters, the material universe, and so on—composed of earth, water, fire, and wind. The relationships here are especially complex and very difficult to explain clearly.

When an individual sentient being's tathāgatagarbha conditions that mountain, it will take in the four great subtle particles corresponding to that being's own karmic force. If a sentient being has abundant wholesome karma, the inner representation manifested will be relatively more complete; if unwholesome karma is abundant, the manifested inner representation will be wretched and flawed. Everyone's karmic obstructions are different. After the four great subtle particles of that mountain are taken in, because the particles taken in differ, the manifested inner representations differ. The inner representation, too, is manifested in accordance with sentient beings' karmic seeds and karmic force.

The mountains, rivers, and the great earth that each person sees are all different. The very same mountain appears beautiful to some and not beautiful to others; this is related to merit, karmic force, state of mind, and so on. When an arhat enters nirvāṇa without remainder, the portion of the external representation of mountains, rivers, and the great earth that he participated in manifesting disappears along with him. Yet sentient beings do not perceive this change in the external representation, because the number of beings participating in manifesting it is so vast. When the arhat's tathāgatagarbha withdraws its own four great elements, the change in the external representation is not noticeable, so we cannot sense it; only the Buddha and the great bodhisattvas can perceive it.

Because the tathāgatagarbha possesses the seeds of material form and personally participates in manifesting material form, it is able to come into contact with the external representation of the mountain, directly condition that mountain, and take in the four great subtle particles. After taking them in, it can transmit them through certain obstructions to the eye's gross physical sense organ and supreme faculty. Thus, when we look at the mountain outside through a window, we are able to see the mountain of the inner representation.