The World of Black Boxes (17)

There is actually no such thing as "energy." What is referred to as energy is the material particles composed of the four great elements, such as photons, electrons, neutrons, protons, and other particles. They are constantly arising and ceasing, ceasing here and arising there, one after another, creating the illusion of energy. Moreover, these particles undergo momentary arising and ceasing along certain orbits, as if matter were moving along a trajectory. In the surface motion of these particles, the seeds of the four great elements are continuously changing. When we observe this, we perceive it as a transformation of energy. Yet, the role played by the Tathāgatagarbha within this remains unknown and unseen by us; we only recognize the superficial phenomena. This is ignorance.

Particles of the four great elements, such as sound, can penetrate walls and other obstacles; barriers like walls cannot block the propagation and permeation of these particles. These particles are captured by the Tathāgatagarbha from distant sounds and then transmitted along a path to the ear faculty, the eardrum, and further to the subtle sense faculty at the back of the head. There, they first form a coarse sound, which interacts with the inner ear faculty, giving rise to auditory consciousness. This auditory consciousness discriminates the coarse vibrational phenomena. Subsequently, based on the coarse sound object, a subtle mental object of sound is further composed and manifested. This mental object comes into contact with the manas (the mental faculty), prompting the Tathāgatagarbha to generate mental consciousness, which then cognizes the sound.

The subtle mental objects, including the content, nature, attributes, distance, likes and dislikes, etc., of various sounds, are called dharma objects. Once these dharma objects are formed, the manas determines whether to engage with them based on its interest. If the manas is interested, it decides to cognize, and the Tathāgatagarbha will generate mental consciousness to cognize along with the auditory consciousness. If the manas is not interested, it decides to avoid cognition, and the Tathāgatagarbha does not generate mental consciousness for cognition. The auditory consciousness also ceases, and we do not hear the sound. Therefore, even if a sound exists, we may not hear it—such as in states of deep concentration, intense focus on other matters, or inattentiveness—and thus remain unaware of certain sounds.