Black Box World (XXVIII)

The Manas and the Tathagatagarbha can encompass all dharmas. Whatever dharmas the Tathagatagarbha manifests, the Manas can cognize, experience, and discern. All six dusts of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, the realm of the body faculty, and the eleven kinds of form (including the five faculties, five dusts, and dharmāyatana-included form) are all known and discerned by a certain knowing. What is this knowing? It will be realized in the end. When cultivation reaches a certain stage, one will realize that all dharmas are entirely the functional manifestations of the Tathagatagarbha, and that the Tathagatagarbha is truly the self! Upon attaining Buddhahood, the Tathagatagarbha is the genuine self, characterized by eternity, bliss, true self, and purity! These illusory functional manifestations are not the functions of the five-aggregate self; they are all manifested by the Tathagatagarbha and are entirely its functional expressions.

For example, consider a blind person. When walking, they cannot see the road, so they use a cane. When the cane probes forward and hits a stone, the conscious mind perceives it as hard, even if they might not know it's a stone. When the cane touches the stone, they haven't seen the stone, nor has their body contacted it, yet they know there is an obstruction ahead and will try to avoid it while walking. Without eyes, they can know it is a stone, or know it is hard, something that can cause them to stumble.

Therefore, knowing hardness, or knowing it is a stone, knowing the dust of form or the dust of touch, does not necessarily require seeing with the eyes or touching with the body. There are other methods of discernment, and of course, these involve great secrets. For instance, a guide dog: a blind person uses a guide dog; when the dog sees an obstruction ahead, it changes direction, and the blind person, being led, also changes direction. Thus, without using their eyes to see the road, the blind person knows to go forward, backward, left, or right. This knowing is quite peculiar. This knowing occurs without the use of eyes, without the use of the five consciousnesses. If we develop all these functions, the six faculties will become interconnected and interchangeable.

Another example: when we close our eyes, although we do not see external forms, we can still see darkness. Darkness is also a kind of form. After closing the eyes for a long time, it doesn't feel so dark anymore; some light and color appear before the eyes. Those without meditative concentration see various colors, while those with meditative concentration initially see red, then golden-red, and finally pale yellow. Later, the light and color seen become even fainter and brighter. Although our eye consciousness is not presently active, we can still see the colors before us with closed eyes. Whose seeing nature is involved in this seeing?

What do these functional manifestations indicate? They indicate that behind our superficial, illusory functions, there is a true, indestructible, virtuous capability and function that encompasses all dharmas. We can have the functions of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing without using the five faculties. Ultimately, whose functions are these? They are all the functional manifestations of the Tathagatagarbha. When we cease to identify the functions of the six faculties as the self or as real, and become less and less attached to the functions of the six faculties, our inherent wisdom and virtuous capabilities will manifest, radiating brightly. Once all these functions are fully developed and revealed, all dharmas will no longer present obstacles and will cease to be mysteries.