The World of Black Boxes (Part 41)

When we are knocked unconscious and our perceptual faculties cease, we cannot see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or discern, and thus we cannot perceive all dharmas. Yet that flower remains present—others can still see it. The sounds of wind and rain outside persist—others can still hear them. The fragrance of flowers outside is still there—others can still smell it. Delicious food outside remains—others can still taste it. The warm sunshine outside endures—others can still feel it. Others can still perceive their own inner manifestations. This is the case during death, deep meditative absorption, and sleep. When we look at a flower, the beautiful blossom does not intend to make us infatuated with it; it is our own seven consciousnesses that seek to perceive it, think about it, judge it, admire it, and consequently generate feelings of attraction or aversion. Similarly, the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth do not cause us to produce feelings of joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure; it is our own deluded minds that give rise to attachment to all things. Wine does not intend to intoxicate people; it is the drinkers themselves who lack the capacity for alcohol and become drunk of their own accord.

External objects have no mind to delude us; when objects manifest in our minds, they are like shadows. It is our own seven consciousnesses that stir, insisting on perceiving them, giving rise to various thoughts and emotions, causing our own minds to become unsettled and generating afflictions by ourselves. And these consciousnesses—if the eighth consciousness does not transmit the seeds of consciousness to them—cannot exist. Once the seeds are transmitted, the several consciousnesses become lively and active, producing various perceptions, various views, various emotions, and giving rise to all kinds of actions and karmic formations through body, speech, and mind. It is like a shadow puppet play: when someone pulls the strings, the puppets can perform. The several consciousnesses are likewise—utterly unreal. From this, we can see how illusory our consciousnesses are, how illusory and unreal our five aggregates are; they merely churn about on the surface of the eighth consciousness. Therefore, when we perceive phenomena, the phenomena are illusory, and the perceiving is also illusory. There is no such thing as perceiving phenomena—it is merely diseased eyes seeing flowers in the sky. I advise fellow beings to recognize truth from falsehood, cease deluded attachments, return to their inherent nature, and swiftly attain great liberation!