Death in the Black Box

After old age and sickness, when the four great elements become severely imbalanced and can no longer be harmonized, the body becomes unusable. How is it unusable? The functions of the body's five gross sense faculties deteriorate and become unable to normally receive and transmit the external six dusts. The neural conduction system ages and cannot properly receive or conduct the electrical signals from the five gross sense faculties. The brain, along with the subtle sense faculties (the "black box"), becomes rigid with age and cannot properly receive the electrical signals transmitted by the nervous system. Consequently, it fails to integrate these electrical signals to form the internal manifestations (internal six dusts) that resemble the virtual counterparts of external appearances.

When the subtle sense faculties lack the internal six dusts, the conditions for the birth of the six consciousnesses are incomplete. The six consciousnesses cannot arise to perceive and differentiate the internal six dusts, causing sentient beings to lose the function of awareness. The mental faculty (manas), having lost its "left and right arms," becomes powerless regarding all dharmas. It then decides to leave the body, resulting in death and entry into the intermediate state (bardo).

Once the "black box" becomes useless, the contact between the sense faculties and their objects ceases. The six consciousnesses cannot manifest, and bodily, verbal, and mental activities cannot occur. The activities of the five aggregates cease. When the mental faculty feels utterly incapable, the death of the five-aggregate body becomes inevitable. Thus, it is evident that the subtle sense faculties ("black box") are crucial. Even if the five gross sense faculties are perfectly normal and the conduction nerves are also fully functional, if the "black box" malfunctions, the mental faculty cannot perceive the six dust realms. It will then helplessly "choose" death—though in truth, it is compelled, not a choice.

Why is the "black box" so important? Precisely because the "black box" is a locus—the place where the six sense faculties, six dusts, and six consciousnesses interact. It is the site of the activities of the five aggregates. Here, the internal manifestations of the vast universe can be generated; here, the six consciousnesses can arise. The six consciousnesses can contact and perceive the virtual vast universe, enabling cognition, sensation, and the experience of the virtual six dust realms. In common parlance, this is called "being alive" or "living life." Once one can no longer "be alive" or "live life," the mental faculty inevitably seeks out a new location where it can be alive, initiating a new existence.