The Black Box Is the Stage

Amid all changing states of experience, our mind has actually never moved and has gone nowhere; it has always remained within the black box, watching the coming and going of various states and their unfathomable transformations, while simultaneously making ungrounded responses. Just like in animated films and cinematic images, there is no actual movement or stillness of scenery and characters—only a rapid projection and playback of numerous pictures. Likewise, within the black box, neither the mind consciousness nor the states of experience have any movement or cessation; they are merely various pictures and images flashing by rapidly. The director is the manas, the producer is the tathāgatagarbha, and the six consciousnesses are the actors and the audience. Therefore, what we watch are all animated cartoons, all dramas—nothing is real. Even the five-aggregate act of watching is itself directed: the six consciousnesses act however the director directs them, and yet the director too is not in control—at most it is merely the lead of the play, and when the play ends and the music fades, it too will exit the stage.