Are the Inner Six Sense Objects Electrical Signals or Images?

Question: When light enters the eye, the photoreceptor cells inside the eye convert the light source into electrical signals, and the electrical signals are transmitted through the optic nerve to the visual cortex of the brain. Then what is it that decodes the electrical signals into images?

Answer: What is called an electrical signal? Electricity means energy, and signal means particles; both are combinations of the seeds of the four great elements. The inner six sense-objects perceived by our six consciousnesses are all minute particles formed by the seeds of the four great elements, possessing a certain amount of energy, and can conveniently be called electrical signals. If the inner six sense-objects are electrical signals, then what are the outer six sense-objects? In what form do the inner and outer six sense-objects manifest? The outer six sense-objects are likewise minute particles formed by the seeds of the four great elements, without any substantial material form or appearance; they likewise possess a certain amount of energy and can also be called electrical signals. Therefore, both the inner and outer six sense-objects manifest in the form of electrical signals. However, the electrical signals of the inner and outer six sense-objects are different: the outer six sense-objects are illusorily formed by the tathāgatagarbha using the seeds of the four great elements; they are false, like an image outside a mirror; whereas the inner six sense-objects are electrical signals that have been transmitted and altered—they are falsity upon falsity, illusion upon illusion, like an image within a mirror.

When light reaches the supreme faculty, the eye faculty, if the manas wishes to engage with it and discern it, the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness arise, and the two together discern the electrical signals of the light, and the electrical signals manifest in the form of visual appearance within these two conscious minds. Whichever consciousness discerns, a corresponding appearance appears in that consciousness's mind. Therefore, when the six consciousnesses discern sense-object realms, no decoding is involved. If one insists on calling it decoding, that is mistaking the minute particles of the four great elements as having certain forms and appearances, and mistaking those forms and appearances as truly existing, and thereby grasping them.

For example, a small child assembles a pile of small parts into a puzzle, turning the parts into an object, and then grasps the object, coveting it endlessly. Likewise, the seeds of the four great elements are like the component parts, the realms of the six sense-objects are like the puzzle; when the six consciousnesses discern the sense-object realms, they assemble the minute particles of the four great elements into the realms of the six sense-objects, and then grasp and crave them—just like a child playing house, which is extremely childish. If one personally realizes this entire process, then all dharmas cease to exist, leaving only an empty tathāgatagarbha; but one will no longer grasp even Him, and thus one arrives home and becomes a Buddha. Since all dharmas do not exist, why do we busy ourselves with so many things every day?