Black Box World (Six)

The inner object-aspect shadows: everything we come into contact with and cognize consists of inner object-aspect shadows within the black box. The so-called inner object-aspect refers to the shadow manifested by the eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) at the supreme faculty (indriya) based on the external object-aspect. For example, when we sit on a bed, we are actually sitting on the shadow of the external bed, not truly sitting on the substantial external bed. That relatively real bed composed of the four great elements is something our body can never touch; our body consciousness cannot touch the real external bed. Only the eighth consciousness can touch the external material five sense-objects. And those external five sense-objects were jointly created and manifested by the eighth consciousnesses of sentient beings with karmic connections; they do not belong to us alone—every sentient being with a karmic connection has a share in them.

Therefore, other people may also sit on that external bed, or move it into their own homes. But the bed that others sit on is the inner object-aspect shadow manifested by their own eighth consciousness based on the external bed, not the relatively real external bed. The body consciousness of all of us sentient beings can only come into contact with the inner object-aspect shadow of the bed. This shadow is an illusion—our own eighth consciousness, based on the relatively real bed, manifests it once again separately for our own individual enjoyment. No other person, no matter what, can enjoy it. Only this shadow is private property; everything else is public property.

We feel that the bed we sit on is truly real, and we really are sitting on it. In fact, it is just a shadow, and our body consciousness is merely contacting and feeling that shadow. Since beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have been taking various shadows as real, giving rise to mental activity and thoughts within them—various discriminations, attachments, and delusions. In fact, all sensations are a kind of illusion. We feel the bed is very hard, or very soft and comfortable, but that feeling of softness or hardness is an illusion—it is the feeling that arises after our body consciousness and mind consciousness discriminate against the shadow. It is like a monkey gazing at the moon in the water, thinking it is the real moon, reaching out its hand to scoop it up, only to catch nothing at all.

It is like a dog that sees its own shadow in a mirror, thinks it is another dog, and barks loudly, trying to drive away the dog in the mirror. Since beginningless kalpas, we have been just as foolish as this—no different from that dog and monkey. The Buddha once gave a simile, saying that sentient beings chasing after the realms of the six sense-objects are like a foolish dog chasing a lump: when someone throws a stone, it immediately runs after it; when the wind blows and the grass stirs, the foolish dog thinks something big is happening and starts barking wildly at the place where the grass is swaying, unable to distinguish even the wind blowing and grass moving. Therefore, out of compassion for us, the Buddha descended into the human world to teach us the Mahāyāna dharma of ultimate reality (dharmatā), enabling us to leave behind all false and illusory marks and return to the true mind of emptiness (śūnyatā).

By the same principle, it is the same when we sit on a chair—we are all contacting shadows and then producing false feelings and perceptions. When we feel the shining of sunlight, we are also contacting the shadow of the external sunlight, and then produce the false sensations of heat and warmth. All sensations are thus false and unreal. In fact, we cannot touch the real sunlight, nor can we touch the real external breeze. What we touch are all the shadow-images of sunlight and breeze manifested by the eighth consciousness; we have never touched the real sunlight and breeze. So when we feel the sunlight is warm and cozy, or feel the breeze blowing pleasantly, these feelings are all illusions, all false feelings and perceptions. Whatever the six consciousnesses can discriminate are all shadow-images, and then various feelings arise from them. These feelings are all hallucinations, and these hallucinations, of course, are not real.