The Black Box World (14)

The particles of the four great elements captured by the Tathagatagarbha can penetrate all realms. When ordinary sentient beings lack spiritual powers, these particles can only penetrate glass and transparent objects. However, those with spiritual powers can see distant material objects within the cosmic vessel—including hells and heavenly palaces—through walls and other obstacles. Those with the divine eye are unobstructed; their Tathagatagarbha can capture all external forms through objects because all matter, however vast, is illusory and unreal. With meditative concentration, one is not obstructed by illusory objects. Their Tathagatagarbha captures the particles of the four great elements, which fall into the subtle sense organ to form an image, enabling the six consciousnesses to perceive and discern it. This is called the divine eye.

Our external eye faculty—the physical eye, including the vitreous humor—can also contact particles of the four great elements composing external objects like mountains. These particles are captured by the Tathagatagarbha and transmitted to the eye faculty; otherwise, the eye faculty cannot contact them. Particles may also be called photons. Photons are in motion. Why? Because the Tathagatagarbha continuously emits seeds of the four great elements moment after moment, forming particles or photons. These particles also arise and cease instantaneously—one perishes as another arises, creating a continuous succession of photons arising and ceasing. This phenomenon enables transmission.

In this way, particles are transmitted, but their momentum gradually weakens, reducing the energy of transmission until it ceases altogether. The particles—photons formed by the moment-to-moment arising and ceasing of the seeds of the four great elements—are also born and perish instantaneously. One photon follows another like a relay baton, passing through the vitreous humor of the eye and transmitting to the subtle sense organ, where forms take shape. The Tathagatagarbha then gives rise to eye consciousness and mental consciousness, enabling us to see external scenery.

Particles form an image in the subtle sense organ at the back of the brain through the retina. When they fall onto the subtle sense organ—likened to a plate—the transmitted photon particles, likened to beans, land precisely on the plate. The two come into contact: the sense faculty and the sense object touch. The particles of the four great elements falling into the subtle sense organ form an internal image—a manifestation of color. Here, color and the sense faculty contact each other. There is no distinction between active and passive touching; this is the intrinsic principle of contact.

Once the sense faculty and object contact, the eighth consciousness gives rise to the corresponding consciousness to discern the object. If the mental faculty (manas) lacks interest in the incoming color object, it will not attend to it nor generate the mental factor of intention to discern it. The eighth consciousness will not cooperate with the mental faculty to produce eye consciousness and mental consciousness for discerning the color object. However, in the first, second, and third moments, the color object will still fall into the subtle sense organ, and eye consciousness and mental consciousness will still be able to discern it. When the mental faculty lacks interest, eye consciousness and mental consciousness will actively avoid such color objects, ceasing to differentiate them. Alternatively, both consciousnesses may cease with regard to this color object and turn toward other objects.