The Black Box World (Twenty)

Where do the six consciousnesses appear? Of course, they also appear at the supreme faculty (rūpa-prasāda) located at the back of the brain, where the faculties and sense objects make contact. Although the conscious mind is formless and without appearance, having no specific location, and is not inside, outside, or in the middle of the physical body, the tathāgatagarbha nevertheless delivers the seeds of consciousness into the supreme faculty at the place where faculties and sense objects make contact. Then the six consciousnesses, within this black box, discern the vast expanse of sky and the immense universe of the material world (the vessel world), discerning all dharmas within the physical body. The inner representations of the six sense objects at the back of the head constitute the entire world in which our minds roam. Although beyond this there are many other mental sense objects, those are the contents contacted by the seventh consciousness (manas). Because the six consciousnesses are obscured by ignorance, when they are limited, they can only discern these contents, or perhaps only a very small portion of these contents, and perhaps even discern them unclearly—this is the retribution of pitiable ignorant sentient beings.

Therefore, all the activities of discernment by our six consciousnesses take place at the back of the head. Even the tangible objects at the toes on the body are transmitted into the supreme faculty at the back of the brain. The body consciousness and the mind consciousness also discern the condition of the toes at the back of the brain; they cannot directly discern the toes outside the supreme faculty. The black box of the supreme faculty is the entire world discerned by the six consciousnesses. If we can engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) to realize this point, we will know how illusory the faculties are, how illusory the sense objects are, and how illusory the consciousnesses are—which of them is not arising and ceasing moment by moment? All of them arise and cease moment by moment. The faculties are composed of the four great elements and arise and cease instant after instant; the sense objects are composed of the four great elements and even more so arise and cease instant after instant; as for consciousness, seed after seed of consciousness arises and then ceases, ceases and then arises again—also arising and ceasing moment by moment. What is there that does not arise and cease? All the myriad dharmas of this world are subject to arising and ceasing.

The external mountains, rivers, and the great earth—the outer representations of form objects, sound objects, taste objects, scent objects, tangible objects, and so on—are jointly produced, manifested, and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha of all sentient beings. When our tathāgatagarbha conditions those outer representations, it extracts the four great elements from them; once extracted, they form particles, becoming photons, which are continuously transmitted through the gross physical sense organs of the five faculties and through the transmitting nerves into the supreme faculty. Then the faculties and sense objects make contact, and the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the six consciousnesses, which discern the shadows of the external mountains, rivers, and great earth. Thereupon, these shadows are taken to be real external dharmas, and we cling to them in every possible way, endlessly calculating and disputing.