The Black Box World (42)

When we come to know the six sense objects, we realize that the six sense objects are the appearances manifested upon the mind; thus, in seeing an object, one should also see the mind. If there were no mind, there would be no objects; objects are objects within the mind, and outside the mind there are no objects. When the eye sees a flower, the eighth consciousness, through the eye faculty, contacts the flower and transforms the flower's image—just like a mirror reflecting an image—manifesting the flower's shadow at the black box at the back of the head. Then the inner eye faculty contacts the flower's shadow of sense-dust, and the manas contacts the mental sense-dust of the flower. Upon this, the eighth consciousness gives rise to the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness, and these two conscious minds discern the flower's shadow. This shadow is exactly identical to the external flower that our eye faculty faces, so we believe that what we see is the flower outside, when in fact it is not—all of it is the shadow of sense-dust within the black box.

Therefore, when we look at a flower or other material things, we should know that these visual scenes of objects are jointly and harmoniously manifested by our eye consciousness, mind consciousness, manas, and eighth consciousness. At this moment, we should introspect, within the seeing of objects, which is the eye consciousness, which is the mind consciousness, which is the manas, and which is the eighth consciousness. In this way, the mind can penetrate objects, and objects also communicate with the mind. As for the real flower outside, it is jointly and harmoniously manifested by the eighth consciousnesses of sentient beings sharing common karma; it is likewise false and illusory, all depending on the seeds of the four great elements within the eighth consciousnesses of all sentient beings sharing common karma to be manifested, with all the eighth consciousnesses collectively upholding the flower. By the same principle, this is also true of the sounds we hear, the fragrant and foul odors we smell, the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy flavors we taste, and so on.