Black Box World (Forty-Two)

When we have understood the six sense objects (ṣaḍ-viṣaya), we know that the six sense objects are the marks manifested upon the mind; therefore, in seeing objects, one should be seeing 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 (ālaya-vijñāna) contacts the flower through the eye faculty, transforms the image of the flower—like a mirror reflecting an image—and manifests the shadow-image of the flower in the black box at the back of the brain. Then the inner eye faculty contacts the shadow-dust of the flower, the manas contacts the mental dharma-dust upon the flower, and relying on this, the eighth consciousness gives rise to the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness. These two conscious minds then discern the shadow-image of the flower. The shadow-image is exactly identical to the external flower that our eye faculty faces, so we believe that what we see is the flower outside, but in fact it is not—all of it is the shadow-dust within the black box.

Therefore, when we look at flowers 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 the eighth consciousness. At this point, one should introspectively observe, 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 with shared karma; it is likewise unreal and illusory, all depending on the seeds of the four great elements within the eighth consciousnesses of all sentient beings with shared karma to manifest, and all the eighth consciousnesses together hold and sustain the flower. By the same principle, the sounds we hear, the fragrant and foul odors we smell, the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy tastes we savor, and so on, are all like this.