The Black Box World (53)

The ear hearing sounds, the nose smelling scents, the tongue tasting flavors, and the body feeling tangibles all follow the same principle. Thus the Diamond Sutra says, "All marks are false and illusory." All the marks that we recognize, discriminate, and know are false appearances—shadows manifested for us by the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha is like a mirror: when it contacts the six outer sense-objects, it can produce shadows identical to the six outer sense-objects, and these shadows are the six inner sense-objects. Only when we truly realize that all marks are shadows, all false appearances, can the grasping nature of the mind be lightened and afflictions become thin and faint. Then we will not be overly concerned with all gains and losses, benefits and harms, and the mind can settle into purity. Consequently, when the six faculties again contact the six sense-objects, the conscious mind will not give rise to defiled afflictions, and gradually the mind will attain purity. Therefore, purity is the purity of the mind, not the purity of the faculties. The faculties have no capacity for discrimination, whereas consciousness does; when consciousness discriminates, it carries with it mental activities that are either pure or impure.