The dharmas contacted by the six consciousnesses are all false and illusory

Now, when we hear the sound of thunder in the sky and the buzzing of a mosquito by our ear, these are heard simultaneously. Yet how long has passed since the thunder sounded, and how far has it traveled, before it is heard? By the time it is heard, the thunder has long since ceased—there is no more thunder in the sky. Since the thunder and the mosquito's buzz are heard together, sounds do not occur in any sequence within the ear faculty. If a sound takes several seconds to reach the ear faculty, or several minutes to be transmitted to it, does the essential nature-object of that sound still exist? It has long ceased to exist. By the time the sound is heard, the real sound in the external world has already vanished. Likewise, when the sound of someone scolding me is heard by me, does that scolding still exist? It no longer exists. What is heard is an illusory appearance of the essential nature-object of sound, like an echo in a valley. So how false is the sound of scolding that we hear? Extremely false and unreal. All the dharmas that the six consciousnesses come into contact with are just like this.