The World of Black Boxes
Chapter 9 How to Break Free from the Bondage of the Black Box and Attain Liberation
1. The Supreme Faculty of the Black Box Is Itself Subject to Arising, Ceasing, and Change
Only by correctly recognizing the illusory and unreal nature of the world of the black box can one break free from its bondage, walk out of the black box, and abide in the great radiance. How is the black box illusory and unreal? First, the black box is the brain, the supreme faculty (indriya), generated in the mother's womb by the tathāgatagarbha using the seeds of the four great elements. It is a dharma that arises from nonexistence, and in the future it will also cease, going from existence to nonexistence. Moreover, in between, all kinds of changes will occur—gradual aging and the appearance of pathological conditions. Therefore it is an unreliable dharma, not to be depended upon or trusted.
Among these, the eye supreme faculty is a dharma of arising, ceasing, and change, unreliable. When pathological conditions arise, either the eyes become blind and cannot see forms, or seeing forms becomes obstructed—seeing forms inaccurately, seeing forms distorted. When the four great elements of the eye supreme faculty disintegrate and perish, one will no longer be able to see forms by relying on it. The same is true of the ear supreme faculty, nose supreme faculty, tongue supreme faculty, and body supreme faculty: they arise, cease, and change, and are unreliable. When pathological conditions arise, one cannot normally hear sounds, smell scents, taste flavors, or feel touches. When the four great elements disintegrate, all their functions and operations perish, and one can no longer rely on them to hear sounds, smell scents, taste flavors, or feel touches. Therefore the wise cannot but refrain from taking the supreme faculties as the self or as belonging to the self, and the mind does not generate grasping by depending on the black box.
2. Realizing the Illusory and Selfless Nature of the Supreme Faculties, the Inner Six Sense-Objects, and the Six Consciousnesses
To break free from the bondage of the black box, one must clearly recognize the illusory unreality of the supreme faculties, the inner six sense-objects, and the six consciousnesses, and eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) regarding the self of the eighteen realms. Only then can one break free from the black box's bondage and attain liberation sooner. Through contemplation of the black box of the supreme faculties, contemplation of the inner six sense-objects, and contemplation of the functions and operations of the six consciousnesses, one gradually realizes that the five supreme faculties are subject to arising, ceasing, and change, unreal; they are born later, under conditions where causes and conditions are complete, and without causes and conditions they cannot be born. Therefore they are illusory and unreal.
One realizes that the six sense-objects of the inner dependent aspect (inner nimitta) are subject to arising, ceasing, and change, unreal, constituted by the seeds of the four great elements under certain causes and conditions; when causes and conditions are not complete, the six sense-objects of the inner dependent aspect do not arise and manifest. One realizes that the six consciousnesses are subject to arising, ceasing, and change, illusory and unreal; they are born under certain causes and conditions, constituted by consciousness seeds, and their functions and operations are illusory and unreal. When causes and conditions are not complete, or when the manas does not make a decision, the six consciousnesses do not arise and operate. Therefore the five supreme faculties, the inner six sense-objects, and the six consciousnesses are all unreal dharmas, and none of them is the self. In this way one eradicates the false view that the black box and all dharmas within it are the self and are real, and thereby breaks free from the black box's bondage; the mind attains liberation, and only in the future will there be vast and profound power of merit (puṇya-bala) and function.
3. Realizing That the Six Sense-Object Realms Within the Black Box Are Illusory and Unreal
All the realm-marks within the black box are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha using the seeds of the four great elements, like images in a mirror, having no actual functions or operations, merely displaying appearances. The marks outside the mirror are the original marks created by the tathāgatagarbha using the four great elements. The tathāgatagarbha takes in the particles of the four great elements from the original marks and transmits them all the way to the five external sense faculties (the five floating dust faculties), passing through many media along the way, during which the particles of the four great elements undergo some alteration. After passing through the five external sense faculties, they are further transmitted through the conducting nerves into the black box, becoming the inner dependent aspect, which appears to be identical with the original marks of the external dependent aspect, but in fact there is a certain difference. Even if there were no difference between inner and outer, it would still be illusory and unreal; the existence of a difference all the more demonstrates that the realm-marks within the black box are illusory, unreal, and untrue.
4. Realizing That the Discriminating Nature of the Six Consciousnesses Within the Black Box Is Illusory
When the inner six sense-objects transmitted into the black box through the five external sense faculties contact the five supreme faculties and the manas, and the manas makes the decision to discern, the six consciousnesses will arise to discern and process the six sense-object realms; otherwise they do not arise. The six sense-objects of the inner dependent aspect that the six consciousnesses discern are like shadows in a mirror, not substantial dharmas. Thus, for countless eons, the six consciousnesses have always been engaging in unreal delusive thinking toward illusory shadows, never having contacted the real dharmas outside the mirror. And when a shadow appears in the mirror, the external realm corresponding to that shadow has long since passed and changed. The six consciousnesses' discernment is always half a beat late, and their processing is a full beat slower. So to what degree of accuracy and truthfulness can the six consciousnesses process the six sense-objects? It is like playing a game, and playing it with great delight and earnestness—how laughable!
As for the discriminating and discerning nature of the six consciousnesses themselves, it is in fact just a huge pile of consciousness seeds piled together, directed by the manas to discriminate in all directions—wherever there is an affair, there they go—restricted by the supreme faculties, deceived by false shadows. Once the supreme faculties are obstructed and the six sense-objects cannot enter the black box, the six consciousnesses cannot appear. If the six sense-objects are distorted, what the six consciousnesses discriminate is a distorted mark, yet they take it to be real. What fun is there in playing within the illusory inner six sense-object realms that simulate the external environment?
5. Realizing That the Shadows of the Six Sense-Objects Are Illusory and Untrue
When we look at the shadows in a mirror, no matter what feelings or thoughts we have about these shadows, no matter how we want to deal with them, in any case they are ultimately shadows, not real things. So everything we see, hear, think, and touch—all dharmas—are shadows in the mirror. Our discrimination is discriminating those shadows in the mirror; it is discriminating within the black box. This shadow is so beautiful, that shadow so enchanting, and so we begin to grasp and seize. But no matter how much we grasp and seize, you have never truly enjoyed anything—it is all shadows, with no real effect.
Just as the reflection of a tree in a river, however beautiful, is after all not truly existent; the moon in the river, however round and bright—when a monkey tries to seize it, the moment it touches the water, the moon disappears, because there is no real moon. It is the same with all the realms we contact: we seem to have enjoyed them, but in fact we have enjoyed nothing; we have been dealing with shadows all along. The sensations and tactile feelings of our body, what the eyes see, what the ears hear, what the mouth tastes, what the nose smells—all are shadows, not real. Yet we have no way to jump out, no way to understand these matters; we take these shadows as real and grasp at them, as if we had enjoyed them, as if we had obtained them, but in fact we have obtained nothing and enjoyed nothing—it is all illusory transformation.
6. Realizing That All Dharmas Are Without Self, One Attains Liberation
The entire process of our Buddhist practice and cultivation, from ordinary being to becoming a Buddha, is to progressively realize that all dharmas are not real, that all are illusorily manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, that all are empty and false, all are shadows, all are dreams. In the end, one realizes that all dharmas are without self and that no dharma is real. At that time we will completely awaken from the dream, become a Buddha and a patriarch, attain ultimate and complete liberation, and never need to cultivate again. Therefore the process of cultivation is a process of continually changing one's own cognition. The concept and mindset of taking all dharmas as real must be gradually changed and eliminated; recognizing that all these dharmas are not real, in the end one can realize that they are indeed not real. Then the entire mental conduct will change, becoming a mind without defilement and without ignorance, and the seven consciousnesses will completely achieve the transformation of consciousness into wisdom.
The process of cultivation and learning is precisely such a process of continually attaining liberation and attaining great ease and freedom. Ordinary beings do not attain liberation or ease and freedom because they take the false as real, take these false appearances, these shadows, as real, grasping at them, creating various karmic actions, and then they are bound and obstructed by these karmic actions; the mind does not attain liberation, nor ease and freedom, and within the black box they suffer through arisings and ceasings, births and deaths. Cultivation is to break through these ignorances, so that we no longer take the false as real; then we are liberated and at ease, without suffering. In fact, the principle is just such a principle, very simple, but the process of cultivation is extremely long, because the grasping mind of our manas is too intense and the ignorance too deep and heavy; a very, very long time is needed to gradually break through ignorance and gradually attain liberation.
7. Only When All Kinds of Conditions Are Fulfilled Can One Eradicate the View of Self and Attain Liberation
The theories and methods for eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) are already very clear and evident. The illusoriness of the six faculties, the illusoriness of the six consciousnesses, the illusoriness of the six sense-objects, the illusoriness of the myriad dharmas—these principles are in fact already very clear. Why, then, is the cognitive understanding in the minds of some people still not very clear? It is because merit or other conditions are not yet complete. Because merit is not complete, meditative concentration is not complete; when meditative concentration is not complete, deliberation is not deep and detailed enough, being rather coarse and superficial; when deliberation is coarse and superficial, the manas does not understand these principles; if the manas does not understand these principles, it does not accept them, and one cannot eradicate the view of self, nor can one change one's own habits and inertia.
Therefore studying Buddhism is not merely making effort on the theoretical level; one also needs to extensively cultivate the resources of merit, and to practice meditative concentration. Among the six perfections, the dharmas of patience, precept-keeping, and diligence must all be cultivated. The prerequisite for possessing these merits and the other conditions of the six perfections is that we should have a mind that departs from the mundane world, a mind that departs from sense-objects; inwardly, one should not be too closely involved with these worldly dharmas, not too close to or too greedy for the six sense-objects.
Possessing a mind that departs from the mundane world, a mind that departs from the desire-realm mundane world, itself constitutes merit, because when the mind does not correspond to the desire-realm human world but corresponds to the desire-realm heavens, merit increases; when the mind corresponds to the form realm, the merit is even greater, for the merit of form-realm heavenly beings is greater than that of desire-realm heavenly beings; if the mind also departs from the form realm and corresponds to the formless realm, the merit is even greater; if one further departs from the formless realm, that merit is boundlessly vast, one's meditative concentration can arise in sequence, and by corresponding to the higher realms, the mind's capacity will also gradually become vast—such merit is simply beyond measure.
If one can give rise to the great bodhi mind of accomplishing the Buddha Way and broadly benefiting sentient beings, the merit becomes even more vast. Therefore, the prerequisite for eradicating the view of self and realizing the fruits is to have the mind of renunciation, a mind that does not love this world and does not crave the mundane; then one's progress on the path will be very rapid.
The principles of these dharmas are all laid out there; we only need to cultivate meditative concentration, and through deep deliberation and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) we can realize them. The more detailed and deeper the deliberation, the better; the mind will accept them more, and the manas will understand them. As the mind consciousness deliberates bit by bit, the manas will simultaneously investigate, verify, and confirm bit by bit. If the deliberation is not deep and detailed, not thorough, but rather superficial and coarse, the manas cannot understand these principles; He will still deliberate on all dharmas and make decisions about all dharmas according to His own inertia, and the six consciousnesses will likewise, following the manas's inertia, create bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Therefore, only through deep and detailed deliberation and contemplative practice of the correct Buddhist principles can one truly eradicate the view of self and truly eradicate the grasping on self, and only thus can one attain liberation.
