Outer Representation and Inner Representation

The outer representation is material form that sentient beings with karmic affinity collectively partake of, such as the universe's inanimate world. In the inanimate world of the universe, the tathāgatagarbhas of every sentient being with karmic affinity jointly output the seeds of the four great elements, forming the four great elements, and then all the tathāgatagarbhas together use these four great elements to construct the inanimate world of the universe. This part can only be contacted by each sentient being's own tathāgatagarbha; material forms can contact one another, but the seven consciousnesses cannot reach it. Therefore sentient beings absolutely cannot know what the outer representation looks like, nor how great the difference is between it and the inner representation—the images within their own black box.

When scientific instruments are used to test the universe, whether or not science develops further, scientific instruments must be in contact with the outer representation, not with the inner representation. This is because scientific instruments are also material form, and like the material sense-objects of the outer representation, they are all produced by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings with collective karma using the seeds of the four great elements; they are all outer representations that only the tathāgatagarbha can contact. But when a human being goes to observe the outer representation, the instrument along with the material sense-objects all become the inner representation—an image of the outer representation is generated at the back of the head, called the inner representation—and human beings can only observe this false representation there. If a person does not observe or investigate, there will be no inner representation, only the outer representation; once observed, there arises a transformed inner representation, similar to the outer representation but with differences. This is why it is said that with material form, it is not the same whether the human eye observes it or not.

No matter how advanced science becomes, there will never be a claim that humanity can infinitely approach the outer representation, because as long as one is a human being using the supreme faculty, everything seen is dharma within the black box of the supreme faculty; dharmas outside the black box cannot be seen by the human eye. As for why it is so, that is the rule and law of the tathāgatagarbha, which even the Buddha cannot interfere with. But the Buddha possesses immeasurable supernatural powers; the supreme faculty is something He can use or not use at will, free and independent, relying on no dharma whatsoever—we simply cannot do that.

The outer representation is an absolute existence, not subject to human will. It is the most primordial material form manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and also the most fundamental material form. Once a sentient being makes contact with it, the material form is no longer primordial, no longer fundamental, no longer the original essential object. When an individual's eight consciousnesses become involved, they will alter the material form—and what is altered is the material form within one's own mind. Hence the saying that all dharmas are of one's own mind. Then can the most primordial material form of the outer representation be changed? It can also be changed: when an individual's karma merges into it, the dharmas one partakes of will undergo a certain change; it is only that whether these changes can be perceived differs in degrees of obviousness.