How Are the External Six Sense Objects and the Internal Six Sense Objects Formed?

External sense objects are called the outer six sense objects (bāhya-ṣaḍ-viṣaya); through the outer faculties they are transmitted to the inner faculties, forming the inner sense objects. This entire process is all done by the tathāgatagarbha, not by the outer faculties or inner faculties themselves. The outer faculties and inner faculties are composed of the four great elements; they have no function of their own. If consciousness did not arise and operate within them, the outer and inner faculties would be the same as stones, wood, and insentient things. It is precisely because consciousness operates in the outer faculties, the inner faculties, and the physical body of the four great elements that the body of the four great elements seems to have function, and the outer and inner faculties seem able to transmit material form, seeming to have the function of receiving material form. In fact, all these functions are entirely done by the tathāgatagarbha. The function of the outer faculties themselves is done by the tathāgatagarbha; the function of the inner faculties themselves is done by the tathāgatagarbha; the structure of the inner and outer faculties is created by the tathāgatagarbha. All the material forms and six sense objects outside are also created by the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the outer six sense objects through the outer faculties into the inner faculties, forming the inner six sense objects, is also the doing of the tathāgatagarbha.

The inner six sense objects are composed of subtle four great elements and are also produced by the tathāgatagarbha, generated from the seeds of the four great elements. Both the outer and inner sense objects are accumulations of the seeds of the four great elements. However, the seeds of the four great elements differ: the outer sense objects are the essential realm (essence-object), composed of substantial seeds of the four great elements, whereas the inner sense objects are not the essential realm; they are shadows conjured up based on the outer sense objects, composed of even more subtle seeds of the four great elements, with a slightly different structure, and therefore are called shadows. It is like a mirror: the object outside the mirror is a real thing, called the outer sense object, while what is inside the mirror is no longer real matter, and so it is called a shadow. Although it is also composed of the four great elements, this is a bit hard to understand. The shadow and the outer shape are the same, but their essence is different—there is a distinction.