The Difference Between Internal and External Material Forms of the Supreme Faculty

When scientists use microscopes with magnification of hundreds of millions of times to observe matter, are they observing the material form (rūpa) within the supreme faculty (indriya), or the material form outside the supreme faculty? If what scientists observe is the inner sense-object within the supreme faculty, then through how many transformations and transitions has this inner sense-object passed before becoming the wave-like state of extremely fine particles seen by the eye consciousness and mind consciousness?

As long as the eye consciousness and mind consciousness know it, it is the inner sense-object that is known; it is forever impossible to know the outer sense-object. The instrument itself has no capacity for knowing. This is the meaning of how the mind consciousness influences the results of observation. What scientists observe is the inner sense-object; the state of the outer sense-object is unknown and cannot possibly be in exactly the same state. Because in the transmission process, the particles of the four great elements pass through the microscope, through the physical eye, through various transmitting nerves, and only finally arrive at the supreme faculty. At each stage of the process, a certain degree of obstruction occurs, and the particles of the four great elements change somewhat; exactly how much they have changed by the time they reach the supreme faculty, we cannot know.

The more stages the process passes through in between, the more the change. The material form seen by the eye consciousness through ten layers of glass, compared with that seen directly through the eye faculty without passing through glass, is certainly different. Those who are interested may try it themselves. As the essential realm of the outer sense-object passes through each layer of glass lens, the particles of the four great elements undergo changes; the glass lens blocks or filters out some of the coarser particles, and only the most subtle particles can pass through the various layers of lenses, the vitreous body of the physical eye, and the transmitting nerves. In this process, the colors change, the forms and shapes of matter change, and the clarity diminishes. If the lens is not white but colored, then when the particles of the four great elements pass through, even more particles may be blocked and filtered out. Even among different kinds of white lenses, when the particles of the four great elements pass through, the obstructions they encounter differ, and the images formed by the particles finally arriving at the supreme faculty will accordingly differ.

After all this research and investigation, has the manas come to feel that material form is illusory? When the mind consciousness investigates, the manas absolutely does not synchronize with it; when the mind consciousness realizes something, the manas cannot realize it at the same time. Only through cultivating meditative concentration and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) can the manas give its recognition and certification.

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