The Four Great Elements, Micro-particles, and the Realm of the Six Dusts

Question: When light enters the eye, the photoreceptor cells inside the eye convert the light source into electrical signals, and the electrical signals are transmitted through the optic nerve to the visual cortex of the brain. Then what is it that decodes the electrical signals into images?

Answer: If the inner six sense-objects are electrical signals, then what are the outer six sense-objects? What is called an electrical signal? In what form do the inner and outer six sense-objects manifest? The inner six sense-objects that our six consciousnesses perceive are all particles formed from the seeds of the four great elements, possessing a certain amount of energy, and can conveniently be called electrical signals. But the outer six sense-objects are likewise particles formed from the seeds of the four great elements, without any substantial material form, and likewise possess a certain amount of energy, so they can also be called electrical signals. However, the inner and outer six sense-objects, or the electrical signals, are different: the outer six sense-objects are illusorily formed by the tathāgatagarbha using the seeds of the four great elements; they are false, like the image outside a mirror. The inner six sense-objects are the false upon the false, the illusory upon the illusory, like the image within a mirror.

When light reaches the supreme faculty, the eye faculty, if the manas grasps at and intends to discern it, the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness arise, and the two together discern the electrical signals of the light, and the electrical signals then manifest in the form of visual appearance within those two conscious minds. Whichever consciousness discerns, a corresponding appearance appears in that consciousness's mind. Therefore, when the six consciousnesses discern the objects of sense, no decoding is involved. If one insists on calling it decoding, that is mistaking the particles of the four great elements as having certain shapes and appearances, and mistaking those shapes and appearances as truly existing, and thereby grasping at them.

It is like a small child assembling a puzzle with a pile of small parts, turning the parts into a physical object, and then grasping at that object with insatiable craving. The seeds of the four great elements are like the component parts, and the realms of the six sense-objects are like the puzzle. When the six consciousnesses discern the objects of sense, they assemble the particles of the four great elements into the realms of the six sense-objects, and then grasp at them with craving—just like a child playing house, childish.

When you have personally realized this entire process, all dharmas are nothing, and only an empty tathāgatagarbha remains; and if you do not grasp at Him either, then you have arrived home—you have become a Buddha. Since all dharmas are nothing, why do we busy ourselves with so many things every day?