The Four Great Elements' Subtle Particles and the Six Sense-Object Realms

Answer: If the inner six sense-objects are electrical signals, what are the outer six sense-objects? What is meant by 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 be conveniently called electrical signals. But the outer six sense-objects are likewise particles formed from the seeds of the four great elements, without any substantial mark of material form, and likewise possess a certain amount of energy, so they too can be called electrical signals. However, there is a distinction between the inner and outer six sense-objects, or between the two kinds of electrical signals: the outer six sense-objects are illusorily formed by the tathāgatagarbha using the seeds of the four great elements; they are false, like an image outside a mirror. The inner six sense-objects are the false upon the false, the illusory upon the illusory, like an image within a mirror.

When light reaches the supreme faculty of the eye, if the manas grasps at it and wants 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 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 sense-object realms, 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 features, and mistaking those shapes and features as truly existing, and thereby grasping at them.

It is like a small child assembling a pile of small parts into a puzzle, turning the parts into a physical object, and then grasping at that object with unceasing craving. The seeds of the four great elements are like the parts, and the realms of the six sense-objects are like the puzzle. When the six consciousnesses discern the sense-object realms, they puzzle 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 realized this entire process through direct practice, all dharmas are nothing, and only an empty tathāgatagarbha remains—and one does 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?