Are the inner sense objects electrical signals or images?

Answer: What is meant by an electrical signal? Electricity means energy, and signal means particles; both are combinations of the four great seeds. The inner six sense-objects that our six consciousnesses perceive are all fine particles formed from the four great seeds, possessing a certain amount of energy, and can conveniently be called electrical signals. If the inner six sense-objects are electrical signals, then what are the outer six sense-objects? In what form do the inner and outer six sense-objects manifest? The outer six sense-objects are likewise fine particles formed from the four great seeds, without any substantial form of material form; they likewise possess a certain amount of energy and can also be called electrical signals. Thus both the inner and outer six sense-objects manifest in the form of electrical signals. However, the electrical signals of the inner and outer six sense-objects are different: the outer six sense-objects are illusorily formed by the tathāgatagarbha using the four great seeds; they are false, like an image outside a mirror; whereas the inner six sense-objects are electrical signals that have been transmitted and altered—false upon false, illusion upon illusion, like an image within a mirror.

When light reaches the eye faculty, which is the supreme faculty (rūpa-prasāda), if the manas wishes to engage and discern, 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 these two conscious minds. Whichever consciousness discerns, a corresponding appearance appears within 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 fine particles of the four great elements as having certain forms and appearances, and mistaking those forms and appearances as truly existing, and thereby grasping at them.

For example, a small child assembles a pile of small parts into a puzzle, turning the parts into a tangible object, and then grasps at that object with insatiable craving. Likewise, the four great seeds are equivalent to the parts, the realms of the six sense-objects are equivalent to the puzzle, and when the six consciousnesses discern the sense-object realms, they puzzle the fine particles of the four great elements into the realms of the six sense-objects, and then grasp and crave them—just like a child playing house, which is extremely childish. If one realizes this entire process through direct practice, then all dharmas cease to exist, leaving only an empty tathāgatagarbha; yet one will no longer grasp at Him either, and thus one arrives home and becomes a Buddha. Since all dharmas do not exist, why do we busy ourselves with so many things every day?