Whether observed or unobserved, matter is in its original state.

Some people say that the state of matter differs depending on whether it is observed or not. But if matter is not being observed, how can one know its state when unobserved? As long as one knows the state of matter, the matter has been observed; without observation, one would not know the state of matter. For example, when someone is looking at a wall versus when no one is looking at it, does the wall undergo any change? If ten people look at this wall versus one person looking at it, is there any difference in the wall? Is there any difference between the house before we leave and the house after we leave? Of course, a material form, whether observed by someone or not, is arising, ceasing, and changing moment by moment; the difference lies in whether we have the meditative concentration and wisdom to discern these changes.

The material forms of the universe's inanimate world (bhājana-loka) are produced by the tathāgatagarbha of sentient beings who share collective karma, in accordance with their common karmic seeds. When all sentient beings have vanished, the karmic seeds are gone, the karmic conditions have ended, and the material forms will gradually disappear—this takes a certain amount of time. If one knows that a material form has changed and knows its state after the change, that is a result, and this is self-cognition (svasaṃvitti). Where there is self-cognition, there must be an object-aspect, and there must be a perceiving-aspect; where there is a perceiving-aspect, observation has definitely occurred. Without observation there would be no observed result of self-cognition, and then nothing at all would be known.

If a person is locked in a sealed, unoccupied space where no one observes him, can his body turn into waves? You can experiment: run into an uninhabited mountain where no one observes you, and then personally experience whether your body turns into waves. If that were the case, who would dare to leave a child alone at home? Science and experiments are not necessarily true science; perhaps there are many phenomena that science cannot answer in a reasonable and truthful way, and perhaps it answers them wrongly. Whatever is inconsistent with the Buddha-dharma and cannot be explained through the Buddha-dharma must contain errors and omissions. No matter what methods or instruments scientists use to conduct experiments, in the end they must use the eyes to discern, and discernment operates through the joint functioning of the eye consciousness, the mind consciousness, the manas, and the eighth consciousness. Therefore, once the result is known, observation has definitely occurred; there is nothing that is not observed.

All material forms originally have no obstructive solidity—everyone who possesses the supernatural power of unimpeded bodily movement has proven this. Why, then, are those without this power obstructed by material forms? It is due to the mistaken understanding of the mind consciousness and the manas, which take all dharmas as real; the mind is stagnant and obstructed, and therefore matter has an obstructing effect. If the mind is free of stagnation and obstruction, the body can immediately pass through walls, high mountains, deep seas, and even Mount Sumeru; two bodies can completely overlap without any sensation of being squeezed. Because matter exists in a particulate state, and also in a wave state, and is inherently so, matter has energy and momentum.

The physical body is formed by the manas's solidified delusive thinking. The delusions of the manas are all solid and hard to change, so all dharmas become stagnant and obstructed, and only then does the mind experience all kinds of dissatisfaction and all kinds of setbacks. Change the mind, and one can change all dharmas.