Brief Discussion on Material Elements (Draft)

Thirteen: The Image in the Mirror of the Tathāgatagarbha Is Also Material Form

All dharmas are divided into material form (rūpa-dharma), mental dharmas, and dharmas that are neither material nor mental. Material form must be composed of the seeds of the four great elements, and is the part perceived by mental dharmas. The image seen by the conscious mind in a mirror is also material form, and must be composed of the seeds of the four great elements; only the structure of its composition differs somewhat from that of the material form outside the mirror. Mental dharma is the mind that can discriminate; the image in the mirror cannot discriminate, and therefore is not a mental dharma.

The appearances outside the mirror are jointly manifested by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings with common karma, while the image on the mirror is manifested by the tathāgatagarbha of an individual sentient being in dependence on the appearances outside. The appearances outside the mirror are false, and the image on the mirror is even more false. The appearances at various levels differ in the subtle particles composed of the seeds of the four great elements, resulting in different degrees of reality. Everything of our own physical body that we ourselves see is like the image on the mirror. Does it exist or not exist? Is it neither existent nor non-existent? Or is it neither non-existent nor not non-existent?

In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha said that the subtle particles of the physical body and the subtle particles of the inanimate world are not two and not different; they are composed of the same seeds of the four great elements. For example, the garbage and waste expelled every day from the blood vessels and skin of the body is exactly the same as the sand and soil of the inanimate world; the sweat excreted is exactly the same as the water of nature; the breath exhaled from the mouth, nose, and skin is exactly the same as the wind of the inanimate world; and the heat emitted by the body is exactly the same as the fire of the inanimate world. Therefore, the seeds of the four great elements composing material form are identical, and the body and the inanimate world are not two and not different. When the four great elements of the external world change, the body will change accordingly.

The non-Buddhists' doctrine of nonexistence: they see material form with their eyes, yet say it does not exist. If it does not exist, why is there any verbal discourse? The non-Buddhists' doctrine of existence: although all material form is clearly impermanent and empty, they say it is real and indestructible. The dharma taught by the Buddha is neither existent nor non-existent, neither existent nor non-existent, both existent and non-existent, and neither non-existent nor not non-existent. To take only one of these aspects while disregarding the rest is the non-Buddhist view. The Buddha's dharma is always perfectly penetrating—whether spoken from one side or the other, it all holds true. The non-Buddhists' doctrines, however, can never be self-consistent; they are self-contradictory.