The Meaning of Dependent Origination and Emptiness of Self-Nature

Dependent arising and emptiness of nature is observed from the perspective of the emptiness of dharmas in the Small Vehicle, examining all dharmas born of the tathāgatagarbha as entirely worldly dharmas; it is not observed from the perspective of the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha. In the worldly realm, all dharmas arise due to causes and conditions; their forms and substances are empty, subject to arising and ceasing, subject to decay and ruin, not lasting long, unattainable, and impossible to grasp. This is viewing the nature of worldly dharmas from the perspective of Small Vehicle dharma. Among these, the cause is the origin and source from which all dharmas are initiated; it can also be said to be the karmic seeds of karma created in the past, encompassing the three kinds of karma—wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral (avyākṛta). Conditions are the people, things, and circumstances that facilitate and assist the manifestation of karmic seeds as retributive results. When causes and conditions are complete, the karmic results are realized. Only the seventh consciousness (manas) exists without cause or condition; in fact, the existence of the seventh consciousness also has a cause, namely the fundamental ignorance (one thought of ignorance) of the seventh consciousness. If this fundamental ignorance is extinguished, the seventh consciousness will no longer remain in existence. The existence of the seventh consciousness has no condition; it has existed since beginningless kalpas, and no assisting condition for its arising can be found. Therefore, the seventh consciousness has no beginning; because ignorance has no beginning, it is called beginningless ignorance (avidyā).

Since all dharmas are empty of nature through dependent arising, the causes are also empty of nature and subject to arising and ceasing, and the conditions are also empty of nature and subject to arising and ceasing, then when causes and conditions cease, all dharmas also cease. This does not involve the Mahāyāna dharma of the tathāgatagarbha; it does not touch upon the fact that the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to all these dharmas, and therefore it is called the emptiness dharma of the Small Vehicle. If the tathāgatagarbha is not involved, the emptiness of all dharmas does not land on the fundamental point; it is as if all dharmas truly exist, and only then are they empty of nature through dependent arising. In fact, from the perspective of the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha, all dharmas are the tathāgatagarbha; there are no substantial dharmas at all. All dharmas do not arise, and therefore they do not cease either, because they are transformations of appearance of the tathāgatagarbha—so what is there that arises, and what is there that can cease? Nothing goes beyond the tathāgatagarbha.

The emptiness of the Small Vehicle is an emptiness of decay and destruction, whereas the emptiness of the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha is the emptiness-nature mind that neither arises nor ceases. The two are essentially different and must not be conflated. Dependent arising and emptiness of nature is that kind of voidness in Small Vehicle dharma, which has not yet touched upon the cultivation content of the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha dharma. Therefore, dependent arising and emptiness of nature is not ultimate; one still needs to awaken to what the ultimate meaning of all worldly dharmas is, and what their essence is.

After attaining the fruit of the arhat and the fruit of the pratyekabuddha, one then turns to enter the Mahāyāna dharma to cultivate the tathāgatagarbha dharma. After realizing the tathāgatagarbha, one then progressively engages in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the worldly dharmas of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), and will come to know the relationship between the five aggregates and the tathāgatagarbha, the truth of the birth and perishing of the five aggregates, thoroughly comprehend the nature of the tathāgatagarbha and the substance of the world of the five aggregates. Only when ignorance is extinguished completely can one become a Buddha. Merely awakening to the dependent arising and emptiness of nature of the world of the five aggregates is only realizing the emptiness on the side of the Small Vehicle, and one still cannot become a Buddha.