The Concepts of the Four Great Elements, Six Great Elements, and Seven Great Elements

The Four Great Elements are earth, water, fire, and wind, which are the seeds forming material form (rūpa). Material form can be subdivided; when division can proceed no further, it reaches the most subtle particles of the Four Great Elements, but these are still not the seeds themselves; they are still composed of the seeds of the Four Great Elements.

The Seven Greats in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra are: earth, water, fire, wind, space, perceiving, and consciousness—the seven factors constituting the world of sentient beings. The Four Greats and space constitute the material body and the aggregate of form. Consciousness constitutes the sentient beings’ aggregate of consciousness, aggregate of sensation, aggregate of perception, and aggregate of mental formations. The inherent nature of the great elements refers to the function of the seeds of the Four Great Elements. If referring to the Six Greats, it means earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness, excluding the Great Perceiving. This "perceiving" is also a seed within the Tathāgatagarbha, referring to the perceiving nature inherently possessed by the Tathāgatagarbha itself, known as the Buddha-nature. By excluding the Great Perceiving, the Seven Greats can thus be abbreviated to the Six Greats.

The seeds of the Four Great Elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—cannot be further subdivided. The material composed of the Four Greats can be divided; when division reaches its limit, it becomes the neighboring particles bordering on emptiness. Earth is also composed of the Four Greats, water is also composed of the Four Greats, fire is also composed of the Four Greats, wind is also composed of the Four Greats. It is merely the differing proportional structures of the Four Greats that form different substances.

The most subtle particles of the Four Greats are also material forms composed of the Four Greats, divided into the neighboring particles bordering on emptiness, approaching non-existence. These neighboring particles bordering on emptiness are still composed of the Four Greats, only extremely subtle. Subdividing material into neighboring particles bordering on emptiness does not mean dispersing or decomposing the seeds of the Four Greats within the material into separate parts of earth-nature, water-nature, fire-nature, and wind-nature, thereby causing the material to disintegrate, vanish, cease to exist, or become empty space. Rather, it is the division of the material itself into extremely minute material particles.

Within the Tathāgatagarbha, there are the seven great elemental natures: earth, water, fire, wind, space, perceiving, and consciousness, all being the nature of the Tathāgatagarbha. The Tathāgatagarbha inherently possesses these seven great seeds, which, due to various conditions, manifest the five aggregates, the eighteen elements (dhātus), and all phenomena of the world. Thus, all phenomena of the world are the nature of the Tathāgatagarbha, produced through the combination of the seven great seeds.

The nature of space is formless; it manifests due to form. Empty space has no form; the place beside form that is without form is conventionally designated as empty space. There is also space within matter, and space within the body. Places without matter are conventionally designated as empty. Space is not truly existent; it is manifested because of form. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the World-Honored One gives an example: digging earth to make a well, when the earth is removed, that is space; thus space is revealed. Following karma, it manifests; as karma manifests, space becomes apparent, fundamentally the Tathāgatagarbha. Perceiving and sensation lack inherent knowledge; they exist due to form and space. Seeing form, seeing space, seeing light, seeing darkness—this perceiving essence comes from the Tathāgatagarbha; it does not come from form, space, light, or darkness, nor does it arise by itself. Seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are fundamentally the Tathāgatagarbha.

For instance, the faculty of sight sees throughout the entire Dharma realm; hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, sensing contact, and knowing—this mysterious virtue, pure and luminous, pervades the entire Dharma realm. "Mysterious" (妙, miào) means it is marvelous precisely because it comes from the Tathāgatagarbha, possessing the virtuous qualities of the Tathāgatagarbha nature, pervading the Dharma realm according to conditions, manifesting wherever there is affinity.

The nature of consciousness has no source; it arises falsely due to the six kinds of sense faculties and sense objects. When the six sense faculties contact the six sense objects, the Tathāgatagarbha produces the six consciousnesses. The six sense faculties are illusory, the six sense objects are illusory, and thus the six consciousnesses arise illusorily. Why illusory? Because they are produced by the Tathāgatagarbha; they are not inherently existent, not real. The Tathāgatagarbha supplies the seeds of consciousness to the six consciousnesses; only then do the six consciousnesses have functional capacity and can discriminate the six sense objects. "Great" (大, dà) refers to the inherent nature of the great elements, the seeds within the Tathāgatagarbha. The Tathāgatagarbha, relying on various conditions, outputs seeds, thereby giving birth to all phenomena of the world.

Furthermore, the shaped substances like earth within worldly phenomena are formed by the combination of the seeds of the four great elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. Earth not only contains the seed of earth but also the seed of water, the seed of fire, and the seed of wind. For example, in a stone, there is the hardness of earth within; striking it produces sparks, indicating the presence of fire-nature; the occurrence of mudslides shows that stone has water-nature; there is also space within the stone, which is space-nature; where there is space, there is the existence of wind, hence wind-nature. External substances are all generated by the combination of the great elemental natures; they are not substances of a single nature.

Consciousness is a functional attribute unique to sentient beings; material form lacks it, therefore material form is called insentient matter. "Mysterious" (妙, miào) refers to the nature of the Tathāgatagarbha; this alone is truly marvelous. Formless and without characteristics, yet capable of so much utilization; possessing nothing, yet able to produce so many phenomena; truly empty, yet marvelously existent. It has never left us for even a split second; it never abandons us, yet it does not reside within us, not mingled together.