Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamasūtra) (Thirteen)

The hardness of the external earth element is false and unreal

Original text: 大王。云何外地界。坚硬性者。如彼世间。初建梵王所居宫殿。大宝所成。复生他化自在诸天。所居宫殿。皆七宝成。大王。若无地界。彼坚硬性。从何所生。

Explanation: After explaining the internal earth element, the Buddha went on to explain the external earth element. Any earth element is of a hard nature; outside the physical body there are also substances of a hard nature, which are not the six sense objects within the eighteen dhātus that we speak of, but the external six sense objects, especially referring to the external material sense-objects (external rūpa-viṣaya), which are the underlying realm (essence realm) conjointly transformed and created by the tathāgatagarbha, and can only be contacted by the tathāgatagarbha.

The Buddha said: Great King, what is the hardness of the external earth element? For example, when this vessel-world of the three realms was first formed, the palaces in which Mahābrahmā, the lord of the first dhyāna heaven, resided were built of great treasures, and the heavenly palaces of Śakra Devānām Indra were likewise composed of the seven treasures; and the palaces in which the lord of Parinirmitavaśavartin, the sixth heaven of the desire realm, resided were all built of the seven treasures. Great King, if there were no earth element, from where would the hardness of those palaces arise?

The hardness of all material forms is formed by the seeds of the earth element. The palace of Mahābrahmā, lord of the first dhyāna heaven, was built and composed of the seven treasures; the palace of the lord of the second dhyāna heaven was also composed of the seven treasures; Mount Sumeru is also composed of the seven treasures. All the seven treasures and hundred treasures have their hardness, all formed by the earth element. The earth is composed of soil, sand, and various minerals, which also contain various treasures within them; all have hardness, formed by the earth element.

When the world was first forming, the palaces were also formed bit by bit. The tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings with shared karma jointly output the seeds of the four great elements and the five great elements, forming the great seeds to conjointly manifest the universe's vessel-world, manifesting the palaces of the various heavenly palaces, manifesting the four great continents, the four great oceans, and the seven golden mountains. All these materials contain the earth element and all have hardness.

If there were no hardness of earth within our tathāgatagarbha, from where would the hardness of the external vessel-world be produced? This statement shows that the formation of all external vessel-worlds is manifested from the seeds contained within the tathāgatagarbha; it is the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings with karmic connections that output the shared karma seeds, together with the five great elements, to manifest the universe's vessel-world. This statement tells us where the universe's vessel-world comes from—it comes from the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore it is still the case that the mind creates all dharmas; all dharmas are transformed by the mind and arise from the mind. This earth element is a seed within the tathāgatagarbha, a function. At this point, one should begin to gain some initial understanding of the principle that all dharmas are mind-only.