Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Twenty-Four)

The Earth Element and the Nature of the Earth Element Are Utterly Unattainable

The earth element is one of the four great elements—the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind. These four great elements exist within the tathāgatagarbha, where He contains and stores the seeds. When the seeds are transmitted outward, they can manifest our material bodies and manifest mountains, rivers, and the great earth. The seeds of the four great elements can manifest all material form (rūpa).

Both the earth element and the nature of the earth element are utterly unattainable—they are false, illusory, and empty. Only the Buddha's wisdom can fully discern and fully realize this truth of reality. We can only understand a portion of it in a similar way, perhaps even just a small portion. Even bodhisattvas of equal enlightenment cannot completely know these principles. Only the Buddha's wisdom can know these matters of seeds without remainder, fully knowing all the functional seeds within the tathāgatagarbha without the slightest omission—this is why the Buddha possesses omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā). Bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi and above possess the wisdom of the varieties of paths, knowing a portion of the functional seeds within the tathāgatagarbha. Those who know nothing at all are bodhisattvas below the first bhūmi, or unenlightened ordinary bodhisattvas who have not attained enlightenment. The more one knows, the higher one's wisdom, and the higher the bodhisattva's stage of attainment.