Commentary on the Pitāputrasamāgama Sūtra (Lecture 115)

Dharma Formed by Aggregation of Conditions Is Not Real Dharma

Understand that karmic activities occur without a creator or experiencer. Karmic activities refer to the functioning and operation of our physical and mental actions—the movements of body, speech, and mind—with no actual agent performing them. For instance, I am currently teaching the Dharma and speaking, yet there is no actual person doing this. Who is it that acts and speaks? You might say it is "me," but what is this "me"? Is it my physical body that is called "me," or is it my conscious mind that is called "me"? These are all illusions. The five aggregates formed by the combination of the physical body and conscious mind are even more illusory; there is no real "me." The five aggregates are illusory, and the phenomenon of the five aggregates speaking is even more unreal. The person speaking is not me; it is a composite entity. Since it is a composite entity, it is formed by the aggregation of conditions. When the conditions cease, the composite disperses and ceases to exist. Even the present composite is not substantially real.

For example, an army is composed of infantry, cavalry, and various other military units, provisionally designated as a "troop." After the troop is formed and achieves victory in war, the king might say: "How brave our troop is! How heroic and invincible! How mighty!" But is there truly an entity called "our troop"? A troop is composed of multiple military units; a single unit cannot be called a troop. Even after being combined, it still cannot be called a "troop." There is no real existence of a "troop" as an entity. A troop is an illusory, composite entity formed by conditions; it is not real. Dharma formed by the aggregation of conditions is not real dharma. When conditions disperse, the composite will scatter. A composite that can gather and disperse is false and unreal. When two or more things come together, they are called "one entity," but individually separated, they are not an entity. A is A, B is B; they are not truly one entity but a false composite, which is unreal.

Our five aggregates are also a composite, formed by the combination of the physical body and several kinds of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing minds. Only after being combined do we have feelings, thoughts, discernment, discrimination, volitional formations, and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of coming, going, and moving. If the conscious mind ceases, the five aggregates cannot be combined. If the body ceases, the five aggregates cannot be combined. Therefore, the illusory phenomenon formed by combination is not real. In reality, there is no real "me" as the five aggregates. A person is a thing formed by the coming together of several conditions; it is an illusion. When the conditions cease, it disperses. For example, this chair is formed by the combination of nails, wood, and human labor. When the conditions end, this chair will disintegrate, turning back into wood. When the wood also ceases to exist, it turns into ash, and finally, even the ash vanishes. All things formed by the aggregation of conditions are similarly unreal; therefore, one should not cling to them.

In the teachings of the Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle), all worldly phenomena are said to be produced by conditions; they are entirely provisional dharmas, not real. Anything formed by the aggregation of conditions is a provisional dharma, subject to birth and extinction, and ultimately false. From the perspective of Mahayana (Great Vehicle) teachings, why do conditioned aggregates exist? It is solely because of the existence of the Tathagatagarbha. Without the Tathagatagarbha, even this chair could not be assembled. When I use labor to nail this chair together, if my Tathagatagarbha does not function, I cannot complete this chair. Without the Tathagatagarbha, even wood would not exist, for trees cannot grow independently; they entirely rely on the functional power of the Tathagatagarbha. The growth of all things is inseparable from the Tathagatagarbha.