Does Inanimate Matter Contain the Tathāgatagarbha?

The meaning of insentient things is that they have no conscious mind, and thus none of the functional characteristics of a conscious mind; therefore they have no capacity for discernment and no mental factors (caittas) operating.

However, insentient things are also manifested and upheld by the tathāgatagarbha; they are manifested and upheld jointly by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings who share common karma. When multiple tathāgatagarbhas cooperate together, they can only output the seeds of the four great elements to form the four great elements, manifesting the material universe (the inanimate world), mountains, rivers, the great earth, flowers, grass, trees, and other insentient things; they cannot output seeds of consciousness. Thus insentient things are also a function of the tathāgatagarbha, yet they lack the functions of the five aggregates of sentient beings. The output of seeds of consciousness is the individual act of a single sentient being's tathāgatagarbha, which can form a conscious mind with the functions of a conscious mind and the operation of mental factors—this is what constitutes sentient beings. The dharmas formed by the tathāgatagarbha's outputting seeds of the four great elements and its outputting seeds of consciousness are different: the former forms insentient things with no conscious-mind activity and no body of the five aggregates, while the latter forms sentient beings with conscious-mind activity and a body of the five aggregates. Both have the functions of the tathāgatagarbha; the functions are simply different.

The operation of the tathāgatagarbha within the body of the five aggregates is one of harmonizing with the seven consciousnesses, working in concert with the minds of the seven consciousnesses; it can discern the activities of the minds of the seven consciousnesses, making the body of the five aggregates lively and vibrant. But multiple tathāgatagarbhas have no cooperative relationship with insentient things; they merely output and alter the seeds of the four great elements. Insentient things have no mental activity; they are not produced and sustained by a single tathāgatagarbha, so within insentient things there is no way to find one's own tathāgatagarbha. Therefore one cannot attain enlightenment upon insentient things, cannot awaken to the true mind. But within the operation of the body of the five aggregates, one can find the tathāgatagarbha, can attain enlightenment, can awaken to the true mind. Therefore, in the Āgama sutras, the World-Honored One said: 五阴非我，不异我，不相在。