How the Tathāgatagarbha Gives Rise to the Five Aggregates and the Eighteen Realms

The eighteen realms are brought forth by the tathāgatagarbha, and stand in a relationship of neither identity nor difference with the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha outputs the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind, forming the five faculties and the aggregate of form of sentient beings, and forming the six sense-objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana, including the universe of the material world (bhājanaloka) in which sentient beings live—all living environments. The tathāgatagarbha outputs the seeds of consciousness of the manas, sustaining the existence and functioning of the manas, and then outputs the seeds of the six consciousnesses, producing the six consciousnesses; in this way the five aggregates and eighteen realms of sentient beings are formed. When we observe our own five aggregates of body and mind, we know that they are all born after the fact, and whatever is formed after the fact is subject to arising and ceasing; it is fundamentally not the true self. The true self could not possibly be constantly arising and ceasing, lacking self-mastery (avaśatā) to such a degree. The true self must be one that can exist by its own sovereign authority, and moreover is free from feelings of suffering.