The Distinction Between Non-Sentient Beings and Sentient Beings

Question: The four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind constitute all phenomena with form. Is the movement of thought and consciousness also the function of wind? Do all insentient objects, such as cups, teapots, and plants, also possess Tathāgatagarbha?

Answer: The movement of thought and consciousness itself is a function of the nature of consciousness, arising from the operation of the seven consciousnesses and mental factors. Wind cannot induce the movement of consciousness; it can only induce the movement of material objects. The four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind can only constitute the six sense objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas) with form; they cannot constitute the formless mental dharmas. Insentient objects are not operated by a single Tathāgatagarbha, but they are subject to the sustaining function of the Tathāgatagarbha of sentient beings sharing collective karma. It is due to this that insentient objects can manifest the phenomena of birth, abiding, change, and cessation.

Because the three realms are mind-only, all dharmas lack inherent self-nature; they all originate from Tathāgatagarbha, are born from it, and are sustained by it. Therefore, there is no dharma that exists outside of Tathāgatagarbha. The five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness) born from Tathāgatagarbha constitute sentient beings, who possess lifespan and life activities. Killing them incurs karmic fault. Conversely, insentient objects lack the function of the five aggregates; destroying or consuming them does not incur the offense of killing, because these objects lack the life activities governed by the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness).