The Physical Body of Sentient Beings and Their Environmental Retribution

Question: The mountains, rivers, and the great earth that human eyes see are each the portion of mountains, rivers, and the great earth that we ourselves participated in jointly manifesting. As for the animals, insects, and our loved ones that human eyes see, are we seeing the images produced when the four great seeds that they exude come into contact with the four great seeds of our own tathāgatagarbha? And is the same true of the flowers, grass, and trees that we see?

Answer: The physical bodies of sentient beings are also material form composed of the four great elements, and this material form is also manifested solely by their own tathāgatagarbha, having nothing to do with other sentient beings; the tathāgatagarbha of other sentient beings does not participate in its manifestation. When we see these sentient beings, our own tathāgatagarbha, like a mirror displaying an image, manifests the inner representation at our own supreme faculty, while the physical bodies of those beings are, to us, the outer representation, which has nothing to do with us. Our tathāgatagarbha transforms the physical bodies of sentient beings into our own inner representation; once the inner representation is produced, the six consciousnesses arise, and the six consciousnesses then discern this inner representation—thus we see those sentient beings: other people, insects, various animals, as well as ghosts, spirits, devas, and the like.

Whatever has a tathāgatagarbha present—whether it possesses eight consciousnesses, or fewer than eight consciousnesses—is a sentient being, and its physical body is manifested by its own tathāgatagarbha, having nothing to do with us. When we see it, it is because our tathāgatagarbha has taken in the four great images of the other party and transformed them into our own inner representation; only this inner representation is related to us and to our tathāgatagarbha. The sentient beings of the outer representation have no connection with our own tathāgatagarbha.

It is just like our own body, which is manifested solely by our own tathāgatagarbha, having nothing to do with other sentient beings, and nothing to do with the Buddha either. But when another person sees our body, it is because his tathāgatagarbha has transformed our body into an inner representation that he is able to see it. This is not entirely the same relationship as seeing mountains, rivers, and the great earth. The external mountains, rivers, and great earth are our circumstantial retribution (environment); this circumstantial environment includes the portion that we participated in manifesting. When our tathāgatagarbha takes it in, it takes in that portion of the outer material sense-object that we ourselves participated in manifesting, and then transforms it into the inner representation; only then can we grasp it through attention, discern it, and see it. The flowers, grass, and trees that we see are all likewise.