The Manifestation and Upholding of All Dharmas by the Tathāgatagarbha

Question: The supreme faculty (indriya) of the eye is composed of the four great elements and is also a real dharma, which the tathāgatagarbha can directly condition. Inner material sense-objects (inner rūpa-viṣaya) are like images in a mirror and are illusory dharmas—can the tathāgatagarbha also condition them? If the tathāgatagarbha cannot condition inner material sense-objects, how does He give rise to eye consciousness at the place where faculty and sense-object contact, delivering the seeds of eye consciousness to the place where faculty and sense-object contact?

Answer: Every dharma is true suchness (tathatā); there is no dharma that is not transformed by true suchness, not conditioned by true suchness, not held and sustained by true suchness—their essence is entirely true suchness. Therefore, inner material sense-objects and the inner six sense-objects are all born and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; their essence is also the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha does condition them—moreover, conditioning them directly and solely by Himself. As for the outer six sense-objects, they are jointly born by the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings who have the requisite conditions, and are jointly conditioned; thus, the way an individual tathāgatagarbha conditions the outer six sense-objects differs from the way it conditions the inner six sense-objects.

The outer six sense-objects arise after all tathāgatagarbhas output the seeds of the four great elements, forming the four great elements, which all tathāgatagarbhas jointly use to collectively manifest and sustain them; their arising, abiding, alteration, and ceasing change extremely slowly. For example, the arising, abiding, alteration, and ceasing of the Saha world takes one great kalpa, while other buddha-lands take even longer eons; the arising, abiding, alteration, and ceasing of the various kinds of material form used by sentient beings may take anywhere from a few days to years, decades, or centuries.

For material form solely sustained by a sentient being's tathāgatagarbha, the cycle of its arising, abiding, alteration, and ceasing is relatively short; the arising, abiding, alteration, and ceasing of the material body, for instance, takes anywhere from a few minutes to years, decades, centuries, or millennia. As for the inner six sense-objects within the supreme faculties, because the states of objects contacted by the six faculties constantly shift, the inner six sense-objects that the tathāgatagarbha transmits into the supreme faculties must also constantly shift, and their time of arising and ceasing is relatively even shorter. This shows that the tathāgatagarbha must constantly switch the states of the six sense-objects, constantly causing the inner six sense-objects to arise, abide, alter, and cease. From this we can know that dharmas manifested solely by the tathāgatagarbha, being subject to fewer constraints and limitations, arise and change with greater flexibility, and arise, cease, and change rapidly.