The Relationship Between Internal Dharma Dust and External Dharma Dust

Question: Does the Tathāgatagarbha only condition real dharmas, namely the earth, water, fire, and wind elements, the ten forms, and the five sense faculties and five sense objects? Then, are the heights of mountains and the sizes of trees that we perceive real dharmas or provisional dharmas? Can the Tathāgatagarbha condition them? If not, then what causes the distinctions in the material world, the differences in the size, shape, form, and color of objects?

Answer: Real dharmas refer to the external five sense objects: form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. However, they also include external mental objects (dharmas), such as the form, appearance, and non-appearance on the form object, and so forth. Therefore, the heights of mountains and the sizes of trees externally are also real dharmas, and the Tathāgatagarbha can condition them. When the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to a form dharma, it must not only produce the color and hue of the form object but must simultaneously produce the mental objects (dharmas) related to the form object, such as its shape, appearance, and non-appearance. Otherwise, the form object would not be a complete form object; it would possess only the characteristic of color. The same applies to sound objects, smell objects, taste objects, and touch objects—all have external mental objects (dharmas) associated with them.

If there were no external mental objects, and the form object possessed only color and hue, then all form objects would have only color, without shape, appearance, non-appearance, etc. There would be no distinctions of shape, height, size, length, roundness, squareness, thickness, or thinness; no differentiating characteristics of variety or type; no appearance or non-appearance aspects like beauty, ugliness, majesty, straightness, imposing presence, tree rings, softness, hardness, and so forth. The form objects of the universe and material world would differ only in color. Beyond that, everything would be a blurry, indistinct, chaotic mass.

Not only would karmic seeds be unable to manifest, but the Tathāgatagarbha's manifestation of all things would also become extremely simplistic. The great chiliocosm would be merely a riot of color, utterly devoid of form and substance, rendering it practically useless. Sentient beings would perceive only a mass of color, without distinctions of length, roundness, squareness, size, beauty, or ugliness. Consequently, all form object matter would be unusable, and sentient beings could not survive in such a material world.

In reality, when the Tathāgataghatba gives rise to form dharmas, it uses the four great elements' seeds to completely manifest various different form dharmas and matter, including color, shape, posture, quality, hardness/softness, and other intrinsic characteristics. Then, when sentient beings perceive form, the Tathāgatagarbha, relying on the external six sense faculties, transmits the complete form object, including the mental objects (dharmas), to the supreme meaning faculty (āśraya). The mental faculty (manas) dominates the act of seeing form, enabling the eye consciousness and mental consciousness to jointly cognize the complete form object. This is the principle described as the Tathāgatagarbha manifesting appearances like a mirror, where the manifested image is similar to or identical with the external form object. It is impossible for internal mental objects to arise without the existence of external mental objects.

The sentient beings' five-aggregate physical body, which also belongs to form dharmas and real dharmas, including all its forms and appearances, exists even in the mother's womb, and is all directly conditioned by the Tathāgatagarbha. If there were no external mental objects, a person would have only color, without limbs, head, five sense faculties, gender, age, facial features, temperament, height, weight, knowledge, cultivation, and other aspects of form, appearance, and non-appearance. If the Tathāgatagarbha only produced the color and hue when giving rise to the physical body, no one could be called a person; it would be unknown what thing they were. All form objects would likewise be unrecognizable as to what they were. The world would be a chaotic mass, possessing only color. Such a situation cannot exist.

Therefore, it is said that mental objects (dharmas) such as form, appearance, and non-appearance are also real dharmas. The Tathāgatagarbha both gives rise to them and can condition them. It can rely on them to manifest internal mental objects. What sentient beings cognize is the complete form object, with all information fully present; it is not an internal mental object conjured out of nothing and subsequently transformed. The same applies to the other sense objects—all have external mental objects, and internal mental objects arise dependent on the external ones, not by the internal five sense objects giving rise to internal mental objects.

The Tathāgatagarbha transmits the real dharmas to the supreme meaning faculty, where they become provisional dharmas. The mental faculty conditions them. If it is interested and wishes to cognize them in detail but cannot do so itself, the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the six consciousnesses at the point of contact between the sense faculty and the sense object to perform cognition. When the eye faculty comes into contact with the internal form object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to eye consciousness within that contact. When the ear faculty comes into contact with the sound object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to ear consciousness. When the nose faculty comes into contact with the smell object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to nose consciousness. When the tongue faculty comes into contact with the taste object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to tongue consciousness. When the body faculty comes into contact with the touch object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to body consciousness. When the mental faculty comes into contact with the mental object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to mental consciousness. Thus, the six consciousnesses manifest and cognize the internal six sense objects.