The Causes and Conditions for the Arising of All Dharmas

The tathāgatagarbha is the cause that generates all dharmas, but a solitary cause cannot generate all dharmas; it is only when the tathāgatagarbha relies on various conditions, containing the seeds of all dharmas, that it can generate all dharmas, and it also depends on the grasping of the manas. Lacking even one condition, the tathāgatagarbha cannot generate all dharmas; the karmic conditions must ripen and the conditions must be complete—this is the requirement for generating all dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha itself is unborn; it exists originally, needing nothing to generate He, and there is fundamentally nothing—no thing and no principle—that could generate Him. The tathāgatagarbha is the beginning of heaven and earth, prior to the myriad things; it is naturally so/intrinsically so/such by nature, and there is no rationale to be spoken of. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha is independent and self-sufficient, able to exist by itself without relying on other conditions. If it were something generated, He would have to depend on that which generated Him in order to exist, and could not be independent.

This is not some shallow worldly dharma that can be easily understood by sentient beings. Transmundane dharma does not resonate with the majority of sentient beings, so it is very hard for them to understand. Even at the stage of buddhahood, when the World-Honored One's true-suchness mind was to produce the World-Honored One's five aggregates, it still required various conditions; expounding the Tripitaka and the twelve divisions of scriptures also required various conditions; establishing the precepts required various conditions; saving all kinds of sentient beings required various conditions—every single deed required various conditions. A solitary cause does not generate dharmas; dharmas arise and manifest by relying on conditions.

For the World-Honored One to come to the Sahā world also required many conditions. Before coming to the human world, the World-Honored One had to observe whether the conditions of the sentient beings of the Sahā world had ripened, and when they would ripen. When the conditions for sentient beings' practice ripened, the conditions for the World-Honored One's descent into the world ripened. The World-Honored One also had to send an advance contingent to the human world to await His birth and to cooperate with Him in spreading the Dharma. After the World-Honored One attained the Way, expounding the Dharma of the Three Vehicles required many conditions; it was not that the World-Honored One could simply decide to do whatever He wished—He had to look to the conditions of sentient beings, as well as other relevant conditions.