Tathāgatagarbha Transforms and Upholds the World According to Karma Seeds.

Question: For worlds outside the Saha world, is it the case that our tathāgatagarbha does not participate in upholding and sustaining them?

Answer: For worlds with which we have no karmic connection for the time being, our tathāgatagarbha temporarily cannot participate in manifesting and upholding them. First, we do not have those karmic seeds; second, even if we have the karmic seeds, the conditions for those seeds to become active are not yet mature, so the tathāgatagarbha cannot participate in operating there. However, this does not mean that our tathāgatagarbha does not participate in the operation of all other worlds. When karmic seeds mature, the tathāgatagarbha knows it, and in accordance with those karmic seeds it will participate in manifesting that world and upholding that world, so that when we pass away here, we can be born into that world.

For example, if someone has already created karma leading to the hells, and the seeds have already been stored, then when the karmic conditions for the hells mature, the tathāgatagarbha will participate in manifesting the hells. As soon as this person's karmic conditions in the human realm come to an end, he can immediately be reborn into the hells, without the tathāgatagarbha having to create the hell realms anew at the time of his death. For worlds with which we have karmic connections, the tathāgatagarbha participates in their manifestation before we are reborn there; otherwise we would have no conditions or qualification to exist in that world.

For example, going to the land of bliss (sukhāvatī): once wholesome karmic seeds have been stored and the conditions for those seeds ripen, the tathāgatagarbha must create the lotus palace there. When the conditions of the land of bliss are complete, we can immediately sit within the lotus and be born into the land of bliss. This shows that our tathāgatagarbha perceives in advance; what it knows are the karmic seeds. Only after knowing the state of the karmic seeds can it first go to the land of bliss to participate in the manifestation, and then we can be born there after death. If the tathāgatagarbha does not participate in the manifestation, we cannot be born into the land of bliss. Why would the tathāgatagarbha not participate in the manifestation? Because the karmic connection with the land of bliss is not yet complete, and for the time being we cannot go there.

If one wants these conditions to be complete soon, what should one do? The manas must have deep faith and earnest vows, wholeheartedly yearning for the land of bliss. The manas must have the intention; a vow made only superficially by the mind consciousness is not enough, because whether or not one goes to the land of bliss is decided by the manas as the master. The tathāgatagarbha mainly discerns the mental activities of the manas. When the manas wants to go, it wants to go from the depths of the heart; once the tathāgatagarbha discerns the manas' mental factor of volition (cetanā), it will go to the land of bliss to create the lotus palace. Recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) must also penetrate deeply into the manas; it is not enough to merely recite with the mouth. If the manas has no mental activity of recollecting the Buddha, one does not correspond with Amitābha Buddha and the land of bliss. The vast majority of people who recite the Buddha's name recite with the mouth but not with the mind; their minds are not constantly fixed on it—they are like a monkey and a horse, absent-minded. Reciting the Buddha's name in this way only establishes a dharma connection; one simply cannot go to the land of bliss.