The Mechanism Behind Life and Natural Phenomena

Many people marvel at the wonder and mystery of life and nature, so much so that scientists in every field devote their entire lives to exploring the mysteries of life and nature, hoping to uncover the operating mechanisms behind all dharmas in the world. Because our ignorance is deep and heavy, our wisdom is limited, our vision is too narrow, our knowledge is too narrow, and our power of observation is too weak, we cannot observe clearly what the underlying operating mechanisms actually are; our understanding of many natural phenomena is insufficient, and we do not know their essential characteristics and internal mechanisms, which is why we find the activities of life so mysterious. If one could see with complete clarity the mechanisms of all the activities of the body, as well as the phenomena of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing in nature, these things would no longer hold any mystery for us; we would feel that the life activities of the physical body are simply as they are, and that the material universe (the vessel world) is naturally and inherently so—nothing to marvel about. 

All the natural activities of the material universe—the blowing of the wind, the stirring of the grass, flashes of lightning, peals of thunder, torrential rains as well as gentle refreshing breezes, the coming of spring and the passing of autumn, the alternation of the four seasons—are these operating mechanisms naturally self-existent, or are they formed by the convergence of causes and conditions? On the surface, they are all formed by causes and conditions, including the karmic conditions of sentient beings with shared karma; they are evoked by common collective karma, whereas the environments in which sentient beings of different karma live are of another state: there are no phenomena of birth, aging, sickness, and death, no alternation of the four seasons, and the living environment is always comfortable and perfect—this is what is evoked by the pure karma of sentient beings. The Sahā world, however, has countless phenomena of change such as birth, aging, sickness, and death, and arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing—this is what is evoked by the mixed wholesome and unwholesome karma of sentient beings. 

So how do these phenomena of life and nature come about, and what is the operating mechanism behind them? To say that these phenomena are all dharmas produced by causes and conditions is only a surface answer; in reality, it is the tathāgatagarbha that directs all these dharmas from behind. According to the common karma and individual karma created by sentient beings, the tathāgatagarbha manifests karmic conditions, and then, in accordance with those karmic conditions, gives rise to all dharmas. The reason the tathāgatagarbha can create all these dharmas is that He possesses the seeds of the seven great elements; the different combinations of these seven great element seeds constitute the richly colorful world. Among them, material form is constituted by the seeds of the five great elements, and mental dharmas are constituted by the seeds of consciousness and the perceiving-aspect seeds; when material form and mental dharmas combine, they can manifest dharmas that are neither material nor mental—thus all dharmas of the world are complete, and the world of sentient beings is established. When karmic seeds and karmic conditions differ, the seeds allocated by the tathāgatagarbha also differ, and the dharmas produced are different; because there are differences, the functions of the dharmas are complete, and the world can be diverse and multifaceted. 

The differences among all dharmas are caused by karmic seeds. When karmic seeds differ, the fruits differ, and the phenomena differ; but these are all differences in imagination—the substance is the same: all are the functions of the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha manipulates His own inherent seeds, causing them to gather, disperse, separate, and unite, transforming them into the world's resplendent phenomena of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing; when karmic seeds and karmic conditions change, the phenomenal realm changes accordingly. Therefore, the operating mechanism behind the phenomena of life and nature is the principle by which the tathāgatagarbha generates all dharmas. If one masters the functions and roles of the tathāgatagarbha's seeds, one will gradually unveil the secrets of these phenomena and will no longer find the natural world marvelous.