The Tathāgatagarbha's Sustaining of the Embryo and the Body-World (Part 1)

The embryos and the faculties, sense objects, and material world of all sentient beings are all held and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, which is why they can exist and function. The tathāgatagarbha is the fundamental cause for the arising and functioning of these dharmas; by means of the corresponding conditions, He gives rise to the embryo and the faculties, sense objects, and material world, and then causes these dharmas to continue operating and functioning.

For example, when a hen lays an egg, the surface phenomenon is that the egg is produced by the hen, but in reality it is conjured and brought forth by the tathāgatagarbha; then, when the causes and conditions mature, the egg will hatch into a chick. On the surface it appears that the hen can lay eggs, but in fact the tathāgatagarbha is operating throughout. If the hen did not have a tathāgatagarbha, it could not lay eggs—there would not even be a hen at all. Within all this there are many mysteries of the tathāgatagarbha dharma awaiting our realization and revelation.

For example, when sentient beings unite in sexual union, whether it is the sperm or the ovum, each is held and sustained by its own tathāgatagarbha. One sentient being's tathāgatagarbha holds the sperm, and another sentient being's tathāgatagarbha holds the ovum; only the tathāgatagarbhas of the two sentient beings can bring the sperm and ovum together. Then the tathāgatagarbha of the sentient being who is to enter the womb takes hold of this combined entity, which becomes a fertilized egg, and thus an embryo comes into being. That tathāgatagarbha will continue to hold and sustain the embryo and to create it, continuously supplying the seeds of the four great elements so that the embryo gradually grows, until finally, when the embryo is complete, the sentient being's life-form is born.

If the tathāgatagarbha does not hold and sustain it, there is no phenomenon of conception, and no embryo is formed. If the tathāgatagarbha does not hold the sperm or hold the ovum, the sperm and ovum have no vitality; even if they unite, they will not become a fertilized egg, and no embryo will be produced. In all of this there is the operation of the tathāgatagarbha, and only then is there the corresponding function of life. If there were no tathāgatagarbha, those two things would have no vitality, could not give rise to sentient beings, no life-form would be formed, and no life-form would descend. Even in the case of artificial insemination, the sperm and ovum are each held by the tathāgatagarbhas of two sentient beings, and then they are brought together; when the tathāgatagarbha of the sentient being who is to take rebirth enters this combined entity, it becomes an embryo.

Whether or not the sperm and ovum have left the sentient being's body, they are still held by the tathāgatagarbha. Once they have been outside the body for a long time, the tathāgatagarbha no longer directly holds them, and the sperm and ovum then have no function and no vitality. As long as the sperm and ovum are within a certain period after leaving the body, each is still held by its own tathāgatagarbha; therefore, when they unite, an embryo can be formed. But if the sperm and ovum have been outside the body for a long time, the tathāgatagarbha no longer directly holds them, they have no function, and no life will be produced.