Why Every Dharma Is Suchness

Why are all dharmas true suchness (tathatā), and the entire great earth is the body of the Dharma King? The entire great earth being the body of the Dharma King is indeed true. Any place, however tiny as a speck of dust, is a place where the Dharma King resides and presides; all dharmas are true suchness—every particle and every mote of dust is true suchness. What do "all dharmas" include? They include all dharmas of the three realms of the world, from the vast trichiliocosm, the universe, and empty space, down to the smallest dust motes and bacteria—all are true suchness; the meaning of "coming from the West" is upon the tips of the hundred grasses—not a single blade of grass or a single thread departs from self-nature, departs from true suchness. Having realized this state, one has already entered the household of the Tathāgata and has cultivated for an extremely long period of time.

Why are all dharmas true suchness? Because all dharmas whatsoever are generated from the seeds of the seven great elements within the true-suchness mind-substance, the tathāgatagarbha; there is not a single dharma that can exist apart from the seeds of the seven great elements. The seeds of the seven great elements fill the world, fill the worlds of the lotus treasury, fill the ocean of worlds, fill the one true dharma realm.

The seeds of the seven great elements are like the emperor's yellow robe, and the tathāgatagarbha is like the emperor himself. As the emperor moves throughout the world, the yellow robe never leaves his body; upon seeing the yellow robe, one knows the emperor has appeared. There is no place in the world that is not the soil of the tathāgatagarbha, no place He cannot reach, no place that is not where He abides, no place without His figure, no dharma that is not He. From the sky to the ground, all is He; the mountains, rivers, and the great earth fully reveal the body of the Dharma King—all are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and all exist only by relying on the tathāgatagarbha's sustaining and holding.

"The verdant green bamboo is nothing but prajñā; the lush yellow flowers are all the Dharma body"—the whole world is the Buddha. To truly understand these words and realize them, one must reach the state of the first bhūmi and above; within and beyond the world, there is no dharma, no place, no moment that is not true suchness—all dharmas are true suchness. This is the contemplative realization state (vipaśyanā-caryā) of bhūmi bodhisattvas. Not a single dharma in the world can exist independently or stand alone; all are transformed by true suchness and sustained by true suchness. Whether arising or ceasing, all transformations are the doing of true suchness.