What Is Matter Composed Of?

All material form (rūpa-dharma) is composed of the great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. When the proportion of the water seed is greater, liquid water is formed. Water is aggregated from water molecules, and within water molecules there are hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms; within each atom there are even more minute particles of matter such as protons, neutrons, and atomic nuclei. Each of these minute particles is composed of the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind, plus the seed of the space element, so that there are gaps within the particles, allowing the particles to move along spatial orbits. When the arrangements and combinations of the four great seeds and the space seed differ, the particles formed differ, and their modes of movement also differ.

Within water there is the earth element, which has hardness, and therefore water has obstructive properties; water has temperature, and the coldness or heat of water is the fire element; water has fluidity, which is the function of the wind element; and within the molecules of water there is the space element, with gaps between them. If water is heated, the arrangement and mode of movement of the four great seeds and the space seed within the particles are altered, and the physical properties of water change—liquid water becomes gaseous water. If the temperature of water is lowered below zero degrees, the arrangement and mode of movement of the water particles must also change, and its physical properties transform—liquid water becomes solid ice.

The four great seeds do not transform into one another. No matter what the conditions, the water seed remains forever the water seed; it will not become the earth seed or the fire seed, nor will it become the wind seed or the space seed. Only the ordering of the various seeds mixed together changes, and the structure of the seeds changes, so that its physical properties change.

The seven great seeds inherently present within the tathāgatagarbha cannot be altered by any external conditions, nor can the tathāgatagarbha alter the nature of the seeds. The water element will not become the earth element—there is no such principle in the Buddha-dharma; otherwise, the material world would fall into disorder, and the seeds within the tathāgatagarbha would also be thrown into disorder. If the water element could become the earth element, then there would be no water element in the tathāgatagarbha, only six great seeds. With one seed missing, the material bodies of sentient beings could not be generated, and material form could not be generated either; there would be no matter in the world, and thus no world at all. In that case, the world would not exist, and the worlds of the ten directions would not exist either.