The Interactive Relationship between the External Environment and the Body-Mind

Question: When a major climatic change is about to occur, many people experience physical reactions. For example, when a cold front is approaching or heavy rain is coming, some people will have a migraine attack a day or two in advance; some people with rheumatism will also suffer joint pain flare-ups due to weather changes. One reason is that major changes in the material world (the inanimate environment) cause the four great elements of the body-faculty produced by the tathāgatagarbha to become discordant, and this also includes the retributive results produced by each individual's karmic seeds. The second reason is that before a major change occurs in the material world, part of the conditions have already manifested; the mind consciousness cannot discern them, but the manas has discerned them, and because the manas grasps at the body, the body produces reactions. Is this correct?

Answer: The elements that constitute the universe's material world are the seeds of the four great elements within the tathāgatagarbha, and the elements that constitute material form are also the seeds of the four great elements within the tathāgarbha—they are the same as the four great elements that constitute the physical body. Therefore, the physical body is essentially no different from external material form, no different from stones or wood. The only difference is that the physical body is individually held and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha of a single sentient being and functions through its own independent operation; whereas external matter is jointly held and sustained by the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings with shared karma, and thus its functioning differs from the functioning of the tathāgatagarbha in the physical body.

The physical body and material form that are manifested and held solely by a sentient being's own tathāgatagarbha belong to the direct object condition (ālambana-pratyaya) of the tathāgatagarbha, while the material form jointly held by multiple tathāgatagarbhas is the indirect object condition of all tathāgatagarbhas. Because of the difference between direct and indirect, their functions differ, and the modes of operation of the tathāgatagarbha differ accordingly.

Regarding the physical body that the tathāgatagarbha directly and solely takes as its object\: first, the tathāgatagarbha must continuously transform the seeds of the four great elements according to the sentient being's karmic seeds, thereby transforming the physical body; second, it must continuously transform the seeds of the four great elements in accordance with the living environment outside the body and various conditions, thereby continuously transforming the physical body; third, it must continuously cooperate with the manas according to the mental activities of the manas, transforming the seeds of the four great elements to change the state of the physical body, which possesses the functions of the five aggregates. As for the material universe—the indirect object condition jointly taken as object by the tathāgatagarbhas—it merely continuously transforms the four great elements according to the karmic seeds and karmic conditions of sentient beings with shared karma, thereby transforming material form, and it has no functions of the five aggregates.

When the external material universe changes, the living environment on which sentient beings depend changes, and material form changes accordingly. External material form can influence the physical body, and it can therefore also influence the conscious mind. How does material form influence the conscious mind? External material form is the external sense-objects of sentient beings. The tathāgatagarbha takes in the particles of the four great elements from external matter through the body faculty, thereby altering the particles of the four great elements in its own physical body, and the physical body changes. For example, when the weather turns cold, the element of fire changes; the physical body, through the tathāgatagarbha, absorbs the external particles of the fire element, and the fire element in the body changes accordingly, so the body becomes cold. When it rains, the element of water changes; the tathāgatagarbha absorbs the particles of the water element, the water element in the body increases, moisture increases, and one feels damp; then pre-existing illnesses of the body will flare up, such as rheumatism and arthritis.

How does the tathāgatagarbha take in the particles of the four great elements from various kinds of matter? For example, with the physical bodies of other sentient beings, one's own tathāgatagarbha did not participate in their manifestation—how does it take in particles of the four great elements that were not manifested by itself? When the tathāgatagarbha takes in particles of the four great elements, it does not directly seize them from matter; the tathāgatagarbha has no such kind of initiative. Rather, material form constantly releases particles of the four great elements moment by moment, while at the same time new seeds of the four great elements form new particles within the matter. Because matter arises, ceases, and changes moment by moment, the particles of the four great elements in matter must be continuously released; only in this way can the tathāgatagarbha take in the particles of the four great elements from the physical bodies of other sentient beings and from external matter, forming its own inner material sense-objects and inner mental sense-objects, while at the same time altering the structure of the four great elements in its own physical body.

Because all material form constantly releases particles of the four great elements moment by moment, it can influence the surrounding environment—this is the principle behind what is called magnetic fields and gravity. Every sentient being's physical body has a release of bioelectricity and has a magnetic field; the release of energy from material form also has a magnetic field. Therefore, different matter has different magnetic fields; there is mutual attraction between materials as well as mutual repulsion, and likewise among sentient beings there is mutual attraction and mutual repulsion.