How Does Tathāgatagarbha Discern the Roots-Body-and-Realm-World and Karmic Seeds of Sentient Beings

The Tathāgatagarbha perceives the sentient beings' physical bodies, material environment, and karmic seeds through its perceiving aspect and its mental factors. The five universal mental factors of the Tathāgatagarbha are: attention (manasikāra), contact (sparśa), sensation (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). Attention directs the mind toward the physical body, material environment, and karmic seeds; contact is the Tathāgatagarbha's interaction with them; sensation is the reception of them; perception is the recognition and understanding of them; and volition is the decision to act. Thereupon, it emits either the seven great seeds or the four great seeds, initiating the creation of the five aggregates (skandhas), the eighteen elements (dhātus), and the material universe. Thus, all phenomena manifest. During this process of transformation and creation, the Tathāgatagarbha continuously applies attention, contact, sensation, perception, and volition until the transformation is complete.

This process occurs instantaneously, moment by moment. The result may be the sudden manifestation of all phenomena or their gradual appearance, depending on the karmic seeds involved. The formation of the material universe is ultimately not a simple matter but an immensely vast project, involving the collective karmic seeds of immeasurable sentient beings. Consequently, its creation is extremely complex, requiring the cooperative effort of the Tathāgatagarbhas of all beings sharing that collective karma. It takes one-quarter of a great kalpa, equivalent to twenty lesser kalpas, for the material universe to form. In contrast, the time required for the formation of an individual sentient being's physical body and the maturation of its karmic seeds is vastly shorter than that needed for the formation of the material universe.

This is because it involves only the karmic seeds of a single sentient being, transformed and created solely by that being's own Tathāgatagarbha, making it relatively less complex. Nevertheless, our conscious mind cannot fully comprehend this process due to the lack of the wisdom of all modes (sarvajñatā-jñāna). Moreover, since the karmic seeds differ among various types of sentient beings, the time required to form a complete physical body also varies. This also involves factors such as the size of the sentient being's body and the mode of birth, which are determined by the karmic seeds. The time taken to form the physical body differs for beings born from moisture, from eggs, through transformation, or from wombs. Even among womb-born beings, the duration of physical formation varies. Similarly, among humans, some are born after three years, some after ten months, and some in even shorter periods, all due to differences in their karmic seeds.