The Relationship Between the Perceiving-Aspect of the Seventh Consciousness and the Element of Seeing, and the Relationship Between the Element of Seeing and the Element of Consciousness

Within the tathāgatagarbha there are the seeds of the seven great elements—earth, water, fire, wind, space, seeing, and consciousness. The tathāgatagarbha uses six of these great-element seeds to form the functions of sentient beings' five aggregates and eighteen realms. Among them, the great element of seeing is the seeing nature inherently possessed by the tathāgatagarbha itself; it does not belong to brightness or darkness and is not affected by brightness or darkness. Its operative force exists conditionally—when conditions are present before it, the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha manifests.

The great element of consciousness of the tathāgatagarbha directly forms the seven consciousnesses, and thus the seven consciousnesses possess the nature of discernment and discrimination. The discerning and discriminating nature of the seven consciousnesses is the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the seven consciousnesses, which is different from the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The perceiving-aspect of the seven consciousnesses is subject to arising and ceasing, existing in dependence upon the seeds of the great element of consciousness of the tathāgatagarbha, whereas the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha can exist forever—unless, in nirvāṇa without remainder, where there are no conditions of the six sense faculties and six sense objects, the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha does not manifest.

The conscious nature of the tathāgatagarbha itself is also free from arising and ceasing, standing parallel to the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha, whereas the seven consciousnesses that are born do have arising and ceasing, because they are produced. That is to say, the seven great-element seeds of the tathāgatagarbha are originally the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, originally neither arising nor ceasing; the seven great-element seeds are the tathāgatagarbha. The great element of seeing is the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says, 见觉空顽, which refers to whether the awareness of the Buddha-nature perceives the states of the six sense objects; whereas the seeing nature of the seven consciousnesses is not empty and inert—it can discriminate specific objects, and it can only function when causes and conditions are present. The great element of seeing, however, endures without perishing; even in nirvāṇa without remainder, it endures without perishing. All seven great-element seeds endure without perishing in nirvāṇa without remainder—they neither arise nor cease. The above is stated in accordance with the third volume of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.