The Formation and Evolution of the Universe's Inanimate World and the World of the Five Aggregates

"World" (世) represents transmigration, and transmigration involves the flowing change of time; "between" (间) represents geographical direction and spatial position, that is, the material vessel-world. "World" refers to the three periods of time—past, future, and present—representing time and transmigration. Both time and space are brought forth and set off by material form (rūpa). Where there is no material form, there is emptiness. Before the universe first came into formation, there was a vast void with nothing in it; only after the material form of the universe appeared did the vessel-world come into being, and only then did time manifest, giving the world something to rest upon.

It is through the changes of material form that time is made manifest. After the vessel-world of the universe was formed and the world of the three realms was established, the physical bodies of sentient beings could appear, and the world of the five aggregates was thereby established. All of these dharmas, including the initial vast void and nothingness, are manifested and brought forth by the tathāgatagarbha; they are all the object-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha, within which the perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha is also present. The tathāgatagarbha first perceives, and then transforms the object-aspect. Therefore, apart from the tathāgatagarbha, everything is illusory transformation; when all marks are extinguished, that is the one true dharmadhātu.