Where Do Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth Come From?

Question: Were the mountains, rivers, and the great earth also produced through the harmonious functioning of all eight consciousnesses together?

Answer: Before sentient beings were born, the mountains, rivers, and the great earth already existed. They were manifested jointly and harmoniously by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings with shared karma, and have nothing to do with the six consciousnesses. They were manifested by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with the shared karma of sentient beings, materialized in accordance with sentient beings' karmic seeds within the three realms, and were also conjured into illusory existence by the tathāgatagarbha, prompted by the ignorance and delusive thoughts of the manas. However, these manifestations are not entirely unrelated to the six consciousnesses either, because the karmic actions created by the six consciousnesses are stored as seeds, and in later lifetimes the retributive environment of mountains, rivers, and the great earth comes into being. When the wholesome or unwholesome karma created by the six consciousnesses is great, the mountains, rivers, and the great earth will also undergo changes after they come into existence.