The Distinction Between Sentient Beings and Insentient Things

The fundamental difference between sentient and insentient things lies in this: the physical body of a sentient being is singly produced and sustained by that being's own tathāgatagarbha, and on that physical body there are the discerning functions of the seven consciousnesses, and thus there is the activity of the five aggregates. The material form of insentient things, however, is produced and sustained collectively by the tathāgatagarbhas of beings with shared karma; it has no seven consciousnesses and no five aggregates, because the seven consciousnesses are generated from the seeds of consciousness output by a single tathāgatagarbha, and cannot be formed by many tathāgatagarbhas jointly outputting seeds of consciousness. Therefore insentient objects have no activity of the seven consciousnesses and five aggregates, and are not sentient beings. The fundamental difference between the activity of the five aggregates of sentient beings and the activity of the material form of insentient things is that the five-aggregate body of a sentient being has the functions of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness.

If a being's manas feels that a certain material form is useful to it and can serve as its physical body, its tathāgatagarbha and manas will enter into or attach to that material form, giving rise to the activity of the five aggregates—this is the phenomenon of spirit possession in sentient beings. The reason beings want to enter the womb is that they want to have the activity of the five aggregates; without material form there is no way to carry out the activity of the five aggregates. So beings will always find ways to enter the womb. If they truly lack the merit and opportunity to take rebirth, they will use a material form as their physical body and then carry out the activity of the five aggregates upon that material form. Therefore, on the physical body of a sentient being there must be the aggregate of feeling, or the functions of the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of formations, and the aggregate of consciousness; only when these functions are combined can a five-aggregate sentient being be formed. If a material form cannot be used by a being and cannot produce the activity of the five aggregates, the being will not attach itself to that material form.

After an earthworm is cut into two, three, or several segments, each segment may survive; at that point each segment of the body becomes a separate earthworm, and a separate earthworm is a single sentient being, with its own tathāgatagarbha enabling the activity of a separate set of five aggregates. The same is true for the other surviving segments. Because the earthworm's body has a special regenerative function, its bodily function can be utilized; when a being's tathāgatagarbha and manas enter into it, they can possess their own physical body and have the activity of the five aggregates. The bodies of other animals cannot regenerate after being cut open and can no longer be used as a physical body, so beings will not enter into them, and the severed limbs will decay and perish.

Those beings without the merit or opportunity to enter the womb will make use of any usable material as their physical body. The number of beings in a great trichiliocosm is immense, and there are enormous numbers of wandering solitary ghosts and spirits in a drifting state without a physical body. They will not let slip any opportunity to enter the womb, doing everything possible to take rebirth or possess a body, so as to have the activity of their own five aggregates. Without a physical body they feel they have nothing to rely on and feel intense suffering; being able to use a physical body to live in the world gives them something to rely on, and no one wishes to be without a body. If environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity are suitable, the number of beings entering the womb or possessing bodies is especially great; they may become beings of various bacterial kinds, or enter into extremely tiny wriggling and fluttering kinds of beings. No matter what kind of being they enter into, as long as they can have a physical body to rely on, they are willing. Even though the life of bacteria arises, abides, changes, and perishes extremely quickly—entering and dying, entering and dying again—they still want to enter, because the feeling of being without a body is truly bitter.