How to Understand That Every Dharma Is Suchness?

All dharmas are true suchness (tathatā); all are born of and held by the tathāgatagarbha, and all possess the tathāgatagarbha nature, reality, and suchness. Since all dharmas are born of the tathāgatagarbha, they are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha through the seeds of the seven great elements, and all possess the self-nature of the great elements; all are real and such as they are. And the tathāgatagarbha and its seeds do not shift or turn with the arising, ceasing, and change of any dharma; they are real and unchanging, and are therefore also called true suchness (tathatā), possessing the nature of true suchness. All dharmas born of the tathāgatagarbha in essence possess the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and so they are all true suchness. This is the meaning of "every dharma is true suchness."

The tathāgatagarbha only allows the myriad things to arise, cease, and change without stop, while Itself does not change. If the tathāgatagarbha were also subject to change, He would be a dharma subject to arising, abiding, alteration, and cessation, and this would entail an enormous fault. If it were so, then a problem would arise: when was the tathāgatagarbha born, and how was He brought forth? Before He was born, all things and all dharmas would not exist—not even empty space would exist. What kind of state would that be? Where would the karmic seeds of sentient beings be stored? Where would the manas reside? If the tathāgatagarbha could cease, how would He cease, and on account of what would He cease? After He ceased, what would become of the seeds of all dharmas? Would the retributions of sentient beings still exist or not?

The tathāgatagarbha abides nowhere; of course He does not abide within the myriad things either. Otherwise, after the myriad things are destroyed, would the tathāgatagarbha also be destroyed along with them? If the myriad things were divided and separated bit by bit, would one then be able to find the tathāgatagarbha? This is fundamentally impossible. The growth of all myriad things up to their destruction is a process of the combined operation of the seeds of the four great elements, and is the result of the tathāgatagarbha's mobilization and upholding.

In all dharmas, one can find the traces of the tathāgatagarbha's operation; His traces and marks are the mental dharmas and material forms formed by the seeds of the seven great elements, all of which are the raw materials within the tathāgatagarbha itself. Therefore, when one sees dharmas, one should see the tathāgatagarbha. "The mountains fill the eyes—there is no other dharma"; the whole is just one real dharma-realm—the tathāgatagarbha, which neither arises nor ceases. Not even a hair's breadth or a speck of dust is permitted to stand outside the tathāgatagarbha; all are dharmas within the mind of the tathāgatagarbha, and all are the essence, marks, and functions of the tathāgatagarbha. Sentient beings live within the tathāgatagarbha; in reality there are no sentient beings—all is the tathāgatagarbha. Which dharma is not the tathāgatagarbha? Which dharma can exist independently, transcending the tathāgatagarbha? None can.