What exactly are all the marks of dharmas in the world?

The Buddha said in the third volume of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra that the seeds of the seven great elements are by nature perfectly fused, fundamentally the tathāgatagarbha, neither arising nor ceasing, pervading the entire dharma realm, luminously and eternally abiding, manifesting according to karma. Since the seeds of the seven great elements are by nature the tathāgatagarbha itself, like the tathāgatagarbha they neither arise nor cease, neither increase nor decrease, have never been defiled, and perfectly fuse with one another without obstruction, forming the illusory world. The seeds of the seven great elements, like the tathāgatagarbha, neither come nor go, are neither empty nor existent, unchanging and not different, purely and eternally existing, yet without any images. So what exactly is the world constituted by the seeds of the seven great elements like, and what is its nature?

The seeds of the seven great elements are not empty, because they possess functions, operations, and attributes, and can give rise to all dharmas; moreover, they neither arise nor cease, and are truly existent dharmas within the mind-substance of the tathāgatagarbha. Although the seeds are not empty, they are without marks, possessing none of the worldly, mundane marks whatsoever; therefore the eyes of worldly people cannot see them, cannot perceive them, cannot know them, and so they are called empty — in reality they are emptiness (śūnyatā).

Since the seeds of the seven great elements are markless and empty, and neither arise nor cease, they would not issue forth from the tathāgatagarbha, nor would they cease and return back into the tathāgatagarbha. Since the seeds of the seven great elements do not exist outside the tathāgatagarbha, yet can form the various dharmas of the world, then markless dharmas cannot form dharmas with marks, and the worldly dharma-marks thus formed are still empty and markless — they are emptiness (śūnyatā). Furthermore, because the tathāgatagarbha is without marks, and the markless cannot hold dharmas with marks — since the marked and the markless are mutually incompatible — all worldly dharmas manifested and formed by the seeds of the seven great elements must likewise be without marks in order to exist within the markless emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha.

Then why do all the worldly dharmas seen by sentient beings have marks? On account of what do sentient beings see the marked appearances of worldly dharmas? For example, sentient beings see that there is a four-great-elements material body and a body of the seven great elements and five aggregates, walking from place A to place B, with the five aggregates vividly present before them — there is self, there are others, there are objects, there is time, there is space, there is location; every kind of dharma-mark is there, not one missing. What are all these dharma-marks? Why are there marks of form, marks of mind, and dharma-marks that are neither form nor mind? The four great elements and five great elements have never arisen and will not go out from the tathāgatagarbha — so why do the mundane marks of the material body and all kinds of object-marks appear? The element of seeing and the element of consciousness have never arisen and will not go outside the tathāgatagarbha — so why are worldly mind-marks born and made manifest?

The material body is a false and illusory mark; in reality it does not exist. The body of the five aggregates is a false and illusory mark; in reality it does not exist. Place A and place B are false and illusory marks; in reality they do not exist. Time and space are false and illusory marks; in reality they do not exist. All these dharma-marks are what sentient beings illusorily see; the seeing itself is illusory, and even the illusion is illusory.

Since none of all these dharmas has ever arisen, there can be no talk of ceasing. The seeds of the seven great elements have never gone outside the tathāgatagarbha; they have never emerged from within the tathāgatagarbha at all, nor have they ever ceased, nor has there ever been a time when they ceased and returned into the tathāgatagarbha — such things simply never happened. If they had, then outside the tathāgatagarbha there would be dharmas that do not belong to the tathāgatagarbha; then what would be the boundary between such dharmas and the tathāgatagarbha? What would be the relationship between the two? This would be hard to say. Since all worldly dharmas have never arisen nor ever ceased, who exactly has seen these dharmas arise and these dharmas cease? By what means were they seen? Has the one who saw them ever arisen? Will he cease? What dharma-marks are the process and result of seeing? Is there arising? Is there ceasing?

Within the tathāgatagarbha there is also no such thing as a five-aggregates body going from place A to place B, no such thing as entering the womb, leaving the womb, or departing the body, no such thing as some dharma arising or some dharma ceasing. All events and dharma-marks are the false seeing of the seven consciousnesses, an illusory seeing — that is why illusory dharmas are seen. In reality there is no such thing; nothing is happening at all. Everyone go to sleep! If you cannot sleep soundly or sleep with peace of mind, then get up and study the Buddha-dharma; study and then realize it. Realize as fully as possible the true substance and true reality of all dharmas, and clearly recognize all dharma-marks, and you will awaken from the great dream. In the false play of the world there are fundamentally no people, no play, and no spectator. Then what is there? A dream. Not even a dream; there is no dream either. Who sees the dream? Who watches the play? No one.

When in the end you truly realize these dharmas, you will be unable to hold back and will weep bitterly! For beginningless kalpas you have simply died in vain, pointlessly engaging in so many karmic actions, enduring so much suffering — all kinds of grasping and rejecting, craving and attachment, deluded activity, all kinds of affliction and distress, applying your mind so earnestly, entangling yourself so intensely — and in the end there is nothing at all. Is that not grievous and pitiable?