The Mechanisms Behind Life and Natural Phenomena

Many people marvel at the wonder and mystery of life and nature, so much so that scientists in every field devote their entire lives to exploring the mysteries of life and nature, seeking to uncover the operating mechanisms behind all dharmas in the world. Because our ignorance is deep and heavy, our wisdom limited, our vision too narrow, our knowledge too restricted, and our powers of observation too weak, we are unable to observe what the underlying operating mechanisms actually are; we have insufficient understanding of many natural phenomena and do not know their essential characteristics and inner mechanisms, and that is why we find the activities of life so mysterious. If one could see clearly all the operating mechanisms of the body and its inner structures, as well as the phenomena of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing in nature, then these material forms would hold no mystery for us; we would feel that the life activities of the physical body are simply thus by nature, and that the material universe is naturally so—nothing to marvel at.

All the natural activities existing in the material universe—the stirring of wind and grass, lightning and thunder, violent storms and sudden downpours, gentle breezes, the passing of spring into autumn, and the alternation of the four seasons—are the operating mechanisms of these phenomena something that arises naturally of itself, or are they formed by the convergence of causes and conditions? On the surface, they are all produced by causes and conditions, including the karmic conditions of sentient beings with shared karma; they are evoked by collective karmic force. The living environments that sentient beings with greater wholesome karma are drawn to are of another beautiful kind: there are no phenomena of birth, aging, sickness, and death, no alternation of the four seasons; the living environment is always comfortable and perfect, because such environments are evoked by the pure karma of sentient beings. But in the Sahā world there are birth, aging, sickness, and death, arising-abiding-changing-ceasing, and countless phenomena of impermanence and change—these are evoked by the mixed wholesome and unwholesome karma of sentient beings.

So how do these phenomena of life and nature occur, and what operating mechanisms lie behind them? To say that these phenomena are all dharmas produced by causes and conditions is only a surface answer; in reality, it is the tathāgatagarbha that directs all these dharmas from behind. According to the shared karma and individual karma created by sentient beings, the tathāgatagarbha manifests karmic conditions, and then, in accordance with those karmic conditions, gives rise to all dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha is able to produce all these dharmas because He possesses the seven intrinsically existing great seeds, and the different combinations of these seven great seeds constitute the world in all its dazzling variety. Among them, material form is constituted by the five great seeds, and mind is constituted by the seeds of consciousness and the seeds of seeing; material form and mind together manifest dharmas that are neither form nor mind, and thus all dharmas of the world are complete, and the world of sentient beings is established. Because karmic seeds and karmic conditions differ, the seeds distributed by the tathāgatagarbha also differ accordingly, and the dharmas produced naturally vary; it is because of this variation that the functions of dharmas are complete and the world can be diverse.

 The differences among all dharmas are caused by karmic seeds. When karmic seeds differ, the fruits and phenomena differ; but these are only differences on the surface, while in essence they are the same—all are the function of the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha manipulates His own intrinsically existing seeds, causing them to gather, disperse, part, and unite, transforming them into the world's dazzling phenomena of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. Once the karmic seeds and karmic conditions change, the phenomenal realm changes accordingly. Therefore, the operating mechanism behind the phenomena of life and nature is precisely the principle by which the tathāgatagarbha generates all dharmas. If one masters the functions and roles of the tathāgatagarbha's seeds, one will gradually uncover the secrets of these phenomena and will no longer find nature so marvelous.