The Mechanisms Behind Life and Natural Phenomena

Many people marvel at the wonder and profundity of life and the natural world, to the extent that scientists across various fields dedicate their entire lives to exploring the mysteries of life and nature, seeking to uncover the operating mechanisms behind all phenomena in the world. Due to our deep ignorance, limited wisdom, narrow perspective, shallow knowledge, and weak powers of observation, we cannot discern what the underlying operating mechanisms truly are. We lack sufficient understanding of many natural phenomena and are unaware of their essential characteristics and internal mechanisms. Consequently, the activities of life seem profoundly mysterious to us. If we could see all the activity mechanisms and internal structures of the body, as well as the phenomena of birth, abiding, change, and cessation in nature, with perfect clarity, these material forms would hold no mystery for us. We would then perceive that the life activities of the physical body are simply as they are, and the universe, the vessel world, is naturally as it is, with nothing particularly wondrous about it.

All natural activities existing within the universe, the vessel world — such as the wind rustling grass, lightning and thunder, storms and sudden downpours, gentle breezes, the passing of spring into autumn, and the cycle of the four seasons — do these phenomena operate through mechanisms that arise spontaneously and naturally, or are they formed by the aggregation of causes and conditions? Superficially, they all appear to be formed by causes and conditions, including the karmic conditions of sentient beings sharing collective karma, evoked by their shared karmic force. The living environments evoked by sentient beings with relatively greater wholesome karma, however, are in another state of beauty, devoid of the phenomena of birth, aging, sickness, and death, and without the cycle of the four seasons. Their living environments are always comfortable and perfect because these environments are evoked by the pure karma of sentient beings. Yet, in the Saha World, there exist phenomena of birth, aging, sickness, and death; birth, abiding, change, and cessation; and countless impermanent transformations. These are evoked by the mixed wholesome and unwholesome, defiled karma of sentient beings.

So how do these life and natural phenomena occur, and what operating mechanisms lie behind them? If we say these phenomena are dharmas born from causes and conditions, that is only a superficial answer. In reality, it is the Tathagatagarbha that directs all these dharmas from behind. Based on the collective karma and individual karma created by sentient beings, the Tathagatagarbha presents karmic conditions, and then, according to these karmic conditions, gives rise to all dharmas. The reason the Tathagatagarbha can create all these dharmas is because it possesses the seven great seeds. The different combinations of these seven great seeds constitute the colorful world. Among them, form dharmas are constituted by the five great seeds, while mind dharmas are constituted by the consciousness seeds and perceiving seeds. The combination of form dharmas and mind dharmas manifests neither-form-nor-mind dharmas. In this way, all dharmas of the world are complete, and the world of sentient beings is established. Because karmic seeds and karmic conditions differ, the seeds allocated by the Tathagatagarbha will correspondingly differ, and the dharmas produced will naturally vary. Because there is variation, the functions of the dharmas become complete, enabling the world to be diverse.

The differences in all dharmas are caused by karmic seeds. Different karmic seeds result in different fruits and phenomena. However, these differences exist only on the surface; in essence, they are the same — all are functions of the Tathagatagarbha. The Tathagatagarbha manipulates its own inherent seeds, causing them to gather, scatter, combine, and separate, thereby transforming into the world's phenomena of birth, abiding, change, and cessation in their myriad, splendid forms. Once the karmic seeds and karmic conditions change, the phenomenal world will change accordingly. Therefore, the underlying operating mechanism behind life and natural phenomena is the law by which the Tathagatagarbha generates all dharmas. By mastering the functions and roles of the Tathagatagarbha's seeds, we will gradually uncover the secrets of these phenomena and no longer find the natural world so mysterious.