The Self-Authenticating Portion of Tathagatagarbha (IV)

Sixth, when sentient beings approach the end of life, many do not know they are about to die, nor do they know when death will occur. However, after discerning their karmic seeds, the Tathāgatagarbha knows exactly when each sentient being should die. Before death, based on the karmic seeds, the Tathāgatagarbha knows how much life remains, the current state of the physical body, and what condition the body should be in the next moment. Therefore, prior to the death of sentient beings, the Tathāgatagarbha emits certain alerting signals to inform them.

Actually, it is to enable the manas (mental faculty) to discern—yet it is not intentional on the part of the Tathāgatagarbha to make the manas discern. The Tathāgatagarbha always operates unintentionally and without deliberate thought. When the manas discerns the dharmas (phenomena) manifested by the Tathāgatagarbha’s functioning, it becomes aware of imminent events, whether they will occur in one or two years or even longer. After the manas knows, it then strives to alert the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna), enabling the consciousness to know. This process is active, intentional, and involves the functioning of the mental factor of deliberation (cetanā), whereas the Tathāgatagarbha lacks such mental activity. This illustrates the difference between the functioning of the Tathāgatagarbha and that of the seven consciousnesses, even though the Tathāgatagarbha also possesses its own unique mental activity.

Because the sixth consciousness of sentient beings does not discern karmic seeds—it is reactive rather than proactive—it may not necessarily perceive its own impending death. It requires the alerting hints from the Tathāgatagarbha and the manas. Even after receiving such hints, the sixth consciousness may still fail to detect them. If the sixth consciousness is relatively sensitive, it might sense that it is nearing the end, that this life is about to conclude.

The Tathāgatagarbha can instantaneously transform the physical body, manifesting its various conditions. The manas can discern the state of the physical body, understanding what bodily conditions signify, but the sixth consciousness remains largely unaware. Only when the Tathāgatagarbha fully manifests the signs of death does the sixth consciousness become completely certain, without any doubt. The Tathāgatagarbha’s discernment of karmic seeds and its knowledge of a sentient being’s impending death are utterly certain. Therefore, it alerts sentient beings, enabling them to know they are about to die, so they may prepare mentally. This absolute certainty is the self-verifying division (svasaṃvitti) of the Tathāgatagarbha.

From the above analysis and synthesis, we should understand that the Tathāgatagarbha possesses not only the seeing division (darśana-bhāga) and the perceived division (nimitta-bhāga), but also the self-witnessing division (svasaṃvedana) and the self-verifying division (svasaṃvitti). All four divisions are profoundly important, and their merits are vast and extensive. Relying on these four divisions, the Tathāgatagarbha accomplishes all dharmas of the three realms of existence, actualizing the causes, conditions, and karmic retributions of sentient beings in accordance with truth and reality, ensuring that no effort of sentient beings is in vain. These four divisions are almost entirely manifested in the Tathāgatagarbha’s functioning within conditioned dharmas (saṃskṛta-dharma). Despite its extensive functioning within conditioned dharmas, the Tathāgatagarbha, from beginning to end, remains a mental activity of unconditioned nature (asaṃskṛta). It never clings to or grasps at any dharma, manifesting to sentient beings the magnanimous form of a great being with boundless mental capacity. Our seven consciousnesses truly ought to learn well from it, so that we may attain incomparable liberation.