The Self-Validating Cognition of Tathāgatagarbha (Three)

Fifth, the changes of the four great elements and the five aggregates are actually changing moment by moment, and our perceiving mind simply cannot know this. Only when the material body has changed to a certain degree does the perceiving mind become aware of it, but by then the body has already developed illness and obstruction, or the change has already become very obvious, with discomfort appearing in some part of the body. Only then do sentient beings' five aggregates perceive it—and this also includes changes for the better. In fact, the material body is constantly changing moment by moment, but the five aggregates do not easily perceive it; only when the changes accumulate to a certain degree and become very obvious do our six consciousnesses sense it. The perceiving minds of sentient beings always know only after the fact, whereas the tathāgatagarbha knows before the fact. When the tathāgatagarbha discerns karmic seeds, it already knows these situations. When some especially significant karmic seeds are about to manifest, the tathāgatagarbha will alert the five aggregates and draw their attention, sometimes letting sentient beings' five aggregates know a year or even longer in advance, but the conscious mind is often unable to guess what event is going to occur. The tathāgatagarbha's discernment of karmic seeds is certain and without doubt on its own part, and that is why it alerts the five aggregates and lets them know. Since beginningless kalpas, the tathāgatagarbha has never made a single erroneous discernment. The tathāgatagarbha's certainty and absence of doubt regarding itself is precisely its self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana).

Because the tathāgatagarbha can discern karmic seeds, it can know from those karmic seeds what changes are going to occur in the five-aggregate body and the material world (bhājana-loka); therefore the tathāgatagarbha is called the one who knows before the fact. Before the material universe has undergone change, He already knows in advance according to the karmic seeds. When the karmic seeds ripen in their conditions, He transmits the seeds of the four great elements to operate and transform the material universe, making the changes of the material universe accord with the karmic seeds—though of course this is not something that the tathāgatagarbha of a single sentient being could accomplish alone. When the material universe is due to be destroyed, the tathāgatagarbha will transmit the transforming seeds of the four great elements, and the proportions of these seeds quietly undergo changes, causing the material universe to gradually change. Only when the material universe has changed to a certain degree do we humans or other sentient beings perceive that the material universe has changed, how it has changed, whether it has changed for the better or for the worse. Only when the changes of the material universe have accumulated to a certain degree can sentient beings discern that their living environment has become like this; what it will become further down the road, we may not be very clear about, but the tathāgatagarbha always knows.

Moreover, before the material universe has undergone change, the tathāgatagarbha has already discerned the karmic seeds, knows the changes that are going to occur, knows how the material universe should be transformed, and how the seeds of the four great elements should be transmitted, so as to form or destroy the material universe; therefore the tathāgatagarbha is called the one who knows before the fact. When the tathāgatagarbha transforms the material universe, He can know to what degree the transformation has already proceeded and what further transformation is needed; He can know how He Himself is operating and how He should continue to operate. This is the tathāgatagarbha's power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala), which is the self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana). Without this power of introspection, His operation would be chaotic, and He could not transform the material universe in accordance with reality, and it would no longer be consistent with the karmic seeds.

The five-aggregate bodies of sentient beings all gradually mature and then gradually age. Only when the change has reached a certain time and degree do we discover that we have grown up, that we have changed, or that we have grown old. But the timing of each sentient being's maturation and aging differs, because the karmic actions created in past lives differ, and the karmic seeds differ. When a sentient being should begin to age, to what degree he will age, how he will age, and how the material body will change—the tathāgatagarbha discerns all of these according to the karmic seeds stored by the sentient being. He knows how the material body should change, and when the conditions ripen, He transmits the seeds of the four great elements to form and alter the material body, letting it change bit by bit. When the change reaches a certain degree, the sentient being perceives that he has grown old: white hair has appeared, the back has become bent, the legs are no longer nimble in walking, and wrinkles and age spots have appeared on the face.

In fact, before all this, the tathāgatagarbha has been continuously transmitting the seeds of the four great elements, causing the material body to change bit by bit. Throughout the operation of altering the material body, the tathāgatagarbha is clear about His own operation and activity. He discerns the karmic seeds from time to time and continues to operate in accordance with them, continuing to transform and alter the material body, neither repeating nor omitting anything, proceeding step by step in an orderly manner. Because He has the power of introspection, He can know to what degree His operation has proceeded, and thus knows how to operate in the next step. This is precisely the self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana) function of the tathāgatagarbha.