The Physical Bodies of Sentient Beings and Their Retribution Environment

Question: The mountains, rivers, and the great earth that human eyes see are all that portion of mountains, rivers, and the great earth that we ourselves participated in jointly manifesting. When human eyes see animals, insects, and our own family members, are we seeing the images produced when the four great elements seeds that they exude come into contact with the four great elements seeds of our own tathāgatagarbha? And is the same true of the flowers, grass, and trees that we see?

Answer: The physical bodies of sentient beings are also material form composed of the four great elements, and this material form is also manifested solely by their own tathāgatagarbha, having nothing to do with other sentient beings; the tathāgatagarbha of other sentient beings does not participate in its manifestation. When we see these sentient beings, our own tathāgatagarbha, like a mirror reflecting an image, manifests an inner object-aspect at our own supreme faculty based on the physical body of the other being, whereas the physical body of that being is, to us, an outer object-aspect, and has nothing to do with us. Our tathāgatagarbha transforms the physical body of sentient beings into our own inner object-aspect; after it becomes an inner object-aspect, the six consciousnesses arise, and the six consciousnesses then discern this inner object-aspect. In this way, we see sentient beings such as other people, insects, various animals, as well as ghosts, spirits, devas, and the like.

Whatever possesses a tathāgatagarbha—whether it has eight consciousnesses, or fewer than eight consciousnesses—is a sentient being, and its physical body is manifested by its own tathāgatagarbha, having nothing to do with us. When we see it, it is our tathāgatagarbha that takes in the four great elements image of the other being and transforms it into our own inner object-aspect; only this inner object-aspect has a relationship with us and with our tathāgatagarbha. The sentient beings of the outer object-aspect have no relationship with our own tathāgatagarbha.

It is just like our own body, which is manifested solely by our own tathāgatagarbha, having nothing to do with other sentient beings, and nothing to do with the Buddha either. But when another person sees our body, it is his tathāgatagarbha that transforms our body into an inner object-aspect, and only then can he see it. This is not entirely the same relationship as seeing mountains, rivers, and the great earth: the external mountains, rivers, and the great earth are our circumstantial retribution environment, and that circumstantial retribution environment includes the portion that we participated in manifesting. When our tathāgatagarbha takes it in, it takes in that portion of the outer material sense-objects that we ourselves participated in manifesting, and then transforms it into an inner object-aspect; only then can we grasp at it, discern it, and see it. The flowers, grass, and trees that we see are all likewise.