Can the Tathāgatagarbha Go Last and Come First?

"Departing last" refers to being the last to separate from the five-aggregate body, leaving the physical body last, after which the physical body becomes a corpse. "Arriving first" refers to being the first to enter the physical body, making the embryo into a five-aggregate body, giving it the value of life. Whether the tathāgatagarbha can depart last and arrive first depends on clarifying whether the tathāgatagarbha can sustain a body on its own.

Can the tathāgatagarbha sustain a body on its own? If the tathāgatagarbha could sustain a body on its own, then within Nirvāṇa without remainder, the tathāgatagarbha could also sustain a body on its own, without the existence of the manas and without the driving force of the manas. If the tathāgatagarbha could sustain a body on its own without depending on the manas, then nirvāṇa would not be tranquil, there would be no state of nirvāṇa, and there would be no such thing as Nirvāṇa without remainder to speak of.

In reality, the tathāgatagarbha and the manas are mutually dependent. Without the driving force of the manas, the tathāgatagarbha would not operate within the world of the five aggregates and eighteen realms; the tathāgatagarbha cannot operate alone. Because the tathāgatagarbha is not the master consciousness, it has no mental activity of actively grasping at and manifesting all dharmas; only under the impetus of the manas and the power of karma and vows can worldly dharmas arise.

And the power of karma and the power of vows are precisely the driving force of the manas. When the manas has no driving force and no longer wishes for the five-aggregate body to be born, the tathāgatagarbha ceases all dharmas and no longer manifests the five-aggregate body; even the manas itself must cease and no longer arise. Only when the manas still has the power of karma and the power of vows can the tathāgatagarbha accord with and cooperate with the manas to manifest the corresponding worldly dharmas. The operation of the tathāgatagarbha cannot for a single instant be separated from the manas, cannot be separated from the manas' power of karma and power of vows. Even when the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings with shared karma transform and create the universe and the material world, this is driven by the collective karma of sentient beings with shared karma, driven by the joint impetus of all the manases of sentient beings with shared karma.

When a sentient being's conditions of this life come to an end and the body should be abandoned, if the tathāgatagarbha were the last to leave the physical body, with the manas leaving before the tathāgatagarbha—could such a situation occur? If it could occur, then the manas, departing first, would separate from the tathāgatagarbha, and in that case the manas would exist independently. Could the manas exist independently without the sustaining and holding of the tathāgatagarbha? If so, the manas would no longer need the tathāgatagarbha to output consciousness seeds, would no longer need the tathāgatagarbha to give birth to it—could the manas then exist without ceasing? If it could, the manas would also be an unborn and unceasing consciousness that can exist independently, and then there would be two unborn and unceasing consciousnesses. In fact, this is impossible; the manas must at every moment and instant depend on the tathāgatagarbha to exist and operate. Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, the manas would immediately perish and could no longer operate.

From this it can be seen that the manas can neither leave the physical body before the tathāgatagarbha nor after the tathāgatagarbha; it must leave simultaneously with the tathāgatagarbha. Because the two are mutually dependent, neither can be separated from the other. If they separated, all dharmas would vanish, leaving only the tathāgatagarbha itself—that would be the state of Nirvāṇa without remainder. But death does not equal Nirvāṇa without remainder.

Then can the tathāgatagarbha be the first to enter the physical body? Nor can it. The tathāgatagarbha cannot sustain the physical body on its own; it has no nature of grasping and would not grasp at the physical body so as to actively give birth to and sustain it. It is influenced by the deliberation (manasikāra) mental factor of the manas, driven by the manas and the power of karma, and in accordance with the manas it enters the fertilized egg in an instant to sustain it, taking residence in the mother's womb simultaneously with the manas. Because the manas and the tathāgatagarbha are inseparable like form and shadow—the tathāgatagarbha and the manas are inseparable like form and shadow, and cannot be separated even for an instant—if they separated, the manas would perish, and the tathāgatagarbha could no longer operate the worldly dharmas of the five aggregates. Then there would be no question of the tathāgatagarbha leaving the physical body, nor any question of the tathāgatagarbha taking residence in the physical body.

If the tathāgatagarbha were the first to take residence in the mother's womb, it would separate from the manas, and the manas could then exist independently without the sustaining and holding of the tathāgatagarbha—this is impossible. Therefore, when taking residence in the mother's womb and when leaving the physical body, there is no sequence of first and last; the manas and the tathāgatagarbha take residence simultaneously and leave simultaneously. If there were a sequence, it would mean the two could separate from each other, and then the manas could exist independently and the tathāgatagarbha could operate independently—this would not accord with fact and truth.