Can the Tathāgatagarbha Go Last and Come First?

"Departing last" refers to being the last to separate from the five-aggregate body, the last to leave the physical body, 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 with 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 in nirvāṇa without remainder, the tathāgatagarbha could also sustain a body on its own, without the existence of the manas and without the manas's driving force. 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 active mental activity of grasping after or manifesting all dharmas; only under the impetus of the manas and of karmic force and vows can worldly dharmas arise.

Karmic force and vows are precisely the driving force of the manas. When the manas has no driving force and no longer wishes to give rise to a five-aggregate body, the tathāgatagarbha ceases all dharmas and no longer manifests the five-aggregate body; even the manas itself must cease and no longer appear. Only when the manas still has karmic force and 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 moment be separated from the manas, nor from the manas's karmic force and vows. Even when the tathāgatagarbhas of all sentient beings with shared karma transform and construct 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 the manas of all sentient beings with shared karma.

When a sentient being's present-life conditions come to an end and the body should be relinquished, 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, then the manas, departing first, would be separated from the tathāgatagarbha; in that case, the manas would exist independently. Could the manas exist independently without the sustaining of the tathāgatagarbha? If so, the manas would no longer need the tathāgatagarbha to output seeds of consciousness, and 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 depend on the tathāgatagarbha at every instant in order to exist and operate; apart from the tathāgatagarbha, the manas would immediately perish and could no longer function.

From this it can be seen that the manas cannot 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 were 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 a physical body on its own; it has no grasping nature and will not grasp after the physical body so as to actively give birth to and sustain it. It is influenced by the manas's mental factor of deliberation (manana), driven by the manas and karmic force, and in accordance with the manas it enters the fertilized egg in an instant to sustain it, entering the mother's womb simultaneously with the manas. Because the manas and the tathāgatagarbha are inseparable as shadow follows form—the tathāgatagarbha and the manas are inseparable, and cannot be separated even for an instant—if they were 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 of the tathāgatagarbha entering the physical body.

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