Does the Mind Arise First or Do Dharmas Arise First? Does the Mind Cease First or Do Dharmas Cease First? (Part Two)

They further contemplated: what existing causes grasping to exist? From this they deduced that craving existing causes grasping to exist, because of craving after sense objects, grasping exists. They further contemplated: what existing causes craving to exist? From this they deduced that feeling existing causes craving to exist, because there are feelings of suffering, happiness, and neither-suffering-nor-happiness, there is craving. They further contemplated: what existing causes feeling to exist? From this they deduced that contact existing causes feeling to exist, because the six sense faculties contact the six sense objects, there is feeling. They further contemplated: what existing causes contact to exist? From this they deduced that the six sense bases existing causes contact to exist. They further contemplated: what existing causes the six sense bases to exist? From this they deduced that nāma-rūpa existing causes the six sense bases to exist. They further contemplated: what existing causes nāma-rūpa to exist, contemplating how the nāma-rūpa of the fertilized egg is born and grows.

They then contemplated and deduced: because ignorance is not severed, the manas clings to and grasps at itself, and thus enters the womb in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), abiding within the fertilized egg. But can the manas alone enter the womb and abide in the womb? Of course not, because the embryo is also composed of the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind. Does the manas contain the four great seeds? No, it is the tathāgatagarbha that possesses the four great seeds and can form a material embryo. Without the tathāgatagarbha ālayavijñāna, the manas could neither enter the womb nor abide in the womb, nor could it transform and generate an embryo; it is the tathāgatagarbha that outputs the four great seeds to grow the embryo. The manas does not have this function; it is the tathāgatagarbha that outputs seeds to form the embryo's bodily faculties such as the head and limbs, and it is the tathāgatagarbha that possesses the seeds of the six consciousness-minds, giving birth to the six consciousness-minds, endowing the fetus with the capacity for discriminating awareness.

When they deduced to this point, they knew that nāma-rūpa is produced by the tathāgatagarbha. This is the true meaning of "nāma-rūpa is conditioned by consciousness, and consciousness is conditioned by nāma-rūpa." This is also the content of the ten-link chain of dependent arising, and also the result of retrogressively deducing the twelve links of dependent arising. Then how is the tathāgatagarbha itself born? The tathāgatagarbha has no birth; it is naturally so, intrinsically so, existing from the very beginning, and there is no dharma that can give birth to Him. Therefore, the pratyekabuddhas, deducing back and forth, upon reaching the tathāgatagarbha could deduce no further—they had reached the end. They then understood that it is the tathāgatagarbha that produces the five aggregates of nāma-rūpa. This is the dharma of dependent arising: consciousness conditions nāma-rūpa, and nāma-rūpa conditions consciousness.

The material form of the inanimate vessel-world of the universe is also composed of the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind. These seeds all exist within the tathāgatagarbha. When the karmic conditions of all sentient beings mature, the tathāgatagarbha of all sentient beings outputs the four great seeds together, jointly manifesting the inanimate vessel-world of the universe, and only then can sentient beings be born. Then, after sentient beings are born, how are the material five sense objects needed in daily life produced? This involves the Gate of the Hundred Dharmas. The Gate of the Hundred Dharmas teaches that material form is produced through the combined operation of the eight consciousness-minds (the eight mind-kings) and the mental factors (caittas) of the eight consciousnesses. The eight mind-kings include the eight minds; the mental factors include the five universal factors, the five object-specific factors, the eleven wholesome factors, the six root afflictions, the twenty secondary afflictions, and the four dharmas that are not necessarily wholesome or unwholesome. Material form includes the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body; form, sound, smell, taste, and touch; and form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana—eleven in total.