The Tathāgatagarbha's Sustaining of the Embryo, the Faculty-Body, and the Material Environment (Part Two)

Take another example: our hand. Right after it has been severed, our tathāgatagarbha is still holding and sustaining it; if it is reattached immediately, it can be connected and will continue to function. When an organ in the body has just been detached, the tathāgatagarbha will continue to directly hold and sustain it for a period of time. During this period, if it is surgically reattached right away, it can still recover and become part of the body again, performing its original function; but if too much time passes, the tathāgatagarbha will no longer directly hold and sustain the organ that has been separated from the body, and when it is reconnected to the physical body, it can no longer be joined—it becomes a useless piece of matter. Thus all dharmas function through the tathāgatagarbha operating within them.

When an organ is removed from our body and transplanted into another person, at the moment it is transferred into someone else's body, our tathāgatagarbha will hold and sustain it for a period of time; then the other person's tathāgatagarbha will take over and sustain it on its own, after which our tathāgatagarbha no longer concerns itself with it, leaving it to be held and sustained solely by the other person's tathāgatagarbha. If an organ has been cut off from the body for a long time, the tathāgatagarbha will no longer hold and sustain it, and it becomes useless to our body; if it is then reconnected to our body, it cannot be joined and cannot recover its function—it no longer belongs as a part of our body. Or if it is transplanted into another sentient being's body, it will likewise have no vitality and no corresponding functional activity.

Take another example: when our blood vessels rupture and we bleed, the blood that has just flowed out is warm. Why is it warm? Because the tathāgatagarbha is holding and sustaining it. After a long time, the blood is no longer warm, because the tathāgatagarbha's direct holding and sustaining is no longer present. Whether it is a finger, a section of limb, or skin—whatever has fallen from the body is warm at first. Why is it warm? Because the tathāgatagarbha is holding and sustaining it, and thus it has warmth. After a long time, when the tathāgatagarbha no longer directly holds and sustains it, it will grow cold and hard.

It is the same with the softness of the body: it is soft because the tathāgatagarbha is directly holding and sustaining it. The bodies of the dead are stiff and hard—why? Because the tathāgatagarbha no longer directly holds and sustains it, no longer personally takes it as an object, and so the body becomes hard. With the tathāgatagarbha, a sentient being's physical body has a lifespan (life), warmth (temperature), and consciousness (the seven consciousnesses), and the body is warm and soft; without the tathāgatagarbha, a sentient being's body has no lifespan, no temperature, and no seven consciousnesses, and the body is cold and hard.