The Sustaining of the Embryo, Sentient Body, and Material Realm by Tathāgatagarbha (Part IV)

All phenomena cannot exist apart from the sustaining function of the Tathāgatagarbha. For example, when we observe the wind blowing outside causing trees to sway incessantly, it is actually the Tathāgatagarbha functioning. Moreover, it is not the Tathāgatagarbha of a single individual that operates, but rather the collective functioning of the Tathāgatagarbha of sentient beings sharing collective karma. Therefore, it is not the wind that causes the trees to move. The wind itself is illusory and lacks autonomy; it is a phenomenon produced by the Tathāgatagarbha and thus lacks the inherent function to actively shake the trees. Rather, the Tathāgatagarbha utilizes the condition of wind to produce the effect, causing the trees to sway. The phenomenon of wind blowing itself is also the result of the collective functioning of the Tathāgatagarbha of sentient beings sharing collective karma.

Similarly, when the clothes we wear become old, tattered, ruined, or destroyed, the Tathāgatagarbha is functioning within all these processes. It is not that the clothes themselves possess the capacity to decay, wear out, become damaged, or perish; rather, these are all effects arising from the Tathāgatagarbha utilizing the seeds of the four elements. No phenomenon can exist outside the Tathāgatagarbha. For instance, the sofa in one's home gradually ages, wears out, and eventually deteriorates—all these processes involve the operation of the Tathāgatagarbha. The sofa itself cannot arise, cannot cease, cannot deteriorate, and cannot achieve wear and tear on its own; all are the result of the sustaining function of the Tathāgatagarbha.