Is External Dharma-dust a Substantial Dharma?

Question: Does the Tathāgatagarbha only perceive real dharmas, namely the earth, water, fire, and wind elements; and the ten forms: the five sense faculties and the five sense objects? Then, are the height of the mountains and the size of the trees we see real dharmas or nominal dharmas? Can the eighth consciousness perceive them? If not, then what causes the distinctions in the realm of vessels, the differences in the size, shape, and appearance of objects?

Answer: Real dharmas refer to the external five sense objects: form, sound, smell, taste, and touch objects. However, they also include external dharma-objects, such as the manifest forms, expressive forms, and non-manifest forms on the form object, and so on. Therefore, the height of mountains and the size of trees are also real dharmas, and the Tathāgatagarbha can perceive them. When the Tathāgatagarbha gives birth to a form dharma, it not only gives birth to the color and hue of the form object but must simultaneously give birth to the manifest forms, expressive forms, non-manifest forms, and other dharma-objects of the form object. Otherwise, the form object would not be a complete form object; it would only possess the single characteristic of color. The same applies to sound objects, smell objects, taste objects, and touch objects; they all have the existence of external dharma-objects.

If there were no external dharma-objects, and the form object only had color and hue, all form objects would only have color, without manifest forms, expressive forms, or non-manifest forms. Then there would be no shape, height, size, length, roundness, squareness, thickness, or thinness; no distinguishing characteristics of variety or type; no expressive or non-manifest forms such as beauty, ugliness, majesty, straightness, imposing presence, tree rings, softness, hardness, and so forth. The form objects in the universe, the realm of vessels, would only have differences in color; beyond that, everything would be blurred and indistinguishable, chaotic and undifferentiated.

In this case, not only would karmic seeds be unable to manifest, but the Tathāgatagarbha's manifestation of all things would also be extremely simplistic. The great thousandfold world would only be colorful, utterly devoid of form and substance, and thus have no practical value. Sentient beings would see only a mass of color, without distinctions of length, roundness, squareness, size, beauty, or ugliness. Consequently, all form objects and matter would be unusable, and sentient beings could not survive in such a realm of vessels.

In reality, when the Tathāgatagarbha gives birth to form dharmas, it uses the four great elements' seeds to completely manifest various different form dharmas and matter, including color, shape, posture, quality, hardness/softness, and other such intrinsic characteristics. Then, when sentient beings see form, the Tathāgatagarbha, relying on the external six sense faculties, transmits the complete form object, including dharma-objects, to the subtle sense faculties. The mental faculty (manas) dominates the seeing of form, and only then can the eye consciousness and mental consciousness jointly cognize the complete form object. This is what is meant by the Tathāgatagarbha manifesting appearances like a mirror, where the manifested image is similar to and identical with the external form object. It is impossible to have internal dharma-objects appear without external dharma-objects.

The sentient beings' five-aggregate body of form also belongs to form dharmas and is a real dharma, encompassing all appearances. It exists even in the mother's womb and is all directly perceived by the Tathāgatagarbha. Without external dharma-objects, a person would only have color, without limbs, head, five sense faculties, gender, age, appearance, temperament, height, thinness/fatness, knowledge, cultivation, and other manifest, expressive, and non-manifest forms. If the Tathāgatagarbha only gave birth to color and hue when producing the form body, no one would be called a human; it would be unknown what thing it was. All form objects would likewise be unrecognizable as to what they are. The world would be a chaotic mass, only color. Such a situation cannot exist.

Therefore, it is said that manifest forms, expressive forms, non-manifest forms, and other dharma-objects are also real dharmas. The Tathāgatagarbha both gives birth to them and perceives them. It can rely on them to manifest internal dharma-objects. What sentient beings cognize is the complete form object; all information is fully present and exists. It is not that internal dharma-objects are created out of nothing and then transformed. The same applies to the other sense objects; they all have external dharma-objects. Internal dharma-objects arise based on external dharma-objects, not based on the internal five sense objects giving birth to internal dharma-objects.

The Tathāgatagarbha transmits the real dharmas to the subtle sense faculties, transforming them into nominal dharmas. The mental faculty perceives them. If it is interested and wishes to cognize them in detail, but cannot do so itself, the Tathāgatagarbha then gives birth to the six consciousnesses at the point of contact between the sense faculty and the sense object to perform cognition. When the eye faculty contacts the internal form object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the eye consciousness within that contact. When the ear faculty contacts the sound object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the ear consciousness. When the nose faculty contacts the smell object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the nose consciousness. When the tongue faculty contacts the taste object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the tongue consciousness. When the body faculty contacts the touch object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the body consciousness. When the mental faculty contacts the dharma-object, the Tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the mental consciousness. The six consciousnesses are then able to manifest and cognize the internal six sense objects.