What Exactly Are All Dharmas and Their Characteristics in the World?

In the third volume of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha taught that the seeds of the seven great elements are by nature perfectly fused, fundamentally the tathāgatagarbha, neither arising nor ceasing, pervading the entire Dharma realm, luminously and eternally abiding, manifesting according to karma. Since the seeds of the seven great elements are by nature the tathāgatagarbha itself, like the tathāgatagarbha they neither arise nor cease, neither increase nor decrease, have never been defiled, and are perfectly fused with one another without obstruction, forming the illusory world. Thus the seeds of the seven great elements, like the tathāgatagarbha, neither come nor go, are neither empty nor existent, unchanging and not different, purely and eternally existing, yet without any images. So what exactly is the world constituted by the seeds of the seven great elements like, and what is its nature?

The seeds of the seven great elements are not empty, because they possess functions, operations, and attributes, and can give rise to all dharmas; moreover, they neither arise nor cease, and are real dharmas within the mind-substance of the tathāgatagarbha. Although the seeds are not empty, they are without marks, possessing none of the worldly, mundane marks whatsoever; therefore the eyes of ordinary people cannot see them, cannot perceive them, cannot know them, and so they are called "empty"—in reality, they are emptiness (śūnyatā).

Since the seeds of the seven great elements are without marks and empty, and neither arise nor cease, they cannot be generated out of the tathāgatagarbha, nor can they cease and return into the tathāgatagarbha. Since the seeds of the seven great elements do not exist outside the tathāgatagarbha, yet can form the various dharmas of the world, then markless dharmas cannot form marked dharmas, and the worldly dharma-marks thus formed are still empty and markless—they are emptiness (śūnyatā). Furthermore, the tathāgatagarbha is without marks, and marked dharmas cannot exist within it, because the marked and the markless are mutually incompatible; therefore all the worldly dharmas manifested and formed by the seven great elements must also be without marks in order to exist within the empty, markless tathāgatagarbha.

Then why do all the worldly dharmas seen by sentient beings have marks? Why do sentient beings see the marked appearances of worldly dharmas? For example, sentient beings see a material body of the four great elements and a body of the seven great elements and the five aggregates, moving from place A to place B, with the five aggregates vividly appearing before them—there is self, there are others, there are objects, there is time, there is space, there is location; every kind of dharma-mark is present, not one missing. What are all these dharma-marks? Why are there marks of form, marks of mind, and dharma-marks that are neither form nor mind? The four great elements and the five great elements have never arisen and will not go out of the tathāgatagarbha—so why do the mundane marks of the material body and all kinds of object-marks appear? The element of seeing and the element of consciousness have never arisen and will not go outside the tathāgatagarbha—so why are the worldly marks of mind born and made manifest?

The material body is a false and illusory mark; in reality it does not exist. The body of the five aggregates is a false and illusory mark; in reality it does not exist. Place A and place B are false and illusory marks; in reality they do not exist. Time and space are false and illusory marks; in reality they do not exist. All these dharma-marks are the illusory seeing of sentient beings—the seeing itself is illusory, and even the illusion is illusory.

Since none of all these dharmas has ever arisen, there can be no talk of ceasing. The seeds of the seven great elements have never gone outside the tathāgatagarbha; they have never emerged from the tathāgatagarbha at all, nor have they ever ceased, nor returned in cessation into the tathāgatagarbha—there is simply no such thing. If there were, then there would be dharmas outside the tathāgatagarbha that do not belong to the tathāgatagarbha; then what would be the boundary between such dharmas and the tathāgatagarbha? What would be the relationship between the two? That would be a difficult matter. Since all worldly dharmas have neither arisen nor ceased, who exactly has seen these dharmas arise and these dharmas cease? By what means were they seen? Has the one who saw them ever arisen? Will he cease? What dharma-marks are the process and the result of seeing? Is there arising? Is there ceasing?

Within the tathāgatagarbha there is also no such thing as a body of the five aggregates going from place A to place B, no such thing as entering the womb, leaving the womb, or departing from the body, no such thing as some dharma arising or some dharma ceasing. All phenomenal appearances and dharma-marks are the false seeing of the seven consciousnesses—an illusory seeing—and that is why illusory dharmas are seen. In reality there is no such event; there is nothing at all. Everyone go to sleep! But if you cannot sleep soundly or sleep with peace of mind, then get up and study the Buddhadharma—study and then realize it. Realize as fully as possible the true substance and true reality of all dharmas, and clearly recognize all dharma-marks; then you will awaken from the great dream. In the false play of the world there are fundamentally no people, no play, and no spectator. Then what is it? A dream. It is not even a dream; there is not even a dream. Who sees the dream? Who watches the play? No one.

When at last you truly realize these dharmas, you will be unable to restrain yourself and will weep bitterly! For beginningless kalpas you have simply died in vain—having engaged in so many karmic actions for nothing, having suffered so much, with all kinds of grasping and rejecting, craving and attachment, deluded activity, all kinds of afflictions and distress, applying your mind so earnestly, entangling yourself so intensely—only to find in the end that there is nothing at all. Is that not grievous and pitiable?