What Are All the Dharmic Marks of the World, Ultimately?

In the third volume of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha taught that the seven intrinsically existing great seeds (earth, water, fire, wind, space, seeing, consciousness) are perfectly harmonious in nature, fundamentally the tathāgatagarbha, neither arising nor ceasing, pervading the entire dharma realm, lucidly and eternally abiding, manifesting according to karma. Since the seven great seeds are by nature the tathāgatagarbha itself, like the tathāgatagarbha they neither arise nor cease, neither increase nor decrease, have never been defiled, and mutually harmonize without obstruction. As they form the illusory world, the seven great seeds, like the tathāgatagarbha, neither come nor go, are neither empty nor existent, unchanging and without difference, purely and eternally existing, yet without any image or trace. So what exactly is the world constituted by the seven great seeds like, and what is its nature?

The seven great seeds 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 truly existent dharmas within the substance of the tathāgatagarbha mind. Although the seeds are not empty, they are without marks, possessing no worldly conventional characteristics whatsoever. Therefore the eyes of worldly people cannot see them, cannot perceive them, cannot know them; they are called "empty," but in reality they are emptiness (śūnyatā).

Since the seven great seeds 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 seven great seeds do not exist outside the tathāgatagarbha, yet can form the various dharmas of the world, then markless dharmas cannot form dharmas with marks, and the worldly dharma-marks that are formed are still empty and markless, being emptiness (śūnyatā). Furthermore, since the tathāgatagarbha is without marks, it cannot contain dharmas with marks, because the marked and the unmarked are mutually incompatible. Therefore all the worldly dharmas manifested and formed by the seven great seeds must also be without marks, in order to exist within the empty-marklessness of the tathāgatagarbha.

Then why do all the worldly dharmas seen by sentient beings have marks? Why do sentient beings perceive the marked characteristics of worldly dharmas? For example, sentient beings see a four-great-element material body and a seven-great-element five-aggregates (pañcaskandha) body, walking from place A to place B, with the five aggregates vividly manifesting—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, none 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 five great elements have never arisen and will not go out from the tathāgatagarbha—so why do the conventional marks of a material body and various object-marks appear? The great element of seeing and the great element of consciousness have never arisen and will not go outside the tathāgatagarbha—so why are worldly mind-marks born and made manifest?

The material body is a false and illusory mark; in reality it does not exist. The five-aggregates body 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 perceptions of sentient beings; the seeing itself is illusory, and even the illusion is illusory.

Since none of these dharmas has ever arisen, there can be no question of their ceasing. The seven great seeds have never gone outside the tathāgatagarbha; they have never emerged from the tathāgatagarbha at all, nor have they ever ceased, nor returned 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 their relationship? This would be unmanageable. Since no worldly dharma has ever arisen or ceased, who exactly has seen these dharmas arise and these dharmas cease? By what means were they seen? Has the one who sees ever arisen? Will he cease? What dharma-marks are the process and result of seeing? Is there arising? Is there ceasing?

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

When you finally 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, endured so much suffering—all manner of grasping and rejecting, craving and clinging, deluded agitation, all kinds of affliction and distress, exerting your mind so earnestly, entangled in such anguish—only to find in the end that there was nothing at all. Is this not grievous and pitiable?