The Seeds of the Seven Great Elements Pervade the Dharmadhātu

The seven great seeds: the great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, space, seeing, and consciousness. The first five great seeds—earth, water, fire, wind, and space—are used to constitute material form, while the great seeds of seeing and consciousness are used to constitute mind. The great seed of consciousness constitutes the mind-dharmas of the seven consciousnesses, and the great seed of seeing forms the tathāgatagarbha's function of seeing all dharmas, which is precisely the Buddha-nature. In this way, all dharmas of the entire five-aggregate world are complete. Material form and mind encompass all dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha uses the great seed of seeing to enable the seven consciousnesses to function, discerning sense objects and manifesting all dharmas, forming a complete and systematic set of worldly functional operations.

The seven great seeds pervade the entire Dharma realm, pervading all times, all stages, all aggregates, all places, all realms, and all dharmas. The five great seeds form material form. Apart from the formless realm, the desire realm and the form realm of the Buddha-lands of the ten directions all contain material form; there is never a time without material form. In the formless realm, however, there is the functioning of the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses formed by the great seeds of consciousness and seeing.

Therefore, the seven great seeds pervading all dharmas certainly includes the pervasiveness of the great seed of consciousness and the great seed of seeing. First, regarding the great seed of seeing: this seed forms the seeing-nature of the tathāgatagarbha. When the seeing-nature of the tathāgatagarbha functions, dharmas can be seen and thus manifested, and only then can they operate. Wherever there are dharmas, there must be the tathāgatagarbha and its seeing-nature, and consequently there must be the participation and output of the great seed of seeing. Therefore, the great seed of seeing pervades all places, all stages, all realms, and all dharmas.

Next, regarding the great seed of consciousness: the great seed of consciousness forms the deluded minds of the seven consciousnesses. Wherever there are the five aggregates, there are the seven consciousnesses and the great seed of consciousness; in other words, wherever there are sentient beings, there are the seven consciousnesses and the great seed of consciousness; wherever there is the manas, there are the seven consciousnesses and the great seed of consciousness. Even when sentient beings have not yet been born and only the inanimate world exists, there is still the manas-realm formed by the great seed of consciousness and the seeing-nature of the tathāgatagarbha formed by the great seed of seeing. Therefore, the great seed of consciousness pervades all places (the bases of faculties and sense objects), all realms, all stages, and all dharmas. In summary, the seven great seeds pervade the entire Dharma realm, including the Buddha world, the Dharma realm of bodhisattvas, the Dharma realm of pratyekabuddhas, the Dharma realm of arhats, as well as the Dharma realms of ordinary sentient beings of the six paths.