The Black Box World (Twenty-Two)

Since the tathāgatagarbha is formless and without marks, pervading the five aggregates, pervading all places, pervading all realms, pervading all times, pervading all stages, and pervading all dharmas—throughout the entire world and the material universe, traces of the tathāgatagarbha are everywhere—there is no such thing as the tathāgatagarbha being somewhere or not being somewhere, no such thing as going somewhere or not going somewhere; He neither comes nor goes. Since He neither comes nor goes, yet has these six pervasions, do the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings overlap with one another? Do they influence and communicate with one another?

Although the tathāgatagarbha of every sentient being has these pervasions, tathāgatagarbhas do not overlap or merge with one another, because they are all formless and without marks. Yet tathāgatagarbhas do communicate with one another, because they are consciousnesses of the same category; therefore they certainly exert influence upon one another and can mutually communicate. When conditions are met, they can come to know the seeds stored within the other's mind-essence, and thereby come to know the five-aggregate body that the other holds and sustains. When a tathāgatagarbha knows the seeds within another tathāgatagarbha, it knows the entire condition of the five aggregates of the sentient being manifested by that other tathāgatagarbha, knowing all matters across lifetime after lifetime; thus there are no secrets between tathāgatagarbhas.

Our own tathāgatagarbha, by relying on the other's tathāgatagarbha as a condition, can come to know everything within that other tathāgatagarbha; the seeds within the other's tathāgatagarbha can be discerned by our tathāgatagarbha, and the seeds within our tathāgatagarbha can likewise be known by the other's tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, between the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings who share karmic affinity, each can discern the other's karmic seeds, and each will alert the five aggregates it holds and sustains; there will then be a resonance between the five aggregates. With wholesome affinity, the relationship will be harmonious and peaceful, and the five aggregates of the two sentient beings will feel great joy and concord. But if there is an unwholesome affinity, the tathāgatagarbhas each know the seeds of that unwholesome affinity and will alert the five aggregates they hold and sustain; the relationship between the two five-aggregate beings becomes awkward. If each tathāgatagarbha outputs the seeds of unwholesome affinity, the five aggregates of the two sentient beings, when together, will be discordant, and conflict and opposition will arise.