Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra), Part 21

The Earth Element and Earth Nature Have No Male or Female Marks

The earth element can form the physical bodies of sentient beings. Among sentient beings in the desire realm, physical bodies are divided into male and female forms, but the earth element itself has no male or female marks—it has no marks at all. After the earth great seeds form a physical body, it is then divided into male and female forms. The earth element, which has no marks, can form marked objects and living beings.

On our physical bodies, the bones, muscles, skin, hair, and nails all belong to the hardness of earth, which is called earth nature. Earth nature itself has no male or female marks, but after it forms our physical bodies, they are divided into male and female forms—and in fact both male and female forms are illusory. The earth great element originally has no marks and no distinctions, yet the marks it manifests come to have distinctions. Why? Because the marks are determined by the karma we create. If we create the karma of a man, the tathāgatagarbha manifests the physical form of a man; if we create the karma of a woman, the karmic seeds are stored in the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha transmits the earth great element outward, creating the physical form of a woman for us.