The Self-Validating Cognition of Tathāgatagarbha (4)

Sixth, when sentient beings approach the end of life, many do not know that they are about to die, nor do they know when they will die; but after the tathāgatagarbha discerns the karmic seeds, it knows when a sentient being should die. Before death, based on the karmic seeds, the tathāgatagarbha knows how much longer the life will last, what the body's present condition is, and what condition the body should be in at the next moment—the tathāgatagarbha knows all of this. Therefore, before a sentient being dies, the tathāgatagarbha emits certain warning signals to alert the sentient being.

In fact, this is to let the manas discern it, yet it is not that the tathāgatagarbha deliberately intends for the manas to discern; the tathāgatagarbha always operates without intention, operating without mind. When the manas discerns some dharmas that the tathāgatagarbha has brought forth through its operation, it knows the events that are about to occur—events that will happen in one or two years or even longer. After the manas knows this, it then finds ways to alert the mind consciousness so that the mind consciousness becomes aware; this is active, intentional, an operation involving the mental factor of deliberation (manasikāra), whereas the tathāgatagarbha has no such mental activity. This is the difference between the operation of the tathāgatagarbha and the operation of the seven consciousnesses, although the tathāgatagarbha also has its own unique mental activity.

Because the sentient being's sixth consciousness does not discern karmic seeds and is one who knows only after the fact, unable to know beforehand, the sixth consciousness cannot necessarily sense that it is about to die; it needs the warning hints from the tathāgatagarbha and the manas. Even after receiving such hints, the sixth consciousness may not necessarily be able to perceive them; if the sixth consciousness is relatively sensitive, it may perhaps sense that it might soon be failing and that this life is about to end.

The tathāgatagarbha can alter the material body in an instant, manifesting the various conditions of the body; the manas can discern the condition of the body and knows what the body's condition signifies—it is only that the sixth consciousness is not quite clear about it. When the tathāgatagarbha has manifested all the signs of death, the sixth consciousness can then know completely, without any doubt. The tathāgatagarbha's knowledge of the karmic seeds and its knowledge that the sentient being is about to die are certain and without doubt; therefore it must alert the sentient being, making the sentient being know that death is coming, so that the sentient being can be mentally prepared. This certainty without doubt is the self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana) of the tathāgatagarbha.

From the above analysis and organization, we should know that the tathāgatagarbha not only has the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) and the object-aspect (nimitta), but also the self-cognition (svasaṃvitti) and the self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana); all four aspects are very important, and their merits are extremely vast. Relying on these four aspects, the tathāgatagarbha can accomplish all dharmas of the world of the three realms, realizing the causes, conditions, and retributions of sentient beings in accordance with the Dharma and in accordance with reality, so that everything sentient beings do is never done in vain. These four aspects are almost all manifested in the tathāgatagarbha's operation upon conditioned dharmas; although He has so many operations upon conditioned dharmas, the tathāgatagarbha from beginning to end maintains a mental activity of unconditionedness (asaṃskṛta), never craving or attaching to any dharma, nor clinging to any dharma; what He manifests for sentient beings is the appearance of a great person with a vast and expansive mind. Our minds of the seven consciousnesses should truly learn well from Him; only then can we attain incomparable ease and freedom.