The Self-Validating Cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) of the Tathāgatagarbha (IV)

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, the tathāgatagarbha, in accordance with the karmic seeds, knows how much longer the life will last, what the body's present condition is, and what the body's condition should be in the next moment—the tathāgatagarbha knows all of this. Therefore, before a sentient being dies, the tathāgatagarbha sends out certain warning signals to alert the sentient being.

In fact, it is to let the manas discern, yet it is not that there is any deliberate intent to let the manas discern; the tathāgatagarbha always operates unintentionally, operating without mind. When the manas discerns some dharmas that the tathāgatagarbha has brought into operation, it knows the events that are about to occur—events that will occur in one or two years, or even longer. After the manas knows, it then finds ways to alert the mind consciousness so that the mind consciousness becomes aware; this is active, intentional, an operation with the mental factor of volition (cetanā), 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, it is a late knower and late awakener, incapable of knowing beforehand and awakening beforehand; therefore the sixth consciousness cannot necessarily sense that it is about to die, and it needs the warning hints of the tathāgatagarbha and the manas. Even after receiving the hints, the sixth consciousness may not necessarily be able to detect them; if the sixth consciousness is relatively sensitive, it may perhaps sense that it might soon be finished, that this life is about to end.

The tathāgatagarbha can alter the physical body in an instant and manifest the various conditions of the physical body; the manas can discern the condition of the physical body and know what the body's condition signifies; only 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, so that the sentient being knows it is about to die and can be mentally prepared. This certainty without doubt is the self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) of the tathāgatagarbha.

From the above analysis and organization, we should know that the tathāgatagarbha not only has the perceiving-aspect and the object-aspect, but also has the self-cognition (svasaṃvitti) and the self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga); all four aspects are very important, and their merits are extremely vast. Relying on these four aspects, the tathāgatagarbha can accomplish all the dharmas of the world of the three realms, realize the causes, conditions, and karmic retributions of sentient beings in accordance with the truth and reality, and ensure that all the actions of sentient beings are not made for nothing. 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 is 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, so that we can attain incomparable ease and freedom.