The Causes and Conditions for the Arising of All Dharmas

The tathāgatagarbha is the cause that generates all dharmas, but a solitary cause cannot generate all dharmas; it is only when the tathāgatagarbha relies on various conditions and contains the seeds of all dharmas that it can generate all dharmas, and it also depends on the grasping (upādāna) of the manas. If even one condition is lacking, the tathāgatagarbha cannot generate all dharmas; the karmic conditions must ripen and the conditions must be complete—this is the prerequisite for generating all dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha itself is unborn; it exists from the very beginning, and nothing is needed to give birth to Him—indeed, there is no thing or principle whatsoever that could give birth to Him. The tathāgatagarbha is the beginning of heaven and earth, prior to the myriad things; it is thus by its very nature (dharmatā), with no rationale to be given. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha is independent and self-sufficient, able to exist by itself without relying on other conditions. If it were something brought into being, He would have to depend on the thing that gave birth to Him in order to exist, and could not be independent.

This is not a shallow worldly dharma that sentient beings can easily understand; the supramundane dharma does not resonate with most sentient beings, so they find it very hard to comprehend. Even at the buddha-stage, for the World-Honored One's tathāgatagarbha-mind to produce the World-Honored One's five-aggregate body, various conditions were needed; to expound the Tripiṭaka and the twelve divisions of the scriptures also required various conditions; establishing the precepts required various conditions; delivering all kinds of sentient beings required various conditions—every single deed required various conditions. A solitary cause does not generate dharmas; dharmas arise and manifest by relying on conditions.

For the World-Honored One to come to the Sahā world also required many conditions. Before coming to the human world, the World-Honored One had to observe whether the conditions of the sentient beings of the Sahā world had ripened, and when they would ripen. When the conditions for sentient beings' practice ripened, the conditions for the World-Honored One's descent into the world ripened. The World-Honored One also had to dispatch an advance contingent to the human world to await His birth and to cooperate with Him in spreading the Dharma. After the World-Honored One attained the Way, expounding the Dharma of the Three Vehicles required many conditions; it was not that the World-Honored One could simply decide things however He pleased—everything depended on the conditions of sentient beings, as well as other relevant conditions.