The Tathāgatagarbha's Sustaining of the Embryo and the World of the Sense-Body (Three)

All dharmas are the tathāgatagarbha. From the perspective of surface phenomena, it seems as though this dharma gives rise to that dharma, but in reality all are generated by the tathāgatagarbha by means of certain conditions. All external phenomena are superficial, illusory appearances; in essence, they are all functions of the tathāgatagarbha. For example, in the twelve links of dependent origination, ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ)—can ignorance produce bodily, verbal, and mental actions? Ignorance has no substance; it is merely a concept, a false name. It is not a conscious mind and has no seeds, so of course it cannot give birth to any dharma. The fact is that because sentient beings have ignorance, bodily, verbal, and mental actions arise, and only then does volitional formation condition consciousness.

Who produces bodily, verbal, and mental actions? It is the tathāgatagarbha, relying on certain external conditions together with the ignorance of sentient beings, that bodily, verbal, and mental actions can be born and exist. Can bodily, verbal, and mental actions produce the six consciousnesses? Certainly not. It is because sentient beings have bodily, verbal, and mental actions that the six consciousnesses are forced to continually manifest and operate. Who gave birth to the six consciousnesses? Of course it is the tathāgatagarbha, not bodily, verbal, and mental actions, because bodily, verbal, and mental actions have no substance and no seeds, and thus cannot give birth to any dharma. In essence, it is because of the conditions of the faculties and sense objects that the tathāgatagarbha produces the six consciousnesses. The dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination is a chain linked to the next chain; the preceding chain is the condition, while the cause for the birth of the next chain is in every case the tathāgatagarbha.

Any dharma in the world of the three realms, if not held and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, will decay and be destroyed and cannot exist, and we would be unable to come into contact with it. Without the tathāgatagarbha, first of all there would not even be ourselves, let alone a world of the three realms. Every dharma in the world is held and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha; the external phenomena are the conditions, while the inner essence is all the tathāgatagarbha.

The arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of all dharmas, and the destruction of the earth, are all the tathāgatagarbha functioning within them. Not a single dharma can have its own self-nature apart from the tathāgatagarbha and exist independently. Do not be deceived by those surface phenomena that seem very real, as if they could exist independently, as if they could arise and perish on their own—in fact it is not so; they are all the sustaining function performed by the tathāgatagarbha. The earth seems to arise and perish by itself; the windows, chairs, benches, and so forth in one's home seem to gradually change by themselves and finally be destroyed—but in fact there is no such thing. It is only through the arising, abiding, and transformation produced by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the seeds of the four great elements that those surface phenomena can appear.