No Dharmas Apart from Tathāgatagarbha

There is no dharma outside the mind; things are not things by themselves—it is because of the mind that things exist. Therefore, all dharmas are not of a natural nature, nor of a nature of causes and conditions, but of the nature of the tathāgatagarbha—this is what the Buddha taught in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. So do not say that there is some dharma in the world that can separate from the tathāgatagarbha and have its function independently; no such thing exists. Wind does not blow by itself, water does not flow by itself, mountains do not stand by themselves, and fire does not burn by itself—all of these are brought about by the tathāgatagarbha.

Do not say that physical objects have gravity apart from the tathāgatagarbha; apart from the tathāgatagarbha, there are not even physical objects, so how could gravity even be discussed? Whether physical effects or chemical reactions, none can be separated from the functioning of the tathāgatagarbha within them; apart from the tathāgatagarbha there would be no material form, so how could there be physical and chemical reactions? All reactions and changes among material things are the result of the tathāgatagarbha's transformations, all being the tathāgatagarbha's regulating function through the seeds of the four great elements.