Why Every Dharma Is Tathatā

Why is every dharma tathatā, and why is the entire earth the body of the Dharma King?  The entire earth being the body of the Dharma King is indeed true. Every place, even as tiny as a speck of dust, is a place where the Dharma King abides and holds sway. Every dharma is tathatā; every particle and every mote of dust is tathatā. What does "every dharma" encompass? It encompasses all dharmas of the threefold world, from the vast trichiliocosm, the universe, and empty space, down to the smallest dust motes and bacteria—all are tathatā. The meaning of "coming from the West" is upon the tips of the hundred grasses; not a single blade of grass or a single thread departs from self-nature, departs from tathatā. One who has realized this state has already entered the household of the Tathāgata and has been cultivating for an extremely long period of time.

Why is every dharma tathatā? Because all dharmas are generated from the seven intrinsically existing great seeds within the tathāgatagarbha, the true mind substance. Not a single dharma can exist apart from the seven great seeds. The seven great seeds fill the world, fill the Lotus Treasury World, fill the ocean of worlds, fill the one true dharma realm.

The seven great seeds are like the emperor's yellow robe, and the tathāgatagarbha is like the emperor himself. When the emperor moves about the world, the yellow robe never leaves his body; upon seeing the yellow robe, one knows the emperor has appeared. There is no place in the world that is not the soil of the tathāgatagarbha, no place He cannot reach, no place that is not where He abides, no place without His figure, no dharma that is not He. From the sky to the ground, all is He; the mountains, rivers, and the great earth entirely reveal the body of the Dharma King—all are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and all exist only by relying on the tathāgatagarbha's sustaining and upholding.

"The green bamboo is nothing but prajñā; the lush yellow flowers are entirely the Dharma body"—the whole world is the Buddha. To truly understand these words and realize them, one must reach the level of the first bhūmi or above. Within and beyond the world, there is no dharma, no place, no moment that is not tathatā—every dharma is tathatā. This is the contemplative realization (vipaśyanā-caryā) state of bhūmi bodhisattvas. In the world, no dharma can exist independently or be established on its own; all are transformed by tathatā and sustained by tathatā. Whether arising or ceasing, all transformations are the doing of tathatā.