Are the Four Great Elements and Paramāṇu Permanent Dharmas?

The only permanently abiding dharma is the tathāgatagarbha; the four great elements' ultimate particles of matter are always arising and ceasing, and since they arise and cease, they are not permanent and unchanging. The four great element seeds that compose the ultimate particles of matter belong to the inherently existing seeds within the eighth consciousness; if they are said to depend upon the eighth consciousness, they may also be regarded as permanent. However, the four great element seeds cannot function without the necessary conditions; for example, in the state of nirvāṇa without remainder, the four great element seeds lie idle and unused, unable to generate any dharma whatsoever. If the four great element seeds were subject to arising and ceasing, then the four great element seeds within the tathāgatagarbha in nirvāṇa without remainder would have vanished; yet if an arhat emerges from the state of nirvāṇa and the four great element seeds can again transform into a material body, where did those four great element seeds come from? If the four great element seeds permanently abide within the tathāgatagarbha, then the four great element seeds are permanent dharmas that neither arise nor cease.

The tathāgatagarbha is formless and without marks; the four great element seeds—or the seven great element seeds—within the tathāgatagarbha are likewise formless and without marks. These seeds permanently abide within the tathāgatagarbha; if they did not permanently abide, what dharma would the tathāgatagarbha use to generate seeds again? The tathāgatagarbha can use the seeds of the four great elements and seven great elements to give birth to all dharmas; without these seeds, the tathāgatagarbha would have no way to give birth to any dharma, and there is fundamentally no other dharma or seed that could give birth to these seeds.

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