Tathāgatagarbha Uses the Seven Great Seeds to Transform and Create the Five Aggregates and Seven Consciousnesses

The four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind are seeds inherently possessed within the tathāgatagarbha. When the tathāgatagarbha encounters conditions and transmits these seeds outward, they can compose the material body and five faculties of sentient beings, and can also compose the forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and dharmas that sentient beings need, composing the universe's material world (inanimate environment) and the buddha-lands of the ten directions. In this way, the direct retributive bodies of sentient beings and the dependent retributive living environments are complete, and sentient beings can thereby survive.

The tathāgatagarbha naturally and inherently possesses the seven great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, space, consciousness, and perception. Only when the tathāgatagarbha transmits the seeds of consciousness outward can the seven consciousnesses arise, and only then are there the functions and roles of the seven consciousnesses. Then the five aggregates of sentient beings are complete, and there is normal activity of the five aggregates. The four great elements have a great effect on our material bodies, being able to sustain the needs of our bodies' life activities. If the proportions of the four great elements become imbalanced, the material body will develop the suffering of illness; when the material body suffers illness, the conscious mind will be affected, the mind will not be at peace, and feelings of suffering will arise. Our body and mind are mutually dependent and mutually influencing: when the body is well regulated, the mind becomes smooth and unobstructed; when the mind and consciousness are well regulated, the material body becomes healthy and long-lived.