Is the External Dharma Object a Real Dharma?

Question: Does the tathāgatagarbha only condition real dharmas, that is, the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind; the ten material forms: the five faculties and five sense objects? Then the height of mountains and the size of trees that we see—are they real dharmas or provisional dharmas? Can the eighth consciousness condition them? If it does not condition them, then who created the differences in the material world, the differences in the shapes and forms of objects, their size and shape?

Answer: Real dharmas are the outer five sense objects—the objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch—but they also include outer mental sense-objects (dharma-viṣaya), for example, the visible form, expressive form, and non-expressive form on the object of form, and so on. Thus the height of the mountains outside and the size of trees are also real dharmas, and the tathāgatagarbha can also condition them. Because when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to a material form, it does not merely give rise to the manifest colors of the object of form; it must simultaneously give rise to the mental sense-objects such as the visible form, expressive form, and non-expressive form of the object of form. Otherwise, the object of form would not be a complete object of form—it would have only the single appearance of color. The same applies to the objects of sound, smell, taste, and touch: outer mental sense-objects all exist for them as well.

If there were no outer mental sense-objects, and the object of form consisted only of manifest colors, then all objects of form would have only color, without visible form, expressive form, or non-expressive form. There would be no shape, no height, no size, no length, breadth, squareness, roundness, or thickness; no distinguishing marks of variety and kind; no expressive and non-expressive forms such as beauty and ugliness, loftiness, uprightness, grandeur, tree rings, softness and hardness, and so on. The objects of form in the material universe would then differ only in color; apart from that, everything would be a blur, an undifferentiated chaos.

In that case, not only could karmic seeds not be realized, the tathāgatagarbha's manifestation of the myriad things would also become extremely simple. The great trichiliocosm would have only brilliant colors with no physical substance whatsoever, and thus no practical value. What sentient beings saw would be a field of color, with no distinctions of length, breadth, squareness, roundness, size, beauty, or ugliness. Then all material objects of form would be unusable, and sentient beings could not survive in such a material world.

But in reality, when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to material forms, it uses the seeds of the four great elements to completely manifest various different material forms, including color, shape, posture, quality, softness and hardness, and other such contents. Then, when sentient beings see forms, the tathāgatagarbha, relying on the outer six faculties, transmits the complete object of form to the supreme faculty (indriya), including the mental sense-object. With the manas directing the seeing of forms, the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness can then jointly discern the complete object of form. This is what is meant by the saying that the tathāgatagarbha is like a mirror reflecting images—the images it reflects resemble and match the outer objects of form. It is impossible for the inner mental sense-object to appear without the outer mental sense-object.

The five-aggregate physical bodies of sentient beings also belong to material form and are real dharmas, including all appearances; they exist already in the mother's womb, and all are personally conditioned by the tathāgatagarbha. If there were no outer mental sense-objects, a person would have only color, without limbs, head, the five faculties, sex, age, appearance, temperament, height, fatness or thinness, learning, cultivation, and so on—no visible form, expressive form, or non-expressive form. If, when the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the physical body, it only gave rise to manifest colors, then no one could be called a human being, and no one would know what they were. All objects of form would likewise be unrecognizable as anything; the world would be a chaos of color alone. Such a thing could not possibly exist.

Therefore, mental sense-objects such as visible form, expressive form, and non-expressive form are also real dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha both gives rise to them and can condition them, and can rely on them to manifest the inner mental sense-objects. What sentient beings discern is the complete object of form, with all information fully present—not inner mental sense-objects conjured up out of nothing. The same is true of the other sense objects: they all have outer mental sense-objects, and the inner mental sense-objects exist in dependence on the outer mental sense-objects, not arising from the inner five sense objects.

The tathāgatagarbha transmits the real dharmas to the supreme faculty, where they become provisional dharmas. The manas conditions them, and if it is interested and wishes to discern them in detail, yet cannot discern them itself, the tathāgatagarbha, at the point of contact between faculty and object, gives rise to the six consciousnesses to discern them. When the eye faculty contacts the inner object of form, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the eye consciousness therein; when the ear faculty contacts the object of sound, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the ear consciousness; when the nose faculty contacts the object of smell, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the nose consciousness; when the tongue faculty contacts the object of taste, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the tongue consciousness; when the body faculty contacts the object of touch, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the body consciousness; when the manas contacts the mental sense-object, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the mind consciousness. The six consciousnesses can then actively discern the inner six sense objects.