The Relationship among Mental Factors, Buddha-nature, and Tathāgatagarbha

The tathāgatagarbha is the mind-substance, the subject, the king; the five universally present mental factors (caittas) are the subordinates, the dependents, existing in dependence upon the tathāgatagarbha, being its followers — where the king goes, the followers must follow. The tathāgatagarbha is that upon which they depend, and the mental factors are the dependent ones; the relationship of master and subordinate is thus clearly established. It is like sentient beings in the desire realm: the five aggregates or the seven consciousnesses are the master, or the manas is the master, and the body is the follower — wherever the five-aggregate self appears, the body must follow along. The relationship between the five universally present mental factors and the tathāgatagarbha is one layer more intimate than the relationship between buddha-nature and the tathāgatagarbha, even more inseparable: there are times when the buddha-nature is separate, but there are no times when the five universally present mental factors are separate. Where there is the tathāgatagarbha, there are certainly mental factors accompanying and operating; the mental factors and the consciousness-mind are never separated. It is the same principle as: where there is a cart, there must be wheels; where there is a person, there must be a body.

The seeing of the mental factors and the seeing of buddha-nature seeing the nature are two different modes of seeing, with different functions and operations: the buddha-nature is the buddha-nature, and the mental factors are the mental factors; the two, from different aspects, cooperate with the tathāgatagarbha in seeing all dharmas and operating all dharmas. The seeing of the buddha-nature requires certain conditions, such as light and darkness; in the state of nirvāṇa there are no marks of light and darkness, of arising and ceasing, nor any false dharmas, so the buddha-nature does not function. But the operation of the mental factors has no conditions whatsoever, never stops, and functions forever, never apart from the tathāgatagarbha — where there is the tathāgatagarbha, there are certainly mental factors.