The Fundamental Cause of the Arising of the World of the Five Aggregates

The physical body of every sentient being has such an intricate organizational structure, the nervous system is so refined, and its functions are even more subtle. The tathāgatagarbha is truly a master craftsman—what kind of design blueprint does He use? Who designed it for Him? How does the tathāgatagarbha construct the physical body according to the blueprint? This is truly marvelous beyond words!

Why is there the birth of a five-aggregate body? What was the initial cause for the arising of the world and the five-aggregate body? The Śūraṅgama Sūtra points out a key point: the manas is not content with the status quo and wants to discern something, and so it reaches outward to seek; the tathāgatagarbha cooperates, and thus the undifferentiated world came into being, followed by the birth of the five-aggregate body. Before this, there were only the tathāgatagarbha and the manas, in vast, unfathomable darkness. Therefore, the birth of the five-aggregate body can only be traced back to the tathāgatagarbha, leading to the conclusion: name-and-form conditions consciousness (the tathāgatagarbha), and consciousness (the tathāgatagarbha) conditions name-and-form.