The Essence of the Heart Sutra
Section Six: The True Mind Is Empty and Quiescent, Devoid of Wisdom and Attainment
Scripture: ["(The Tathāgatagarbha) has no wisdom nor attainment."] This "wisdom" refers to the wisdom of the mundane world and the wisdom cultivated through learning the supramundane Dharma. It belongs to the seven consciousnesses and constitutes their cognition and understanding of mundane and supramundane phenomena. It is the discerning wisdom regarding the objects of the six dusts (senses), the wisdom acquired through the learning and cultivation of the seven consciousnesses. It does not refer to the inherently enlightened wisdom of the Tathāgatagarbha.
The Tathāgatagarbha lacks this mundane wisdom because it does not engage with the six dusts, does not perceive the six dusts. It is fundamentally not within the mundane world; it is originally on the other shore. The wisdom of the seven consciousnesses is subject to birth and cessation, vastly different from the unborn and unceasing wisdom inherently possessed by the Tathāgatagarbha. When we engage in invention, creation, and research within mundane phenomena, the Tathāgatagarbha does not comprehend these; it has never paid them any heed. When our five aggregates (skandhas) and mental faculties learn skills and crafts, the Tathāgatagarbha neither understands nor learns them. When our conscious awareness mind (mano-vijñāna) learns university courses, graduate courses, the Tathāgatagarbha neither learns nor understands; it possesses none of the wisdom pertaining to mundane phenomena.
The conscious awareness mind possesses such wisdom: it reads, studies, can progress to a postdoctoral level, engages in research, invention, and creation, capable of building airplanes and rockets. This mind is indeed sometimes clever and knowledgeable. The conscious mind can also study the Buddha Dharma, realize the mind and see its nature (明心见性), and attain the great wisdom of no-self (anātman). The Tathāgatagarbha is not interested in these wisdoms, nor does it possess them, yet all these mundane wisdoms of the conscious mind originate from the support of the Tathāgatagarbha. The great wisdom possessed by the Tathāgatagarbha is not wisdom related to mundane phenomena. Its state of wisdom is inherent, not acquired through learning or cultivation. For example, it transmits the seeds of the four great elements (earth, water, fire, wind), creates the physical body, creates mountains, rivers, the great earth, flowers, plants, trees, and creates the universe, stars, and sky. It possesses this wisdom; it knows when and where to manifest what kind of thing—whether mountains, rivers, or gold, silver, or iron ore. Its wisdom lies herein. It can also know your thoughts and, knowing them, will cooperate with you, whether you are engaging in deluded thinking or cultivating meditation. Its wisdom is different from that of the conscious awareness mind; it is inconceivable. Precisely because the inherently enlightened wisdom of the Tathāgatagarbha is fundamentally different from the wisdom of our five-aggregate consciousness-mind, if one seeks the Tathāgatagarbha according to the standards of mundane wisdom, one will be unable to find it.
Because our five-aggregate body and mind suffer the pain of birth, death, and rebirth, we cultivate the Śrāvaka path of liberation and the Mahāyāna path to Buddhahood. Through cultivation and learning, our conscious mind gains the liberating wisdom of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, and even gains the Mahāyāna liberating wisdom of the general characteristic wisdom (总相智), specific characteristic wisdom (别相智), and even the wisdom of the path of the bodhisattva (道种智). But the Tathāgatagarbha cultivates and learns none of these wisdoms. It does not correspond to any wisdom, whether mundane, supramundane, or transcending both. It does not need to cultivate the wisdom of liberation; it is itself liberated. All liberating wisdom exists dependent upon it, yet it itself has no bonds whatsoever.
The Tathāgatagarbha also has no attainment; it attains nothing regarding all dharmas because it is perfectly complete in all dharmas, lacking nothing. The five-aggregate body and mind, because they crave mundane dharmas, attain various kinds of fame, praise, and material gain. Seeking liberation, they attain the wisdom of the Two Vehicles (Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha). Cultivating the Mahāyāna Buddha Dharma, they attain the fruition of the bodhisattva stages up to the ultimate Buddha stage. It is the five aggregates and seven consciousnesses that have attainments, but in reality, the five aggregates attain nothing. What is called "attainment" is merely a false, illusory appearance, like an illusory game, without substance. Attainment is merely a nominal designation, without true reality.
The Tathāgatagarbha grasps nothing and attains nothing regarding anything in the mundane or supramundane dharmas. Even when sentient beings become Buddhas, it remains itself. It is actually the true Buddha. This Buddha is not cultivated; if it were cultivated, it would be an attained dharma, a dharma subject to birth and cessation. For example, studying the Buddha Dharma and cultivating practice, attaining wisdom and liberation—it is the five-aggregate body and mind that attains wisdom and liberation; it has nothing to do with the Tathāgatagarbha. It itself has no bonds; it is both wise and liberated. It does not desire the Buddha's fruition; it grasps nothing and attains nothing regarding anything in mundane or supramundane dharmas. The Tathāgatagarbha also does not attain the Buddha's fruition. If it attained the Buddha's fruition, then it would not be the original Buddha but a Buddha cultivated later; this would contradict the Buddha's intent.
The five aggregates can possess all mundane dharmas, yet neither the five aggregates themselves nor the dharmas they possess have self-nature; they are all empty, illusory, and false, like flowers in a mirror or the moon reflected in water. The "existence" of the five aggregates is completely different from the "existence" of the Tathāgatagarbha. Is the Tathāgatagarbha itself empty or existent? It is both empty and existent, neither empty nor existent, emptiness and existence are non-dual. To say it is empty: it has neither this nor that, not a single dharma of the threefold world (triloka) exists within it. To say it is existent: it contains the seeds of all dharmas, can manifest the myriad dharmas, its functions, virtues, and capacities are immeasurable, boundless, and inconceivable.
The Tathāgatagarbha attains none of the dharmas, yet it can manifest or reveal these dharmas according to various conditions. If the conditions are not complete, or if the corresponding conditions cease, the Tathāgatagarbha will not produce or manifest any dharma. For example, when an Arhat enters the remainderless nirvāṇa (nirupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), leaves the threefold world, and severs all connections with the threefold world, then the Arhat's Tathāgatagarbha no longer manifests any dharma and itself abides in the state of complete quiescence.
The above describes the intrinsic nature of the Tathāgatagarbha having no wisdom nor attainment.
