Amalavijñāna: The True Self

In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Bhagavān's statement "neither real nor non-real" means that the ālaya-vijñāna of sentient beings is not yet the true self and is not entirely real. This is because the essence of the mind still contains the seeds of arising and ceasing produced by the seven consciousnesses, and these seeds still possess the nature of birth and destruction. It is not the self endowed with eternity, bliss, selfhood, and purity, nor is it completely unchanging and permanent. Only when one attains Buddhahood does the amala-vijñāna become the true self—utterly and completely real, no longer subject to the arising, ceasing, and changing of seeds. It then becomes the self that is eternal, blissful, self, and pure.