Excerpt from the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment

Original text of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment (Yuanjue Jing):善男子。但诸菩萨。及末世众生。居一切时。不起妄念。于诸妄心。亦不息灭。住妄想境。不加了知。于无了知。不辨真实。彼诸众生。闻是法门。信解受持。不生惊畏。是则名为。随顺觉性。善男子。汝等当知。如是众生。已曾供养。百千万亿。恒河沙诸佛。及大菩萨，植众德本。佛说是人。名为成就。一切种智。

Explanation: This refers to the self-abiding realm of the tathāgatagarbha; it describes the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, not the realm in which the seven consciousnesses should abide. The nature of the tathāgatagarbha is such that at all times it never gives rise to deluded thoughts, yet it also never extinguishes the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses. The tathāgatagarbha manifests in all kinds of deluded thought realms, but the tathāgatagarbha never knows these deluded realms; the tathāgatagarbha also does not know that it does not know these various deluded realms, and regarding its own not-knowing, the tathāgatagarbha never discriminates their reality, not knowing that it has such a nature. Only bodhisattvas possessing the wisdom of the varieties of paths can understand these profound and subtle characteristics of the tathāgatagarbha; therefore this is the bodhisattvas' accordance with the nature of enlightenment attained upon the bhūmis.

To recognize and accept this realm of the tathāgatagarbha nature is itself cultivation; one who truly reaches this realm is a Buddha. That is a realm of principle, the realm of the tathāgatagarbha. The perceiving mind of a great bodhisattva cannot achieve this, let alone that of an ordinary person. As stated above, "hearing this dharma gate"—this is a dharma gate, the tathāgatagarbha dharma gate. To be able to have faith in it, understand it, receive and uphold it, and practice this tathāgatagarbha dharma gate is the accordance with the nature of enlightenment of bodhisattvas who have entered the bhūmis; only bodhisattvas on the bhūmis can truly understand and accord with it. When one's accordance with this nature of enlightenment reaches perfection, it is the perfectly complete nature of enlightenment of all Buddhas. By this point, such a sentient being has already made offerings to hundreds of thousands of millions of nayutas of Buddhas and great bodhisattvas, and has planted the roots of many virtues; only then can one realize omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā) and perfectly accomplish the Buddha path.

The above is explained from the perspective of the tathāgatagarbha. If explained from the perspective of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, the above realm is the profound realm of meditative concentration and wisdom of great bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis. Having cultivated to the stage of attaining the bhūmis, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses of these bodhisattvas have already transformed consciousness into wisdom, and they possess a considerable degree of the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only. At this time, the bodhisattvas' sixth and seventh consciousnesses no longer give rise to deluded thoughts—mainly it is the manas that no longer gives rise to deluded thoughts, and thus the mind consciousness has no deluded thoughts to give rise to either. However, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses still need to function; there is still a deluded mind that must operate. For the sake of benefiting themselves and others and delivering sentient beings, the bodhisattvas do not extinguish this deluded mind, thinking nothing and doing nothing; they also often abide within realms of deluded thought. Yet within these realms of deluded thought, the bodhisattvas are without mind; they do not deliberately know or be aware of this state, and regarding the deluded realms they do not know, they also do not discriminate whether they are real realms or deluded realms. Such is the case when a bodhisattva is without mind and deep in concentration and wisdom.

The higher one cultivates, the closer the sixth and seventh consciousnesses come to the mind-nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and the further they depart from the consciousness-nature of ordinary people's sixth and seventh consciousnesses. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses of great bodhisattvas on the bhūmis are of the nature of wisdom; they deeply know the illusory and unreal nature of sense realms, and therefore they are often without mind toward sense realms, giving rise to no thoughts or ideation. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses of ordinary people and bodhisattvas at the stage of the faiths and abodes are of the nature of consciousness; their cognition of sense realms is not yet deep and thorough, and they may even be unable to see through them. Therefore they have thoughts, ideas, and aspirations; they analyze, compare, judge, and make all kinds of discriminations and differentiations regarding sense realms, and their minds stir and thoughts arise—all because they cannot see through them. The less one can see through a realm, the more ideas one has, the more complicated one's thinking, the more matters one has, the busier one is, the more disputes there are, and the more karmic obstructions and afflictions there are. The more afflictions and karmic obstructions there are, the less clearly one can see the realm—thus it is a vicious cycle; such is the case for people of low wisdom.