Why is it said that the material form seen by the seventh consciousness is not truly seen?

Material form is constituted by the five great seeds. Within the tathāgatagarbha, the five great seeds are formless and colorless; to the seven consciousnesses, they are empty and invisible. Countless five great seeds emerge from the tathāgatagarbha and, according to certain rules and proportions, constitute what is called material form. These material forms should in essence still be empty and invisible. For example, air is invisible; when a great quantity of air gathers together, it is still invisible. Likewise, empty space is invisible; when empty space overlaps and gathers together, it is still empty and invisible. Yet the mind of the seven consciousnesses stubbornly perceives material form with shape and appearance upon the empty, invisible material form—not seeing emptiness, but seeing only worldly signs. This is a false view.

The tathāgatagarbha, however, does not see material form with shape, appearance, and marks; it does not see worldly signs, but sees only emptiness, corresponding to the essence of material form. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha possesses great wisdom, is not inverted, will not give rise to those afflictions of the worldly realm, and cannot be defiled by worldly dharmas. Because what it sees is different, it cannot be defiled. So if the seven consciousnesses wish to remove defilement and exhaust afflictions, they should turn the inversion back around, restore what is seen, see the sign of emptiness, see the true reality; then afflictions and ignorance will fall away completely, and it will be impossible not to become a Buddha.

Therefore, cultivation is precisely about finding a way to see true reality. It is not enough for the mind consciousness to see it; the manas must see it—the manas seeing is what matters most. To whatever extent the manas sees true reality, and to whatever degree it sees it, to that extent afflictions and ignorance will be eliminated, gradually according with the Buddha of one's own mind. When all of true reality is seen—when true reality is seen completely and thoroughly—ignorance is fully exhausted, and there is complete accordance with the Buddha of one's own mind; that is of course a Buddha. As for what some people say about becoming a Buddha without eliminating afflictions, that is becoming a fake Buddha. More and more people like to fake things, because they lack the strength for genuine cultivation.