Can Ordinary Beings Transmute and Rely on Tathāgatagarbha?

The initial success of turning to rely on the Tathagatagarbha occurs at the stage of the first-ground Bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas before attaining the first ground are diligently learning to turn and rely. Ordinary beings, not having realized the Tathagatagarbha, cannot truly rely upon it. They do not know where the Tathagatagarbha is, nor its characteristics or functions—how then can they rely on it? It is like leaning on the void; the imagined Tathagatagarbha is not a tangible reality that can be depended upon.

Furthermore, ordinary beings cannot actively utilize the Tathagatagarbha. They do not know its location, characteristics, functions, or how to make use of it. Everyone is merely imagining the Tathagatagarbha, engaging in conjecture and fantasy, which is also called speculation. Ordinary beings are allowed to speculate, even to get seventy or eighty percent close, but it is useless. When consciousness ceases, they will be plunged into darkness, bewildered and at a loss.

The sign of successful turning and reliance is a transformation in mental nature, resembling that of the Tathagatagarbha, where afflictions are eradicated and wisdom increases. If turning and reliance is not yet successful, but one is gradually changing oneself, subduing afflictions, and bit by bit increasing wisdom, accumulating to a certain degree until a qualitative leap occurs—afflictions eradicated, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses transformed into wisdom—only then is turning and reliance initially successful. Complete turning and reliance results in Buddhahood. Therefore, one cannot use the success of turning and reliance to judge whether the mind has been realized or enlightenment attained. The realization of the mind has its own criteria and content; turning and reliance is not that criterion.

Buddhist teachings seem chaotic. The reason for this confusion is that people have not walked that path themselves. They rely solely on understanding, reasoning, and speculation. Even if their guesses are very close to the truth, they remain highly inaccurate because, after all, they have not seen it with their own eyes. There is inevitably no firm grounding in their hearts. Drawing a tiger based on a cat does not make it a real tiger.