Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (151)

What is nirvāṇa?

The path to nirvāṇa should be walked in this way. And what nirvāṇa initially relies upon is certainly the one true dharmadhātu—the dharma of the Ālayavijñāna. Without the Ālayavijñāna, there would be no four kinds of nirvāṇa to speak of. In terms of the dharmadhātu of the Ālayavijñāna tathāgatagarbha, all dharmas are empty, quiescent, and without marks, and therefore there is no craving or seeking. These dharma principles pervade the bounds of empty space; no matter which world within empty space it is, this truth holds—all dharmas are empty. This principle applies throughout all the far reaches of empty space; it is so everywhere.

Nirvāṇa is divided into four kinds: nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), the nirvāṇa of the intrinsically pure mind, and nirvāṇa without abiding (apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa). The nirvāṇa of the Small Vehicle means extinguishing all dharmas. Nirvāṇa is a provisional term; it refers to attaining a state that is neither arising nor ceasing. It is merely a quality or state, not a truly existent dharma.

The truly existent dharma is the tathāgatagarbha. On the substance of the tathāgatagarbha there is manifested a quality of neither arising nor ceasing, a quality of immovability—this is nirvāṇa. When an arhat enters nirvāṇa without remainder, there is no arhat; only his tathāgatagarbha mind remains, abiding in a state of neither arising nor ceasing—that is called nirvāṇa. So nirvāṇa is also a provisional term. Only the mind of ultimate reality (dharmatā-citta), the tathāgatagarbha mind, is real; it is the true dharma, the actual dharma; everything else is a provisional dharma.

The Buddha said the same in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. Just as suchness (tathatā) is also a quality or state—suchness is a real and thus-like quality manifested by the Ālayavijñāna tathāgatagarbha; it is a term. Ultimate reality is the truly existent mark of the tathāgatagarbha; the real quality manifested upon that truly existent mark, the quality of being real and thus-like and unmoving, is suchness (tathatā). Therefore it is said that nirvāṇa proceeds together with emptiness; when emptiness is exhausted, one enters nirvāṇa without remainder. This emptiness means abiding in the realm and state of the tathāgatagarbha's neither arising nor ceasing—that is called nirvāṇa.