The Tathāgatagarbha Beyond Sensory and Cognitive Awareness

Where there is seeing, there is non-seeing; dwelling in the realm of seeing and hearing yet beyond perception; abiding in the domain of thought and deliberation yet beyond conceptual reach. These three statements all indicate that the Tathāgatagarbha transcends the nature of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing. Our six consciousnesses' faculties of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing cannot touch the Tathāgatagarbha, precisely aligning with the empty nature of the Tathāgatagarbha as described in the Heart Sutra.

The first statement: where there is seeing, there is non-seeing. At the very place where our eye faculty contacts form, when the eye consciousness perceives form, there exists a Tathāgatagarbha that does not perceive form. While our eyes cannot see the Tathāgatagarbha, the Tathāgatagarbha, being without eyes, also does not perceive form.

The second statement: dwelling in the realm of seeing and hearing yet beyond perception. While our six consciousnesses perceive forms, hear sounds, and differentiate the objects of the six dusts, there exists a Tathāgatagarbha that we cannot perceive through seeing or hearing, nor differentiate, because the Tathāgatagarbha has no characteristics of the six dusts. Thus, the eye consciousness cannot see it, and the ear consciousness cannot hear it.

The third statement: abiding in the domain of thought and deliberation yet beyond conceptual reach. When we contemplate, recollect, or imagine various objects of mental dust, there exists a Tathāgatagarbha that our six consciousnesses cannot fathom through thought or imagination, for the Tathāgatagarbha is inconceivable. It cannot be speculated upon or imagined through emotional thinking or intellectual interpretation. One must investigate it according to principle and Dharma, diligently seeking it through prescribed methods with careful attention, to ultimately realize the Tathāgatagarbha.