How to Distinguish Real Dharmas from Unreal Dharmas

Real dharmas can be divided into several levels, and likewise illusory dharmas can also be divided into several levels. The most real of all dharmas is the dharma that neither arises nor ceases—the true reality of the dharma realm, the tathāgatagarbha—which need not arise and cannot cease; only this is called "real." Compared with the tathāgatagarbha, all other dharmas are illusory dharmas, because they are subject to arising and ceasing.

Among illusory dharmas, there are also relatively real dharmas, namely the most primordial dharmas formed by the tathāgatagarbha outputting the great seeds, either alone or in conjunction. For example, sentient beings' physical bodies and the mind of the seven consciousnesses, and the six sense-object realms of the material world (the vessel-world of the universe)—this is the external world outside the mind of the seven consciousnesses before it is perceived by the six consciousnesses. Compared with the tathāgatagarbha, this part is illusory and unreal; but compared with what is perceived by the six consciousnesses, it is relatively real, being dharmas generated by the actual seeds of the four great elements, the five great seeds, and the six great seeds.

The dharmas that the tathāgatagarbha further transforms and manifests on the basis of these relatively real dharmas are illusory dharmas of a further degree—namely, the entire six sense-object realms within the supreme faculties (rūpa-prasāda) that are perceived by the six consciousnesses.

Moreover, due to karmic obstructions and problems with the six faculties, the six sense-object realms perceived by the six consciousnesses appear with deviations—this is the most illusory and unreal of all dharmas. Within these, there are still further different levels of the real and the illusory; because they are too profound and subtle, they are not easy to observe, and only when conditions are encountered can they be analyzed to some extent.