All Views of Sentient Beings Are Deluded Views

Delusory perception, as the name implies, refers to the perception of the deluded mind, primarily involving the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. The most evident and easily observable is the perception of the mental consciousness. Sentient beings refer to the five aggregates and also to the mental faculty (manas). The perception of sentient beings is the perception of the spiritual five aggregates, the perception of the mental faculty, or the perception of the six consciousnesses. Corresponding to the perception of the seven consciousnesses, there is also the perception of Tathagatagarbha (Thusness). However, the perception of Tathagatagarbha never falls into the realm of the five aggregates. That is to say, Tathagatagarbha has no worldly perception, no conventional perception, and its perception cannot be expressed. Once expressed, it falls into conventional language and words, which is no longer the perception of Tathagatagarbha. Therefore, when speaking of attaining fruition, realization, perceiving the Dharma, or seeing the Path, it is necessarily the perception and realization of the seven consciousnesses. Tathagatagarbha does not perceive these.

Thus, perceiving Tathagatagarbha is also the perception of the seven consciousnesses. After the seven consciousnesses perceive it, although they can negate the self of the five aggregates, if one regards Tathagatarbha as another true self, the view of self is not completely eradicated. This remains a form of self-view or a view of what belongs to self. For within the Dharma realm, there is fundamentally no self such as the five aggregates or the seven consciousnesses. Since there is no self, how can there be the notion that Tathagatagarbha is the true self? Ultimately speaking, there is no fundamental self-nature of the seventh consciousness, and thus there is no self-nature whatsoever. If one establishes a view stating that Tathagatagarbha is the true self, one simultaneously establishes a self of the seventh consciousness. Only when there is a self of the seventh consciousness does one regard Tathagatagarbha as the true self. Without the seventh consciousness, no dharma would be taken as self. Of course, for a period of time, one may speak this way or express it as a skillful means, but upon reaching a certain stage of cultivation, such notions in the mind must be extinguished and abandoned. When one reaches the third barrier in Chan (Zen) practice, if the mind still clings to a Tathagatagarbha self, one cannot pass the third barrier of Chan, cannot attain nirvana with residue, and cannot transcend birth and death to attain liberation. Therefore, any perception of Dharma is delusory perception. When there is no delusory perception, one necessarily becomes a Buddha.