Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (212)

The Buddha's seventh consciousness also possesses the quality of equality

The Buddha's seventh consciousness also possesses the quality of equality, regarding all sentient beings with perfect impartiality. He knows that although sentient beings differ in their appearances, which are unequal, their nature is equal—all are the nature of tathāgatagarbha. The Buddha sees that all sentient beings possess the buddha-nature, and the buddha-nature is equal and without differentiation; the Buddha does not look at external appearances. Therefore, the Buddha makes no distinction between good people and evil people, and will not save only the good while refusing to save the evil. The Buddha has no such partial mind; so long as the conditions ripen, the Buddha saves all equally and impartially. The minds of ordinary beings are not equal: they can only observe the outward appearance of others and cannot see the inner, equal buddha-nature. Since beginningless kalpas, they have been habituated to grasping at appearances until it has become second nature, not knowing that within the differentiated characteristics there also lies an undifferentiated nature. As for bodhisattvas who have attained the first bhūmi, because their sixth and seventh consciousnesses have already undergone the initial transformation of consciousness into wisdom, their seventh consciousness has been transformed into a partial measure of the wisdom of equality (samatā-jñāna). In viewing all worldly dharmas, they know that in essence all are the tathāgatagarbha, and thus their minds also begin to possess the quality of equality.