Question: Is the Pure Land a manifestation of the mind, also being the Tathagatagarbha, meaning there is no real Pure Land? Do sentient beings perceive the Western Pure Land due to their attachment, while without attachment, all ten directions are quiescent?
Answer: The Tathagatagarbha can manifest the Pure Land and transform into the Pure Land. The Pure Land is indeed a part of the function and operation of the Tathagatagarbha, existing in a relationship of neither identity nor difference with it. If the Pure Land were identical to the Tathagatagarbha, then the Pure Land would also be capable of producing all phenomena. However, in reality, it cannot. Therefore, the Pure Land and the Tathagatagarbha are not completely identical; there are aspects of difference. The different aspect is that the Pure Land has form and appearance; it undergoes birth and cessation, being illusory and subject to change. It lacks the intrinsic nature of consciousness but possesses a materializing function, serving as a vessel that carries sentient beings. The Tathagatagarbha, however, is consciousness itself — formless, possessing the functional nature of mind, unborn and unceasing, and unchanging. The Pure Land relies upon it for its existence.
All phenomena do not exist apart from the Tathagatagarbha. The entirety of the Pure Land is a manifestation of the function and operation of the Tathagatagarbha. When you see the Pure Land, you should realize it is your own wondrous true suchness; when you hear of the Pure Land, you should realize it is your own wondrous true suchness; when you perceive the Pure Land through smell, you should realize it is your own wondrous true suchness. All phenomena are your own wondrous true suchness. This is the state of profound awakening where realization becomes pervasive.
However, it must also be understood that the Pure Land indeed undergoes birth and cessation; it came into existence later, having been established for only ten kalpas. The existence of worldly phenomena cannot be denied — the Saha World is like this, the worlds in the ten directions are like this — their existence cannot be negated, even though this existence is ultimately unreal.
Studying the Buddha Dharma must be approached from both the conventional truth and the ultimate truth. Neither aspect can be negated; both must be acknowledged. The true has its true nature, and the false has its false function. The Agama Sutras and the Avatamsaka Sutra expound the Buddha Dharma from both the ultimate and conventional perspectives. Both are the Buddha's teachings and should be studied and realized. The Buddha taught the path to liberation. If there were no conventional reality, there would be no need to teach liberation or the principles of the Four Noble Truths, because it is only within the conventional truth that suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path exist. The ultimate truth, the Tathagatagarbha, inherently has no suffering, does not accumulate suffering, does not cease suffering, and does not cultivate the path. The Buddha instructs us to transcend the suffering of birth and death within cyclic existence precisely because there are conventional phenomena of birth-and-death suffering in the world. This cannot be denied.
Therefore, although the Pure Land is a manifestation of mind-only, it exists phenomenally. Amitabha Buddha, the great bodhisattvas, and countless sentient beings also exist within the phenomenal realm of the Pure Land. When we attain profound wisdom, we realize that the Pure Land and the worlds in the ten directions are, in essence, the One True Dharma Realm. At that point, all ten directions become quiescent. In studying the Buddha Dharma, we should view all matters and principles completely from both the ultimate and conventional perspectives, neglecting neither, in order to possess correct knowledge and views and attain profound wisdom.
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