Learning the Buddha-Dharma Must Be Approached from Both the Conventional Truth and the Ultimate Truth

Question: The land of bliss (Sukhāvatī) is manifested by the mind alone and is also the tathāgatagarbha; there is no real land of bliss. When sentient beings cling to it, the Western Pure Land exists; if they do not cling, are all the ten directions quiescent and extinguished?

Answer: The tathāgatagarbha can manifest and conjure the land of bliss, and the land of bliss is indeed a part of the functional operation of the tathāgatagarbha, standing in a relationship of neither identity nor difference with the tathāgatagarbha. If the land of bliss were itself the tathāgatagarbha, then the land of bliss could also give rise to all dharmas, but in fact it cannot. Therefore the land of bliss and the tathāgatagarbha are not completely identical; there are also aspects of difference. As for the aspects of difference: the land of bliss has form and appearance, it arises and ceases; it is a conjured illusion subject to arising and ceasing, and also subject to change. It lacks the nature of conscious mind, yet has the function of materialized things, serving as a vessel that carries sentient beings. The tathāgatagarbha, on the other hand, is consciousness, without form or appearance, possessing the functional nature of mind, neither arising nor ceasing, and unchanging; only by relying on it can the land of bliss exist.

All dharmas do not exist apart from the tathāgatagarbha. The land of bliss in its entirety is a manifestation of the functional operation of the tathāgatagarbha. When you see the land of bliss, you should know it is your own wondrous true suchness nature; when you hear the land of bliss, you should know it is your own wondrous true suchness nature; when you smell the land of bliss, you should know it is your own wondrous true suchness nature. All dharmas are your own wondrous true suchness nature—this is the state of great awakening in an unbroken continuum.

But you must also know that the land of bliss does indeed have arising and ceasing; it came into existence later. The establishment of the land of bliss has lasted a mere ten kalpas. The existence of worldly phenomena cannot be denied; the same is true of the Sahā world, and the same is true of the worlds in the ten directions—their existence cannot be denied. It is only that these existences are not real.

In studying the Buddhadharma, one must learn from both the conventional truth and the ultimate truth; neither aspect can be denied—both must be faced squarely. The true has the nature of the true, and the false has the function of the false. The Āgama sūtras and the Avataṃsaka Sūtra expound the Buddhadharma from both the ultimate and the conventional aspects; both were spoken by the Buddha, and both must be cultivated and realized. When the Buddha taught the path of liberation, if there were no conventional dharmas, there would be no need to teach liberation, no need to teach the principle of the Four Noble Truths, because only within the conventional truth do suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path exist. In the ultimate truth, the tathāgatagarbha fundamentally has no suffering, does not accumulate suffering, does not cease suffering, and still less cultivates the path. The Buddha urges us to escape the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra precisely because in the world there exists the conventional phenomenon of the suffering of birth and death—this cannot be denied.

Therefore, although the land of bliss is manifested by the mind alone, it exists phenomenally; Amitābha Buddha, the great bodhisattvas, and countless sentient beings also exist on the phenomenal plane of the land of bliss. When we realize profound wisdom, we will know that the land of bliss and the worlds of the ten directions are, in their essence, all the one true dharmadhātu; at that time, all the ten directions will be quiescent and extinguished. In studying the Buddhadharma, we should view all matters and principles completely, from both the ultimate and the conventional aspects, without neglecting either side; only then can we possess correct knowledge and views and attain profound wisdom.