The Perceiving-Aspect and Object-Aspect of Tathāgatagarbha

The perceptive nature of the tathāgatagarbha is extremely powerful; there is no dharma that the tathāgatagarbha cannot perceive, because the tathāgatagarbha manifests and upholds all dharmas. If the tathāgatagarbha could not perceive them, it would be unable to manifest, transform, and uphold all dharmas. Whatever the tathāgatagarbha cannot perceive is a dharma that does not exist. As long as something exists in the mundane world, as long as it exists phenomenally, the tathāgatagarbha can perceive it.

As long as the tathāgatagarbha can perceive, there is a perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga), and the tathāgatagarbha has the nature of perception. This nature of perception is the tathāgatagarbha's own inherent capacity for knowing and grasping, which is the function of the mental factor of conception. Where there is a perceiving-aspect, there must be an object of perception; the object of the tathāgatagarbha's perception is all dharmas—not one can be omitted; it perceives them all. And whether it is the perceiving-aspect or the object-aspect (nimitta), both are the tathāgatagarbha itself, without any remainder of dharmas; all are appearances within the tathāgatagarbha's mind, and thus all are the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha does not need to perceive outwardly; He does not perceive external dharmas, He only perceives His own mind. In essence, in the ultimate sense, there is no object-aspect; all is the tathāgatagarbha's own substance, including the seeds. If there were no object-aspect, the tathāgatagarbha would also have no perceiving-aspect, and the perceiving-aspect would be meaningless—what would He perceive? He perceives Himself.