Imputed Nature (parikalpita-svabhāva), Dependent Nature (paratantra-svabhāva), and Perfectly Accomplished Nature (pariniṣpanna-svabhāva)

The first seven consciousnesses are the perceiving-aspect, the conscious mind capable of perceiving the six sense objects; they are the perceiver. The object-aspect is the six sense objects—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—which are the objects of perception, and also the perceived. The seventh consciousness is the manas, the self-grasping consciousness; it grasps the five aggregates as self or as belonging to self, grasps the eighteen realms as self or as belonging to self, grasps the perceiving-aspects of the first six consciousnesses as self or as belonging to self, and grasps the functions of the eighth consciousness as self or as belonging to self. Whatever it perceives, it grasps; it is the consciousness of imputed grasping, briefly called the consciousness of imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). The first six consciousnesses are of dependent-arising nature; they arise depending on the six faculties contacting the six sense objects, and arise depending on the tathāgatagarbha; once they arise, they discriminate the six sense objects.

The manas grasps the discriminating minds of the six consciousnesses as self or as functions belonging to self, and grasps the six sense objects as marks belonging to self. When the manas does not grasp or pay attention, even though the six faculties and six sense objects make contact, no conscious minds are produced, and there is no conscious mind to discriminate; or the discrimination by the conscious minds is extremely slight—merely knowing and then it is over, without proceeding further. This is the state of no-mind: seeing as if not seeing, hearing as if not hearing, smelling as if not smelling, with no particular feeling toward the six sense objects—for example, when eating without tasting the flavor, because the mind is not on the object being contacted.

The manas's wisdom for specifically discerning the realms of the six sense objects is rather inferior, with weak capacity for discrimination; it mainly relies on the first six consciousnesses to discriminate, and then the results are reported back to it, and it takes countermeasures and actions according to the results of the six consciousnesses' discrimination. If it wants to do something, it must let the first six consciousnesses do it; it can do nothing itself. Like a chief executive, it directs and issues commands, and the first six consciousnesses must carry them out.

The tathāgatagarbha, on the other hand, is like the president, monitoring all the mental activities and actions of the first seven consciousnesses. The seeds of the seven consciousnesses all come from Him; the seeds of the six sense objects all come from Him; all the karmic seeds of wholesome and unwholesome actions come from Him. He is like a great storehouse, storing everything sentient beings need to use, and also storing the seeds for sentient beings to become Buddhas; hence He is called the tathāgatagarbha. This is a general name that can be used from ordinary beings up to the Buddha stage; according to the different levels and stages of sentient beings' cultivation, different names are respectively given, but it is all one mind-essence.

The nature of the tathāgatagarbha is the perfectly accomplished nature (pariniṣpanna-svabhāva); He can perfectly accomplish all dharmas. All bodily, verbal, and mental actions are accomplished by Him; all activities of the five aggregates are accomplished by Him; all causes, conditions, and karmic retributions are accomplished by Him; the establishment of the world is accomplished by Him. What is meant by "perfectly accomplished" is that He never violates cause and effect; He faithfully fulfills the law of cause and effect, without ever mistakenly or chaotically accomplishing a single dharma.

When He actualizes cause and effect, He is not subject to command or restriction, and He Himself has no opinions or will; He does not act as a master, being a mind that completely accords with conditions. Before sentient beings become Buddhas, there is ignorance and defilement within their tathāgatagarbha, but this ignorance and defilement are all karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses; the tathāgatagarbha itself has no ignorance or defilement. When the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses is extinguished and they have all been transformed into wisdom-consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha can then be called the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna), the great perfect mirror wisdom (ādarśajñāna), suchness (tathatā), and the pure consciousness.