Eradicating the Imputed Nature of the Manas Is the Path to Buddhahood

Birth and death arise due to the manas's imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). Within this, the manas's grasping on a self of persons (ātma-grāba) gives rise to segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa), causing life after life to transmigrate ceaselessly, accompanied by both coarse and subtle sufferings of birth and death; the manas's grasping on a self of dharmas (dharma-grāba) gives rise to transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa), causing the subtle and long-lasting phenomena of birth and death to never be exhausted, still accompanied by subtle ignorance, afflictions, karma, and suffering. Since this is so, when the manas eradicates its grasping on a self of persons, it can end and eliminate segmented birth-and-death, which corresponds to the arhat of the fourth fruit eradicating attachment to the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the eighteen realms; only when the manas eradicates its grasping on a self of dharmas can transformational birth-and-death be extinguished, culminating in the attainment of buddhahood.

Why is this said? Because all dharmas are grasped and clung to by the manas; clinging brings bondage, and grasping brings entanglement, and from this ignorance comes birth and death. Because the manas grasps the functions of the five aggregates as self, grasps the eighteen realms as self and what belongs to self, and grasps the world of the three realms with greedy attachment, refusing to let go, it is thereby bound by the five aggregates, bound by the eighteen realms, and bound by the world of the three realms, unable to escape the suffering of the three realms. Only by making the manas eradicate its view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) regarding the five aggregates and eighteen realms can it eradicate its attachment to the five aggregates and eighteen realms, thereby eradicating its greedy craving for the world of the three realms, releasing the bonds, and temporarily attaining liberation.

Because of the manas's ignorance, it does not know the true reality of the dharmadhātu, does not realize the tathāgatagarbha, and does not know the seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha; greedily clinging to all the dharmas manifested and transformed by the tathāgatagarbha as self and what belongs to self, clinging without letting go, there arises the bondage of dharmas, transformational birth-and-death is not eliminated, and great liberation cannot be attained. Only by making the manas gradually recognize the true facts—realizing that all dharmas are the functions of the tathāgatagarbha, all belong to the tathāgatagarbha, and contain not the slightest bit of self—can the manas give up its resolve, exhaust its craving for dharmas, extinguish all ignorance, release all adhesive bonds, attain ultimate liberation, and restore its original countenance.

Therefore it is said that studying Buddhism and cultivating practice means utterly breaking the manas's ignorance, realizing that all dharmas are without self, releasing the manas's greedy clinging, transforming and utterly eradicating the manas's imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). Only then can the shackles of birth and death be entirely removed, attaining freedom in birth and death and freedom in dharmas, becoming a great Dharma King and the Honored One of the Three Realms.