How can sentient beings come to recognize the truth?

The World-Honored One then continued his teaching: 如来者，无所从来，也无所去，故名如来。"No coming from anywhere" means there is no place from which the Tathāgata could come, and thus there is no place of coming. Yet although there is no place of coming, the Tathāgata nonetheless appears at all times and in all places; though without a body, He is never hidden. Thus the Tathāgata who has no place of coming is unborn—He has always been present, does not depend on other conditions, and is free and self-possessed. This Tathāgata is the true Tathāgata. "No going anywhere" means there is no place to which He could go—that is, He is unceasing. Being unceasing, He exists at all times and in all places, manifests at all times and in all places, and functions at all times and in all places. This Tathāgata is the true Tathāgata. The true Tathāgata, without any mark of coming or going, yet comes and goes; though coming and going, He remains limpid and unmoved, majestic and dignified—coming in suchness, going in suchness, neither coming nor going, neither arising nor ceasing.

In order to enable sentient beings to recognize the true Tathāgata, the World-Honored One and Mañjuśrī together staged a play to reveal to the bhikṣus the true meaning of the Tathāgata. On one occasion, after the bhikṣus had all taken their seats in the lecture hall, the World-Honored One pushed open the door of the hall, and the thirty-two marks of the five aggregates appeared vividly before the assembly. The World-Honored One then, with the gait of a royal goose, slowly walked to the Dharma seat and gradually sat down cross-legged. After the World-Honored One had settled into his cross-legged seat, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, holding a ruler in hand, struck it on the lecture table and announced: "The World-Honored One has finished delivering the lecture!" The bhikṣus, just preparing to listen to the World-Honored One expound the Dharma, suddenly heard Mañjuśrī's announcement and were all left dumbfounded, not knowing what it meant. Paying no heed to the bhikṣus' bewilderment, the World-Honored One slowly rose from the Dharma seat, walked straight toward the door, pushed it open, and walked out—and the thirty-two marks of the five aggregates thereupon vanished from sight.

Friends, you have now seen the Tathāgata-mark of the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha: the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics, majestic and resplendent—how magnificent! Yet these marks, in the Sahā world, after all lasted only eighty years before disappearing, so this certainly cannot be the true Tathāgata. Then where is the true Tathāgata? Which one is it? In fact, the Dharmakāya Tathāgata has never departed from the Nirmāṇakāya Tathāgata. From the very instant the World-Honored One pushed open the door and entered, throughout the entire process until He pushed open the door and exited, the Dharmakāya Tathāgata was manifesting all along with His faceless face. Those with sharp eyes see it directly on the spot; with the wisdom eye they recognize that He behind the five aggregates. To recognize Him thus—how exhilarating! How effortless! Everyone, cast aside the false appearance of the World-Honored One's five aggregates, and try to see that which cannot be cast aside, that which cannot be removed, that which has never arisen or ceased, that which neither comes nor goes—that true Tathāgata of the Dharmakāya. A fine horse moves at the mere shadow of the whip; a wise person, seeing the shadow of the five aggregates, can recognize the true person. Where is the true person? Hey! Right here.