How can sentient beings 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。"无所从来" means there is no place from which the Tathāgata can come, and thus there is no place of coming. Yet although there is no place of coming, the Tathāgata nevertheless 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. "也无所去" — "所" means place — there is no place to which He can go, and that means 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 demonstrate to the bhikṣus the true meaning of the Tathāgata. Once, 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 suddenly appeared before the assembly. The World-Honored One then, with the gait of a goose-king, 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, struck the lecture table and announced: "The World-Honored One has finished expounding the sūtra!" The bhikṣus, just preparing to listen to the World-Honored One expound the Dharma, suddenly heard Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva make this announcement, and each of them stood dumbfounded, not understanding what this meant. And the World-Honored One, paying no heed to the bhikṣus' bewilderment, 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 marks of the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha — the thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics, majestic and resplendent, how magnificent! Yet these marks, in the Sahā world, after all remained for 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 continuously manifesting with His faceless countenance. Those with sharp eyes see Him directly at that very moment — the wisdom eye recognizes that He behind the five aggregates. To recognize Him thus — how exhilarating! How effortless! Everyone, set aside the false appearance of the World-Honored One's five aggregates, and try to see that which cannot be set aside, cannot be removed, has never arisen or ceased, and neither comes nor goes — that true Dharmakāya Tathāgata. A fine horse moves at the mere sight of the whip's shadow; a wise person, seeing the shadow of the five aggregates, can recognize the true person. Where is the true person? Ha! Right here.