Tathāgatagarbha Neither Comes Nor Goes

The tathāgatagarbha pervades all places—it pervades all dharma-places of the world of the five aggregates. Wherever there are dharmas of the world of the five aggregates, the tathāgatagarbha is certainly there upholding them. If the tathāgatagarbha no longer upholds a certain dharma, that dharma ceases and no longer appears.

The tathāgatagarbha is unborn and undying, without form or appearance, neither coming nor going; on every dharma there is no mark of coming or going. However, if one observes the mark of arising and ceasing (utpāda-nirodha-lakṣaṇa) of the dharmas of the world of the five aggregates, one can know the coming and going of the tathāgatagarbha. When a dharma appears, it indicates that the tathāgatagarbha has come into that dharma; when a dharma ceases, it indicates that the tathāgatagarbha has left that dharma. In fact, it is not that the tathāgatagarbha comes and goes within dharmas; rather, the tathāgatagarbha uses seeds to give birth to the dharma, and then the dharma carries the upholding function of the tathāgatagarbha. When the tathāgatagarbha no longer upholds the dharma and withdraws the seeds, the dharma departs from the tathāgatagarbha and ceases.

Likewise, the tathāgatagarbha has never come into the five aggregates, nor has it ever departed from the five aggregates; rather, the tathāgatagarbha uses seeds to give birth to the five aggregates, and then the five aggregates cannot be separated from the tathāgatagarbha and become connected with it. When the tathāgatagarbha withdraws the seeds and no longer upholds the five aggregates, the five aggregates vanish and perish, becoming separated from the tathāgatagarbha. And throughout all of this, the tathāgatagarbha never needs to come or go, has never moved at all; it is the marks of the world of the five aggregates that come and go, gathering with and dispersing from the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore it is said that the tathāgatagarbha neither comes nor goes, and there is no such thing as time, space, or distance for it.