Tathāgatagarbha Neither Comes Nor Goes

The tathāgatagarbha pervades all places; it pervades all dharmas within the world of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha). 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 unceasing, 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 arrived within that dharma; when a dharma ceases, it indicates that the tathāgatagarbha has departed from that dharma. In fact, it is not that the tathāgatagarbha comes and goes within dharmas; rather, the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to dharmas by means of seeds, and thus the tathāgatagarbha's function of upholding is present upon those dharmas. When the tathāgatagarbha no longer upholds a 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 gives birth to the five aggregates by means of seeds, and thus the five aggregates cannot be separated from the tathāgatagarbha and are 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 this process, the tathāgatagarbha never needs to come or go, and has never moved; it is the appearances of the world of the five aggregates that come and go, gathering with the tathāgatagarbha and dispersing from it. Therefore it is said that the tathāgatagarbha neither comes nor goes, and there is no such thing as time, space, or distance with respect to it.