The Equal and Non-Differentiated Meaning of All Dharmas

All dharmas are equal and non-dual in two aspects. First, all dharmas are impermanent due to arising, ceasing, and changing; they are unreal, empty, and selfless. They are empty in their very existence, and even more so after their cessation. Second, all dharmas are of the nature of Tathagatagarbha; their essence is equal and undifferentiated. All are produced by the seven great seeds of Tathagatagarbha, all manifesting the nature of Tathagatagarbha. For example, golden objects made from pure gold all contain the nature of pure gold. While the golden objects differ, their essence is undifferentiated—all are pure gold, all possess the value of pure gold. Pure gold neither arises nor ceases and does not change, yet the golden objects are subject to destruction. After destruction, what remains is the unchanging pure gold.

The statement that all dharmas are equal and non-dual does not refer to an equality derived from intellectual understanding, nor to an equality comprehended from the perspective of the Hinayana teachings. Rather, it speaks of equality from the standpoint of the Mahayana teachings. Although the Hinayana also teaches the emptiness of all dharmas, speaking of the equality of all dharmas in the sense of emptiness, this equality is not true equality in the ultimate sense; it is incomplete equality. This is because the Hinayana bases its view on conventional dharmic phenomena, stating that all dharmas are impermanent, arising, ceasing, changing, and empty, that the phenomena of arising and ceasing are not permanent, that they ultimately vanish, and after vanishing, nothing remains—from the perspective of the result, all are equal. However, conventional dharmic phenomena are not empty on the level of conventional truth; they possess various characteristics. These characteristics have distinctions of high and low, good and evil, beautiful and ugly, arising and ceasing, form and mind. Since there are distinctions, they are not equal.

The equality of the Mahayana teachings is spoken from the perspective of the essential nature of all dharmas. It means that all dharmas are essentially of the nature of Tathagatagarbha; they are all the unborn, unceasing seed-nature of Tathagatagarbha. Although Tathagatagarbha uses the seven great seeds to transform and manifest the different conventional dharmic phenomena of all dharmas, their substance is still the attribute of Tathagatagarbha, a part within the whole of Tathagatagarbha. Their essence remains unborn, unceasing, and unchanging; their essence is also empty and ultimately unobtainable. Regardless of how all dharmas evolve, they are all the functional activity of the seven great seeds of Tathagatagarbha. The seven great seeds are eternally unchanging, neither arising nor ceasing, neither altering nor transforming. Therefore, all dharmas neither arise nor cease, neither alter nor transform. Hence, all dharmas are equal and non-dual. From the perspective of Tathagatagarbha, all dharmas are equal; all are the nature and the appearance of Tathagatagarbha. Tathagatagarbha is of one mark, non-dual; thus, all dharmas are of one mark, non-dual.

Only after the Wisdom of Consciousness-Only Seeds has arisen can one directly observe the nature and attributes of all dharmas as they truly are, observe the substance of all dharmas. Only then can one know that all dharmas are manifestations produced by the seeds within Tathagatagarbha. The seeds within Tathagatagarbha are unborn and unceasing; they inherently exist without distinctions of high, low, superior, or inferior. Therefore, the dharmas formed by the seeds are also equal, without distinctions of high, low, superior, or inferior; all are equal and undifferentiated. However, when observing the phenomena of conventional dharmas, all dharmas exhibit inequality—an inequality manifested in their appearances. This inequality and the equality spoken of in the Buddha Dharma have a dialectically unified relationship.