How to Truly Realize Tathāgatagarbha?

Realizing the tathāgatagarbha is like looking for a person; there is not much difference between the two. Suppose we want to find a person, and after deliberation we finally determine that this person is at a certain specific location in a certain area, and we feel very certain about it, but we have not seen this person with our own eyes. Does this count as having found the person? As long as you have not seen this person, have not truly come face to face with him, it does not count as having seen this person. Even if you firmly believe he is in that place, since you have not met him, it does not count as having seen him. Because you do not know what this person looks like, what he is actually doing at this moment, how he does it, what his state of mind is, what his cultivation and character are like—you have no knowledge or understanding of this person, and you do not even know whether the person in that place is the one you want to find, nor whether that person is really there. What is not seen with the eyes cannot be taken as real; what the mind guesses and imagines cannot count as truly seeing.

No matter how certain you are in your heart that the person is at that location, in that room, and in fact the person really is in the room, as long as you have not seen him with your own eyes, it does not count as having seen that person. But once you find that person, you will see with your own eyes what he is doing and how he does it—this is called seeing with one's own eyes. No matter how much you believe the person is in the room, if you do not know what that person is specifically doing at this moment and how he does it, no wisdom will arise. Guessing what the person is specifically doing in the room and how he does it—even if the guess is correct—does not count as a witness of wisdom.

Another example: a leader tells you to find a certain person, Person A, and see what he is doing. You roughly know that Person A is far away from you, that going to find him would be arduous, so after going out and making a round, you do not want to go there; but you must complete the task the leader assigned, so you inquire everywhere, and finally you find out that Person A is on the eleventh floor of such-and-such a place, and you roughly guess he might be sleeping. So you come back and tell the leader that Person A is on the eleventh floor, and as for what he is doing, it is probably the same things he does on ordinary days—nothing out of the ordinary.

Does this count as having found Person A? This is speculation—guessing what Person A is doing. Even if the guess is correct, even if the inquiry is accurate, and in fact Person A really is doing that thing, it is still not seeing with one's own eyes. Only by seeing Person A in person can you observe him face to face, can wisdom that recognizes and discerns him continuously arise, and can you learn from him. What is imagined and guessed will never give rise to such wisdom. Many people have been "enlightened" for many years yet still remain stuck in place, with no increase in wisdom at all—why exactly? Because they have not personally realized it; it was merely understood intellectually. Just imagine: when you are hungry, instead of bringing the food to your face and eating it into your stomach, you imagine there is a bowl of rice in front of you—what can you accomplish after that? Can you pick up the bowl, eat the rice, and fill your stomach this way? Of course not, so you can only go hungry.

Quite a few people speculate about the realm of realization of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva, and some really do guess correctly; but even if the speculation is extremely accurate and truthful, it is not personally realized, and they must still continue as ordinary beings. Goldbach's conjecture is applied too widely and deeply in the Buddhadharma. Why do such phenomena occur? Because the actual realization of the Buddhadharma is so very, very difficult, so this inferior expedient is all one can resort to.

Then, after truly realizing the tathāgatagarbha, can one still regress? For example, if I tell you that Person A is in the room, at that moment you believe it very much, are very sure, very certain. But it is not what you have seen with your own eyes—what will happen afterward? You will certainly become unsure and uncertain, and doubt will arise in your mind. But what you have personally verified through great hardship, what you have seen with your own eyes, will not give rise to doubt or regression. Seeing is believing; hearing is unreliable. Whatever others tell you, no matter how much you believe it, for yourself it is not fact. If you have never seen an apple with your own eyes, never tasted an apple with your own mouth, then no matter how others describe it, no matter how you imagine and understand it, it is useless—you still do not know the true condition of the apple, and you cannot absorb the apple's nutrition.

So if I held a large assembly of ten thousand people and explained the operation of the tathāgatagarbha in great detail and specificity, so that the assembly could all accept with faith the dharma gate of the tathāgatagarbha, and at the same time understood and clearly knew the specific operation of the tathāgatagarbha, then many people would excitedly say: "I am enlightened—so this is how the tathāgatagarbha operates; this is the tathāgatagarbha." Then what kind of response should I give to so many people claiming they are enlightened? Should I validate that what these people say is correct, and even issue them certificates of enlightenment or the like? This so-called seeing the mind is not actually seeing the operation of the tathāgatagarbha with one's own eyes—it is all from hearing what I said, then conjecturing and speculating, feeling that one has indeed realized the tathāgatagarbha. Then what will happen to these people afterward? What will happen to them after death?

The claim that there can still be regression after so-called seeing the mind and seeing the nature means there was no true seeing of the mind and seeing of the nature—there was no process of personal investigation (canju); it was merely heard and then deduced through conjecture and analysis, so of course it is possible that one will no longer believe such conjecture and analysis, and then one will regress. Without going through a process of arduous cultivation, something obtained for free is like looking at flowers through the fog—seen unclearly, and easily denied and rejected. Conjecturing a tathāgatagarbha into existence, one cannot truly achieve the transformation of the basis as tathāgatagarbha (āśraya-parāvṛtti-tathāgatagarbha), nor will any subsequent merit and benefit arise.

For example, just now I was thirsty, so I peeled an apple and ate it. If any of you found me and watched me face to face as to how I peel an apple and eat an apple, you could follow along and learn, and you would also know how to peel an apple and how to eat an apple. Then, after seeing that after I peel the apple I leave the peel for the mice to eat, you would know my compassionate mind and follow along and learn, likewise coming to possess a compassionate disposition. Then, observing that during the process of eating the apple my mind does not give rise to greed, you would then also learn how to keep the mind from giving rise to the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and thus the mind becomes purified. This is the benefit of seeing me face to face—you can learn from me. Then, following me at all times, observing how I conduct myself with people and handle affairs, what my moral cultivation is like, and how I specifically handle all kinds of matters, you will learn a great deal, and your mental conduct, character, cultivation, and so forth will all undergo change. This is the benefit of finding me and following me, or what is called merit and benefit (puṇya).

By personally realizing the tathāgatagarbha—not by hearsay, not by word of mouth—you can observe directly in the present how the tathāgatagarbha operates in various dharmas, and you will learn many dharmas, and your mental disposition will come ever closer to that of the tathāgatagarbha. But those who rely on conjecture will never have such merit and benefit, because they cannot observe it directly in the present.