How Can One Realize the Tathāgatagarbha

The tathāgatagarbha is a formless and immaterial mind-dharma, not material form; therefore the tathāgatagarbha cannot be found in material form, and the eyes can never see the tathāgatagarbha. In fact, we can neither see the tathāgatagarbha, nor feel it, smell it, hear it, or think of it; only through investigating Chan can one realize the functions and operations of the tathāgatagarbha. To realize the tathāgatagarbha, one must use the solitary mental consciousness and the manas to investigate, and only then can one discover the formless and immaterial mode of operation of the tathāgatagarbha.

In discovering the operation of the tathāgatagarbha, the more specific the better; the more specific it is, the deeper and subtler the wisdom. The most specific and most evident operation of the tathāgatagarbha is its generating the functions and operations of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness of the six consciousnesses. The operation of the tathāgatagarbha outputting the seeds of the four great elements in the physical body—probably no one can observe this except the Buddha. As for the operation of numerous tathāgatagarbhas outputting the seeds of the four great elements in insentient objects, that is even more impossible to observe. Then how can one realize one's own tathāgatagarbha, or realize the tathāgatagarbha of a single sentient being? The tathāgatagarbha has a perceiving-aspect and can see all dharmas; if it could not see all dharmas, it could not manifest, uphold, and transform all dharmas. We need only engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) to examine what differences there are between its perceiving-aspect and that of the seventh consciousness, what differences from the sixth consciousness, and what differences from the five sense consciousnesses. Starting the contemplative practice and contemplation from here is the only way out, and only thus can one find the answer one seeks.

Since the tathāgatagarbha can discern the faculties, the body, and the material world, and all of these belong to material sense-objects, including sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—since it discerns all the dharmas of the eighteen realms—then what is the content of its discernment, and how does it discern? This is the fundamental point of entry for realizing the seed-wisdom of Consciousness-Only. All dharmas are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; before manifesting them, it must first see and discern them in order to manifest them—it cannot blindly manifest any dharma. What, then, is the manner and content of its seeing, and how does it operate? This is the key and the focal point for attaining the seed-wisdom of Consciousness-Only.