The Profound Meaning of Consciousness-only in the Diamond Sutra (85)

The term Tathāgata explicitly refers to the Buddha of the five-aggregate body, while implicitly referring to the Dharmakāya Buddha (dharma-kāya-buddha). The Dharmakāya Buddha is formless and without marks; it is the Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) and the tathāgatagarbha of sentient beings. After attaining buddhahood, the Buddha's seven consciousnesses and the Dharmakāya's undefiled consciousness have similar natured-virtues; the seven consciousnesses have completely transformed their basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) into the undefiled consciousness and extinguished all ignorance, so their mind-nature is very close to suchness (tathatā). Their mental factors are identical: the five universal mental factors, the five object-specific mental factors, and the eleven wholesome mental factors—all eight consciousnesses possess twenty-one mental factors.

The "Tathāgata" of the Dharmakāya Buddha refers to the tathatā mind-substance, referring to the tathāgatagarbha. True speech is speech that is correct and true. It is speech of direct perception, meaning that the tathāgatagarbha can manifest realms of direct perception, without inference or non-valid cognition. All of it accords with actuality, accords with facts, and also accords with sentient beings' karmic seeds, always faithfully presenting the original appearance of sentient beings' karmic actions.

Truthful speech is speech that accords with reality. Whatever karma sentient beings create—whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral (avyākṛta)—the tathāgatagarbha faithfully records, stores, and outputs it, faithfully actualizing the karmic results of sentient beings. It never alters or omits sentient beings' karmic actions, karmic seeds, or karmic retribution: whatever karma it is, that karma is recorded; whatever retribution it is, that retribution is actualized.

Such speech refers, on the one hand, to speech that accords with reality, true speech; on the other hand, it refers to the suchness-immovability of the mind-substance—unmoved in thought, without mental activity. When the tathāgatagarbha transforms and creates all dharmas, its inner mind remains in suchness, unmoved, without arising thoughts or mental activity. There are no emotions, no sentiments—it is entirely neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā).

One who does not speak falsely: "false" means to deceive, to cheat, to swindle. The tathāgatagarbha has never deceived sentient beings, has never cheated sentient beings. But sentient beings' six consciousnesses are always unwholesome in verbal karma, deceptive in speech, not speaking true words, not speaking words that accord with reality—lying, divisive speech, frivolous speech, and harsh speech without cease. They often feint one way while striking another, point at the mulberry while cursing the locust tree, conceal the truth of facts, fabricate lies, habitually speak untruthful words and lies, cover up faults, envy the talented and resent the capable, and create every kind of verbal karma.

One who does not speak divergently: "divergent" means altered, different, changed, another kind, discrepant. Divergent speech is saying one thing to someone's face and another behind their back, saying one thing to A and another to B, or saying one thing at one moment and changing to another at another moment—this is double speech; or changing as soon as one finishes speaking, not keeping one's word. These mental activities are all activities of the six-consciousness mind; the six consciousnesses create unwholesome verbal karma, lacking verbal virtue—this is exactly how it is. Moreover, they do not know repentance or remorse, are without repentance and without remorse—this is an afflictive bad habit. But the tathāgatagarbha never speaks double words, never speaks divergent words, will not change back and forth, nor turn things upside down. He will not store sentient beings' wholesome karmic seeds yet output unwholesome karmic seeds, making sentient beings suffer unwholesome retribution; conversely, He will not store unwholesome karmic seeds yet output wholesome karmic seeds, making sentient beings receive wholesome retribution. He is not one way to one's face and another behind one's back; He undergoes no alteration whatsoever and will never be unfaithful to karmic seeds and cause-and-effect.

And the Sambhogakāya Buddha (saṃbhoga-kāya-buddha), the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha (nirmāṇa-kāya-buddha), and the Buddha with a five-aggregate body, like the Dharmakāya Buddha, are forever speakers of true words, forever speakers of truthful words, forever speakers of such words, forever non-speakers of false words, forever non-speakers of divergent words. Because the Buddha's seven consciousnesses have extinguished all ignorance, afflictions, and afflictive habits, and have completely transformed consciousness into wisdom, His virtue is matchless and supreme, His verbal karma is perfect and flawless, without a single blemish—harmonious and unobstructed—causing all sentient beings in the worlds of the ten directions to admire and venerate Him beyond measure.