Can All Sentient Beings Be Fully Liberated?

One Tathagatagarbha corresponds to one sentient being and gives birth to one sentient being; therefore, Tathagatagarbha is also called the realm of sentient beings. The Heart Sutra states that Tathagatagarbha is neither born nor extinguished, and the realm of sentient beings neither increases nor decreases. "Neither increases nor decreases" means unchanging, while "neither born nor extinguished" means it never needs to be born and cannot be extinguished. Thus, the number of Tathagatagarbhas is eternally fixed and unchanging, yet infinitely vast. Because there are too many sentient beings and too many Tathagatagarbhas, they are beyond counting; hence, they are described as an immeasurable number.

Given such a multitude of Tathagatagarbhas corresponding to so many sentient beings, can all sentient beings be delivered? As long as the realm of sentient beings ceases to increase while Buddhas and Bodhisattvas grow ever more numerous, all sentient beings will eventually be delivered, no matter how numerous they are. There will come a day when all are delivered, though the timeframe is indefinite—immeasurably long, beyond description. When all sentient beings attain Buddhahood, there will be no sentient beings left to deliver. The continued abiding of all Buddhas in the world would then serve no purpose or meaning; they would all enter Nirvana. The Buddhas have no need to seek tasks where none exist, and the existence of the worlds in the ten directions would no longer be necessary. The last group of sentient beings to attain Buddhahood will practice with minimal effort, each supported by a single Buddha. Their cultivation will be swift, like riding a rocket. These final sentient beings will no longer have the opportunity to create unwholesome karma; the seeds of ignorance and karma will be eliminated extremely rapidly. Without needing to deliver others, they will attain Buddhahood directly, for the absence of ignorance is itself Buddhahood.