Avidyā and Prajñā

Ignorance is not a substantially existent dharma; it lacks inherent reality and thus can be eradicated, whereas true dharmas cannot be eradicated, such as the Tathagatagarbha with the intrinsic nature of Suchness. Wisdom and ignorance are mutually opposed: where there is ignorance, there is no wisdom, and where wisdom exists, ignorance vanishes. When ignorance is completely extinguished, the alaya consciousness transforms into the immaculate consciousness. Before the eighth bodhisattva stage, the ignorance associated with the first seven consciousnesses is heavy, and the Tathagatagarbha is termed the alaya consciousness, signifying that sentient beings at this stage possess karmic forces for segmental birth and death within the five aggregates of the seventh consciousness. Wisdom arises subsequently; it corresponds to ignorance and is a dharma subject to birth, cessation, and change. However, the wisdom of all Buddhas is eternally non-regressing and indestructible, just as a Buddha will never revert to being an ordinary sentient being.