Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, all dharmas are unreliable

A physical body composed of the four great elements—an insentient object like wood—when joined with the tathāgatagarbha and the seventh consciousness, becomes a sentient being with the characteristics of life. Then, with the addition of the six consciousnesses, the living being exhibits the five aggregates' activities of seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, and the sentient being becomes lively and vibrant.

When the six consciousnesses cease, the activities of the five aggregates cease; the sentient being retains only the vital signs of life. When the seventh consciousness decides to leave the body and withdraws together with the tathāgatagarbha, the sentient being becomes insentient wood, without awareness or cognition.

From this it can be seen that the sentient being's activities of seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing are subject to arising and ceasing, impermanent; they are not real and cannot be relied upon. Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, all dharmas are unreliable. Rely on a tree and the tree falls; rely on a mountain and the mountain crumbles; rely on water and the water dries up—nothing can be relied upon. A disciple of the Buddha should diligently and energetically cultivate practice, seeking nothing at all from worldly dharmas, seeking the Dharma only from the tathāgatagarbha, clinging closely to the tathāgatagarbha; only then can one attain great freedom and ease in the future.

Plant the concept of impermanence deeply within your mind, lest when impermanence arrives you be left at a loss, not knowing what to do. Do not imagine that you can hold on to what you possess, that you can control everything around you; when impermanence arrives, nothing can be controlled.