All things and phenomena are the ālayavijñāna, the tathāgatagarbha

The ālayavijñāna only causes all things and phenomena to change, while Itself does not change. If the ālayavijñāna were also subject to change, it would be a dharma subject to arising, abiding, alteration, and cessation, and that would entail an enormous fault. Then the problem arises: when was the ālayavijñāna born, and how did it come into being? Before He existed, all things and all dharmas would not exist—not even empty space. What kind of state would that be? Where would the karmic seeds of sentient beings be stored? Where would the manas reside? If the ālayavijñāna could cease, how would He cease, and from what cause would He cease? After ceasing, what would become of the seeds of all dharmas? Would the retributive results of sentient beings still exist?

Moreover, the ālayavijñāna is not within all things and phenomena; otherwise, after all things and phenomena are destroyed, would the ālayavijñāna be destroyed along with them? If all things and phenomena were divided up bit by bit, could the ālayavijñāna be found? Absolutely not.

The growth of all things and phenomena up to their destruction is entirely a process of arising, ceasing, and transformation of the seeds of the four great elements, and all of it is the result of being sustained and held by the ālayavijñāna, the tathāgatagarbha. In all dharmas, the traces of the ālayavijñāna's operation can be found; His traces and marks are the mental dharmas and material forms formed by the seven great seeds, all of which are the raw materials within the ālayavijñāna itself. Therefore, upon seeing dharmas, one should see the ālayavijñāna. Before one's eyes, verdant mountains everywhere—no other dharma; the whole is just one true dharma realm, the unborn and unceasing ālayavijñāna tathāgatagarbha. Not even a millimeter, not even a mote of dust, is permitted to stand outside the tathāgatagarbha; all are dharmas within the mind of the tathāgatagarbha, and all are the essence, characteristics, and functions of the tathāgatagarbha. Sentient beings live within the tathāgatagarbha; in reality there are no sentient beings at all—everything is the tathāgatagarbha. Which dharma is not the tathāgatagarbha? Which could exist independently, transcending the tathāgatagarbha? None can.