The state of nirvāṇa is manifested and displayed by the tathāgatagarbha

The state of nirvāṇa is manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; it is not inherently real, but is attained through cultivation. Without cultivation, there is no state of nirvāṇa. Later, one must still emerge from the state of nirvāṇa, and the state of nirvāṇa then disappears and changes. This shows that such nirvāṇa is subject to arising and ceasing. Therefore, nirvāṇa is also not real; only the tathāgatagarbha itself is true and not false, and the tranquil nirvāṇa nature manifested by the tathāgatagarbha is real. Nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa) and nirvāṇa without remainder (nirupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), as well as the non-abiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa) of the Buddha stage, all exist first as non-existent and then come to be—they are born later, and thus are illusory phenomena, phenomena of arising and ceasing. Apart from the non-abiding nirvāṇa of the Buddha stage, which will never disappear, neither nirvāṇa with remainder nor nirvāṇa without remainder can endure without ceasing. Only the nirvāṇa virtue manifested by the tathāgatagarbha is real, unchanging, and neither arising nor ceasing.

Defining a concept incorrectly does not necessarily prevent the realization of fruition, and defining it correctly does not necessarily guarantee the realization of fruition. Whether one realizes fruition or not, whether one genuinely cultivates or not, does not depend on the definition of concepts. Even among arhats (the fourth fruit; Pali Arahant), there are those who cannot expound the Dharma, while ordinary beings may expound on the levels of realization of arhats. Cultivation does not lie in how one expounds the Dharma, but in actual realization and the workings of the mind.