As sentient beings' minds differ, so do the appearances they manifest.

When a foreigner comes, a foreigner appears; when a Han comes, a Han appears. The tathāgatagarbha is like a mirror: whoever comes before it, it reflects. All dharmas are like images in a mirror, all manifested by the tathāgatagarbha in the way a mirror displays images. The great earth, mountains, and rivers are like images in a mirror; form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas are like images in a mirror. Outside the mirror there is nothing; outside the mind there is not a single dharma. However, the minds of sentient beings differ, so the images manifested also differ. Thus, when an image appears, because each person's mind is different, different viewpoints, opinions, and views arise; they quarrel and dispute with one another, and the world is not at peace.

Long ago, three people went to India to pay homage to Guanyin Bodhisattva. They entered a stone cave, and the three faced the same image of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Because their cultivation and attainment differed, the images they saw differed as well: one saw the image of Guanyin Bodhisattva as a monastic, one saw the image of a layperson, and one saw the image of Guanyin Bodhisattva wearing a crown, and the body colors they saw also differed greatly. The external object-aspect (nimitta) was the same for all, yet the internal object-aspect each person perceived differed, which shows that the states of their minds were different.

Likewise, with one and the same river: humans see it as water, devas see it as lapis lazuli, and hungry ghosts see it as flames. Because their merit differs, the images manifested differ. It is evident that images are transformed by consciousness alone (vijñapti-mātra), conjured forth by the eight consciousnesses working in combination. When sentient beings cultivate the mind and the mind becomes tranquil (praśama), the land of the Sahā world will turn into a land of gold, not differing in the slightest from the land of bliss (sukhāvatī). It is the mind that makes a Buddha; it is the mind that makes a hungry ghost. If the mind has become perfect and tranquil (praśama), what need is there to seek birth in the West, and then also seek birth in the East? The deluded cultivate marks rather than the mind; even after a hundred kalpas of cultivation, they will not see the major and minor marks (lakṣaṇa-vyañjana-sampad).