What Does One Need to Do to Attain Enlightenment?

Question: Everything I have is transformed from the tathāgatagarbha, so how can I see the tathāgatagarbha? At most I can only sense Him, right? For example, when I sit in meditation and perceive mental sense-objects (dharmas), I know they are illusorily manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; I know there is the manas' attention (manaskāra), and I know it is the mind consciousness that understands them; I know the tathāgatagarbha is present at the location of all dharmas. But I still cannot see His true face. In the state of direct perception, I only see the mental sense-objects, and then there is awareness and discrimination—everything else remains unseen. Those teachings about illusory manifestation are also things I have merely heard. How can one truly see the tathāgatagarbha? 

Answer: First of all, all of this knowledge of yours comes from theoretical learning; it belongs to the category of inference, speculation, and mental conjecture, and none of it can be taken as real. Therefore, knowing these things has no substantive impact on your own mind; in fact, this kind of knowing is equivalent to not knowing. You are still completely in the dark about the operation of the several consciousnesses. When you encounter adverse conditions, doubt will increase, and you may even deny these previous understandings—your views might turn to the opposite. Truly seeing the tathāgatagarbha means realizing and directly knowing the tathāgatagarbha, not reasoning about it based on theory. Realizing the tathāgatagarbha requires many causes, conditions, and prerequisites: first, karmic obstructions must be eliminated; merit must increase; meditative concentration must be fully accomplished; faith must be perfect; the precepts must be strictly upheld; one's capacity for forbearance must be good; and one must be diligent in cultivating all these dharmas; finally, prajñā wisdom must also be fully accomplished. 

In short, realizing the tathāgatagarbha requires transforming the ordinary person's mind into the disposition of a bodhisattva; in every respect one must be a match for a bodhisattva: afflictions and afflictive obstructions (kleśāvaraṇa) must be lightened; one must possess the great merit of a bodhisattva; one's mental capacity must be as vast as a bodhisattva's; one must constantly accord with sentient beings; one must make great vows to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings; and one's precepts, concentration, and wisdom must approach those of a bodhisattva. This is like being reborn with a completely new body and mind—both body-mind and world must undergo a certain transformation, showing a marked difference from and great progress beyond the stage of an ordinary person. In short, one must fully accomplish the bodhisattva's six perfections and myriad practices; if these are insufficient, one cannot see the Path and become a true bodhisattva. From now on, you should systematically and methodically perfect and improve yourself in all respects, and wait for the causes, conditions, and season to ripen. Do not be anxious or impatient; do not worry about gain and loss; do not have a utilitarian mindset. Make great aspirations, exert effort on the cause, and accord with conditions regarding the fruit.