All dharmas have never departed from the tathāgatagarbha

For example, all things are born from the great earth, grow upon the great earth, draw nourishment from it, and cease upon the great earth, with their nourishment returning to the earth. Yet it cannot be said that after all things cease, they return to the great earth, because all things have never left the great earth. It is like a person who is born in a family, grows up in the family, grows old in the family, and dies in the family; it cannot be said that after this person dies, he returns to the family, because he has never left the family.

By the same token, everyone is born from the tathāgatagarbha, grows within the tathāgatagarbha, grows old within the tathāgatagarbha, and dies within the tathāgatagarbha. It cannot be said that after a person dies, he returns to the tathāgatagarbha, because everyone has never left the tathāgatagarbha. Nor can it be said that a person who attains the Way and dies enters nirvāṇa—there is nothing to enter in nirvāṇa, and the tathāgatagarbha cannot be entered. It is only that the karmic seeds of the three realms disappear, the seven intrinsically existing great seeds return to the tathāgatagarbha and are no longer output, and the nourishment of all dharmas, having no experiencer, returns to the tathāgatagarbha and no longer flows out.