How Do Sentient Beings See a Vase?

When we see a vase, there is the external vase and the vase within our mind. The external vase is jointly manifested by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings through their shared karma, while the vase we see is manifested once again by our own tathāgatagarbha alone, based on the external vase. It is a shadow of the external vase, a false appearance of the external vase.

When seeing a vase, it is only through the combined functioning of the tathāgatagarbha, the seventh consciousness (manas), the sixth consciousness, and the eye consciousness that we can see the shadow of the external vase. The conscious mind with which we see the vase is generated by the tathāgatagarbha; the manas and the eye faculty that we employ are generated by the tathāgatagarbha; and the material sense-object of the vase that we see is generated by the tathāgatagarbha. From this we know that our entire being is generated by the tathāgatagarbha, and in essence is all the tathāgatagarbha. The false self of the five aggregates and eighteen realms is entirely a false appearance manifested and revealed by the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, the five aggregates are not the self, yet are not different from the self (na m’eso attâ ti).