Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (212)

The Buddha's seventh consciousness also possesses the quality of equality

The Buddha's seventh consciousness also possesses the quality of equality: He regards all sentient beings as equal, knowing that although sentient beings differ in their marks and are not equal, their nature is equal—all are the nature of tathāgatagarbha. The Buddha sees that all sentient beings possess the buddha-nature, and the buddha-nature is equal and without differentiation; the Buddha does not look at external appearances. Therefore the Buddha does not discriminate between good people and evil people, and will not save only good people while refusing to save evil people—the Buddha has no such unequal mind. As long as conditions ripen, the Buddha saves all equally without discrimination. The minds of ordinary beings are unequal: they can only observe others' outward appearance and cannot see the inner, equal buddha-nature. Since beginningless kalpas they have been habituated to grasping at marks until it became second nature, not knowing that amid differentiated characteristics there is also an undifferentiated nature. As for bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi, because the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have already been initially transformed into wisdom, the seventh consciousness has transformed into a portion of the equality wisdom (samatā-jñāna); in viewing all worldly dharmas, they know that their essence is all tathāgatagarbha, and therefore their minds have also begun to possess the quality of equality.