Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (213)

Emulating Suchness to Attain the Equality Wisdom (samatā-jñāna)

After we understand the principle of the tathāgatagarbha and buddha-nature, we should also learn from the suchness of the Ālayavijñāna, learning from His mental conduct of treating all sentient beings equally. No matter what the sentient beings' seventh consciousness (manas) wants to do, He cooperates, selflessly giving and dedicating Himself—whatever is asked of Him, He provides. If sound is wanted, He becomes sound; if material sense-objects are wanted, He becomes material sense-objects. Regardless of whether their minds are wholesome or unwholesome, He gives everything in generosity (dāna) according to the minds of sentient beings, equally according with all sentient beings. An unequal mind is a deluded mind; an equal mind is the Buddha's mind. The Buddha observes all sentient beings as Buddhas, whereas sentient beings observing the Buddha only see His thirty-two major marks; if the Buddha does not manifest the thirty-two marks, sentient beings treat Him as an ordinary person. This is because sentient beings have not opened their eyes and can only see external appearances, not the essence. We should diligently cultivate the Buddha-dharma, attain the equal dharma-nature as soon as possible, realize the tathāgatagarbha and buddha-nature, and soon possess the equality wisdom (samatā-jñāna).

This Great Vehicle dharma is not the realm of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, but the essential dharma of Great Vehicle bodhisattvas—the tathāgatagarbha dharma that bodhisattvas cultivate and realize. Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas can only study and cultivate the Two Vehicles' dharma, realizing the falsity of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and eighteen realms (aṣṭādaśa-dhātu) of the mundane world, realizing the non-self of persons, eradicating attachment and grasping toward the five aggregates and eighteen realms, and attaining liberation; they cannot realize the Ālayavijñāna and buddha-nature, do not realize the equal dharma-nature, and therefore also do not possess the equality wisdom (samatā-jñāna).