Lectures on the Pitāputrasamāgama Sūtra (213)

Emulating Thusness to Attain the Wisdom of Equality

After understanding the principle of the Thusness Buddha-nature, we must also learn from the Thusness Ālayavijñāna, emulating its mental conduct of treating all sentient beings equally. Regardless of what the seventh consciousness of sentient beings intends to do, it cooperates, selflessly offering and dedicating whatever is sought—transforming into sound when sound is desired, into form when form is desired. Irrespective of whether their minds are good or bad, it bestows everything according to the minds of sentient beings, equally accommodating them. An unequal mind is a deluded mind, while an equal mind is the Buddha-mind. The Buddha perceives all sentient beings as Buddhas, whereas sentient beings perceive the Buddha through the thirty-two marks. If the Buddha does not manifest the thirty-two marks, sentient beings treat him as an ordinary person. This is because sentient beings lack awakened vision; they can only perceive external appearances, not the essence. We should diligently cultivate the Buddha Dharma, strive to realize the Dharma-nature of equality, attain the Thusness Buddha-nature, and swiftly acquire the Wisdom of Equality.

This Mahayana Dharma is not within the realm of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas; it is the essential teaching of Mahayana Bodhisattvas, the Tathāgatagarbha Dharma realized through Bodhisattva practice. Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas can only cultivate the Two Vehicles, realizing the emptiness of the five aggregates and eighteen elements in the mundane realm, attaining the absence of self in persons, severing attachment to the five aggregates and eighteen elements, and thereby achieving liberation. They cannot realize Ālayavijñāna and Buddha-nature, do not attain the Dharma-nature of equality, and thus lack the Wisdom of Equality.