The Dharma of Ordinary Beings and the Noble Ones

Ordinary beings possess all the characteristics of ordinary beings, yet they are unaware of this. If an ordinary being were to realize this, they would become a sage. Sages possess all the characteristics of sages, yet they are unaware of this. If a sage were to realize this, they would become an ordinary being.

The Tathagatagarbha (the womb of the Tathagata) inherently possesses all dharmas. These dharmas include conditioned phenomena and unconditioned phenomena, the characteristics of ordinary beings and the characteristics of sages. Conditioned phenomena are the worldly dharmas of the three realms created by the seven consciousnesses; they are the dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen elements born from the Tathagatagarbha. Unconditioned phenomena are the purity and suchness displayed by the Tathagatagarbha while functioning within the five-aggregate body; they also represent the mind-dharma of the Tathagatagarbha.

The Tathagatagarbha possesses all worldly dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen elements, yet ordinary beings are unaware of this. This is because the seven consciousnesses are obscured by ignorance, mistaking the dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen elements as truly existent, unaware that all these dharmas are illusory manifestations of the Tathagatagarbha. When ordinary beings study the Mahayana teachings and awaken to the realization of the Tathagatagarbha, they come to understand that all worldly dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen elements belong to the dharmas within the Tathagatagarbha. The Tathagatagarbha inherently possesses the seeds of all dharmas; when conditions are ripe, it gives birth to all dharmas according to these seeds. The self of the five aggregates is illusory, hence it is not-self. At this moment, this individual transforms from an ordinary being into a sage. When the Sixth Patriarch heard the Fifth Patriarch expound the Diamond Sutra, he became a sage upon realizing the principle that the self-nature inherently possesses all dharmas, comprehending the five aspects of "How wondrous is the self-nature."

The Tathagatagarbha is the supramundane dharma, free from ignorance and afflictions; thus, it possesses the nature of a sage, the characteristics of a sage, and unconditioned phenomena. Throughout beginningless kalpas, its own mind is eternally pure, unconditioned, utterly devoid of ignorance, utterly devoid of afflictions, utterly devoid of self-nature. It gives birth to all dharmas yet does not cling to any dharma. In the functioning of all dharmas, it always manifests the purity, suchness, freedom from afflictions, and freedom from ignorance of its own essence, eternally undisturbed by the myriad realms. Yet, the inherent sage-nature of the Tathagatagarbha itself is never self-aware; it neither knows itself nor perceives whether it is ordinary or sage, conditioned or unconditioned.

If one could know that the Tathagatagarbha possesses the pure, unconditioned characteristics of a sage, and know the true reality and suchness of the Tathagatagarbha, this knowing mind itself would be the deluded mind possessing conditioned nature. The deluded mind is mundane phenomena, and mundane phenomena are ordinary. The supramundane Tathagatagarbha is sage-like. If someone claims that the Tathagatagarbha knows it possesses pure, unconditioned nature, the Tathagatagarbha would immediately become a mundane, arising-and-ceasing deluded mind, turning into an ordinary being, no longer the supramundane essence of the Tathagatagarbha mind. However, the Tathagatagarbha is eternally devoid of such knowing; it is forever the so-called supramundane sage. Therefore, it possesses the characteristics of a sage without knowing it.