To Learn the Buddha Dharma, One Must Study Both the Conventional Truth and the Ultimate Truth.

Question: The land of bliss (sukhāvatī) is manifested by the mind alone, and it is also tathāgatagarbha; there is no real land of bliss. If sentient beings grasp at it, the Western Pure Land exists; if they do not grasp, are all ten directions quiescent and extinguished?

Answer: Tathāgatagarbha can manifest and transform the land of bliss, and the land of bliss is indeed a part of the functional operations of tathāgatagarbha, in a relationship of neither one nor different with tathāgatagarbha. If the land of bliss were itself tathāgatagarbha, then the land of bliss could also give rise to all dharmas, but in fact it cannot; therefore the land of bliss and tathāgatagarbha are not completely one — there are also aspects of difference. As for the aspects of difference: the land of bliss has form and appearance, has arising and ceasing; it is arising-ceasing and illusory, and also subject to change. It lacks the intrinsic nature of a conscious mind, has the function of materialization, and is the vessel that carries sentient beings; whereas tathāgatagarbha is mind-consciousness, without form or appearance, possessing the functional intrinsic nature of a mind, unborn and unceasing, and unchanging; only by relying on it can the land of bliss exist.

All dharmas do not exist apart from tathāgatagarbha; the land of bliss in its entirety is a manifestation of the functional operations of tathāgatagarbha. When you see the land of bliss, you should know it is your own wondrous true suchness nature; when you hear the land of bliss, you should know it is your own wondrous true suchness nature; when you smell the land of bliss, you should know it is your own wondrous true suchness nature. All dharmas are your own wondrous true suchness nature — this is the realm of great awakening in an unbroken continuum.

But one must also know that the land of bliss does indeed have arising and ceasing; it came into existence only later — the establishment of the land of bliss is merely ten kalpas in duration. The existence of worldly phenomena cannot be denied; the same is true of the Sahā world, and the same is true of the worlds of the ten directions — their existence cannot be denied; it is only that these existences are not real.

In studying the Buddhadharma, one must study from both the conventional truth and the ultimate truth; neither aspect can be denied — both must be faced squarely. The true has the intrinsic nature of the true, and the illusory has the function of the illusory. The Āgama sūtras and the Avataṃsaka Sūtra expound the Buddhadharma from both the ultimate and the conventional aspects; both were spoken by the Buddha, and both must be cultivated and realized. When the Buddha taught the liberation path, if there were no conventional dharmas, there would be no need to teach liberation, no need to teach the principle of the Four Noble Truths, because only within the conventional truth do suffering, its accumulation, its cessation, and the path exist; in the ultimate truth, tathāgatagarbha inherently has no suffering, does not accumulate suffering, does not cease suffering, and even less cultivates the path. The Buddha has us escape the suffering of birth-and-death in saṃsāra precisely because the world has the conventional phenomenon of the suffering of birth-and-death — this cannot be denied.

Therefore, although the land of bliss is manifested by the mind alone, it exists phenomenally; Amitābha Buddha, the great bodhisattvas, and immeasurable sentient beings also exist on the phenomenal plane of the land of bliss. When we realize profound wisdom, we will know that the land of bliss and the worlds of the ten directions are, in their essence, all the one true dharmadhātu; at that time, all ten directions will be quiescent and extinguished. In studying the Buddhadharma, we should view all matters and principles completely from both the ultimate and conventional aspects, not neglecting either side; only then can we possess correct knowledge and views and attain profound wisdom.