The Perfectly Accomplished Nature of Tathāgatagarbha

Original text of the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment (Yuanjue Jing):善男子。一切障碍。即究竟觉。得念失念。无非解脱。成法破法。皆名涅槃。智慧愚痴。通为般若。菩萨外道。所成就法。同是菩提。无明真如。无异境界。诸戒定慧。及淫怒痴。俱是梵行。

Explanation: Good men, all karmic forces and obstructions, all afflictions, are precisely the most ultimate awakened nature; ultimate awakening refers to the self-natured awakened tathāgatagarbha. Why is this said? Because all afflictive obstructions and hindrances are born of and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, and are all perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha; without the tathāgatagarbha there would be none of these obstructions. Mindfulness attained and mindfulness lost—none of these is not liberation, because both are born and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and are perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha; without the tathāgatagarbha there would be no such dharma-marks as mindfulness attained or mindfulness lost. Accomplishing dharmas and destroying dharmas are both pure nirvāṇa, because these two matters are both born and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, and are both perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha; therefore these two matters are both the pure conduct and pure nature of nirvāṇa, and both are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha.

Wisdom and folly are both prajñā, because both are born and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, both are perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha, and both are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The wholesome and pure dharmas accomplished through the practice of bodhisattvas, and the unwholesome false dharmas cultivated by non-Buddhists, are equally bodhi, because both are born and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, both are perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha, and both are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The realms of ignorance (avidyā) and suchness (tathatā) are not different, because both are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; ignorance is precisely suchness—when abiding in the realm of ignorance, ignorance in its entirety is nonetheless of the nature of suchness. All pure conduct of precepts, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom, and the conduct of lust, anger, and delusion, are equally pure conduct (brahmacarya), because all are born and sustained by the pure tathāgatagarbha, all are perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha, and all are the pure nirvāṇa nature of the tathāgatagarbha.

Original text:众生国土。同一法性。地狱天宫。皆为净土。有性无性。齐成佛道。一切烦恼。毕竟解脱。法界海慧。照了诸相。犹如虚空。此名如来。随顺觉性。

Explanation: Sentient beings and insentient lands share the same dharma-nature; both are of the nature of the tathāgatagarbha dharma. The combined body of a sentient being's material form and mind is accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha through the seeds of the seven great elements, while lands are material form, accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha through the seeds of the five great elements; all are accomplished through the perfected nature (pariniṣpanna-svabhāva) of the tathāgatagarbha. Hells and heavenly palaces are both pure lands, both born and transformed by the tathāgatagarbha, both perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha, both things within the pure tathāgatagarbha mind, all within the pure land of the tathāgatagarbha. Those with buddha-nature and those without buddha-nature will together accomplish the buddha-way, because those with and without buddha-nature are originally tathāgata-buddhas, all born and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, all perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha. All afflictions are ultimately liberated, because all afflictions are born and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, all are perfectly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha, all are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha is originally liberated; therefore all afflictions are ultimately liberated.

When the immeasurable wisdom of the one true dharmadhātu, which is like an ocean, illuminates all dharmas, those dharmas are like empty space—unobtainable, utterly empty. Because the tathāgatagarbha's ocean-like wisdom does not store or hold worldly dharma-marks, worldly dharma-marks are like empty space to the tathāgatagarbha; therefore, from the stage of ordinary beings to the stage of buddhahood, the tathāgatagarbha is forever pure and undefiled, without ignorance and afflictions. This is called the tathāgata's awakened nature that accords with everything. Bodhisattvas and ordinary beings cannot realize it; they can only understand, deliberate, and imagine it. As long as there is a dharma to rely upon, understanding it seems not too difficult, but actual realization requires three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas.

The above is the perfected nature (pariniṣpanna-svabhāva) of the tathāgatagarbha—the nature that perfectly accomplishes all dharmas.