The Relationship Between Sentient Beings and Nirvāṇa

Are sentient beings constantly abiding in nirvāṇa, or do they only return to nirvāṇa after attaining nirvāṇa without remainder? To clarify this question, one must understand the meaning of nirvāṇa. Some terms in Buddhism have been continuously extended, derived, and evolved by later generations, so that what they point to becomes increasingly broad and unfocused, and their meanings increasingly dispersed. If people discuss the Dharma together but the terms they use do not refer to the same referent, then each will speak their own piece and they will never reach agreement. The term "nirvāṇa" primarily refers to the purity of the tathāgatagarbha—that which neither arises nor ceases, neither comes nor goes, neither increases nor decreases—or to that pure state; secondarily, it refers to the tathāgatagarbha itself, the fundamental essence of sentient beings. This latter meaning is one that evolved among later generations.

In this question, the phrase "returning to nirvāṇa" is used, so this nirvāṇa clearly refers to the tathāgatagarbha itself, not to its nature or state. After nirvāṇa without remainder, only the intrinsically pure fundamental mind, the tathāgatagarbha, remains; not a single dharma of the five aggregates exists, and thus there is no sentient being. Since there is no sentient being, who enters nirvāṇa? Who returns to nirvāṇa? There is no one who enters nirvāṇa, nor anyone who returns to nirvāṇa.

Nirvāṇa represents the pure dharmadhātu; it represents the intrinsically pure mind—neither arising nor ceasing, without form or appearance, without inside or outside, tranquil and unmoving. Sentient beings can neither exit nor enter nirvāṇa. The relationship between sentient beings and nirvāṇa is that sentient beings in their entirety are nirvāṇa, just like the relationship between gold vessels and gold: although gold vessels differ in shape in a thousand ways, all gold vessels, from inside to outside, are nothing but gold. There is no such notion that a gold vessel must return to gold. Every single dharma of a sentient being's five-aggregate body and mind is created by the pure nirvāṇa mind; in essence, all is pure nirvāṇa. There is no such thing as entering nirvāṇa again or returning to nirvāṇa.

Sentient beings have never left nirvāṇa, and can never leave nirvāṇa; yet due to ignorance, they constantly abide in nirvāṇa without knowing it, deludedly rushing about in agitation everywhere, falsely undergoing the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra. Therefore nirvāṇa needs no returning and no entering. Sentient beings are merely obscured by ignorance and simply do not recognize it; once they recognize it, they are immediately pure, immediately tranquil and liberated, with no more birth-and-death and no more bondage. Everywhere is gold—why cling to the gold vessel!

Gold vessels are precious because of their gold substance; gold's function is increased or diminished by the vessel's shape, resulting in differences between wholesome and unwholesome. When gold is used for adornment, it makes even a humble dwelling shine; when gold is used to hold excrement, it appears filthy. When gold saves a life, wholesome karma is forged; when gold takes a life, unwholesome karma is plainly manifest. One who uses gold well is the Buddha; one who uses gold badly is a sentient being. Buddha and sentient beings are alike in being of gold substance, but because their uses differ, their fruits differ.