Does the Emptiness of Mind Preclude the Manifestation of States?

As long as sentient beings possess the manas (mind faculty) and the five aggregates exist, the Tathagatagarbha will output karmic seeds and the seeds of the seven elements, manifesting the dharmas required by the five aggregates, thereby causing various phenomena to appear. All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas possess manas and the five aggregates; therefore, they exist within all phenomena of the world, extensively spreading the Dharma to sentient beings with whom they have affinities. However, this in no way diminishes their realization of the emptiness of mind or their virtue of non-self. This is because the emptiness of mind does not mean annihilating all dharmas to be called emptiness; rather, it means not regarding any dharma as real, not pursuing any dharma, and not clinging to any dharma. This is true emptiness of mind. Emptiness of mind means letting the mind be empty of dharmas, not dwelling in existence, rather than annihilating the dharmas while leaving the mind. If one were to annihilate all dharmas, the manas must first be extinguished, followed by the extinction of the body of five aggregates, causing that sentient being to vanish, after which the dharmas would consequently cease to exist. In such a case, that person disappears and can no longer practice the Buddhadharma, nor can they attain Buddhahood. Some Arhats do this at the end of their lives. Before the end of life, while the Arhat's manas and five aggregates still exist, the Tathagatagarbha must manifest all dharmas necessary for the Arhat's existence, including phenomena.

The key point of this issue is understanding what emptiness of mind means. Emptiness of mind is seeing dharmas as empty and observing their emptiness; it is not annihilating dharmas to make them non-existent. Many people misunderstand emptiness of mind, believing that emptiness means non-existence. Emptiness of mind means that no matter what dharma arises, the mind knows its essential nature is empty, and thus does not pursue or cling to it, nor does it give rise to afflictions.

If emptiness meant non-existence, then if someone believed themselves to be empty, would they still eat and act? Would their physical body still engage in activities? Would they have annihilated themselves? Why would someone who believes they are empty still speak with their mouth or type with their hands? Isn't emptiness supposed to mean non-existence? This is a great misunderstanding. The Buddha was the most perfectly empty, yet the Buddha also had the activities of the five aggregates, taught the Dharma within phenomena to extensively spread it to sentient beings, and even taught about the five aggregates and the formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness of the world. Did the Buddha teach this to acknowledge the five aggregates as real? To acknowledge the world as real? Neither. The Buddha taught the five aggregates so that sentient beings could correctly understand them and, through practice, realize their emptiness. The Buddha taught about the world so that sentient beings could correctly understand it and, through practice, realize its illusory nature, thereby attaining emptiness of mind. Therefore, emptiness of mind refers to a state of the mind; it does not mean making phenomena empty. Phenomena are inherently empty. Regardless of whether the mind is empty or not, phenomena still manifest. No matter what phenomena manifest, the mind empties them, neither recalling, nor dwelling upon, nor clinging to the phenomena.