The Black Box World (26)

After we have seen our true mind and awakened to our true nature, and then continue with contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), we will come to know that all the functions of the seventh consciousness are, in the end, entirely the functional nature of the tathāgatagarbha; all the functions of the six sense faculties are, in the end, entirely the functional nature of the tathāgatagarbha; and all the phenomena of arising and ceasing of the six sense objects are also the functional nature of the tathāgatagarbha. In the end, we will know that none of these dharmas is the self; the self is the tathāgatagarbha. Then we can know that all the functions of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are entirely the tathāgatagarbha. What illusory functions of the five aggregates and the eighteen dhātus could there be? The functions of the five aggregates and the eighteen dhātus are all functions of the tathāgatagarbha.

When contemplative practice reaches its culmination, one will come to accept that all dharmas are entirely functions of the tathāgatagarbha, and there are no functions belonging to any other dharma. The discriminating functions of the seven consciousnesses must all be traced back to the tathāgatagarbha; the cognitive capacity of the seven consciousnesses is entirely the function of the great seed of seeing of the tathāgatagarbha. Such direct realization cannot be conveyed through language so that others may likewise realize it as it truly is; only when one has the capacity for direct realization oneself can one have some personal experience of it. Upon attaining the first bhūmi, one will know that the tathāgatagarbha itself, He, is able to see the six sense objects, manifest the six sense objects, and take the six sense objects as object; He knows all states of experience. However, this seeing and knowing of the tathāgatagarbha does not cognize the specific appearances of the six sense objects; He only knows all the circumstances at the stage of seeds, and then manifests the body faculty and takes the body faculty as object. Everything is the function of the tathāgatagarbha, and all cognitive capacity is entirely an attribute of the tathāgatagarbha.