The Self-Nature Purity of the Tathāgatagarbha as Taught in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra

Original text of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: 大慧。此如来藏识藏。一切声闻缘觉。心想所见。虽自性清净。客尘所覆故。犹见不净。非诸如来。大慧。如来者。现前境界。犹如掌中。视阿摩勒果。

Brief Explanation: Here it speaks of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas: with regard to the tathāgatagarbha, they can only think about it in their minds, mentally imagining that there is a tathāgatagarbha which is the self-natured pure mind, the true self. They merely hold this kind of view and opinion, but cannot truly realize it; only bodhisattvas who have generated the great mind can realize it—do not guess or speculate. Although the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas know that there is a self-natured pure mind, they are still obscured and covered by adventitious defilements from beginningless kalpas, and thus cannot see Him. Therefore their view is still insufficient; although they have already attained the pure Dharma eye of the Small Vehicle, with regard to the Dharma of the tathāgatagarbha they have not yet generated the Dharma eye, and their view is still not pure.

Therefore, the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cannot realize the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. If they could realize it, they would be arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, and their lineage (gotra) would have changed.

But it is not so with all the Buddhas and Tathāgatas. For all Buddhas and Tathāgatas, whenever any dharma manifests, it is a directly present realm—everything is observed through direct perception (pratyakṣa), without imagination or thinking, still less speculation; it is entirely a realm of direct perception. The moment a realm appears before them, they know it immediately, just as clearly, transparently, lucidly, and purely as viewing an āmalaka fruit in the palm of one's own hand.