Is Human Nature Inherently Good or Evil?

A person's fundamental nature refers to the mental nature one possesses innately: one is the mental nature of the manas, and the other is the tathāgatagarbha nature; the nature acquired through later conditioning is the mental nature of the mind consciousness. To see the root of human nature through the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), one must look at the manas; to see it as a whole, one must look at the tathāgatagarbha. To observe the manifestation of a person's mental nature, one must look at the manas: the manas is the root, while the mind consciousness is the branches and leaves. Although the luxuriant foliage of the mind consciousness can conceal the root of the manas, the branches and leaves of the mind consciousness will inevitably wither and fall one day, and at that time the root of the manas will be completely exposed.

Through the five aggregates, one should observe the mental nature of the manas; in essence, one should observe the mental nature of the tathāgatagarbha, but generally speaking, what is observed is the mental nature of the five aggregates. Whatever nature the manas has had since beginningless kalpas, that is what human nature is; whatever mental nature the manas has, that is what human nature is. Likewise, whatever mental nature the manas has determines the mental nature of an animal, of a ghost or spirit, of an asura, or of a deva; and even further, whatever mental nature the manas has determines the mental nature of an arhat, of a pratyekabuddha, of a bodhisattva, or of a Buddha. Even more fundamental than the manas is the mental nature of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha; therefore, the original nature of human nature is precisely the tathāgatagarbha nature.