Except for Tathāgatagarbha, All Dharmas Are Unreliable

The flesh body composed of the four great elements—an insentient object like wood—combined with the tathāgatagarbha and the seventh consciousness, becomes a sentient being with the characteristics of life; and with the addition of the six consciousnesses, the living being exhibits the five aggregates' activities of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, and the sentient being is lively and vibrant.

When the six consciousnesses vanish and the activities of the five aggregates cease, the sentient being retains only the signs of life; when the seventh consciousness decides to leave the body, withdrawing together with the tathāgatagarbha, the sentient being becomes insentient wood, without awareness or cognition.

From this it can be seen that the sentient being's activities of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are subject to arising and ceasing, impermanent; they are not real and are unreliable. Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, all dharmas are unreliable. Rely on a tree and the tree falls; rely on a mountain and the mountain collapses; rely on water and the water dries up—nothing is reliable. Sons of the Buddha should diligently and energetically cultivate practice, seeking nothing at all from worldly dharmas, asking only the tathāgatagarbha for the Dharma, relying closely on the tathāgatagarbha; only then can one attain great ease and freedom in the future.

Deeply plant the concept of impermanence within your mind; do not wait until impermanence arrives and you are left at a loss. Do not think that you can hold on to what you possess, that you can control everything around you—when impermanence arrives, nothing can be controlled.