Cultivation Relies on the Tathāgatagarbha of the True Mind to Eliminate the Ignorance and Defilements of the Seven Consciousnesses

Apart from the substance of Tathāgatagarbha, all are illusory dharmas, including learning and practicing Buddhism, performing virtuous deeds to deliver sentient beings, and even the dharma of attaining Buddhahood—all Buddhist dharmas are illusory, born from Tathāgatagarbha, subject to birth and cessation. Only Tathāgatagarbha is neither born nor extinguished. Nirvana is also an illusory dharma; the perfected reality nature of the eighth consciousness is an illusory dharma; the suchness nature of the eighth consciousness is also an illusory dharma, all of which can manifest only by relying on Tathāgatagarbha. The five aggregates of body and mind are even more illusory. How should we regard these illusory dharmas?

We should rely on the true mind, Tathāgatagarbha, to cultivate the deluded consciousness of the seven vijñānas, eliminating the ignorance and defilements of the seven vijñānas. When ignorance is exhausted, consciousness is ultimately transformed into wisdom. We do not cultivate the true, because Tathāgatagarbha requires no cultivation from us. It inherently possesses the wisdom and virtuous marks of a Tathāgata, perfectly endowed with precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom. Free from ignorance, it is complete with all wholesome dharmas and merits. Its mind-substance is non-active and intrinsically pure. Therefore, it is without afflictions, without birth and death, without saṃsāra, intrinsically unbound, and inherently liberated. Tathāgatagarbha itself does not practice, nor do we need to cultivate it. We only need the seven vijñānas to become as pure as Tathāgatagarbha, no longer subject to birth and death, thereby attaining liberation and freedom. Thus, it is necessary for the seven vijñānas to realize Tathāgatagarbha in order to have reliance.