The Meaning of Realization

Question: Is practical realization a process of constantly persuading oneself to break through attachment to self and dharmas? Or can one truly see with the naked eye a living tathāgatagarbha? By tathāgatagarbha I mean the empty tathāgatagarbha that exists apart from the five aggregates and the eighteen realms.

Answer: Practical realization means, through investigating Chan, realizing that tathāgatagarbha which operates within the body of the five aggregates, and discovering what functions the tathāgatagarbha performs—just as, upon seeing the wind blowing and its effects, one realizes the existence of the great wind and the place where it is.