Wisdom Is Embodied in the Degree to Which the Manas Directly Realizes Tathāgatagarbha.

When the manas personally realizes the tathāgatagarbha of the Mahāyāna dharma, there are great differences in the degree of realization, and thus great differences in the levels of wisdom. At the seventh abode, the manas has only realized an extremely small portion of the tathāgatagarbha, and can only observe the tathāgatagarbha's nature in a very shallow way, so its level of wisdom is very shallow. As cultivation steadily advances and one continuously observes the functional nature of the tathāgatagarbha, more and more of the tathāgatagarbha's functions are realized, wisdom becomes ever deeper, the mind relies on the tathāgatagarbha's unconditioned and selfless nature, and afflictions and afflictive obstructions (kleśāvaraṇa) become ever lighter.

This continues until one realizes the contemplation of "all things like a dream" and enters the various wisdom states of the first and second bhūmis and so on, observing the portion of seeds contained within the tathāgatagarbha; then the manas's realization of the tathāgatagarbha is very deep, and its wisdom is deep and vast as well—but it is still not the deepest, most vast, and most subtle. Continuing to contemplate and observe the seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha, the dharma realized will become ever deeper and subtler. When all the seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha have been observed, fully realized, and known without remainder, one's wisdom is then perfectly complete; the wisdom of all seeds is fully possessed, ignorance is completely severed, birth-and-death is finished, liberation is thoroughly attained, and cultivation comes to an end. From then on, all one's endeavors are entirely for the sake of liberating sentient beings, so that sentient beings may attain liberation.