The Self-Validating Cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) of the Tathāgatagarbha (1)

The reason it is said to ordinary sentient beings that the tathāgatagarbha has no self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) is, first, that ordinary beings (pṛthagjana) and pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattva) cannot observe the tathāgatagarbha's self-validating cognition, and therefore it is not said that the tathāgatagarbha possesses self-validating cognition; second, the content of the tathāgatagarbha's self-validating cognition differs from that of the mind consciousness's self-validating cognition, and also differs from that of other deluded consciousnesses. The tathāgatagarbha is without self and does not know that there is a self, yet He can also know which dharmas have been set in motion: those that have already been run, He does not run again; those that have not finished running must continue to run; and He knows how they are to be run.

The self-validating cognition of the tathāgatagarbha's selfless nature is very difficult to explain clearly in words. Just like the tathāgatagarbha's discerning and knowing nature, it is not easy to explain clearly to ordinary sentient beings. Does the tathāgatagarbha discern the six sense objects? Of course He discerns them; otherwise, how could He manifest the six sense objects, alter the six sense objects, and uphold the six sense objects? Yet this discernment of the eighth consciousness cannot, like the six consciousnesses, discern specific contents—after discerning the six sense objects, knowing what the discerned objects are. After the tathāgatagarbha discerns the six sense objects, He knows nothing of them, and then continues to discern and to operate. The tathāgatagarbha's mechanistic manner of discerning is like a computer discerning a program: a computer can also discern fonts and produce fonts, but does not know what fonts are, whereas the mind consciousness knows what fonts are and what significance they have.

The tathāgatagarbha's kind of discernment is also like a washing machine discerning instructions to wash clothes, but the washing machine does not know the specific content and meaning of the instructions, whereas the mind consciousness does. The tathāgatagarbha's operation, discernment, and knowing are like the mindlessness of a robot: it works yet does not know what it has actually done, whereas the mind consciousness knows.