What Are the Four Aspects of the Tathāgatagarbha?

The perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha is its capacity to discern the sentient beings' faculties and the material world. The tathāgatagarbha can know the two mental factors of manas—intention (manaskāra) and deliberation (cetanā)—and, having known them, it works in conjunction with manas to manifest all the dharmas of the threefold world. Therefore, without manas, the tathāgatagarbha could not operate to bring forth all dharmas. The perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha is also manifested in its ability to discern sentient beings' faculties, the material world, and karmic seeds. The tathāgatagarbha possesses an extremely great number of perceiving-aspects; apart from not perceiving the specific objects of the six sense objects, everything else falls within its perceiving. The object-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha includes the outer six sense objects and the inner six sense objects, as well as sentient beings' five-aggregate bodies, the universe and the material world, and the seven consciousnesses.

The self-cognition (svasaṃvitti) of the tathāgatagarbha means that the tathāgatagarbha can personally certify and know the objects it discerns. That is, after the perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha has discerned manas, the faculties, and the material world, the tathāgatagarbha has a knowing; this knowing is its self-cognition. Therefore, the tathāgatagarbha has knowing: with respect to the six sense objects it is without awareness and without knowing, but with respect to all other dharmas it can know them. As for the self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) of the tathāgatagarbha, when observed through the contemplative wisdom of bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis, the tathāgatagarbha can know and verify that it has already known the mental activities of manas, has already discerned the faculties and the material world, and has already discerned the karmic seeds. That is to say, the tathāgatagarbha can introspect upon its own operation and can reflect back upon what it is currently doing—this is the self-validating cognition of the tathāgatagarbha.

With respect to the six sense objects, the tathāgatagarbha does in fact have awareness and knowing; it is only that the manner, method, and content of its awareness and knowing are not the same as those of the seven consciousnesses. The mind consciousness is unable to know what the awareness and knowing of the tathāgatagarbha are actually like and what their content is, because the faculties and the material world also belong to the six sense objects.