Is Human Nature Inherently Good or Evil?

A person's fundamental nature refers to the mental nature one possesses innately: one is the mental nature of the manas, and the other is the tathāgatagarbha nature; the nature acquired through later conditioning is the mental nature of the mind consciousness. To see the root of human nature in terms of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), one must look at the manas; to see it in terms of the whole, one must look at the tathāgatagarbha. To observe the manifestation of a person's mental nature, one must look at the manas: the manas is the root, and the mind consciousness is the branches and leaves. Although the luxuriant foliage of the mind consciousness can conceal the root of the manas, the branches and leaves of the mind consciousness will eventually wither and fall, and at that time the root of the manas will be completely exposed without reserve.

In terms of the five aggregates, one should look at the mental nature of the manas; in terms of the essence, one should look at the mental nature of the tathāgatagarbha. But generally speaking, one looks at the mental nature of the five aggregates. Whatever nature the manas has had since beginningless kalpas, that is the nature of humanity; whatever mental nature the manas has, that is the mental nature of humanity. Likewise, whatever mental nature an animal has, that is its mental nature; whatever mental nature ghosts and spirits have, that is their mental nature; whatever mental nature asuras have, that is their mental nature; whatever mental nature devas have, that is their mental nature; and even further, whatever mental nature an arhat has, that is his mental nature; whatever mental nature a pratyekabuddha has, that is his mental nature; whatever mental nature a bodhisattva has, that is his mental nature; whatever mental nature a Buddha has, that is His mental nature. More fundamental than the manas is the mental nature of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha; therefore, the original nature of humanity is precisely the tathāgatagarbha nature.