The Relationship between Sentient Beings and Nirvāṇa

Are sentient beings constantly abiding in nirvāṇa, or do they only return to nirvāṇa after [attaining] Nirvāṇa without remainder? To clarify this question, one must understand the meaning of nirvāṇa. Some terms in Buddhism have been continuously extended, derived, and evolved by later generations, so that what they refer to has become increasingly broad and unfocused, and their meanings increasingly dispersed. If people discuss the Dharma together but the terms they use do not refer to the same thing, then each will speak their own language and they will never reach agreement. The term "nirvāṇa" primarily refers to the purity or pure state of the tathāgatagarbha — neither arising nor ceasing, neither coming nor going, neither increasing nor decreasing. Secondarily, it refers to the tathāgatagarbha itself, the fundamental substance of sentient beings; this latter meaning is one that evolved among later generations.

In this question, the phrase "return to nirvāṇa" is used, so this nirvāṇa clearly refers to the tathāgatagarbha itself, not to its nature or state. After [attaining] Nirvāṇa without remainder, only the intrinsically pure fundamental mind, the tathāgatagarbha, remains, without any dharma of the five aggregates existing. Then there are no sentient beings; since there are no sentient beings, who enters nirvāṇa? Who returns to nirvāṇa? There is no one who enters nirvāṇa, and no one who returns to nirvāṇa.

Nirvāṇa represents the pure dharmadhātu and the intrinsically pure mind — neither arising nor ceasing, without form or appearance, without inside or outside, tranquil and unmoving. Sentient beings can neither exit nor enter nirvāṇa. The relationship between sentient beings and nirvāṇa is that sentient beings in their entirety are nirvāṇa, just like the relationship between gold vessels and gold: although gold vessels differ in shape in a thousand ways, every gold vessel, from inside to outside, is nothing but gold — there is no such notion that a gold vessel must return to gold. Every dharma of a sentient being's five-aggregate body and mind is created by the pure nirvāṇa mind, and in essence all are pure nirvāṇa; there is no such thing as entering nirvāṇa again or returning to nirvāṇa.

Sentient beings have never left nirvāṇa and can never leave it, yet due to ignorance they constantly abide in nirvāṇa without knowing it, deludedly rushing about in restlessness, falsely enduring the suffering of birth-and-death in saṃsāra. Therefore nirvāṇa needs no returning and no entering; sentient beings are merely obscured by ignorance and simply do not recognize it. Once they recognize it, they are immediately pure, immediately tranquil and liberated, with no more birth-and-death or bondage. Everywhere is gold — why cling to the gold vessel!

Gold vessels are precious because of their gold substance; gold's functions increase or decrease according to the vessel's shape, resulting in differences between the wholesome and the unwholesome. When gold is used for adornment, it brightens even a humble dwelling; when gold is used to hold excrement, it appears filthy. When gold saves a life, wholesome karma is forged; when gold takes a life, unwholesome karma is glaringly evident. One who uses gold well is the Buddha; one who uses it badly is a sentient being. Buddha and sentient beings are alike in being of gold substance, but because their uses differ, their fruits differ.