Is the tathāgatagarbha subject to rebirth in the six realms?

Question: Someone says: "The tathāgatagarbha, whose self-nature is pure, is emptiness/voidness (śūnyatā) that contains the seeds of the defiled seven consciousnesses; therefore it drifts and turns along with the winds of karma, taking birth among the three realms and the six paths of rebirth—sometimes being born in the heavens, sometimes falling into the hells, or sometimes being born in the human world; and because it denies the true Dharma, it appears again in the hells." Can the tathāgatagarbha take birth? If it takes birth, does that not mean it is subject to arising and ceasing?

Answer: First, although the mind of the tathāgatagarbha is empty, it cannot be called emptiness/voidness (śūnyatā); rather, it should be called the mind of emptiness (śūnyatā-citta). This is because the tathāgatagarbha is the substance of the mind, not a representation of the mind's nature. The nature is subordinate to the mind-substance and is used to describe the substance; it is not an entity, and only in dependence on the mind can the mind's nature exist.

Second, emptiness/voidness (śūnyatā) is a property of the principle-substance, not an entity; therefore it cannot contain seeds. It is the mind-substance that contains the karmic seeds, whether defiled or pure.

Third, neither emptiness/voidness (śūnyatā) nor the mind-substance can contain defiled seeds of the seven consciousnesses, because the seeds of the seven consciousnesses are consciousness-seeds, which are inherently and originally pure—they are the pure tathāgatagarbha nature and will never be defiled. It should be said that the mind-substance of the tathāgatagarbha contains the defiled seeds of the karmic actions created by the seven consciousnesses.

Fourth, the tathāgatagarbha cannot take birth. Although the tathāgatagarbha contains the defiled karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses, it is the seventh consciousness that takes birth in accordance with karma. The tathāgatagarbha merely follows the seventh consciousness and, in accordance with the karmic seeds, manifests the realms of the six paths and the body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), and only then do the seven consciousnesses take birth. When the seventh consciousness takes birth, it is the tathāgatagarbha that makes the choice for the seventh consciousness to take birth. Without the tathāgatagarbha's cooperation in outputting the karmic seeds and the seeds of the seven great elements, the seventh consciousness would be unable to take birth. Therefore, one cannot say that the tathāgatagarbha transmigrates and takes birth in the heavens, on earth, and in the human world; rather, it should be said that the seventh consciousness continuously transmigrates and takes birth in the heavens, on earth, and in the human world.

Fifth, since the tathāgatagarbha does not take birth, He does not transmigrate through the six paths. The realms of the six paths are illusory appearances manifested within the mind-substance of the tathāgatagarbha; the tathāgatagarbha does not go into the six paths—rather, the six paths continuously manifest within the tathāgatagarbha. The essential nature of the tathāgatagarbha is neither coming nor going, suchness is immovable (tathatā-acalita); all dharmas and marks arise and cease within the tathāgatagarbha, and all are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. Even empty space is merely an insignificant false appearance within the tathāgatagarbha—how much more so the realms of the six paths. Therefore it is said that the tathāgatagarbha does not take birth and does not transmigrate.