The matter of spiritual practice cannot be done on one another's behalf

To attain genuine wisdom of liberation, do not go about inquiring into the specific division of labor between the tathāgatagarbha and the manas with respect to all dharmas. If you try to sort out the division of work between the true mind and the deluded mind through reasoning and speculation—clarifying their respective duties—it would amount to directly pointing out which one is the tathāgatagarbha and which one is the manas. What would be the result of doing so? You would fall into sentimental thinking and intellectual understanding, which obstructs actual practice, to the point of being unable to attain enlightenment, leaving the great matter of birth and death unresolved. Do you think that this way you could awaken directly, with great convenience, saving worry and effort, without having to laboriously study anything, cultivate anything, or investigate anything? But things often work out such that the very place where one gains an advantage is precisely where one loses it. There is no shortcut in cultivation; only by cultivating earnestly and steadfastly can one achieve anything.

Whoever cultivates, that person gains. Do not expect to easily receive detailed, concrete help from others. Whatever is someone's task to do, that person must do it; no one can substitute for another. The more help you receive, the less effort you expend, but the shallower the wisdom you gain and the less merit and benefit you derive. If the Buddha could attain enlightenment and buddhahood on behalf of sentient beings, the Buddha would only need to reveal to sentient beings all the secrets of every stage from ordinary being to buddhahood, describing to them the scenery of the buddha-stage; once sentient beings fully understood and knew it, they would become buddhas. How wonderful that would be—the Buddha would save worry, sentient beings would save effort, and everyone would be joyful. But could this actually work?

What the seven consciousnesses should do, the tathāgatagarbha cannot do in their place, nor can the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; what the tathāgatagarbha should do, the seven consciousnesses certainly cannot do in its place. Otherwise, the tathāgatagarbha alone would suffice to solve all problems, and the seven consciousnesses could do whatever they pleased—sleeping all day long would be fine, and even perishing would be fine. In reality, it is not like this. Between the seven consciousnesses and the tathāgatagarbha, and between sentient beings and the Buddha, each has its own division of labor, each bears its own responsibility, and each resolves its own problems.