bhagavān āha - na hi mahāmate tīrthakarātmavādatulyo mama tathāgatagarbhopadeśaḥ |
kiṃ tu mahāmate tathāgatāḥ śūnyatābhūtakoṭinirvāṇānutpādānimittāpraṇihitādyānāṃ mahāmate padārthānāṃ tathāgatagarbhopadeśaṃ kṛtvā tathāgatā arhantaḥ samyaksaṃbuddhā bālānāṃ nairātmyasaṃtrāsapadavivarjanārthaṃ nirvikalpanirābhāsagocaraṃ tathāgatagarbhamukhopadeśena deśayanti |
na cātra mahāmate anāgatapratyutpannaiḥ bodhisattvairmahāsattvair ātmābhiniveśaḥ kartavyaḥ |
tadyathā mahāmate kumbhakāra ekasmān mṛtparamāṇurāśer vividhāni bhāṇḍāni karoti hastaśilpadaṇḍodakasūtraprayatnayogāt, evam eva mahāmate tathāgatās tad eva dharmanairātmyaṃ sarvavikalpalakṣaṇavinivṛttaṃ vividhaiḥ prajñopāyakauśalyayogair garbhopadeśena vā nairātmyopadeśena vā kumbhakāravaccitraiḥ padavyañjanaparyāyair deśayante |
etasmāt kāraṇān mahāmate tīrthakarātmavādopadeśatulyas tathā(79*)gatagarbhopadeśo na bhavati |
evaṃ hi mahāmate tathāgatagarbhopadeśam ātmavādābhiniviṣṭānāṃ tīrthakarāṇām ākarṣaṇārthaṃ tathāgatagarbhopadeśena nirdiśanti - kathaṃ bata abhūtātmavikalpadṛṣṭipatitāśayā vimokṣatrayagocarapatitāśayopetāḥ kṣipram anuttarāṃ samyaksaṃbodhim abhisaṃbudhyerann iti |
etad arthaṃ mahāmate tathāgatā arhantaḥ samyaksaṃbuddhās tathāgatagarbhopadeśaṃ kurvanti | ata etan na bhavati tīrthakarātmavādatulyam |
tasmāt tarhi mahāmate tīrthakaradṛṣṭivinivṛttyarthaṃ tathāgatanairātmyagarbhānusāriṇā ca te bhavitavyam ||
The Blessed One replied: No, Mahāmati, my Tathāgata-garbha is not the same as the ego taught by the philosophers;
for what the Tathāgatas teach is the Tathāgata-garbha in the sense, Mahāmati, that it is emptiness, reality-limit, Nirvāṇa, being unborn, unqualified, and devoid of will-effort; the reason why the Tathāgatas who are Arhats and Fully-Enlightened Ones, teach the doctrine pointing to the Tathāgata-garbha is to make the ignorant cast aside their fear when they listen to the teaching of egolessness and to have them realise the state of non-discrimination and imagelessness.
I also wish, Mahāmati, that the Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas of the present and future would not attach themselves to the idea of an ego [imagining it to be a soul].
Mahāmati, it is like a potter who manufactures various vessels out of a mass of clay of one sort by his own manual skill and labour combined with a rod, water, and thread, Mahāmati, that the Tathāgatas preach the egolessness of things which removes all the traces of discrimination by various skilful means issuing from their transcendental wisdom, that is, sometimes by the doctrine of the Tathāgata-garbha, sometimes by that of egolessness, and, like a potter, by means of various terms, expressions, and synonyms.
For this reason, Mahāmati, the philosophers' doctrine of an ego-substance is not the same (79) as the teaching of the Tathāgata-garbha.
Thus, Mahāmati, the doctrine of the Tathāgata-garbha is disclosed in order to awaken the philosophers from their clinging to the idea of the ego, so that those minds that have fallen into the views imagining the non-existent ego as real, and also into the notion that the triple emancipation is final, may rapidly be awakened to the state of supreme enlightenment.
Accordingly, Mahāmati, the Tathāgatas who are Arhats and Fully-Enlightened Ones disclose the doctrine of the Tathāgata-garbha which is thus not to be known as identical with the philosopher's notion of an ego-substance.
Therefore, Mahāmati, in order to abandon the misconception cherished by the philosophers, you must strive after the teaching of egolessness and the Tathāgata-garbha.