The Tree of Enlightenment

and nirvana, both the phenomenal world and enlightenment.
And just as it is through discrimination that the storehouse
consciousness evolves into the six empirical consciousnesses, so,
through the elimination of discrimination, the storehouse consciousness
becomes the seed of nirvana.
It is important to look closely at the relationship between the
storehouse consciousness and the notion of the Buddha nature
(tathagatagarbha, literally, ‘the womb of tathagatahood’). You will
be aware of the natural connection between the two from what I
have just said about the nirvanic potential of the storehouse consciousness.
e Lankavatara describes the mind, or consciousness,
as pure in its original, intrinsic nature. What is meant by
the term ‘pure’? A careful examination of the Lankavatara Sutra
and other canonical and commentarial literature reveals that this
means that the mind is empty. erefore, ‘the original purity of
the mind’ means that the mind is intrinsically and originally
pure of the dualities of existence and nonexistence, identity and
difference, and so forth. Its purity is equivalent to its emptiness.
is purity, or emptiness, is the very essence of Buddha nature,
of the nirvanic potential of the storehouse consciousness.
It is in this context that the Buddha nature is likened to gold,
to a precious stone, or to a soiled garment. e intrinsic purity
or emptiness of the mind finds the expression of its potential
in the realization of Buddhahood when the impurities of discrimination
are removed. Just as the brightness of gold, a precious
stone, or a soiled garment is revealed through refinement
and through cleansing of impurities, so one reveals the original,
intrinsic, empty and pure nature of the mind through cleansing
oneself of the habit of discriminating between subject and object
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