Abandon what is not the tathagatagarbha

If the Tathagata-garbha (garbha can mean womb, embryo, fetus, conception, interior) in the Sri-Mala Sutra is defined as the ground of samsaric existence which is beyond birth and death; which is also permanent (nitya) and eternal (sasvata), then the Five Aggregates are the exact opposite. They are described by the Buddha as being impermanent (anitya) and suffering and are not our self (anatman). In addition, these same aggregates (khandha/skandha) are synonymous with Mara the Evil One who the Buddha defeated while sitting under the Bodhi-tree.

The message in the Nikayas or Pali canon is the adept must not take the Five Aggregates to be their self since they are always impermanent. The Buddha exhorts his monks (bhikkhus) to abandon what is not their self which is all of the Five Aggregates which make up the psychophysical body! This is made explicit in the Samyutta-Nikaya of the Pali canon at iii. 3334.

It needs underscoring that these bad boy aggregates are nothing like the description of the Tathagata-garbha found in the Sri-Mala Sutra.

But Lord, the Tathagatagarbha is not born, does not die, does not pass away to become reborn. The Tathagatagarbha excludes the realms with the characteristic of the constructed. The Tathagatagarbha is permanent, steadfast, eternal. Therefore, the Tathagatagarbha is the support, the holder, the base of constructed (Buddha natures) that are nondiscrete, not dissociated, and knowing as liberated from the stores (of defilement); and furthermore is the support, the hold, the base of external constructed natures that are discrete, dissociated and knowing as not liberated."

This is why the Buddha never fails to exhort his followers to not identify their selfwith the aggregates because the true self or atman is the Tathagata-garbha which transcends the aggregates; which is beyond suffering. This is according to the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra which says, The atman (self) is the Tathagatagarbha.


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