
Quotes from Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Vol. 5
(Mahāprajnāpāramitāśāstra)
“Non-arisen (anutpanna), non-destroyed (aniruddha),
Unceasing (anucchinna), non-eternal (aśaśvata),
Neither identical (eka) nor different (anya),
Without coming or going,
Dharmas resulting from cause and conditions (pratītyasamutpanna dharma)
Escape from all vain prolixity (prapañca).
The Buddha can define them.
I pay homage to him.”
Excerpts from An Exposition on the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra
Venerable Xiao Pingshi
Those who have realized tathāgatagarbha are called to realize the emptiness-nature of prajñā. Prajñā is wisdom that encompasses both mundane and transmundane wisdom, and is a unique attribute of Mahayana. Those who have personally realized and experienced the various dharma-natures belonging to tathāgatagarbha’s emptiness-nature will gradually bring forth the wisdom pertaining to prajñā. Only then can they understand the prajñā sutras’ meaning of neither being nor nothingness, neither identical nor different, neither arising nor ceasing, neither coming nor going, and neither increasing nor decreasing. This is due to the nature of tathāgatagarbha, that which is intrinsically so.
The emptiness-nature of tathāgatagarbha denotes not seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing. It does not know its own mind and neither makes decisions; it does not attach to or dislike the five sense objects or the Buddha Dharma. The tathāgatagarbha entity is neither being nor nothingness; it does not increase or decrease, arise or cease, and come or go. Furthermore, the tathāgatagarbha entity can give rise to all dharmas but is neither identical to nor different from all dharmas.
An Exposition on the Lankavatara Sutra, Vol.1, pp.286-287