Seeing True Nature Means Realizing We Are Originally Tathagata and Revealing It Through Bodhisattva Conduct

The saying, "When you see your true nature, you immediately become Tathagata," is often used in Seon Buddhism. But it is difficult if we understand it simply as changing into a new being. Seeing true nature means directly seeing one’s original Buddha-nature and true mind.

From the standpoint of principle, sentient beings and Buddhas are not two. Just as the sun is not newly created when clouds clear away, seeing true nature does not create a Buddha who did not exist before. It reveals the Buddha-nature that has always been complete.

This is why Seon masters said that seeing the mind is itself Buddha. The saying that delusion is sentient being and awakening is Buddha can also be understood from this place. When we turn one thought around and directly see our own mind, the wisdom of Tathagata is already within it.

Yet from the standpoint of practice, it is hard to say that seeing true nature immediately completes the same perfect merit and wisdom as Shakyamuni Buddha. Bodhisattva conduct continues as we dissolve old habits and subtle afflictions within daily life.

In the end, seeing true nature is the gate through which we realize that we are originally Tathagata, and practice is the path of revealing that realization fully through speech, action, and compassion. Awakening is not a declaration apart from life; it is a practice that must grow bright throughout the whole of life.