The concept of Tathagatagarbha, widely discussed in Mahayana scriptures like the Ratnagotravibhaga, asserts which fundamental theological truth?

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The Tathagatagarbha theory was a significant affirmative shift in Mahayana thought. It argued that enlightenment is not a distant goal to be acquired from outside but a core essence already present within (the embryo of the Tathagata). This removed the existential despair for practitioners, as they only needed to clean the dirt off the mirror, not build a new one.

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