Is the Mind [essentially] bound to ignorance "not-knowing" or free?

Is the Mind [essentially] bound to ignorance "not-knowing" or free? If it is bound, then its essential nature of "non-knowing" cannot depart, and, therefore, liberation is not [possible, or] if the essential nature departed, the mind would cease to be a Mind, i,e. it can no longer not-know. If it is free, the meditation and other means enjoined for the sake of liberation are of no use.