འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མད་སྡའ་དབང་པའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 29

29

“As an analogy, noble one, although the tathāgatas pass into nirvāṇa, it is through the attainment of the possession of prayer that they accomplish all the various kinds of activities. In that same way, the true nature and the wisdom of the true nature possess the accomplishment of all benefits.

“Moreover, through the power of their previous prayers, the bodhisattva mahāsattvas who are resting in samādhi arise from that meditation and accomplish all benefits and activities. In that way, both the true nature and the wisdom of the true nature have the accomplishment, without conceptualization, of all benefits.

“As an analogy, noble one, the sun and moon have no thoughts, water and mirrors have no thoughts, and light has no thoughts, yet through the combination of these three, there appear reflections. In the same way, there are no thoughts in the true nature of phenomena and the wisdom of the true nature, yet through the power of prayer, like the reflections of the sun and moon, there arise for worthy beings, through causes and conditions, the enjoyment bodies and the emanation bodies.

“Also, noble one, there is the analogy of countless, innumerable waters and mirrors, in which appear the different characteristics of empty⁷⁷ reflections because of light, even though empty ⁷⁸ means ‘devoid of characteristics.’

“In the same way, noble one, through the power of prayers both the enjoyment and the emanation bodies manifest the reflections of the Dharma body to followers. Even though they appear with a variety of characteristics, there are no different characteristics in the state of the Dharma body.

“Noble one, in those two bodies the buddha bhagavats have what is called nirvāṇa with residual bodies. It is in relation to the Dharma body that the term nirvāṇa without a residual body is used. Why is that? It is because the Dharma body is the final cessation of all phenomena. It is taught that the buddha bhagavats remain in nirvāṇa without location because of the totality of the three bodies.