金光明經玄義 1.28

1.28

If one relies on Master Paramārtha, he states: 'The dharmakāya is real; the other two bodies are unreal.' In this view, the bodily forms and characteristics of the three bodies are distinct from one another; this is merely one approach within the distinct teaching and is not what is employed here. If one says that all three bodies are real—the ultimate principle being the dharmakāya, the wisdom that tallies with the principle being the saṃbhogakāya, and the arising of function being the response body—the response body is real because what the Buddha manifests is wholly real and not false. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra states: 'The meditation on the impure is both real and false: that which is not actually impure being contemplated as impure is false; its ability to destroy the greedy mind is real.' The response body is modeled on this: because it is not the original substance it is false; because it can bring benefit it is real. Here we adopt the real aspect rather than the false aspect; hence we state that all three bodies are real, which is what is employed here. If, furthermore, one discusses the three bodies in a perfect manner, they are all real, all false, all both real and false, and all neither real nor false; one should formulate a fourfold proposition regarding the three bodies together, as detailed in the separate record (and so forth).