金光明最勝王經疏 1.15

1.15

Question: If so, and the dharmakāya is nirvāṇa, what is the distinction between the two meanings? Answer: The term 'dharmakāya' is said from the side of being the support for virtues, while the term 'nirvāṇa' takes the meaning of the cessation of suffering and so forth; thus the two are distinct. Furthermore, through ellipsis, it is not restated; one may accept or reject either at will. However, taking both is superior. Why? Expounding lifespan and the three bodies takes bodhi as the theme. Since it also expounds nirvāṇa, why not take nirvāṇa as the theme? If one says that the sūtra only speaks of obtaining the direct cause of bodhi through profound Dharma, without mentioning the direct cause of nirvāṇa, and therefore knows it only takes bodhi as the theme: if so, apart from the cause of bodhi, what separate phenomenon could be cultivated as the cause of nirvāṇa? Therefore, the cause of bodhi is also the cause of nirvāṇa. Furthermore, relative to nirvāṇa, the fruit of bodhi can also be called a cause, just as fascicle ninety-five of the *Yogācārabhūmi* expounds five characteristics of the turning of the wheel of Dharma: first, being the characteristic of the object of what is to be attained; second, being the upāya to attain what is to be attained. As for upāya, the three turnings are all called upāya. Upāya is cause, the prior being the cause of the latter. Since the third turning is also called upāya, it is clear that relative to realizing nirvāṇa, bodhi can also be termed a cause; hence they are not stated separately.