無量壽經優婆提舍願生偈註 1.59

1.59

Question: The Sūtra on the Contemplation of Immeasurable Life states: "The Tathāgata Buddhas are the body of the dharmadhātu, entering into the mind and thoughts of all sentient beings. Therefore, when your minds contemplate the Buddha, this mind is itself the thirty-two primary marks and eighty secondary signs; this mind creates the Buddha, this mind is the Buddha. The ocean of the Buddhas' true and universal knowledge is born from mental contemplation." What does this mean? Answer: "Body" means an aggregation and completion; "dhātu" (realm) means differentiation of particular matters. For example, the visual realm (cakṣur-dhātu) is produced dependent on five conditions: faculty, form, space, light, and attention; it is called the visual realm. This eye acts only according to its own conditions and does not act according to other conditions, because of the differentiation of particular matters. The auditory, olfactory, and other realms are also like this. When it is said that "the Tathāgata Buddhas are the body of the dharmadhātu", the dharmadhātu is the mental phenomena of sentient beings. Because the mind can give birth to all mundane and supramundane dharmas, the mind is named the dharmadhātu. The dharmadhātu can give birth to the bodies of the Tathāgatas with their marks and signs, just as form and so forth can give birth to visual consciousness; therefore, the Buddha's body is called the body of the dharmadhātu. This body does not act according to other conditions; therefore it enters into the mind and thoughts of all sentient beings. "When the mind contemplates the Buddha, this mind is itself the thirty-two primary marks and eighty secondary signs" means that when sentient beings mentally contemplate the Buddha, the marks and signs of the Buddha's body appear manifest within the minds of sentient beings. For instance, when water is clear, reflections appear; the water and the reflection are neither identical nor different. Hence it is said that the Buddha's body of marks and signs is itself the mental contemplation. "This mind creates the Buddha" means that the mind is able to create the Buddha. "This mind is the Buddha" means that outside the mind there is no Buddha. For example, fire emerges from wood, and fire cannot be separated from wood. Because it is not separated from wood, it can burn the wood. When the wood is burned by fire, the wood is itself the fire. "The ocean of the Buddhas' true and universal knowledge is born from mental contemplation": "true and universal knowledge" (samyak-saṃbodhi) means knowing truly in accordance with the dharmadhātu. Because the dharmadhātu is markless, the Buddhas have no knowing; because they have no knowing, there is nothing they do not know. Knowing through non-knowing is true and universal knowledge. This knowing is deep and vast, immeasurable, and is therefore compared to an ocean.