念佛三昧寶王論 2.45

2.45

I reply: The three bodies of the Buddha are the dharmakāya, the saṃbhogakāya, and the nirmāṇakāya. The dharmakāya is like the substance of the moon, the saṃbhogakāya is like the light of the moon, and the transformed buddha is like the reflection of the moon. In myriad waters there is in each a moon: is this moon many, or is it one? One cannot say it is one, for the moons in the myriad waters are ever distinct! One cannot say it is many, for the moon in the empty sky is ever one! Like the Sanskrit letter *i* or the three eyes of Maheśvara, whether vertical, horizontal, combined, or distinct, they are all inconceivable! The sūtra says: 'Or manifesting a small body of sixteen feet or eight cubits'—these are all buddhas within the water of sentient beings' minds. The Buddha does not even have form; how could there be two? Pure lands and defiled realms also arise from that alone. If you wish to use mindfulness of the three bodies to destroy the three kinds of obstacles, I shall now attempt to explain it. The arising of the Buddha's bodies arises from śamatha and vipaśyanā; if śamatha and vipaśyanā are not balanced, these obstacles will surely arise. When a person practicing buddha-mindfulness cultivates śamatha and the mind sinks, the obstacle of darkness arises and obstructs the nirmāṇakāya buddha. One must then urge it on with a mind of vipaśyanā, being mindful of the light of the ūrṇā to destroy the obstacle of darkness. When cultivating vipaśyanā and the mind floats, there is no evil it does not create, and it obstructs the saṃbhogakāya buddha. One must return to cultivating śamatha to stop all evil; be mindful of the past causes of all buddhas, their Ganges-sands of merits and perfection of wisdom, where repaying the causes is called retribution, thereby destroying the obstacle of evil thoughts. If the obstacles of the two extremes stir, with deceptive shapes and peculiar forms, the myriad marks in tumultuous confusion, and the two thieves of hardness and softness obstructing the dharmakāya buddha, one destroys them with the Middle Way's supreme emptiness of ultimate truth. The verse says: