宗鏡錄 16.33

16.33

Answer: In principle, the sixteen-foot [body] is permanent, but to human beings it is impermanent. Therefore, a sūtra says: 'Like the shadow of a tree in the dark, it cannot be seen by the physical eye.' An ancient commentary says: 'When it is said that the Buddha is always without a body, it clarifies that sympathetic response is not real; the dharmakāya is actual. Sympathy is that which can evoke, belonging to sentient beings; response refers to that which is responded with, belonging to the Buddha. Because sentient beings possess the wholesome [roots] that evoke the Buddha, what they perceive individually is not identical: some see the sixteen-foot Śākya, [others see] the thousand-foot Maitreya; or some behold a form that is boundless, or see a form that is three feet tall. Because the wholesome roots of sentient beings have depths and shallows, this accordingly causes the response body to vary in refinement or coarseness. Therefore it is said: "The Buddha's true dharmakāya is just like empty space; responding to things, it manifests forms, like the moon in the water." Furthermore, when it is said that the Buddha is always without a body, this means he is without a body of mortal life or alteration, for the dharmakāya is supremely subtle and cannot be sought in physical form. Therefore it is called "without body". Based on actual principle, it is not without subtle form and subtle mind. Because of subtle form, it can divide forms and adapt to changes; because of subtle mind, it can be vacuous and able to mirror.' Vasubandhu's verse says: 'The reward and transformation [bodies] are not the true Buddha, / Nor are they the preacher of the Dharma.' The Suvarṇaprabhāsasūtra says: 'The two bodies of response and transformation exist only as provisional names; the dharmakāya exists as true reality.' When it is said, 'When the Way is complete, one can respond and transform without direction,' this means that because the Way of the dharmakāya is complete, one can respond and transform without direction—that is, there is nowhere it does not respond to, having no fixed, singular body. When sentient beings reside in the stage of faith and understanding, because of incomplete wholesome [roots], they only follow whatever sixteen-foot and other bodies they perceive. 'Incomplete wholesome [roots]' means the wholesomeness of faith and understanding prior to the Cloud of Dharma [stage]. 'The land of supreme completion' means that the Buddha fruit supremely illumines, and the Way fulfills bodhi; this is called the land of supreme completion. Because wholesome [roots] are not yet complete, they cannot comprehend that the sixteen-foot and three-foot bodies are illusory. Only the dharmakāya and the self-enjoyment body can be called real. As for 'like a woman whose feelings reach into the darkness, causing a wall to collapse': the Lienü zhuan says that the wife of Qi Liang approached her husband's corpse and wept beneath the city wall; after ten days, the wall collapsed for her. As for 'when filial piety reaches its peak, stones split open': the Hanshu says that Li Guang had no father, and asked his mother, 'Where is my father?' The mother said, 'A tiger killed him.' He then set out and shot at a tiger in the grass; at night he saw a stone resembling a tiger, and shot it, sinking the feathers [of the arrow]. When he later shot at it, [the arrow] never penetrated again. Because the matters of the wall and the stone were sympathetically transformed in accord with the mind, they accordingly collapsed and split open. 'The subtlety of the principle cannot be transmitted without the coarse, as the shadow transmits the form': this clarifies that although the sixteen-foot [body] is coarse, it can transmit the subtle principle; relying on matters to express principle, and lodging in words to reveal the Way, is like a shadow transmitting the form, or like a finger pointing to the moon. Qingliang's commentary says: 'The old Buddha newly achieved [awakening], yet never had two substances. The newly achieved [awakening] is the old Buddha; Dharma and reward [bodies] seem to be divided. Because there is no time when it does not respond, it is response right while being real; because the response arises in accord with nature, it is real right while being response. The three Buddhas are completely interfused, and the ten bodies are unhindered; hence, explaining the manifestation of the response immediately reveals that the real has been achieved. Furthermore, the Buddha's body has no support, universally manifesting in response to capacities: form has no fixed form, like a diamond matching vermilion and purple; appearance has no fixed appearance, like light and shadow depending on length; characteristic has no fixed characteristic, like a bright mirror facing the beautiful and the ugly. Therefore, in accord with their inclinations, all behold it, even as one body or many bodies. It merely arises from the discriminative minds of sentient beings, and thus has no accumulation and no source. It is like setting up a thousand vessels side by side: within a few paces, the thousand moons are not identical. Along a single stretch of clear river for ten thousand miles, a single moon shines alone. Again, it is like three boats gazing together: one boat stays still, while two boats travel south and north. The one going south sees the moon follow south for a thousand miles; the one going north sees the moon follow north for a thousand miles; the one in the still boat sees the moon not move. Thus, this moon does not leave the middle of the stream to go south or north. Suppose hundreds of thousands gaze together, going in each of the eight directions: then hundreds of thousands of moons will each follow them as they go. Therefore, when feelings are obstructed, the dharmakāya becomes differentiated; when the mind penetrates, the profound purport must be uniform. The turmoil of self and other—what has it to do with the Buddha? Therefore, the true body is vast and open, uniting its substance with the dharmadhātu; embracing everything without exterior, it equals all transformations in its function. When tracing the source, there is no duality; when grasping at traces, there are many varieties. One body or many bodies are explained differently in the sūtras and treatises. Now, in expounding this sūtra's Buddha, is he true or response? Is he one or many? If one says he is true, why is he named Śākya, dwelling in the Sahā world, seen equally by humans and devas? If one says he is response, why is he called Vairocana, abiding in the Lotus Treasury, seen by great bodhisattvas who see the Buddha's dharmakāya? If one says he is one, why does he manifest separately in multiple places? If one says he is different, why is it also said that he does not divide his body? Therefore, expounding this sūtra's Buddha is neither of the previous explanations: he is the inexhaustible cloud of bodies of the dharmadhātu. True and response are mutually interfused; the one and the many are unhindered. Because Vairocana is Śākya, he is constantly here while being in other places; far off in other directions, he permanently abides here. Because his body is not divided or different, neither is it one. Because at the same time in different places, one body is complete and all are fully manifested, all bodhisattvas cannot conceive it. Now we first clarify the ten bodies, and afterward display unhinderedness. As for the ten bodies: as stated before, with respect to the Buddha, there are inherently ten bodies: 1. the bodhi body, 2. the vow body, 3. the transformation body, 4. the sustaining body, 5. the body adorned with marks and signs, 6. the majestic power body, 7. the mind-made body, 8. the merit body, 9. the dharmakāya, and 10. the wisdom body. As for unhinderedness: in the Zhigui there are ten meanings: 1. Unhinderedness of pervasive function: this means that in places such as thoughts, kalpas, kṣetras, and dust motes, Vairocana Buddha manifests clouds of bodies of the dharmadhātu, whose activities and functions are boundless and entirely pervasive. The sūtra verse says: "Just as one sees the Buddha sitting in this place, / In all dust motes it is also like this," and so forth. 2. Unhinderedness of pervasive characteristics: within each distinct function, each includes all activities and functions. For example, while in the womb, there is already the departure from home, attaining the Way, and the like. Thus all are sovereign and unhindered. 3. Unhinderedness of quiescent function: although manifesting such boundless sovereignty, yet without intention and without generating thought, he is constantly in samādhi, which does not hinder the arising of function. The "Inconceivable Chapter" says: "In a single thought, he is able to manifest all Buddhas of the three times, teaching and transforming all sentient beings, without abandoning the Buddhas' quiescent, non-dual samādhi. This is the incomparable, inconceivable realm of all Buddhas. Just as a maṇi jewel rains down treasures and heavenly drums emit sound, all are without effort, accomplished spontaneously." 4. Unhinderedness of dependent arising: what is thus manifested, although without effort, is all displayed depending on the power of the sāgaramudrāsamādhi. The sūtra verse says: "All manifestations without remainder / Are the spiritual power of the sāgaramudrāsamādhi." 5. Unhinderedness of true and response: this very responsive manifestation of inexhaustible clouds of bodies is immediately without birth or cessation; it is immediately the dharmakāya of equal, single flavor, without hindering activities and functions, having no limitation. 6. Unhinderedness of part and whole: this Rocana body that pervades the dharmadhātu, in every single body, every single limb, and every single pore, also contains the entire body of Rocana himself. Therefore, the part is immediately complete. The sūtra verse says: "The Tathāgata's ocean of immeasurable merits / Is completely seen in each and every pore." 7. Unhinderedness of cause and fruit: this means that in parts of the body and in pores, he manifests the bodies received by Rocana himself in his past original lives while practicing the bodhisattva conduct, as well as bodhisattvas numerous as dust motes such as Utkṛṣṭaghoṣa emerging from between the Buddha's brows. 8. Unhinderedness of receptacle and sentient beings: this means that this cloud of bodies immediately acts as all receptacle worlds. The sūtra verse says: "Or he acts as the sun and moon traversing empty space, / Or acts as rivers, ponds, wells, and springs," and so forth. Moreover, he also invisibly enters those kṣetras: in every minute dust mote, hair, and the like, there is a Buddha body complete and pervasive. 9. Unhinderedness of latent entry: this means entering the realm of sentient beings, like the tathāgatagarbha: although becoming sentient beings, it does not lose its own nature. Therefore, the "Appearance Chapter" says: "The Buddha's wisdom latently enters sentient beings." It also says: "Within the minds of sentient beings, there is a Buddha who realizes right awakening," and so forth. Moreover, he also gathers all sentient beings into a single pore. The King of the Sunirmita Devas' verse says: "You should observe a single pore of the Buddha: / All sentient beings are within it," and so forth. 10. Unhinderedness of perfect interpenetration: this means that this Buddha body is immediately principle and immediately phenomena, immediately one and immediately many, immediately dependent and immediately primary, immediately person and immediately Dharma, immediately this and immediately that, immediately sentient and immediately non-sentient, immediately deep and immediately broad, immediately cause and immediately fruit, immediately the three bodies and immediately the ten bodies, identical in single unhinderedness. Such unhinderedness is merely the one mind. If there were external dust motes, the slightest amount would cause obstruction. As a verse in the Avataṃsakasūtra says: "The Buddha's body is not of the past, / Nor is it of the future. / In a single thought it manifests birth, / Attaining the Way, and nirvāṇa." The Huayan yanyi explains the distinctions in seeing the Buddha. Here, borrowing Qingliang [Mountain], where one seeks to see Mañjuśrī at Wutai, it illustrates the distinctions in seeing the Buddha in the dharmadhātu. In total there are ten meanings: 1. or multiple capacities in different places each sympathetically see [him]; 2. or in the same place they each see [him differently]; 3. or at different times they separately see [him]; 4. or at the same time they see [him] differently; 5. or at the same time in different places they see [him]; 6. or in the same place at different times they see [him]; 7. or at different times in different places they see [him]; 8. or at the same time in the same place they see [him]; 9. or one person, at interacting same and different times and places, sees what many people see; 10. or one person, at simultaneous same and different times and places, sees what all people see. That is, the same time and same place, and different times and different places, are called "simultaneous same and different times and places". Since one person's time covers many times, their place pervades all places, and their vision penetrates all realms, they are a capacity of universal eyes. Therefore, know that the true substance of Mañjuśrī is not even singular; those who see him naturally have differences. One can verify that it is mind-only, and should add even deeper contemplation. Furthermore, as it is said: "When one Mañjuśrī comes from the east in one place, it is immediately the Mañjuśrī of all places." First, in terms of meaning, it again speaks of his actual virtues: just as the moon in the former stream is immediately the moon of the later stream and of ten thousand rivers and a hundred streams, fully entering the former stream. The reason it is so is that the moon in all places does not depart from the original moon; when the original moon descends into a stream, it descends into a thousand places together. Second, in terms of representation: Mañjuśrī presides over the gate of prajñā. In terms of contemplative prajñā, wisdom comprehends the ten thousand realms, none of which is not prajñā—like the bright sun gracing the heavens, where no object is not illuminated. In terms of real-mark prajñā, because no phenomenon is not the real mark, none is not prajñā—like water pervading waves, where no wave is not water. Thus the Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra says: "Because prajñāpāramitā is pure, form is pure; because form is pure, the wisdom of all wisdoms is pure. Why? Because prajñāpāramitā is pure, form is pure, and the wisdom of all wisdoms is pure: they are non-dual, without duality, without distinction, and without interruption." This applies to both contemplative and real-mark [prajñā].'