宗鏡錄 79.31

79.31

Answer: The Buddhas have, in brief, two bodies: first, the real body; second, the expedient body. Because sentient beings fail to see the Tathāgata's real body, he manifests the expedient body to lead them to enter the real. When they awaken and enter, the expedient body itself is the eternally abiding substance, because they realize illusion cannot be apprehended. As in the case of Aṅgulimāla: he is the Buddha Supreme Great Diligence Delightful to Behold by All Worlds from the Realm Adorned with All Jewels. By the power of his original vow, he entered the gate of the net of illusion, manifesting traces identical with ordinary beings and demonstrating the act of killing. Afterward, seeing the Buddha, he awakened to the Way, and his evil karma was instantly eliminated, causing all sentient beings to know that upon attaining the Way karma perishes, so that they do not give rise to deviant attachments, and causing them all to admire the Dharma of the Buddha as immeasurable, inconceivable, and possessing great mighty power. Therefore, a verse in the Aṅgulimālīyasūtra says: / What the Tathāgata transforms, / sentient beings do not know at all. / The illusions created by the Tathāgata / are the kings among all illusions. / The great body, the expedient body— / this is indeed the Tathāgata.