宗鏡錄 89.7

89.7

Answer: "These two bodies are transformations, yet transformations are not separate from the real. The Vijñaptimātratāsiddhiśāstra states: 'Although these two bodies have no real citta or caitasikas, there are transformed citta and caitasika dharmas. The spiritual power of the unsurpassed awakened one is inconceivable; therefore, they can transform and manifest formless and insubstantial dharmas. If it were not so, how could the Tathāgata manifest greed, anger, and so forth, when these have long been severed? How could śrāvakas, animals, and others know the Tathāgata's mind, when even bodhisattvas of equal awakening cannot know the Tathāgata's real mind? Because of this, sūtras teach that [the Buddha] transforms into countless kinds, causing them all to possess a mind. It also teaches that the Tathāgata's mirror-like wisdom (kṛtyānuṣṭhānajñāna) transforms and produces the three karmas. It also teaches that transformations possess dependent (paratantra) minds, because they are manifested as the nimittabhāga of the real paratantra mind.' [The text continues] up to: 'The svabhāva-dharmakāya possesses only the real: permanence, bliss, self, and purity, free from all defilement, the support of all goods, unconditioned virtues, and devoid of the differentiated characteristics and functions of form, citta, and so forth. The self-enjoyment body (sva-saṃbhogakāya) possesses countless kinds of wonderful form, citta, and so forth, as real virtues. The body for others' enjoyment and the transformation body possess only boundless apparent forms, cittas, and so forth, having the virtues of transformation characteristics that function to benefit and bring joy to others.'

Therefore, the Tathāgata's wonderful substance, the pure dharmakāya, neither comes nor goes, like shadows and reflections, like the sun and moon of the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings appearing in clear, pure water; it neither exits nor enters, like the palace of Kauśika appearing within lapis lazuli ground, neither existent nor non-existent. The Niepan wuming lun states: 'The dharmakāya has no image, yet responds to things with form; prajñā has no knowing, yet illuminates in facing conditions. The ten thousand capacities suddenly arrive without agitating its spirit; a thousand disparate difficulties confront it without disturbing its concern. Its movement is like drifting clouds; its stillness is like the valley spirit. How could it have a mind directed toward this or that, or have its feelings tied to movement and stillness? Since it has no mind in movement and stillness, it also has no image in coming and going. Because its coming and going is not by means of images, there is no vessel in which it does not take form; because its movement and stillness is not by means of a mind, there is no stimulus to which it does not respond. Thus, mind is born from where there is mind; images emerge where there are images. Because images do not emerge from me, though metals and stones melt, it is not scorched; because mind is not born from me, though active day after day, it does not toil. The bustling multiplicity belongs to them—what has it to do with me? Therefore, wisdom encompasses the myriad things without fatigue, and form fills the eight extremities without harm. It can neither be increased so as to overflow, nor decreased so as to diminish. How could pestilence reach it, or life end between the twin trees, its spirit exhausted in the heavenly coffin, or its substance consumed by the pyre?'

Therefore, the Buddhas neither appear in the world nor enter nirvāṇa. Originally awakening to the true mind, they attain the Way. Since the true mind has no form, how could there be appearance and disappearance? It is only in accordance with beings whose mental faculties are mature that they are stimulated to perceive the saṃbhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya. All that is seen and heard are reflections within the minds of sentient beings. Hence it is said: 'Mind is born from where there is mind; images emerge where there are images.' Thus, the Buddhas have neither mind nor body; how could they have toil, concern, fatigue, or suffering?

Dharma Master Fuli, expounding the meaning of the three bodies, said: 'The dharmakāya is like the nature of empty space: when clouds gather, it is obscured; when the fog disperses, it is clear; its nature is inherently constant. The saṃbhogakāya is like the sun riding the sky: brilliantly it ascends on high, brightly illuminating vastly; its substance is ever-abiding. The nirmāṇakāya is like a reflection in a mirror-like pool: when the waters are clear, it appears; when the stream is turbid, it is darkened; appearing and hiding are not constant, coming and going are unfixed. Now, what is the transformation Buddha other than the perfectly responding function of the saṃbhogakāya? And what is the saṃbhogakāya? It is the substance formed of compassion and wisdom. Compassion takes universal deliverance as its principle; wisdom takes skillful means as its enterprise. Therefore, descending in traces according to the time, it manifests bodies in accordance with beings. Bodies and traces are the function; compassion and wisdom are the substance. The substance is the root, and the function is the branch. Raising the function based on the substance, gathering the branches to return to the root—how could it be reasonable to seek differences between them? The saṃbhogakāya is precisely the transformation body; the transformation body is precisely the dharmakāya. That the transformation body is precisely the dharmakāya is subtle in principle; let us again convey it by way of the metaphor of a reflection.

Now, the reflection of the sun in water neither comes from outside nor emerges from inside; it is neither this nor that, neither different nor one; it is not without appearance, yet not possessed of physical substance; suddenly it exists, and abruptly it is lost; its image is evident and moves, yet its nature is spiritual and serene. Those who grasp it as real are deluded; those who know it as false understand the truth. What does this mean of the sun? If the sun came from outside, could it exist outside the water? If it emerged from inside, did it exist beforehand within the water? If one says it is here, is it not seen there? If one says it is there, is it not seen here? If one says they are different, can two suns be seen at once? If one says they are one, can two distinct views be considered single? If one says it is non-existent, can it be destroyed from sight? If one says it is existent, has its substance ever been found? If one says it arises, its arising has nowhere it comes from; if one says it ceases, its cessation has nowhere it goes. It does not arise! It does not cease! Nature and characteristics are tranquil; the path of mind and speech is cut off. This may truly be called seeing the real nature of the water's reflection. One who sees the nature of the reflection can see the real nature of the transformation body; one who sees the nature of the transformation body realizes the substance of the dharmakāya.'

The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa says: 'The Buddha's body is the dharmakāya.' It also says: 'Contemplating the real mark of the body is the same as contemplating the Buddha.' The Prajñā [sūtra] says: 'If one sees that all marks are non-marks, one sees the Tathāgata.' It also says: 'Being free from all marks is called the Buddhas.' Therefore, raising a foot or lowering a foot, the bodhimaṇḍa is inexhaustible wherever one touches; opening the eyes or closing the eyes, the Buddhas appear before one without ceasing.

As explained above, the one substance and three bodies, principle and phenomena, accomplish each other; substance and function interpenetrate; they neither exit nor abide; concealed and manifest simultaneously—all are the correct doctrine of the fundamental source of the one mind. Therefore, the single body and multiple bodies are both the dharmadhātu. The one dharma that is awakened to is the unobstructed dharmadhātu. The principle that is identical to phenomena is fully present within the many; that which is manifested is precisely phenomena identical to principle, fully dwelling within the one. Furthermore, construction and destruction share the same limit; dependent origination is simultaneous. For instance, when first fashioning an image of various jewels, the image is completed in ten years and destroyed in a hundred years. At the time of first obtaining a single jewel, the image's completion in ten years and destruction in a hundred years are both entirely within the moment of dependent origination upon obtaining the jewel. Because the hundred years do not depart, and the present does not abide, within the conditions of the various jewels there is no substance of construction or destruction. In the same way, through the myriad practices of wisdom and compassion, the pāramitās, the thirty-seven factors of awakening, and all good dharmas, the Tathāgata's body is completed. Yet within each and every condition, there is no self and no agent, no substance of construction or destruction—only this is called right awakening."