大乘起信論廣釋卷第三．四．五 5.40

5.40

[Treatise:] "Furthermore, this bodhisattva ... the highest and largest body." [Commentary:] Next, the third [part] reveals the virtue of complete fulfillment. In this there are two [parts]: first, it directly reveals the supreme virtues; afterwards, questions and answers remove doubts. In the first there are two: first, it reveals the fulfillment of the stage; afterwards, it explains the fulfillment of virtue. This is the first. "Furthermore, this [bodhisattva]..." means the causal stage is exhausted. "This bodhisattva" identifies the realized person. Because merit and wisdom are both fulfilled, it is therefore called "fulfillment of merit and virtue." Thus the *Daśabhūmika-śāstra* states: "First is the benefit of present retribution, because of receiving the Buddha-stage." "In the [Heaven of the Ultimate of] Form..." means the fruitional stage is accomplished. Thus the *Daśabhūmika-śāstra* states: "Second is the benefit of future retribution, because of being born in the wisdom-place of Maheśvara." That heaven is at the peak of the form realm; the extremity of form is called the Heaven of the Ultimate of Form (Akaniṣṭha). Because he is about to become the master of the great Dharma, he manifests the highest and largest body. "Highest" means venerable. This heaven dwells in the most venerable and high place, as there is no heaven above it. "Largest" means supreme. His body is eighteen thousand yojanas in height; no celestial body surpasses this. Therefore the new translation speaks of "the most venerable and supreme body." This accomplishes the [body of] enjoyment for others (parasaṃbhoga). As for the Buddha saying it is in that [heaven], there are two meanings: First, correlating the ten kings to the ten stages, the tenth stage corresponds to this heavenly king, and he thus manifests the attainment of Buddhahood in that body. Second, to reveal that the eight aspects [of the Buddha's life] are his nirmāṇakāya; the two vehicles believe that that heaven is the birthplace of holy beings, and [this] reveals that the Buddha's real body accomplishes [enlightenment] there. Therefore the *Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra*, relying on this, says: "The saṃbhogakāya Tathāgata simultaneously accomplishes all realms of sentient beings, establishing the pure and wondrous palace of the Heaven of the Ultimate of Form as the place of cultivating purity," and in verse says: "In the desire realm and the formless [realm], / the Buddha does not attain enlightenment there. / In the upper heaven of the form realm, / in freedom from desire, he attains the Way." Question: Did this Buddha truly attain enlightenment in that heaven? How is this correlated with the Buddha on the flower pedestal and the Buddhas on the thousand flowers in the *Brahmajāla-sūtra*? One opinion holds: The Buddha on the flower pedestal in the *Brahmajāla* is the body of self-enjoyment (svasaṃbhogakāya) of the Flower Treasury Realm, because he says, "I am Rocana," and also says, "I am the original source body." The Buddhas upon the thousand flowers are the [body of] enjoyment for others, because the sūtra says, "These are my emanation bodies"; this is the one who attains enlightenment in the Heaven of the Ultimate of Form. That heaven can rule the three-thousandfold world, and since one flower has a hundred million lands, it speaks of the Chapter on the Mind-Ground Dharma Door spoken by Rocana Buddha of the Flower Treasury Realm. The ten billion Śākyamunis are nirmāṇakāyas, because the sūtra says they are the transformation bodies of the thousand Buddhas. Therefore, the [body of] enjoyment for others attains Buddhahood in the form heaven. If the Buddha on the pedestal were the body of self-enjoyment, how could there be the matter of manifesting a body and expounding the Dharma? Answer: Except for those who have ascended the stages, who see and hear his expounding because they possess the sense faculties and bodily marks, etc.; since the bodhisattvas of the stages are called the dharmakāya, how could they not be able to see [the body of] self-enjoyment? If not, they also should not see the expounding of the dharmakāya, because the dharmakāya is accomplished by principle and cognition. Some say: Those who only see the [body of] enjoyment for others speak according to the place where the Buddha's marks of benefiting others are manifested; this does not preclude their seeing [the body of self-enjoyment] according to their capacity, for the true saṃbhogakāya can correspond with the substance of the Buddhas. Another opinion holds: The reasoning of this explanation is also incorrect, because it contradicts the meaning of various sūtras and treatises. The body of self-enjoyment pervades the dharmadhātu and is not merely upon the flower pedestal, because it is produced solely from the virtues of self-benefit and is not a body manifested for the sake of others. Since the [body of] self-enjoyment is not seen by others, yet that [sūtra] says the great assembly all saw the Buddha, and also says he joyfully expounded the Dharma for the assembly, causing others to enjoy the profound flavor of the Dharma. From this, one should say that the Buddha on the pedestal is the body of enjoyment for others seen by the second stage. The Buddhas on the thousand flowers are the thousand Buddhas seen by the emanation bodies of the second stage, because the sūtra says that the second stage abides in a thousand worlds and makes offerings to a thousand Buddhas. If it were not so, it would also contradict various sūtras, which all say that the saṃbhogabuddha seen by the second stage sits on a thousand-petalled flower called the flower seat. Furthermore, they say that those on the stages enter the Flower Treasury Realm, not the form heaven where the [body of] enjoyment for others [dwells]. If one were to say that that heaven is itself the Flower Treasury Realm, it would contradict all sūtras and treatises; therefore, the [body of] enjoyment for others does not attain enlightenment there. As for the sūtra saying that he is the original source body, he is the original source body of the responsive and transformation [bodies], etc.; the original source, etc., is not identical with self-enjoyment, because self-enjoyment experiences the bliss of the Dharma and does not expound the Dharma. If there is speech, it is enjoyment for others.