Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s2.t13.29

c7.s2.t13.29

The goal of Bodhisattvas is to realise the Dharmakāya. Every being has the Dharmakāya, or the Dharmakāya comprises all beings of the world, but as they are blinded by avidyā do not realise this fact. What the Bodhisattva aims at is the removal of this avidyā and the realisation of the fact that he is the same as the Dharmakāya. The Āloka on the Kārikā¹ enumerates the steps through which a Bodhisattva passes, and points out that the last step of a Bodhisattva is to realise the Dharmakāya (dharmakāyā-bhisambodhena bhaviṣyati), after which it becomes easy for him to assume any one of the four kāyas. In the Laṅkāvatāra we notice that Mahāmati is anxious to know how a Bodhisattva after completing the ten bhūmis can attain the Tathāgatakāya or Dharmakāya and go to any one of the Buddhakṣetras or heavens. The Laṅkāvatāra also describes in rosy colours the prospect of attaining Dharmakāya. It says that a Bodhisattva after attaining the Mahādharmamegha in the ninth bhūmi is adorned with many jewels, and sits on a lotus in a jewelled palace surrounded by other Bodhisattvas of his status. He comprehends there the illusory nature of all things. He is anointed (abhiṣeka) by Vajrapāṇi as a son of Buddha. He then goes beyond the bhūmi of Buddhasutas by realising within himself the dharmanairātmya and confronts the Dharmakāya.² The Triṃśikā says that just as Vimuktikāya is the goal of the arhats, so Dharmakāya is the goal of the Bodhisattvas. It shows that as the arhats by getting rid of kleśāvaraṇa obtain a purified kāya, so also a Buddha by getting rid of both kleśāvaraṇa and jñeyāvaraṇa obtains the Dharmakāya.³ (c). The Doctrine of Nirvāṇa