The History of Buddhist Thought c25.12

c25.12

A bodhisattva, says Buddha, must produce the thought that all beings in all forms of existence are to be placed by him in the Nirvāṇa which is without a remainder of element of rebirth (*upadhi*). Yet not one of them is placed in Nirvāṇa. If the idea of a being were to arise in the bodhisattva, he ought not to be called a bodhisattva. It is denied that a Tathāgata is to be perceived by his marks. The possession of marks spoken of by the Tathāgata is the possession of non-marks. A disciple who has attained the fruit of Entering the Stream does not think that he has attained it. He has attained no *dharma* or thing. If he were to think so, he would have the belief in a self (*ātman*) or living being or individual. This exposition of the doctrine is said to be inconceivable and incomparable. It cannot be listened to by beings of low disposition who believe in an *ātman*. Tathāgata is a name of true suchness (*bhūtatathatā*) it is a name of the law of non-arising, of the destruction of things, and of the utterly non-arisen. If one should say that the doctrine has been taught by the Tathāgata, he would speak falsely. “One who should say that belief in a self has been spoken by the Tathāgata would not speak truly, for the belief in a self spoken by the Tathāgata is a no-belief. Therefore it is called belief in a self. Thus all things are to be known and looked upon by one who does not rest upon the perception of things but of the perception of non-things. The perception of non-things has been called non-perception by the Tathāgata. Therefore it is called the non-perception of things.”