The sambhogakaya manifests the true
qualities
of enlightenment to the realized bodhisattvas.
Khenchen-Thrangu-Rinpoche-Asanga-Uttara-Tantra
This is true for ordinary beings all the way up to bodhisattvas of
? the tenth level. Enlightenment is beyond this because it is far too subtle to be within the scope of study. When one studies, one can only obtain a very general and indirect knowledge of enlightenment. This is analogous to when one sees a form or hears a sound one apprehends them in a rather gross way since one cannot perceive them direcdy. Enlightenment cannot be the ''bject of reflection either. When one reflects on something using discursive thought, the object can only be crude and one cannot know the actual nature of the object. So reflection cannot apply to something as subtle as enlightenment because
enlightenment is within the realm of the ultimate. Finally, enlightenment cannot be the object of meditation of ordinary beings. However, the prajna in the meditation of a bodhisattva could understand enlightenm ent. This knowledge could be called prajna, but it is more like jnana. It is the jnana that manifests more and more in the development of a bodhisattva. It's not so much the result of their meditation as the general process of the unfolding of
jnana.
[200] The inability of ordinary beings to study enlighten- ment is compared to a blind person. Even though there are visual forms outside, a blind person doesn't have any idea
of what it looks like or what it is. In the same way, ordinary beings cannot have an experience of enlightenment. They cannot see, know, or experience the vimuktikaya and the dharmakaya.
Enlightenment is also, in part, inconceivable to deeply realized bodhisattvas who have only a small experience of it. They are compared to a new bom baby in a house. If tha sun is shining outside and the baby is inside the house, it will get some of the rays of the sun peeping into the house
? and feel a little bit of the warmth of the sun. In the same way, the realized bodhisattvas have some experience of the buddha qualities as they progress along the bodhisattva levels, but it is a far cry from the full experience of Buddhahood.
[201] The second quality is changelessness which actually covers the second to fifth qualities ot permanent, eternal, at peace, and immutable. Enlightenment is changeless because it is present in all beings from the start. It is not created by various causes and conditions so it is permanent. If it never started, then it obviously has no cessation and therefore is eternal. If there's no beginning or no end, then there are no upsetting patterns in the middle. So enlightenment is at peace. There is just nothing to disturb the nature of enlightenment so it is not affected by any kind of change. It is immutable because enlightenment is always at rest and its true nature never changes.
[202] The sixth through the eleventh qualities express the perfect fulfillment of purification and realization. The sixth quality is being perfectly at peace because all suffering has been completely uprooted. This corresponds to the truth of cessation --when all impurities have been removed, there is no longer any opportunity for suffering to arise. If impurities were still present, these would still be caused by emotional disruptions. So Buddhahood is perfectly at peace and free from emotional obscurations.
The seventh quality is all-embracing which relates to clarity from cognitive obscurations. When these obscura- tions are removed, there is a very clear knowledge of everything. Everything is as clear as though it were in the palm of one's hand.
The eighth quality is being concept-free because en- lightenment doesn't dwell on any idea or any concept. The
? ninth quality is being uninvolved. This could also be trans- lated in the sense of "not stuck to anything. " Enlighten- ment doesn't stick to anything insofar as there is no emotional obscuration to make one cling to something. [203] The tenth quality is being unhindered. At this point knowledge is totally unhindered because there are no longer any cognitive obscurations. The eleventh quality is freedom from coarse sensatic s which is the ability to
meditate without being disturbed by drowsiness or agitation. Drowsiness in meditation provokes a dull state of mind, an absence of clarity. Agitation causes a constant movement of thoughts which prevents good meditation. So at the point of enlightenment, there are no longer any disrupting forces in meditation. Because there is no hindrance, the meditation is free from coarse sensations. [204] The last four qualities of enlightenment are
described in terms of the four qualities of purity. The first quality is invisibility. Buddhahood is formless and therefore invisible. The twelfth quality is imperceptible because Buddhahood has no solid characteristics. The thirteenth is purity which could also be rendered as "wholesomeness," meaning that nothing in it is impure. The last quality is immaculateness because all the im- purities that would impede proper meditation have been removed.
6. Manifestation ofEnlightenment
In the root text, the sixth point is called "manifestation. " But literally it means, "going into enlightenment" or "entering enlightenment" so that it means actualizing enlightenment.
? [205] First manifestation of enlightenment is the charac- teristic of being uncreated because is eternal, centerless, and endless. This means that enlightenment doesn't start at a given point and therefore cannot stop at a given point or abide in between these two points.
The second characteristic is indivisibility of emptiness and jnana. Everything being voidness refers to the dharmadhatu quality of everything. The voidness and
jnana cannot exist separately as can, for example, a single rope made by taking white and black thread and braiding them together. They are inseparable by nature with one unable to exist without the other. There is jnana, but the nature of that jnana is voidness. There is voidness, but the nature of that voidness is jnana. In the same way, the voidness itself is jnana. It has a quality of clarity that's not a blank like the nonexistence of the rabbit's horns. It is very alive, so this voidness creates the possibility for everything to manifest clearly.
The third characteristic is "to be free from the two" which indicates freedom from all extreme notions. This characteristic of right understanding is that one doesn't make any false assumptions or any incorrect denials about it. A false assumption would be to attribute a quality to something that doesn't have that quality. An incorrect denial would be not recognizing a quality, if it really existed. So freedom from the two is to be free from these two distortions of the true nature of things.
The fourth characteristic is freedom from all obscurations or "veils" so there is no longer any emotional obscuration, cognitive obscuration, or obstruction of meditation. When these three have been removed, a quality of stainlessness emerges.
? Tht last characteristic is being beyond thought because enlightenment cannot be understood by discursive thought. Enlightenment is not an outer object so it cannot be understood by discursive thinking. The only way to understand it is by meditation. The supreme yogi (the Buddha) then rests within the nature of the dharmadhatu and in meditation can understand it.
Dharmakaya Qualities
[206] The first four qualities of the dharmakaya represent perfect knowledge. The dharmakaya has qualities which are unfathomable and cannot be understood because of their vastness. The dharmakaya doesn't have any solid reality, therefore it is present everywhere. This unfathomable nature means that there are so many qualities which are so vast and so deep that one cannot even discern what they exactly are. The second quality is being unaccountable. The dharmakaya has so many qualities that one cannot count them precisely. The third quality is inconceivability because the dharmakaya is so deep that one cannot understand it easily. The fourth quality is incomparability because there is nothing else one can
compare it to. It cannot be compared to ordinary pheno- mena because ordinary phenomena are emotionally tainted and it cannot be compared to the fruition of the hinayana path. The fifth quality represents the complete purity of Buddhahood. The verse says "the immaculate space of the tathagatas" which means the dharmakaya is completely
free from all obscurations including the very fine traces left behind by those obscurations.
Sambhogakaya Qualities
? [207] The sambhogakaya exhibits the deep and vast aspect of dharma. The deep aspect of dharma refers to voidness and the vast aspect refers to the various levels practiced on the path. The sambhogakaya shows the speech aspect with the dharma taking j>>l3. 'e without interruption. The second quality of the sambhogakaya is the Buddha's body adorned with the 32 marks and 80 signs of beauty which are like a radiant body. This manifests to realized bodhisattvas in this very brilliant, pure form.
The third quality of the Buddha's mind in the samb- hogakaya is his mind is always engaged in the goal of helping liberate all beings. This compassionate mind mani- fests to realized bodhisattvas.
The fourth quality relates to the activity of the sambho- gakaya. The acts of the sambhogakaya are compared to a wish-fulfilling jewel which can accomplish anything without thought or effort. Likewise, the deeds of the sambhogakaya are accomplished spontaneously, without any effort.
The fifth quality shows how this activity of the sambhogakaya actually manifests by appearing in many different substantial forms to beings and performing many different kinds of deeds that guide them to liberation. Still while manifesting as substantial forms, it is insubstantial.
Nirmanakaya Qualities
[208] The nirmanakaya of the Buddha is the origin for liberation of beings in three different stages. In the nirmanakaya form, the Buddha causes ordinary beings to enter the path of liberation leading them away from samsara. Once beings have entered the path, the Buddhas
? help them to purify the defilements and gain realization. In the third stage if someone has developed fully on the path, the nirmanakaya will predict when a person will become a Buddha and in which buddha field he or she will go and what his or her name will be.
The nirmanakaya of the Buddha is always present in our world. The nirmanakaya is not permanent in nature, but a permanence of continuity of buddha activity. A Buddha enters our world and then he passes away and one could think that Buddha activity then stops. But this is not the case because once a Buddha has passed away, another Buddha comes along continuing the buddha activity. The spontaneous presence of buddha activity in our world can be compared to the way in which the form realms abide in space. In the same way, buddha activity is always present in our world.
[209] Enlightenment takes three different aspects; through the dharmakaya, the sambhogakaya, and the
nirmanakaya which can be described in terms of seven names. First, enlightenment is called "spontaneously present" because it does not rely on anything else depending entirely on the presence of the buddha essence within us. The second name is "all-knowing" or "omniscient" which refers to perfect knowledge of the Buddha. The third name is "Buddhahood" which comes from the word dharmakaya and covers both the quality of
complete purity and full knowledge. The fourth name is "supreme nirvana" with the word "supreme" added to "nirvana" because nirvana is beyond suffering. The arhats also believe that they go beyond suffering so the word "supreme" is added to show going beyond this suffering.
The fifth name is "inconceivability" because enlightenment
? is not the object of intellectual speculation and can only be understood through the deepest aspect of understanding, prajna. The sixth name is "victory over the enemy" in which samsara is compared to the enemy and Buddhahood is the complete victory over that enemy. The seventh is "self-cognisant nature" because Buddhahood is the object of the realization of the self-cognisant jnana. So it is the nature that knows itself.
[210] Enlightenment also has three aspects: an aspect of depth which relates to the dharmakaya because it is very difficult to understand; an aspect of vasmess which relates 10 sambhogakaya insofar as it has great powers to help beings; and an aspect of greatness of nature which refers to the nirmanakaya and its quality of infinite compassion which- allows the nirmanakaya to act in all the different ways according to a being's karma and capabilities.
The Svabhavikakaya
[211] The svabhavikakaya of the dharmakaya has five in- trinsic characteristics and five qualities.
The first characteristic is uncreated. The dharmakaya is uncreated because it has no beginning, no abiding, and no end. It is also the indivisible union of the untainted dharmadhatu and the perfectly completed jnana. This dharmadhatu means the voidness aspect of the true nature which is completely free from the four extremes and the eight mental fabrications. This voidness is explained in the second turning of the wheel of dharma. In the relative sense everything appears, but ultimately everything is of a
void nature. This corresponds to the teachings on the presence of the buddha essence in the mind of all beings
? that were given in the third turning. So the dharmadhatu and jnana are perfectly united.
The second characteristic of the dharmakaya is being completely free from the two extreme notions of trying to add to it something that is not there or trying to remove something that doesn't need to be removed. So it is just as it is. When practicing on the path, it is within this nature that one has to rest the mind in meditation and one has to recognize the jnana of insight. At the beginning one leams theoretically that the true nature of existence is the indivisibility of voidness and clarity. Then one gains a definite conviction that it is true and allows oneself to be immersed within that true nature in meditation. The third characteristic is being completely free from emotional and cognitive obscurations and free from the obscuration that prevents one from meditating properly.
[213] The fourth characteristic is being free of the obscurations so the svabhavikakaya is flawless. The fifth characteristic is clarity. Because the dharmakaya is stainless, it is not the object of intellectual speculation but the object of cognition of the supreme yogis who abide continually in the union of prajna and skillful means (Skt. upaya). It is also clarity because the dharmadhatu is itself by nature completely pure.
[214] There are five outward characteristics of the svabhavikakaya. The first quality is immeasurability because it cannot be fathomed in any way. It is not like an ordinary composite object which can investigated in regard to its color, form, and different attributes. The second quality is uncountability. If one takes any ordinary objects
one can count it, but this is impossible for the svabhavikakaya. The third quality is inconceivability. All
? ordinary objects can be intellectually worked with because they have form, sound, shape, taste, and so on but the svabhavikakaya is free from the four extremes and the eight conceptual fabrications. However, this svabhavika- kaya is not totally blank because its great clarity can be apprehended by the yogi who can understand it through his self-cognisant jnana. The fifth quality is ultimate purity in which all the subtle traces of the emotional, cognitive, and meditative obscurations have been removed.
[215] There are five reasons for these qualities. The svab- havikakaya is immeasurable because there is no way in which it can be reckoned by ordinary means because of its great vastness. It is uncountable because there is nothing solid to account for. It is completely immeasurable since it is beyond the four extremes and the eight conceptual fab- rications. It is inconceivable because if we try to examine it by discursive thought, it cannot be apprehended because it doesn't have the characteristics of ordinary objects. It also cannot be understood in terms of existing or not existing and that is why an ordinary beings cannot grasp the svabhavikakaya. It is incomparable because the Buddha has qualities which are not shared by anyone else. Finally, it is the ultimate purity and because it lacks even the very fine mental traces of obscurations.
The Sambhogakaya
[216] In general, the Buddha has two form kayas: one which is the ultimate form kaya, the sambhogakaya, which manifests to those bodhisattvas with very pure karma. This is not because the Buddha has the thought, 'This person can see me because he is good. " It is just a function of the
? way in which beings perceive the forms of the Buddha. Beings who are quite pure can perceive the sambhogakaya:
Beings who are less pure can perceive only the nirmana- kaya form. This can be illustrated by an example of the reflection of the moon in water. If the moon reflects in a very clear pond, the image of the moon is very clear. If it reflects in very dirty water, the image of the moon is less clear. In the same way, bodhisattvas on the ten levels are quite pure, so they can perceive the sambhogakaya form of the Buddha. Beings who are less pure can only perceive the nirmanakaya, even though the buddha activity is going
on all the time. When beings are not ready, the Buddha will teach them a simpler way of looking at things to lead them gradually to the understanding of the real truth. But the sambhogakaya level always teaches the absolute meaning of things. The Buddha at this level doesn't need to use examples or simplified explanations because he manifests to beings who are already realized. So the first quality of the sambhogakaya is speech which expresses all the aspects of the dharma at all times.
The second quality of the sambhogakaya is a body in which the activity of the Buddha is unceasing and manifests through many different emanations. The sambhogakaya represents the emanations which are very faithful to the nature of the dharmakaya itself. In the example of the reflection of the moon in water, the sambhogakaya form makes a very faithful reflection of the
qualities of the dharmakaya. So it is said the qualities of the body of the sambhogakaya manifest the real qualities of the dharmakaya.
The third quality of the sambhogakaya is mind which is the pure compassion of the Buddha, so that the natural outflow of this compassion is unceasing help to all beings.
? From the dharmakSya's compassion springs the sambho- gakaya, and the sambhogakaya is the source of buddha activity. Even the activity of the nirmanakaya springs from the compassion of the sambhogakaya which is the expression of the compassion of the dharmakaya.
[217] The fourth quality of the sambhogakaya is that of the Buddha's activity. The activity of the sambhogakaya is completely spontaneous and does not need any thought to take place and entirely satisfies all the wishes of beings. The fifth quality of the sambhogakaya is manifesting something which is not really its true nature, like the wish- fulfilling gem. If one puts a gem against a background of one color it will manifest that color, although that color is not the gem's nature. In the same way, the sambhogakaya manifests in a miraculous way of appearing which is not its real nature, because the sambhogakaya is never divorced from the dharmakaya--it is forever abiding in the
dharmakaya.
[218] The sambhogakaya has five different aspects. The first is uninterrupted speech, of continually giving very deep and vast teachings to the pure disciples.
The second is the quality of emanating of body without interruption.
The sambhogakaya manifests the true qualities of enlightenment to the realized bodhisattvas. What the realized bodhisattvas see is a form which is adorned with all the marks and signs of a Buddha.
The third quality is the mind of the sambhogakaya that is constantly engaged in activity to help beings as the result of its pure nonconceptual compassion. This compassion helps pure beings, so buddha activity is not aimed only at impure beings.
The fourth aualitv of the sambhogakaya is that it is
? constantly acting spontaneously with its body, speech, and mind. The sambhogakaya body is constantly manifesting physically, and the mind is continually acting to help pure beings, and the speech is constantly giving teachings all without thinking about it.
The fifth quality is being able to manifest beyond its true nature. The sambhogakaya shows itself in forms that correspond to the spiritual maturity of beings. For pure beings it emanates in the form of the sambhogakaya; for impure beings it shows itself in the form of the nirmanakaya. It displays visible forms, but these are not its actual nature because its actual nature is the dharmakaya. [219] For example, a jewel may give off different colors
due to the background colors, but itself has no such colors. The jewel does not have a nature of being white, yellow, blue etc. but because it is very transparent, the colors of the background can be seen in the jewel. In the same way, enlightenment can manifest in different forms due to the various circumstances created by beings. The dharmakaya itself doesn't change, but reflects all the various conditions of beings in the way it manifests to them.
Nirmanakaya
[220] The nirmanakaya referred to here is the supreme nirmanakaya which is the historical Buddha with 32 marks and the 80 signs on his body and 60 different qualities of speech. This is the form of the Buddha we know as the Buddha Sakyamuni, and the Buddha Maitreya who will manifest in the future. The nirmanakaya is represented by the one thousand Buddhas that will come in this present world cycle. All these Buddhas will show various deeds to
? help beings. The Sakyamuni Buddha performed 12 main deeds on the path to liberation.
The ground of buddha activity is the dharmakaya. The sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya manifest to help beings, emanating from the dharmakaya without any change and without being separate from the dharmakaya. The Buddha sees all worlds just as they are and with his compassion he perceives the suffering of beings. The Buddha knows that if these beings practice, they will achieve enlightenment because all beings are endowed with buddha essence. So having seen the world through his great compassion and having seen the need to help beings without departing from the dharmakaya, the Buddha helps them through the form kayas.
Twelve Deeds o f the Buddha
First the Buddha took birth as a god in a paradise called Tusita which is a place of great happiness. When he was in Tusita, he taught the dharma to the gods. Although this was the first deed of the Buddha, it is not counted as one of the twelve deeds because the twelve deeds refer to activities in our world. Before he left Tusita, he appointed the bodhi- sattva Maitreya as the representative of the Buddhas in Tusita empowering him to give teachings there.
Before the Buddha came into our world, he actually had five visions. He saw his mother, the place of his birth, the time, and the kind of people he would be associated with in his life. He saw his caste as a royal family because if he had been born in a low caste he would have automatically been cut off from most persons. The previous buddha, Buddha KaSyapa, was bom in a Brahmin
? family for a similar reason because at the time the Brahmins had the greatest prestige. Buddha Sakyamuni was bom into a royal family because the royal caste had the greatest prestige at the time. Then he saw his mother who was worthy of bearing a Buddha with all his perfect marks and signs inside her womb. He also saw that the beings associated with him lived in India, so India would be the right place for him to manifest. He also saw the right time to manifest which was about 500 B. C. because beings were spiritually ready for his coming. He saw the country in which he should go because there he would be able to help beings the most. Having foreseen these five things, the Buddha left Tusita and entered our world.
[221] The second deed was to enter the womb of his mother and his mother perceived this in the form of a white elephant with six tusks entering her womb. The third deed was to take birth in a normal way (his mother's womb). Actually, the Buddha had the power to be bom in any way--he could have appeared miraculously from a lotus or
just appeared from the sky, but he chose to manifest in a normal birth because all the beings he had to relate to, including his disciples, were bom from the womb. Had he had a miraculous birth, they might have thought, "Oh, we are not like him because he has just fallen from space and can do all these things, but we can't do them because we are just ordinary people. " So he took a normal birth to show that he was sharing the conditions of all humans.
The fourth deed was that he became very proficient in all arts and crafts. When the Buddha was a little boy, he learned the different aspects of knowledge. He learned to write in the sixty different languages, learned all tfie different skills, the martial arts, and all the aspects of
? knowledge. He became extremely proficient and skilled in all of them. The reason he did all this was that later when he was going to teach, there would be no risk of people saying, "Well, he is teaching all these things involving the spiritual life because he was a failure in worldly things. " [222] The filth deed was that he enjoyed the company of his wife and consorts in his father's palace. This was to eliminate the belief that the Buddha was so extraordinary because he didn't know wha: pleasure was all about. To offset this belief ^e showed that he could indeed enjoy the pleasures of the world. Later he showed that there is no need to become involved with these pleasures and cling to them, because they are futile pleasures because as they do not last forever. Instead one should practice the way to liberation without attachment.
The sixth and seventh deeds were to eliminate the extreme of overindulgence of pleasures and enjoyment without caring for anything else and the extreme of practicing too many hardships thinking that this will bring liberation. To show the pointlessness of these extremes, the Buddha renounced the world. At the time the Buddha had been living with all the pleasures of his palace with his wife and consorts. To show this was too much of a fetter, he secretly fled from the palace at night, cut his hair off, and took up the life of a ascetic. Once he left the palace and found a teacher, he practiced extreme austerities by the banks of a river for six years. This was to demonstrate that practicing austerities was not the way to achieve realization. Instead, the final realization is the under- standing of the true nature of the mind.
The eighth deed was to go to Bodhgaya (in India) which is known as "the heart of enlightenment. " This is the place where the one thousand Buddhas of this time cycle
? will go to reach enlightenment. His ninth deed was to vanquish the host of m5ra which are demons. The true meaning of this is that through his vaija-like samadhi the Buddha became victorious over all the defilements that were known as the demon of the aggregates, the demon of defilements and so on. These demons or obstacles appeared in front of him to stop him from reaching Buddhahood. They tried to stop him through attachment, aggression, and ignorance. For attachment, the demons created a very beautiful woman who tried to tempt the Buddha, but he overcame this. Then they tried to delude him by producing a messenger who said that his father had died and Devadatta, who was an enemy of the Buddha, was going to take over the kingdom. They also tried to arouse his anger by producing a tremendous army of demons who tried to attack the Buddha through their amazing displays
of negative miracles. But the whole time, the Buddha just remained in meditation and was immersed in a state of loving kindness unswayed by desire, anger, or delusion. As a result he demonstrated the tenth deed which was to achieve perfect enlightenment.
[223] Having achieved enlightenment, the Buddha performed the eleventh deed which was turning the wheel of dharma. The first turning taught the four noble truths which was to help the disciples of hinayana. The second turning was the teaching of voidness and the original nature of everything, of dharmadhatu. The third turning was the teachings on the clarity aspect of jnana that showed that the true nature of everything is the union of
clarity and voidness and was intended for bodhisattvas who could reach enlightenment.
The twelfth deed of the Buddha was his passing away. The buddha could see that if he remained among human
? beings all the time, they wouldn't really develop a sense of renunciation. To kindle a weariness of samsara and develop a wish for liberation in beings, the Buddha appeared to die.
Progressive Training
[224] The first way the Buddha helped in the nirmana- kaya was the 12 deeds. The second way was through helping beings reach liberation or "ripening" them. For ordiL-eings, the Buddha helps them enter the hinayana by guiding them in the understanding of that path. When beings are more spiritually developed, he guides tnem into the mahayana and helps them relinquish their emotional and cognidve obscurations until they reach enlightenment.
The Buddha helps beings, including those who have not yet had any contact with the Buddha's teachings, enter the hinayana path by teaching the relative truth because the ultimate truth is quite difficult to understand at first. He teaches that all composite phenomena are impermanent and that everything that is tainted by emotional impurities automatically implies suffering. Then he taught that all these conditions and tainted phenomena arc devoid of any self and that this subject that seems to be apprehending phenomena is itself not real. So in effect, beings are taught the three characteristics of samsara; impermanence, suffering, and self.
Once beings understand impermanence and suffering, they will want to eliminate these. Once they understand there is no "self," they will want to relinquish this illusion and understand it. So the teaching of non-self has the benefit of making beings want to go beyond suffering,
? impermanence, and a mistaken belief in a self, and making them want to reach nirvana. So the benefit of these teachings is that they bring beings onto the path in the immediate future and help them liberate themselves from samsara to achieve a state of peace in the more distant future.
[225] The second turning and the bodhisattva path teachings are given to those beings who have already entered the path to peace, but mistakenly believe that they have already achieved nirvana. So teachings such as the Lotus Sutra (Saddharmaundarlka sutra) describe the real nature of phenomena and teach that they have not achieved final enlightenment and to reach this final enlightenment, they have to practice two qualities. They have to develop prajna which leads them to understand that they must go beyond conditioned existence. Simultaneously, they must
develop the true compassion unsupported by any concepts. This makes them want to go beyond peace just for oneself. So these beings who have achieved peace for themselves are taught they must go on to perfect enlightenment.
[226] Through these teachings practitioners of the hinayana are brought into the fold of the mahayana. They will undergo a change of motivation and acquire real prajna. They will understand the nonexistence of a personal self and the non-existence of phenomena. Through these changes, they will cultivate the skillful means of compassion (the emptiness) united with deeper understanding (prajna).
The immediate result of these teachings of the nirmanakaya leads beings onto the path to peace and brings, them into the fold of the hinayana. After that, the Buddha gives them the absolute meaning of the teachings and places them onto the mahayana path.
? The third aspect of buddha activity is enlightenment. When beings have reached the pure eighth, ninth, and tenth bodhisattva levels, the Buddha makes a prediction of their future enlightenment. He will say, "Later on in such and such a time cycle (Skt. kalpa), you will become a Buddha with the name of so and so, and have disciples by the names of so and so, your teachings will endure for such and such duration of time, and your buddha field will be called such and such. "
How the Kayas are Grouped
[227] The kayas of the Buddha are the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and the nirmanakaya. The dharmakaya is the most difficult to understand because it is beyond the four extremes and the eight mental fabrications.
The sambhogakaya has the quality of great power. The nirmanakaya, on the other hand, expresses itself with respect to what beings need. When the nirmanakaya manifests in a given place, all the beings who live in that place won't necessarily enter the dharma. However, when the sambhogakaya teaches in a given buddha field, all the beings there enter the dharma because they are already very close to the final realization. The sambhogakaya, in effect, teaches the final realization and is extremely powerful because it talks continually about the absolute meaning of things.
The nirmanakaya expresses the teachings in a way that beings can relate to it and teaches more relative than absolute meaning. This is why the nirmanakaya appears in forms that are actual experiences of beings.
[228] To summarize, the dharmakav. i is the depth, the very expression of the dharmadhatu. The sambhogakaya
? represents the vastness of buddha activity which is all- powerful. And the nirmanakaya represents greatness of nature which means it has great compassion that makes it possible for buddha activity to express itself in ways beings can relate to. The buddha kayas can also be divided into the dharmakaya which expresses the true nature of
things and the other two form kayas. The sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya are called the form kayas because they are the ones people can actually see and relate to. However, these two form kayas are always present in the dharmakaya in the same way that visible objects are present in space.
7. Permanence
[229] The very nature of enlightenment is changeless, im- mutable and will be explained using ten different reasons --seven for the form kayas and three for the dharmakaya. The dharmakaya has the permanence of nature, the sambhogakaya the permanence of continuity, and the nirmanakaya the permanence of uninterruptedness. The first reason for permanence of the kayas is due to endless conditions which means that Buddhahood can be achieved
through a combination of many different causes. One condition for realizing Buddhahood is the accumulation of virtue by practicing the six paramitas. The other condition is the accumulation of insight which is done through meditation. When these two accumulations have been completed the two form kayas will manifest as the result of these endless causes and will be able to manifest permanently to all different beings: the sambhogakaya with its permanence of continuity and the nirmSnakaya with its
permanence of being uninterupted.
? The second reason for the permanence of the kayas is the inexhaustible number of beings and buddha activity will be around as long as there are beings. However, the number of beings is so inexhaustible that the form kayas will always have to manifest in order to help them. If one being has been liberated, there are still many, many other beings to liberate.
The third reason for the permanence of the form kayas is the great compassionate love of the Buddha. If the Buddhas weren't continually inspired by compassion, their activity would stop. However, the Buddhas have non- referential compassion so their activity goes on all the time as a mother always has love for her only son.
The fourth reason is miraculous cause. Even if the Buddhas had compassion, if they didn't have the power to make this activity possible, then it wouldn't take place. But the Buddhas have miraculous powers so that they can continually help with whatever is necessary for the good of beings. The fifth reason for the permanence of the form kayas is that the Buddhas have realized the sameness of samsara and nirvana and do not see themselves defiled and polluted by samsara when helping beings in samsara. The sixth reason is that they possess the untainted happiness. And the seventh reason is that they have mastery over all qualities.
The next three reasons express the permanence of the dharmakaya. The dharmakaya is permanent because the evil of death has been vanquished. Ninth is that the dharmakaya has no material essence. It is not of a conditioned nature, therefore it is permanent. The tenth reason is that the dharmakaya is the protector of the world and pervades everything. In more detail:
? [230] The first four reasons for explaining how the form kayas are constantly present in samsara and the last three reasons explain how they do not forsake samsara.
To begin, the form kayas are always present in samsara because the bodhisattvas hold the true dharma, having devoted their bodies, lives, and resources to this for aeons. The form kayas manifest due to endless causes which are all the virtuous actions done by the bodhisattvas for endless aeons.
The second reason for permanence is that the Buddhas act for the benefit of all beings. They do not work for just their own countrymen, relatives, or disciples because when they began on the mahayana path, they took a vow to reach enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
[231] Since there is an inexhaustible number of beings to be liberated from samsara, the form kayas are permanent. However, if the Buddhas didn't have compassion, this activity would stop at a certain point. Inspired by this compassion, they are constantly helping beings so that they manifest continuously. Fourth, even if the Buddhas were willing to help, if they did not have the power to help, no buddha activity could take place. The Buddhas, however,
possess full miraculous powers so that they can help beings in whatever way needed.
[232] The form kayas are permanent because the Buddhas do not forsake samsara for three reasons. If the Buddhas saw samsara as bad and nirvana as good, they would be inclined to give up samsara and achieve nirvana. This would be an obstacle to the accomplishment of buddha activity to help other beings. However, they
possess perfect knowledge so they understand fhe inseparability of nirvana and samsara and therefore
? manifest continually in samsara to help beings. The Buddhas also do not forsake the world because they possess the supreme bliss of samadhi. Even though the Buddhas could see the inseparability of samsara and nirvana, if they had to undergo terrible sufferings in samsara, after a time they wouldn't be able to bear it. However, instead they experience the supreme bliss of meditation (samadhi).
[233] If the Buddhas saw the inseparability of samsara and nirvana but still had karma and obscuration, then from time to time they would experience the suffering of samsara again. This would become an obstacle to their helping beings and would eventually render them powerless. So the third reason that the form kayas are permanent is that since they are not polluted by worldly impurities, they can remain permanently in the world to help beings.
The first of four reasons that the dharmakaya is permanent is that it is immortal. In samsara, one has to experience birth which implies sickness, old age, and death. But in Buddhahood there is no longer any death because the causes of death have been removed. The Buddhas have totally eradicated all obscurations which frees them from karma and therefore places them beyond the reach of death.
[234] Secondly, the nature of dharmakaya is uncreated. From the beginning of time Buddhahood was free from birth, old age, sickness, and death. The Buddhas have realized this uncreated true nature by perceiving it as it is and made it manifest just as it is. This nature is perfectly at peace and beyond all conditioned phenomena. This original uncreatedness of the true nature is manifested in
? Buddhahood and that is why Buddhahood is permanent. The third reason is Buddhahood constitutes a permanent refuge for those who are without help. Why is
this? Beings are subject to impermanence, suffering, and dangers; but when the ultimate realization is achieved all these characteristics vanish. So the one who embodies freedom from impermanence becomes the protection for all beings who are still subjected to change.
[235] The form kayas do not have the same permanence of nature. As their name indicates they take form and as soon as there is form there is no longer the characteristic of uncreatedness. So they are not permanent in nature and are not free from impermanence. However, the sambhogakaya has the permanence of uninterruptedness because it has the five definite characteristics which it manifests so the buddha field where the sambhogakaya is manifesting can never change. And the sambhogakaya itself never passes away, so it has the permanence of unceasingness.
The nirmanakaya has the permanence of continuity.
? the tenth level. Enlightenment is beyond this because it is far too subtle to be within the scope of study. When one studies, one can only obtain a very general and indirect knowledge of enlightenment. This is analogous to when one sees a form or hears a sound one apprehends them in a rather gross way since one cannot perceive them direcdy. Enlightenment cannot be the ''bject of reflection either. When one reflects on something using discursive thought, the object can only be crude and one cannot know the actual nature of the object. So reflection cannot apply to something as subtle as enlightenment because
enlightenment is within the realm of the ultimate. Finally, enlightenment cannot be the object of meditation of ordinary beings. However, the prajna in the meditation of a bodhisattva could understand enlightenm ent. This knowledge could be called prajna, but it is more like jnana. It is the jnana that manifests more and more in the development of a bodhisattva. It's not so much the result of their meditation as the general process of the unfolding of
jnana.
[200] The inability of ordinary beings to study enlighten- ment is compared to a blind person. Even though there are visual forms outside, a blind person doesn't have any idea
of what it looks like or what it is. In the same way, ordinary beings cannot have an experience of enlightenment. They cannot see, know, or experience the vimuktikaya and the dharmakaya.
Enlightenment is also, in part, inconceivable to deeply realized bodhisattvas who have only a small experience of it. They are compared to a new bom baby in a house. If tha sun is shining outside and the baby is inside the house, it will get some of the rays of the sun peeping into the house
? and feel a little bit of the warmth of the sun. In the same way, the realized bodhisattvas have some experience of the buddha qualities as they progress along the bodhisattva levels, but it is a far cry from the full experience of Buddhahood.
[201] The second quality is changelessness which actually covers the second to fifth qualities ot permanent, eternal, at peace, and immutable. Enlightenment is changeless because it is present in all beings from the start. It is not created by various causes and conditions so it is permanent. If it never started, then it obviously has no cessation and therefore is eternal. If there's no beginning or no end, then there are no upsetting patterns in the middle. So enlightenment is at peace. There is just nothing to disturb the nature of enlightenment so it is not affected by any kind of change. It is immutable because enlightenment is always at rest and its true nature never changes.
[202] The sixth through the eleventh qualities express the perfect fulfillment of purification and realization. The sixth quality is being perfectly at peace because all suffering has been completely uprooted. This corresponds to the truth of cessation --when all impurities have been removed, there is no longer any opportunity for suffering to arise. If impurities were still present, these would still be caused by emotional disruptions. So Buddhahood is perfectly at peace and free from emotional obscurations.
The seventh quality is all-embracing which relates to clarity from cognitive obscurations. When these obscura- tions are removed, there is a very clear knowledge of everything. Everything is as clear as though it were in the palm of one's hand.
The eighth quality is being concept-free because en- lightenment doesn't dwell on any idea or any concept. The
? ninth quality is being uninvolved. This could also be trans- lated in the sense of "not stuck to anything. " Enlighten- ment doesn't stick to anything insofar as there is no emotional obscuration to make one cling to something. [203] The tenth quality is being unhindered. At this point knowledge is totally unhindered because there are no longer any cognitive obscurations. The eleventh quality is freedom from coarse sensatic s which is the ability to
meditate without being disturbed by drowsiness or agitation. Drowsiness in meditation provokes a dull state of mind, an absence of clarity. Agitation causes a constant movement of thoughts which prevents good meditation. So at the point of enlightenment, there are no longer any disrupting forces in meditation. Because there is no hindrance, the meditation is free from coarse sensations. [204] The last four qualities of enlightenment are
described in terms of the four qualities of purity. The first quality is invisibility. Buddhahood is formless and therefore invisible. The twelfth quality is imperceptible because Buddhahood has no solid characteristics. The thirteenth is purity which could also be rendered as "wholesomeness," meaning that nothing in it is impure. The last quality is immaculateness because all the im- purities that would impede proper meditation have been removed.
6. Manifestation ofEnlightenment
In the root text, the sixth point is called "manifestation. " But literally it means, "going into enlightenment" or "entering enlightenment" so that it means actualizing enlightenment.
? [205] First manifestation of enlightenment is the charac- teristic of being uncreated because is eternal, centerless, and endless. This means that enlightenment doesn't start at a given point and therefore cannot stop at a given point or abide in between these two points.
The second characteristic is indivisibility of emptiness and jnana. Everything being voidness refers to the dharmadhatu quality of everything. The voidness and
jnana cannot exist separately as can, for example, a single rope made by taking white and black thread and braiding them together. They are inseparable by nature with one unable to exist without the other. There is jnana, but the nature of that jnana is voidness. There is voidness, but the nature of that voidness is jnana. In the same way, the voidness itself is jnana. It has a quality of clarity that's not a blank like the nonexistence of the rabbit's horns. It is very alive, so this voidness creates the possibility for everything to manifest clearly.
The third characteristic is "to be free from the two" which indicates freedom from all extreme notions. This characteristic of right understanding is that one doesn't make any false assumptions or any incorrect denials about it. A false assumption would be to attribute a quality to something that doesn't have that quality. An incorrect denial would be not recognizing a quality, if it really existed. So freedom from the two is to be free from these two distortions of the true nature of things.
The fourth characteristic is freedom from all obscurations or "veils" so there is no longer any emotional obscuration, cognitive obscuration, or obstruction of meditation. When these three have been removed, a quality of stainlessness emerges.
? Tht last characteristic is being beyond thought because enlightenment cannot be understood by discursive thought. Enlightenment is not an outer object so it cannot be understood by discursive thinking. The only way to understand it is by meditation. The supreme yogi (the Buddha) then rests within the nature of the dharmadhatu and in meditation can understand it.
Dharmakaya Qualities
[206] The first four qualities of the dharmakaya represent perfect knowledge. The dharmakaya has qualities which are unfathomable and cannot be understood because of their vastness. The dharmakaya doesn't have any solid reality, therefore it is present everywhere. This unfathomable nature means that there are so many qualities which are so vast and so deep that one cannot even discern what they exactly are. The second quality is being unaccountable. The dharmakaya has so many qualities that one cannot count them precisely. The third quality is inconceivability because the dharmakaya is so deep that one cannot understand it easily. The fourth quality is incomparability because there is nothing else one can
compare it to. It cannot be compared to ordinary pheno- mena because ordinary phenomena are emotionally tainted and it cannot be compared to the fruition of the hinayana path. The fifth quality represents the complete purity of Buddhahood. The verse says "the immaculate space of the tathagatas" which means the dharmakaya is completely
free from all obscurations including the very fine traces left behind by those obscurations.
Sambhogakaya Qualities
? [207] The sambhogakaya exhibits the deep and vast aspect of dharma. The deep aspect of dharma refers to voidness and the vast aspect refers to the various levels practiced on the path. The sambhogakaya shows the speech aspect with the dharma taking j>>l3. 'e without interruption. The second quality of the sambhogakaya is the Buddha's body adorned with the 32 marks and 80 signs of beauty which are like a radiant body. This manifests to realized bodhisattvas in this very brilliant, pure form.
The third quality of the Buddha's mind in the samb- hogakaya is his mind is always engaged in the goal of helping liberate all beings. This compassionate mind mani- fests to realized bodhisattvas.
The fourth quality relates to the activity of the sambho- gakaya. The acts of the sambhogakaya are compared to a wish-fulfilling jewel which can accomplish anything without thought or effort. Likewise, the deeds of the sambhogakaya are accomplished spontaneously, without any effort.
The fifth quality shows how this activity of the sambhogakaya actually manifests by appearing in many different substantial forms to beings and performing many different kinds of deeds that guide them to liberation. Still while manifesting as substantial forms, it is insubstantial.
Nirmanakaya Qualities
[208] The nirmanakaya of the Buddha is the origin for liberation of beings in three different stages. In the nirmanakaya form, the Buddha causes ordinary beings to enter the path of liberation leading them away from samsara. Once beings have entered the path, the Buddhas
? help them to purify the defilements and gain realization. In the third stage if someone has developed fully on the path, the nirmanakaya will predict when a person will become a Buddha and in which buddha field he or she will go and what his or her name will be.
The nirmanakaya of the Buddha is always present in our world. The nirmanakaya is not permanent in nature, but a permanence of continuity of buddha activity. A Buddha enters our world and then he passes away and one could think that Buddha activity then stops. But this is not the case because once a Buddha has passed away, another Buddha comes along continuing the buddha activity. The spontaneous presence of buddha activity in our world can be compared to the way in which the form realms abide in space. In the same way, buddha activity is always present in our world.
[209] Enlightenment takes three different aspects; through the dharmakaya, the sambhogakaya, and the
nirmanakaya which can be described in terms of seven names. First, enlightenment is called "spontaneously present" because it does not rely on anything else depending entirely on the presence of the buddha essence within us. The second name is "all-knowing" or "omniscient" which refers to perfect knowledge of the Buddha. The third name is "Buddhahood" which comes from the word dharmakaya and covers both the quality of
complete purity and full knowledge. The fourth name is "supreme nirvana" with the word "supreme" added to "nirvana" because nirvana is beyond suffering. The arhats also believe that they go beyond suffering so the word "supreme" is added to show going beyond this suffering.
The fifth name is "inconceivability" because enlightenment
? is not the object of intellectual speculation and can only be understood through the deepest aspect of understanding, prajna. The sixth name is "victory over the enemy" in which samsara is compared to the enemy and Buddhahood is the complete victory over that enemy. The seventh is "self-cognisant nature" because Buddhahood is the object of the realization of the self-cognisant jnana. So it is the nature that knows itself.
[210] Enlightenment also has three aspects: an aspect of depth which relates to the dharmakaya because it is very difficult to understand; an aspect of vasmess which relates 10 sambhogakaya insofar as it has great powers to help beings; and an aspect of greatness of nature which refers to the nirmanakaya and its quality of infinite compassion which- allows the nirmanakaya to act in all the different ways according to a being's karma and capabilities.
The Svabhavikakaya
[211] The svabhavikakaya of the dharmakaya has five in- trinsic characteristics and five qualities.
The first characteristic is uncreated. The dharmakaya is uncreated because it has no beginning, no abiding, and no end. It is also the indivisible union of the untainted dharmadhatu and the perfectly completed jnana. This dharmadhatu means the voidness aspect of the true nature which is completely free from the four extremes and the eight mental fabrications. This voidness is explained in the second turning of the wheel of dharma. In the relative sense everything appears, but ultimately everything is of a
void nature. This corresponds to the teachings on the presence of the buddha essence in the mind of all beings
? that were given in the third turning. So the dharmadhatu and jnana are perfectly united.
The second characteristic of the dharmakaya is being completely free from the two extreme notions of trying to add to it something that is not there or trying to remove something that doesn't need to be removed. So it is just as it is. When practicing on the path, it is within this nature that one has to rest the mind in meditation and one has to recognize the jnana of insight. At the beginning one leams theoretically that the true nature of existence is the indivisibility of voidness and clarity. Then one gains a definite conviction that it is true and allows oneself to be immersed within that true nature in meditation. The third characteristic is being completely free from emotional and cognitive obscurations and free from the obscuration that prevents one from meditating properly.
[213] The fourth characteristic is being free of the obscurations so the svabhavikakaya is flawless. The fifth characteristic is clarity. Because the dharmakaya is stainless, it is not the object of intellectual speculation but the object of cognition of the supreme yogis who abide continually in the union of prajna and skillful means (Skt. upaya). It is also clarity because the dharmadhatu is itself by nature completely pure.
[214] There are five outward characteristics of the svabhavikakaya. The first quality is immeasurability because it cannot be fathomed in any way. It is not like an ordinary composite object which can investigated in regard to its color, form, and different attributes. The second quality is uncountability. If one takes any ordinary objects
one can count it, but this is impossible for the svabhavikakaya. The third quality is inconceivability. All
? ordinary objects can be intellectually worked with because they have form, sound, shape, taste, and so on but the svabhavikakaya is free from the four extremes and the eight conceptual fabrications. However, this svabhavika- kaya is not totally blank because its great clarity can be apprehended by the yogi who can understand it through his self-cognisant jnana. The fifth quality is ultimate purity in which all the subtle traces of the emotional, cognitive, and meditative obscurations have been removed.
[215] There are five reasons for these qualities. The svab- havikakaya is immeasurable because there is no way in which it can be reckoned by ordinary means because of its great vastness. It is uncountable because there is nothing solid to account for. It is completely immeasurable since it is beyond the four extremes and the eight conceptual fab- rications. It is inconceivable because if we try to examine it by discursive thought, it cannot be apprehended because it doesn't have the characteristics of ordinary objects. It also cannot be understood in terms of existing or not existing and that is why an ordinary beings cannot grasp the svabhavikakaya. It is incomparable because the Buddha has qualities which are not shared by anyone else. Finally, it is the ultimate purity and because it lacks even the very fine mental traces of obscurations.
The Sambhogakaya
[216] In general, the Buddha has two form kayas: one which is the ultimate form kaya, the sambhogakaya, which manifests to those bodhisattvas with very pure karma. This is not because the Buddha has the thought, 'This person can see me because he is good. " It is just a function of the
? way in which beings perceive the forms of the Buddha. Beings who are quite pure can perceive the sambhogakaya:
Beings who are less pure can perceive only the nirmana- kaya form. This can be illustrated by an example of the reflection of the moon in water. If the moon reflects in a very clear pond, the image of the moon is very clear. If it reflects in very dirty water, the image of the moon is less clear. In the same way, bodhisattvas on the ten levels are quite pure, so they can perceive the sambhogakaya form of the Buddha. Beings who are less pure can only perceive the nirmanakaya, even though the buddha activity is going
on all the time. When beings are not ready, the Buddha will teach them a simpler way of looking at things to lead them gradually to the understanding of the real truth. But the sambhogakaya level always teaches the absolute meaning of things. The Buddha at this level doesn't need to use examples or simplified explanations because he manifests to beings who are already realized. So the first quality of the sambhogakaya is speech which expresses all the aspects of the dharma at all times.
The second quality of the sambhogakaya is a body in which the activity of the Buddha is unceasing and manifests through many different emanations. The sambhogakaya represents the emanations which are very faithful to the nature of the dharmakaya itself. In the example of the reflection of the moon in water, the sambhogakaya form makes a very faithful reflection of the
qualities of the dharmakaya. So it is said the qualities of the body of the sambhogakaya manifest the real qualities of the dharmakaya.
The third quality of the sambhogakaya is mind which is the pure compassion of the Buddha, so that the natural outflow of this compassion is unceasing help to all beings.
? From the dharmakSya's compassion springs the sambho- gakaya, and the sambhogakaya is the source of buddha activity. Even the activity of the nirmanakaya springs from the compassion of the sambhogakaya which is the expression of the compassion of the dharmakaya.
[217] The fourth quality of the sambhogakaya is that of the Buddha's activity. The activity of the sambhogakaya is completely spontaneous and does not need any thought to take place and entirely satisfies all the wishes of beings. The fifth quality of the sambhogakaya is manifesting something which is not really its true nature, like the wish- fulfilling gem. If one puts a gem against a background of one color it will manifest that color, although that color is not the gem's nature. In the same way, the sambhogakaya manifests in a miraculous way of appearing which is not its real nature, because the sambhogakaya is never divorced from the dharmakaya--it is forever abiding in the
dharmakaya.
[218] The sambhogakaya has five different aspects. The first is uninterrupted speech, of continually giving very deep and vast teachings to the pure disciples.
The second is the quality of emanating of body without interruption.
The sambhogakaya manifests the true qualities of enlightenment to the realized bodhisattvas. What the realized bodhisattvas see is a form which is adorned with all the marks and signs of a Buddha.
The third quality is the mind of the sambhogakaya that is constantly engaged in activity to help beings as the result of its pure nonconceptual compassion. This compassion helps pure beings, so buddha activity is not aimed only at impure beings.
The fourth aualitv of the sambhogakaya is that it is
? constantly acting spontaneously with its body, speech, and mind. The sambhogakaya body is constantly manifesting physically, and the mind is continually acting to help pure beings, and the speech is constantly giving teachings all without thinking about it.
The fifth quality is being able to manifest beyond its true nature. The sambhogakaya shows itself in forms that correspond to the spiritual maturity of beings. For pure beings it emanates in the form of the sambhogakaya; for impure beings it shows itself in the form of the nirmanakaya. It displays visible forms, but these are not its actual nature because its actual nature is the dharmakaya. [219] For example, a jewel may give off different colors
due to the background colors, but itself has no such colors. The jewel does not have a nature of being white, yellow, blue etc. but because it is very transparent, the colors of the background can be seen in the jewel. In the same way, enlightenment can manifest in different forms due to the various circumstances created by beings. The dharmakaya itself doesn't change, but reflects all the various conditions of beings in the way it manifests to them.
Nirmanakaya
[220] The nirmanakaya referred to here is the supreme nirmanakaya which is the historical Buddha with 32 marks and the 80 signs on his body and 60 different qualities of speech. This is the form of the Buddha we know as the Buddha Sakyamuni, and the Buddha Maitreya who will manifest in the future. The nirmanakaya is represented by the one thousand Buddhas that will come in this present world cycle. All these Buddhas will show various deeds to
? help beings. The Sakyamuni Buddha performed 12 main deeds on the path to liberation.
The ground of buddha activity is the dharmakaya. The sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya manifest to help beings, emanating from the dharmakaya without any change and without being separate from the dharmakaya. The Buddha sees all worlds just as they are and with his compassion he perceives the suffering of beings. The Buddha knows that if these beings practice, they will achieve enlightenment because all beings are endowed with buddha essence. So having seen the world through his great compassion and having seen the need to help beings without departing from the dharmakaya, the Buddha helps them through the form kayas.
Twelve Deeds o f the Buddha
First the Buddha took birth as a god in a paradise called Tusita which is a place of great happiness. When he was in Tusita, he taught the dharma to the gods. Although this was the first deed of the Buddha, it is not counted as one of the twelve deeds because the twelve deeds refer to activities in our world. Before he left Tusita, he appointed the bodhi- sattva Maitreya as the representative of the Buddhas in Tusita empowering him to give teachings there.
Before the Buddha came into our world, he actually had five visions. He saw his mother, the place of his birth, the time, and the kind of people he would be associated with in his life. He saw his caste as a royal family because if he had been born in a low caste he would have automatically been cut off from most persons. The previous buddha, Buddha KaSyapa, was bom in a Brahmin
? family for a similar reason because at the time the Brahmins had the greatest prestige. Buddha Sakyamuni was bom into a royal family because the royal caste had the greatest prestige at the time. Then he saw his mother who was worthy of bearing a Buddha with all his perfect marks and signs inside her womb. He also saw that the beings associated with him lived in India, so India would be the right place for him to manifest. He also saw the right time to manifest which was about 500 B. C. because beings were spiritually ready for his coming. He saw the country in which he should go because there he would be able to help beings the most. Having foreseen these five things, the Buddha left Tusita and entered our world.
[221] The second deed was to enter the womb of his mother and his mother perceived this in the form of a white elephant with six tusks entering her womb. The third deed was to take birth in a normal way (his mother's womb). Actually, the Buddha had the power to be bom in any way--he could have appeared miraculously from a lotus or
just appeared from the sky, but he chose to manifest in a normal birth because all the beings he had to relate to, including his disciples, were bom from the womb. Had he had a miraculous birth, they might have thought, "Oh, we are not like him because he has just fallen from space and can do all these things, but we can't do them because we are just ordinary people. " So he took a normal birth to show that he was sharing the conditions of all humans.
The fourth deed was that he became very proficient in all arts and crafts. When the Buddha was a little boy, he learned the different aspects of knowledge. He learned to write in the sixty different languages, learned all tfie different skills, the martial arts, and all the aspects of
? knowledge. He became extremely proficient and skilled in all of them. The reason he did all this was that later when he was going to teach, there would be no risk of people saying, "Well, he is teaching all these things involving the spiritual life because he was a failure in worldly things. " [222] The filth deed was that he enjoyed the company of his wife and consorts in his father's palace. This was to eliminate the belief that the Buddha was so extraordinary because he didn't know wha: pleasure was all about. To offset this belief ^e showed that he could indeed enjoy the pleasures of the world. Later he showed that there is no need to become involved with these pleasures and cling to them, because they are futile pleasures because as they do not last forever. Instead one should practice the way to liberation without attachment.
The sixth and seventh deeds were to eliminate the extreme of overindulgence of pleasures and enjoyment without caring for anything else and the extreme of practicing too many hardships thinking that this will bring liberation. To show the pointlessness of these extremes, the Buddha renounced the world. At the time the Buddha had been living with all the pleasures of his palace with his wife and consorts. To show this was too much of a fetter, he secretly fled from the palace at night, cut his hair off, and took up the life of a ascetic. Once he left the palace and found a teacher, he practiced extreme austerities by the banks of a river for six years. This was to demonstrate that practicing austerities was not the way to achieve realization. Instead, the final realization is the under- standing of the true nature of the mind.
The eighth deed was to go to Bodhgaya (in India) which is known as "the heart of enlightenment. " This is the place where the one thousand Buddhas of this time cycle
? will go to reach enlightenment. His ninth deed was to vanquish the host of m5ra which are demons. The true meaning of this is that through his vaija-like samadhi the Buddha became victorious over all the defilements that were known as the demon of the aggregates, the demon of defilements and so on. These demons or obstacles appeared in front of him to stop him from reaching Buddhahood. They tried to stop him through attachment, aggression, and ignorance. For attachment, the demons created a very beautiful woman who tried to tempt the Buddha, but he overcame this. Then they tried to delude him by producing a messenger who said that his father had died and Devadatta, who was an enemy of the Buddha, was going to take over the kingdom. They also tried to arouse his anger by producing a tremendous army of demons who tried to attack the Buddha through their amazing displays
of negative miracles. But the whole time, the Buddha just remained in meditation and was immersed in a state of loving kindness unswayed by desire, anger, or delusion. As a result he demonstrated the tenth deed which was to achieve perfect enlightenment.
[223] Having achieved enlightenment, the Buddha performed the eleventh deed which was turning the wheel of dharma. The first turning taught the four noble truths which was to help the disciples of hinayana. The second turning was the teaching of voidness and the original nature of everything, of dharmadhatu. The third turning was the teachings on the clarity aspect of jnana that showed that the true nature of everything is the union of
clarity and voidness and was intended for bodhisattvas who could reach enlightenment.
The twelfth deed of the Buddha was his passing away. The buddha could see that if he remained among human
? beings all the time, they wouldn't really develop a sense of renunciation. To kindle a weariness of samsara and develop a wish for liberation in beings, the Buddha appeared to die.
Progressive Training
[224] The first way the Buddha helped in the nirmana- kaya was the 12 deeds. The second way was through helping beings reach liberation or "ripening" them. For ordiL-eings, the Buddha helps them enter the hinayana by guiding them in the understanding of that path. When beings are more spiritually developed, he guides tnem into the mahayana and helps them relinquish their emotional and cognidve obscurations until they reach enlightenment.
The Buddha helps beings, including those who have not yet had any contact with the Buddha's teachings, enter the hinayana path by teaching the relative truth because the ultimate truth is quite difficult to understand at first. He teaches that all composite phenomena are impermanent and that everything that is tainted by emotional impurities automatically implies suffering. Then he taught that all these conditions and tainted phenomena arc devoid of any self and that this subject that seems to be apprehending phenomena is itself not real. So in effect, beings are taught the three characteristics of samsara; impermanence, suffering, and self.
Once beings understand impermanence and suffering, they will want to eliminate these. Once they understand there is no "self," they will want to relinquish this illusion and understand it. So the teaching of non-self has the benefit of making beings want to go beyond suffering,
? impermanence, and a mistaken belief in a self, and making them want to reach nirvana. So the benefit of these teachings is that they bring beings onto the path in the immediate future and help them liberate themselves from samsara to achieve a state of peace in the more distant future.
[225] The second turning and the bodhisattva path teachings are given to those beings who have already entered the path to peace, but mistakenly believe that they have already achieved nirvana. So teachings such as the Lotus Sutra (Saddharmaundarlka sutra) describe the real nature of phenomena and teach that they have not achieved final enlightenment and to reach this final enlightenment, they have to practice two qualities. They have to develop prajna which leads them to understand that they must go beyond conditioned existence. Simultaneously, they must
develop the true compassion unsupported by any concepts. This makes them want to go beyond peace just for oneself. So these beings who have achieved peace for themselves are taught they must go on to perfect enlightenment.
[226] Through these teachings practitioners of the hinayana are brought into the fold of the mahayana. They will undergo a change of motivation and acquire real prajna. They will understand the nonexistence of a personal self and the non-existence of phenomena. Through these changes, they will cultivate the skillful means of compassion (the emptiness) united with deeper understanding (prajna).
The immediate result of these teachings of the nirmanakaya leads beings onto the path to peace and brings, them into the fold of the hinayana. After that, the Buddha gives them the absolute meaning of the teachings and places them onto the mahayana path.
? The third aspect of buddha activity is enlightenment. When beings have reached the pure eighth, ninth, and tenth bodhisattva levels, the Buddha makes a prediction of their future enlightenment. He will say, "Later on in such and such a time cycle (Skt. kalpa), you will become a Buddha with the name of so and so, and have disciples by the names of so and so, your teachings will endure for such and such duration of time, and your buddha field will be called such and such. "
How the Kayas are Grouped
[227] The kayas of the Buddha are the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and the nirmanakaya. The dharmakaya is the most difficult to understand because it is beyond the four extremes and the eight mental fabrications.
The sambhogakaya has the quality of great power. The nirmanakaya, on the other hand, expresses itself with respect to what beings need. When the nirmanakaya manifests in a given place, all the beings who live in that place won't necessarily enter the dharma. However, when the sambhogakaya teaches in a given buddha field, all the beings there enter the dharma because they are already very close to the final realization. The sambhogakaya, in effect, teaches the final realization and is extremely powerful because it talks continually about the absolute meaning of things.
The nirmanakaya expresses the teachings in a way that beings can relate to it and teaches more relative than absolute meaning. This is why the nirmanakaya appears in forms that are actual experiences of beings.
[228] To summarize, the dharmakav. i is the depth, the very expression of the dharmadhatu. The sambhogakaya
? represents the vastness of buddha activity which is all- powerful. And the nirmanakaya represents greatness of nature which means it has great compassion that makes it possible for buddha activity to express itself in ways beings can relate to. The buddha kayas can also be divided into the dharmakaya which expresses the true nature of
things and the other two form kayas. The sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya are called the form kayas because they are the ones people can actually see and relate to. However, these two form kayas are always present in the dharmakaya in the same way that visible objects are present in space.
7. Permanence
[229] The very nature of enlightenment is changeless, im- mutable and will be explained using ten different reasons --seven for the form kayas and three for the dharmakaya. The dharmakaya has the permanence of nature, the sambhogakaya the permanence of continuity, and the nirmanakaya the permanence of uninterruptedness. The first reason for permanence of the kayas is due to endless conditions which means that Buddhahood can be achieved
through a combination of many different causes. One condition for realizing Buddhahood is the accumulation of virtue by practicing the six paramitas. The other condition is the accumulation of insight which is done through meditation. When these two accumulations have been completed the two form kayas will manifest as the result of these endless causes and will be able to manifest permanently to all different beings: the sambhogakaya with its permanence of continuity and the nirmSnakaya with its
permanence of being uninterupted.
? The second reason for the permanence of the kayas is the inexhaustible number of beings and buddha activity will be around as long as there are beings. However, the number of beings is so inexhaustible that the form kayas will always have to manifest in order to help them. If one being has been liberated, there are still many, many other beings to liberate.
The third reason for the permanence of the form kayas is the great compassionate love of the Buddha. If the Buddhas weren't continually inspired by compassion, their activity would stop. However, the Buddhas have non- referential compassion so their activity goes on all the time as a mother always has love for her only son.
The fourth reason is miraculous cause. Even if the Buddhas had compassion, if they didn't have the power to make this activity possible, then it wouldn't take place. But the Buddhas have miraculous powers so that they can continually help with whatever is necessary for the good of beings. The fifth reason for the permanence of the form kayas is that the Buddhas have realized the sameness of samsara and nirvana and do not see themselves defiled and polluted by samsara when helping beings in samsara. The sixth reason is that they possess the untainted happiness. And the seventh reason is that they have mastery over all qualities.
The next three reasons express the permanence of the dharmakaya. The dharmakaya is permanent because the evil of death has been vanquished. Ninth is that the dharmakaya has no material essence. It is not of a conditioned nature, therefore it is permanent. The tenth reason is that the dharmakaya is the protector of the world and pervades everything. In more detail:
? [230] The first four reasons for explaining how the form kayas are constantly present in samsara and the last three reasons explain how they do not forsake samsara.
To begin, the form kayas are always present in samsara because the bodhisattvas hold the true dharma, having devoted their bodies, lives, and resources to this for aeons. The form kayas manifest due to endless causes which are all the virtuous actions done by the bodhisattvas for endless aeons.
The second reason for permanence is that the Buddhas act for the benefit of all beings. They do not work for just their own countrymen, relatives, or disciples because when they began on the mahayana path, they took a vow to reach enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
[231] Since there is an inexhaustible number of beings to be liberated from samsara, the form kayas are permanent. However, if the Buddhas didn't have compassion, this activity would stop at a certain point. Inspired by this compassion, they are constantly helping beings so that they manifest continuously. Fourth, even if the Buddhas were willing to help, if they did not have the power to help, no buddha activity could take place. The Buddhas, however,
possess full miraculous powers so that they can help beings in whatever way needed.
[232] The form kayas are permanent because the Buddhas do not forsake samsara for three reasons. If the Buddhas saw samsara as bad and nirvana as good, they would be inclined to give up samsara and achieve nirvana. This would be an obstacle to the accomplishment of buddha activity to help other beings. However, they
possess perfect knowledge so they understand fhe inseparability of nirvana and samsara and therefore
? manifest continually in samsara to help beings. The Buddhas also do not forsake the world because they possess the supreme bliss of samadhi. Even though the Buddhas could see the inseparability of samsara and nirvana, if they had to undergo terrible sufferings in samsara, after a time they wouldn't be able to bear it. However, instead they experience the supreme bliss of meditation (samadhi).
[233] If the Buddhas saw the inseparability of samsara and nirvana but still had karma and obscuration, then from time to time they would experience the suffering of samsara again. This would become an obstacle to their helping beings and would eventually render them powerless. So the third reason that the form kayas are permanent is that since they are not polluted by worldly impurities, they can remain permanently in the world to help beings.
The first of four reasons that the dharmakaya is permanent is that it is immortal. In samsara, one has to experience birth which implies sickness, old age, and death. But in Buddhahood there is no longer any death because the causes of death have been removed. The Buddhas have totally eradicated all obscurations which frees them from karma and therefore places them beyond the reach of death.
[234] Secondly, the nature of dharmakaya is uncreated. From the beginning of time Buddhahood was free from birth, old age, sickness, and death. The Buddhas have realized this uncreated true nature by perceiving it as it is and made it manifest just as it is. This nature is perfectly at peace and beyond all conditioned phenomena. This original uncreatedness of the true nature is manifested in
? Buddhahood and that is why Buddhahood is permanent. The third reason is Buddhahood constitutes a permanent refuge for those who are without help. Why is
this? Beings are subject to impermanence, suffering, and dangers; but when the ultimate realization is achieved all these characteristics vanish. So the one who embodies freedom from impermanence becomes the protection for all beings who are still subjected to change.
[235] The form kayas do not have the same permanence of nature. As their name indicates they take form and as soon as there is form there is no longer the characteristic of uncreatedness. So they are not permanent in nature and are not free from impermanence. However, the sambhogakaya has the permanence of uninterruptedness because it has the five definite characteristics which it manifests so the buddha field where the sambhogakaya is manifesting can never change. And the sambhogakaya itself never passes away, so it has the permanence of unceasingness.
The nirmanakaya has the permanence of continuity.
