The Teaching on the Tathāgata’s Body
Chapter 23
Then the Bhagavān said to the youth Candraprabha, “Therefore, young man, bodhisattva mahāsattvas who wish for this samādhi, and wish to attain quickly the highest, complete enlightenment of perfect buddhahood, should not know the Tathāgata to be the rūpakāya.784 Why is that? It is because the Buddha Bhagavān manifests because of the dharmakāya and does not manifest because of the rūpakāya. [F.74.a]
23.2 “Young man, bodhisattva mahāsattvas whose wish is to aspire to the body of the tathāgata, who wish to know the body of the tathāgata, should obtain this samādhi, understand it, preserve it, recite it to others, promote it, proclaim it, chant it, meditate on it with dedication to the practice of meditation, and make it widely known to others.
23.3 “Young man, the body of the tathāgata785 is taught to be one meaning,786 with the understanding that it arises from a hundred merits. It arises from the Dharma.787 It is without attributes. It is devoid of all attributes. It is profound.788 It is immeasurable. It is an immeasurable phenomenon.789 It has the nature of the absence of attributes.790 It is free of all attributes.791 It is unwavering.792 It has no location. It completely has the nature of space. It is invisible. It transcends the scope of the eye’s vision. That should be known as the dharmakāya.793
23.4 “It is inconceivable. It is beyond the level of thought. It is unaffected by bliss or suffering. It transcends all conceptual elaboration.794 It has no location,795 because it transcends the scope of the words of those who aspire to the wisdom of buddhahood. It is the quintessence796 because it transcends desire. It is indivisible because it transcends anger.797 It is stable because it transcends the scope of ignorance. It is taught through the teaching of emptiness. It is unborn because it transcends birth.798 It is ‘permanent’ in terms of words, and terminology is empty.799 It is undifferentiated because it is nirvāṇa.800 It is ‘nirvāṇa’801 because of a word. It is ‘peace’ because of speaking.802 There is equality in terms of conventional appellations.803 There are appellations in terms of ultimate truth. There is ultimate truth through correct speech.804
23.5 “It is calmness, the absence of anguish.805 It is groundless,806 and cannot be comprehended.807 There is no end to its description.808
23.6 “Young man, it arises from training in the great, higher cognitions, and it is known as the tathāgatakāya.”
Thereupon, the Bhagavān spoke these verses: [F.74.b]
23.7
“Someone who wishes to know
This body of the Lord of the World809
Should meditate on this samādhi,
And then they will know the Buddha’s body.810 {1}
23.8
“A buddha’s body is born from merit.811
It812 is pure and it is brilliant.
It is the same as space;
There is no difference between them. {2}
23.9
“The characteristics of a buddha
Are the same as those of enlightenment.
The characteristics of the body
Are the same as those characteristics. {3}
23.10
“The body has enlightenment’s characteristics
And a buddha realm has the same.
The strengths, liberations, and dhyānas
Are all also a single characteristic. {4}
23.11
“That is the nature of the emergence
Of the buddhas, of the lords of worlds.
There is no being who with physical eyes
Is able to see their bodies. {5}
23.12
“There are many who declare,
‘I have seen the guide of the world.
He is the color of gold and his body
Illuminates the entire world.’ {6}
23.13
“This body that is seen,
Beautified by characteristics,
Is a manifestation through the power
Of the blessing of the buddhas. {7}
23.14
“The Buddha’s body is displayed
As having a height and a width,
But that body cannot be measured,
And therefore it is inconceivable. {8}
23.15
“If the Buddha’s body could be measured
And found to be of a certain size,
Then the Teacher would be the same
As a deva or a human. {9}
23.16
“That characteristic is the ripening
Of a mind in meditation.
There will be pure, radiant names-and-form
That have that characteristic. {10}
23.17
“There is no being whatsoever
Who has meditated on this samādhi of peace
It is in that way that the Lord of the World
Has practiced for millions of eons. {11}
23.18
“I have developed this samādhi
Through a multitude of good qualities.
Because of the vastness of that samādhi
My body cannot be seen. {12}
23.19
“As is someone’s mind,
So are their names-and-form;
The mind that has no nature of its own
Has names-and-form with that characteristic. {13}
23.20
“Those who have a gross perception
Of names-and-form,
Their inharmonious perception [F.75.a]
Gives rise to a mind that is gross. {14}
23.21
“Those who have a subtle perception
Within their names-and-form
Will have a mind that is radiant
And without attachment to names-and-form. {15}
23.22
“I remember that in my previous lives
During seven countless eons,
The three bad perceptions813
Never arose in me at any time. {16}
23.23
“My mind has been undefiled
For countless millions of eons.
I bring benefit to beings
And my body is not visible. {17}
23.24
“The one whose mind
Is liberated from existents
Will never again be
Connected with existents. {18}
23.25
“My consciousness is liberated
Completely from all things.
I know the nature of the mind,
So that henceforth wisdom will arise. {19}
23.26
“My emanations proceed
To thousands of millions of realms.
There they benefit beings
Though there is no body to be found. {20}
23.27
“Without characteristics, without attributes,
It is the same as space.
My body is indescribable.
It is taught to be difficult to understand. {21}
23.28
“The dharmakāya, the great hero,
Is a body born from the Dharma.
The Jina cannot be made known
By means of the rūpakāya. {22}
23.29
“Māra will find no opportunity
To cause harm to the one
Who has felt joy on hearing
These words that have been taught. {23}
23.30
“Those who have heard the profound Dharma
And have not been frightened by it,
Will not even for the sake of their life
Forsake the enlightenment of buddhahood. {24}
23.31
“They will know the truth that is taught
In thousands of millions of sūtras.
They will be a light for the world
Wherever it is that they will go.814 {25}
23.32
“Young man, the body of the Tathāgata is not easily known through attributes or actions. It is blue, or is colored blue, or is like blue, or shines with blue light; or it is yellow, or is colored yellow, or is like yellow, or shines with yellow light; or it is red, or is colored red, or is like red, [F.75.b] or shines with red light; or it is white, or is colored white, or is like white, or shines with white light; or it is madder, or is colored madder, or is like madder, or shines with madder light; or it is crystal, or is crystal-colored, or is like crystal, or shines with crystal light; or it is fire, or is fire-colored, or is like fire, or shines with fire light; or it is distilled ghee, or is ghee-colored, or is like ghee, or shines with ghee-colored light; or it is gold, or is gold-colored, or is like gold, or shines with golden light; or it is beryl, or is beryl-colored, or is like beryl, or shines with beryl light; or it is lightning, or is lightning-colored, or is like lightning, or shines with lightning’s light; or it is Brahmā, or is Brahmā-colored, or is like Brahmā, or shines with Brahmā’s light; or it is a deva, or is deva-colored, or is like a deva, or shines with a deva’s light. It is not easy to know it.
23.33 “Young man, in that way the body of the tathāgata is pure. It cannot be conceived of through attributes, and so it is taught to be inconceivable. It cannot be conceived of815 through any attribute, and so it is taught to be inconceivable. It cannot be conceived of through external appearances. It is immeasurable. The beings and devas of this world cannot easily grasp its extent even through the perfect rūpakāya.”816
The Bhagavān then spoke these verses:
23.34
“All the particles in the world
And all that can be conceived of as dust,
And all the water that is in springs,
Lakes, ponds, and the ocean— {26}
23.35
“One may ask how many particles there are,
But one can never find the end.
Even if, with the tip of a hair, one could measure out
How much water there is in an ocean,817 {26–27}
23.36
“Even that could not be taught
As an analogy for the Lord of the World.
There are countless drops of water [F.76.a]
And it is the same for atoms, {27}
23.37
“But I see that even a single sentient being
Has far more numerous
Aspirations and motivations
That are developed at numerous times.818 {28}
23.38
“Yet even the aspirations of all beings
Are not adequate as an analogy
For those qualities of the body
That I have indicated. {29}
23.39
“One cannot819 through820 attributes and actions
Know the appearance of these kinds
Of qualities821 of a buddha,
And that is my distinctive characteristic. {30}
23.40
“The buddhas are devoid of attributes.
They are the manifestation of the dharmakāya.
They are profound and immeasurable,
And therefore the buddhas are inconceivable. {31}
23.41
“The inconceivable buddha body
Of a buddha is also inconceivable.
Those bodies are inconceivable.
They are the manifestation of the dharmakāya. {32}
23.42
“The mind is incapable of conceiving
The bodies of the buddhas.
One cannot, therefore, obtain
The measure of such a body. {33}
23.43
“Those immeasurable qualities
I have practiced for ten million eons.
Therefore have I accomplished
A body that is inconceivable and radiant, too. {34}
23.44
“There is no being that can grasp it
Or that can obtain its measure.
In that way the body of a buddha
Is inconceivable and immeasurable. {35}
23.45
“Because the qualities are immeasurable
There is no measure that can be conceived for them.822
Because the qualities are not conceived
The buddha also is inconceivable. {36}
23.46
“The measured is taught to be a conception;
The measureless is nonconceptual.
That which is not conceived is without conception;
Therefore the buddha is inconceivable. {37}
23.47
“Just as space is limitless
And no one is able to measure it,
Likewise a buddha’s body
Is just the same as space. {38}
23.48
“Those who thus know the body
Of the buddhas are the progeny of the jinas.
They will also become buddhas,
Inconceivable lords of worlds.” {39}
23.49
Conclusion of the twenty-third chapter, “The Teaching on the Tathāgata’s Body.”823
