- The constructing of appearances (nimitta) created by delusion is the characteristic mark of Paratantra (dependence) knowledge; the giving of names to those appearances [regarding them as real individual existences] is characteristic of the imagination.
- When the constructing of appearances and names, which come from the union of conditions and realities, no more takes place, we have the characteristic mark of perfected knowledge (parinishpanna).
This is in reference to the five-dharmas: name, appearance, discrimination, right knowledge, and suchness. False-imagination gives rise to discrimination, declaring such ideations as child, soap, etcetera, thus given a name-appellation. What follows is an appearance that is declared after the naming. In short it’s all an exercise in control—once something is named, one has the power over it. Much like during exorcisms when the priest-exorcist demands the demon give its name, after which it can be dispelled. Ultimately, though, the Lanka teaches that by “Right-Knowledge”, “when names and appearances are seen as unobtainable owing to their mutual conditioning, there is no more rising of the Vijnanas, for nothing comes to annihilation, nothing abides everlastingly.” Afterwards, what remains is quiescent-suchness. The Lanka encapsulates all this as such:
Out of this appearance ideas are formed such as jar, ect., by which one can say, this is such and such, an no other; this is “name.” When names are thus pronounced, appearances are determined and there is “discrimination,” saying this is mind and this is what belongs to it.
That these names and appearances are after all unobtainable because when intellection is put away the aspect of mutuality in which are things are determined ceases to be perceived and imagined—this is called the “suchness” of things. And this suchness may be characterized as truth, reality, exact knowledge, limit, source, self-substance, the unattainable. (LXXXIV)
- The world is everywhere filled with Buddhas of Maturity, Buddhas of Transformation, beings, Bodhisattvas and [Buddha-] lands.
Buddhas of Maturity: vaipakika (maturity, fruition). This is also considered as the origin of the Reward-body. Thus this corresponds to the Vipaka-Buddha, or Sambhogakaya. What will follow next here is an extensive breakdown of the term, taken from Mādhyamika and Yogācāra A Study of Mahayana Philosophies, Collected Papers of G. M. Nagao, in particular from the chapter entitled, On the Theory of the Buddha-Body.
From a footnote: The original word for the Reward-body was generally understood to be the sāṃbhogyika-kāya, which will be interpreted to mean “to enjoy (saṃbhoga) the result as a reward for the vow which is its source”. Again, the word vipāka or vaipakika (literally ripening, fruition) has also been considered as the original for the Reward-body. (Cf. Yamaguchi Susumu and others, An Introduction to Buddhist Studies. p. 216). Ibid, pg. 250
This is the sharing of one’s own dharma delight with others, that is, the preaching of the dharma to others. Therefore, the sāṃbhogyika-kāya is said to be the “Buddha-body seen at an assembly for sermons”-a gathering of people who wish to hear the Buddha’s preaching. This is none other than a Buddha-body that is visible, in the sense that human beings can understand it intellectually (and emotionally, as well). Ibid, pg. 108
*A most fascinating realization, that this body is the one in which the Absolute Principle “gets to enjoy” the dharma for Itself and others: It is improbable that stirring of “enjoyment” should be found in the Svābhāvika-kāya (the ‘embodiment of Buddhahood in its essence’, [read Dharmakaya]) which is immovable. In order to enjoy the dharma, the Svābhāvika-kāya must become concrete and relative by descending a step from the seat of the absolute. It must come down from the seat of immutable śūnyatā, or dharma-dhātu, and enter into the realm of mutability-where the Buddhaland is to be established through the act of purification, or where the Reward-body will be realized. (ibid, pg. 110)
Buddhas of Transformation: nirmāṇakāya. (T. sprul pa’i sku; C. huashen; J. keshin; K. hwasin 化 身). In Sanskrit, “emanation body,” or “transformation body”; according to the MAHĀYĀNA descriptions, one of the three bodies (TRIKĀYA) of a buddha, together with the DHARMAKĀYA and the SAṂBHOGAKĀYA. In accounts where a buddha is said to have two bodies, the dharmakāya constitutes one body and the RŪPAKĀYA constitutes the other, with the rūpakāya subsuming both the saṃbhogakāya and the nirmāṇakāya. The term nirmāṇakāya may have been employed originally to describe the doubles of himself that the Buddha is sometimes said to display in order to teach multiple audiences simultaneously. (Buswell Jr., Robert E.; Donald S., Jr. Lopez. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Kindle Locations 44389-44398). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.)
It is said that this body “teaches the doctrine meeting conditions, but not the doctrine that will establish the truth as it is, which belongs to the noble realm of self-realization.” Indeed, within the Lanka the honor of bestowing the Self-realization of Noble Wisdom is the Dharmata-Buddha.
- The Issuing [-Buddhas], Dharma [-Buddhas], Transformation [-Buddhas] and those that appear transformed – they all come forth from Amitabha’s Land of Bliss.
“The Vaipakika Buddhas, the Nairmanika Buddhas, all beings, Bodhisattvas, and all countries in the ten quarters (140), the Nishyanda, the Dharma, and the Nirmana-nairmanika,—they all issue from Amitabha’s Land of Happiness.” (Studies in the Lanka, pg. 325)
The story of Amida Buddha as the Reward-body is not something like a myth of a stage before history; even if we might call it “a myth,” it was produced by the association of history with super-history. It is owing to this character of saṃbhogika-kāya that such things as the thirty-two physical marks of the Buddha are attributed to the saṃbhogika-kāya and that the Buddha-land is expressed as a Pure Land in the context of saṃbhogika-kāya. (Mādhyamika and Yogācāra, pg. 110)
- What is uttered by Buddhas of Transformation and what is uttered by Buddhas of Maturity constitute the doctrine fully developed in the sutras, whose secret meaning you should know.
Secret meaning: (Saṃdha) to be hidden. The secret meaning of existence. (Suzuki) Also, for a Lankavatarian, this hinges on the understanding of the secret “word” that constitutes the very essence of the Sutra. What is that Word? Sorry, but it is to be determined solely by a thorough study of the Lanka…meaning, it is to be revealed to oneself alone. Please, no cheating here from present or former associates of the Lanka school.
- What is uttered by the Bodhisattvas and what is uttered by the teachers – they are both what is uttered by the Buddhas of Transformation and not by the Buddhas of Maturity.
Important clarification. What is uttered by the Buddhas of Transformation occurs as a teaching vehicle, an expedient means for sentient beings. It is done via the faculty of speech. Yet, “the speech of the Nairmanika is not [delivered] by the Vaipakika Buddhas.” (Suzuki) Meaning, that within the Reward-body, the Buddhadharma is not limited exclusively to speech, but literally covers an unknown number of different expedient-conveyances. (Such as smell, taste, visionary prowess, ect.
- All these individual objects (dharmas) have never been born, but they are not exactly non-existent either; they resemble the Gandharva’s castle, a dream, and magical creations.
See #95
- [Cleary]: The appearance of objects to humans is thought; thought expresses what is imagined. There is no object; it is only thought; without imagination, one is freed.
Just as in #112: “An added reassurance that when the faculty of imagination is quelled, Mind recollects Its full Unborn Staturehood that is not objective in nature but prior-to all nominally-diseased attributes.”