Category Archives: A Docetic Assessment

Prior to Parinirvāṇa

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Vajragoni

It is said that Buddhas never actually enter into parinirvāṇa, because they are completely identical to and interfused with the dharmadhātu (of all dharmas; 如來皆入一切法界)(Radich, Immortal Buddha’s and their indestruction). Once interfused with the Dharmadhātu—the Realm of Suchness Itself, what need to enter into something further after death? “Even the apparent parinirvāṇa of Buddhas like Dīpaṃkara was merely a docetistic show, an expedient means manifested by Śākyamuni himself.” (Radich, ibid) Moreover, anyone who fervently upholds the Buddhadharma is already equipped with the Dharma-realm and, as such, is eternally in the presence of the Living Buddha. Suzuki writes in his Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra: read more

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Dharmakāya-cum-Vajrakāya

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Vajragoni

These next two blogs will focus on the realization that the Buddha’s true embodiment is the Dharmakaya; and this Dharmakaya is an “adamant body” (vajrakaya) and absolutely incorruptible. read more

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Right-Side Conception and Birth

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Vajragoni

Radich writes that there is a problem of maternity concerning the Buddha’s apparent corporeal birth. The MPNMS (Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra) says: read more

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No Foul-Stench Here

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Vajragoni

Within Michael Radich’s, The Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra and the Emergence of Tathāgatagarbha Doctrine, he makes the case that the Tathāgatagarbha Doctrine can be considered under the lens of a Docetic Buddhology in that the apparent physical appearances of a Tathāgata are inherently deceptive. A Buddha has no ordinary human embodiment, but rather a most salient transcendent-emBODHIment, or the awakening of an Enlightened-Spirit within the Tathātic-Womb: read more

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A Docetic Assessment

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Vajragoni

Firstly, it needs to be stated that what we have is a true scholarly mansion in the contemporary efforts of the Hamburg Buddhist Studies in once again bringing to the fore the vast significance of the tathāgatagarbha doctrine. Our last series highlighted one such scholar, Jonathan A. Silk, and his analysis of the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta. In this series we will be engaged with Michael Radich and his examination of the docetic factor in light of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra. Radich believes that this sutra is the earliest in the Mahayana in emphasizing the origin of tathāgatagarbha doctrine; yet it needs to be added that the first appearance of the “term” tathāgatagarbha can be “traced back to the Mahāsaṃghika Ekottarikāgama (the Chinese recension of the Aṅguttara Nikāya): read more

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