The Meaning of Mahāparinirvāṇa

Original text of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra: 何等名为秘密之藏？犹如伊字三点，若并则不成伊，纵亦不成。如魔醯首罗面上三目乃得成伊三点，若别亦不得成。我亦如是，解脱之法亦非涅槃，如来之身亦非涅槃，摩诃般若亦非涅槃，三法各异亦非涅槃。我今安住如是三法为众生故名入涅槃，如世伊字。

Explanation: The character "yi" (伊) is likely an Indian script character, composed of three dots that are not arranged side by side; the three dots are arranged neither horizontally nor vertically, forming the character "yi," and the relationship among the three dots is one of neither identity nor difference. The same is true of the three—Dharmakāya, prajñā, and liberation: they are mutually neither identical nor different, and the three together accomplish the great nirvāṇa of the buddha-stage.

The Dharmakāya alone is not nirvāṇa; liberation alone is not nirvāṇa; prajñā alone is not nirvāṇa. If the three are unrelated to one another, it is not nirvāṇa; if the three are closely connected and bound together, it is nirvāṇa. Only when the Tathāgata realizes the Dharmakāya and at the same time possesses the great prajñā wisdom and ultimate liberation is it true nirvāṇa. For example, the liberation of an arhat lacks the virtue of the Dharmakāya and the virtue of prajñā, and his liberation is not ultimate; therefore it is not true nirvāṇa.

The virtue of the Dharmakāya is our own perfectly pure, intrinsically pure fundamental mind, the tathāgatagarbha; He perfectly accomplishes all dharmas, and infinite merits are all contained within one body. The virtue of prajñā is the great wisdom realm possessed by our true-suchness nature—neither empty nor existent, both empty and existent, true emptiness and wondrous existence, possessing both emptiness and existence. The virtue of liberation is the nature of our mind-essence: unobstructed within the three realms, abiding in no dharma, clinging to no dharma; though producing myriad images, it is defiled by not a single image; itself pure and bare, attached to not a single thing.

The fundamental essence of liberation, Dharmakāya, and prajñā is all true suchness (tathatā), but true suchness is not identical to liberation, because true suchness also has the virtue of the Dharmakāya as well as the virtue of prajñā wisdom; true suchness is not identical to the Dharmakāya, because true suchness also has the virtue of liberation and the virtue of prajñā; true suchness is not identical to prajñā wisdom, because true suchness also has the virtue of the Dharmakāya and the virtue of liberation. Only by gathering Dharmakāya, prajñā, and liberation into one is it the great nirvāṇa. Although bodhisattvas have partially realized the Dharmakāya, their wisdom of the varieties of paths is not perfect and their liberation is not ultimate; therefore it is not the great nirvāṇa. Only the World-Honored One, the Buddha, can completely abide in the place of these three—Dharmakāya, prajñā, and liberation; for the sake of all sentient beings, He is provisionally said to enter this nirvāṇa, but in reality there is nothing He abides in and nothing He enters; this is called the Great Mahāparinirvāṇa.