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 that they are neither identical nor different. 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-bhūmi.

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; when the three are closely connected and bound together, it is nirvāṇa. Only when the Tathāgata has realized 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 original mind, the tathāgatagarbha; He perfectly accomplishes all dharmas, with immeasurable merits contained within a single body. The virtue of prajñā is the great wisdom realm possessed by the true-suchness nature of our being—neither empty nor existent, both empty and existent, true emptiness and wondrous existence, possessing both emptiness and existence. The virtue of liberation is the intrinsic nature of our mind—unobstructed within the three realms, abiding in no dharma, grasping at no dharma; though it gives rise to myriad images, it is defiled by not a single image, itself pure and bare, attached to not a single thing.

The fundamental essence of all three—liberation, Dharmakāya, and prajñā—is 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 the 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 in prajñā is not perfect and their liberation is not ultimate; therefore it is not the great nirvāṇa. Only the World-Honored Buddha can completely abide in the three—Dharmakāya, prajñā, and liberation; for the sake of all sentient beings, He is provisionally said to enter this nirvāṇa, but in reality He abides nowhere and enters nothing—this is called the Great Parinirvāṇa.