Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: Part V - Thus Come Real Seeing

Seeing the truth as it is means perceiving the genuine reality of dharmas, not seeing false dharmas, and not mistaking illusory dharmas as real. This section, following the refutation of the four marks, goes deeper to refute all marks, including the Buddha’s bodily form, in order to highlight the Tathāgata’s Dharma Body and reveal the true reality of dharmas.

Original text: Subhūti, what do you think? Can the Tathāgata be seen by means of bodily form? Subhūti replied, No, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata cannot be seen by means of bodily form.

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think? Is seeing the Tathāgata about seeing His physical body? Is the Buddha with a physical form the true Buddha? Is the Tathāgata seen through His bodily form? Subhūti said: It is not so, World-Honored One; seeing the Tathāgata is not about seeing Him through bodily form.

The true Buddha need not have form, because even Māra can manifest a Buddha with thirty-two marks. That which has form is not the true Buddha body. The Buddha has three bodies: the Dharma Body, the Reward Body, and the Response Body. The Dharma Body is the true suchness substance, which cannot be seen, heard, or touched. The Dharma Body is formless, yet there is not a single form that is not It; forms do not manifest apart from It, nor are they accomplished apart from It. The Dharma Body is also called the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, illuminating the great chiliocosm of the ten directions, with no dharma beyond its illumination, no dharma able to escape this perfect mirror—all are images within the mirror. It possesses immeasurable, boundless, and vast wisdom; no dharmas are unknown, no dharmas cannot be manifested. With perfect merits and complete virtues, it encompasses all dharmas and is also called All-Wisdom. The Reward Body Buddha is the majestic physical body attained as the reward for the Buddha’s practice over three great asamkhyeya kalpas. Śākyamuni Buddha’s Reward Body resides in the Akaniṣṭha Heaven, expounding the wisdom of the path to great beings from the first to the tenth ground who have realized the Dharma Body, teaching the wisdom of Buddhahood and instructing bodhisattvas to cultivate the functional seeds contained within the Tathāgatagarbha. However, bodhisattvas must possess meditative concentration at or above the fourth dhyāna to be reborn in the highest heaven of the form realm and hear the Buddha personally expound the Dharma.

The Reward Body Buddha has a self-enjoyment body and an enjoyment body for others. The self-enjoyment body is for the World-Honored One’s own enjoyment, while the enjoyment body for others is manifested by the World-Honored One for bodhisattvas. As bodhisattvas’ levels of realization differ, the size and form of the Reward Body Buddha they perceive also differ. This is due to the blessings and wisdom of the bodhisattvas themselves, not because the Buddha makes distinctions. The lifespan of the Reward Body Buddha is seven million asamkhyeya kalpas. One asamkhyeya kalpa contains countless great kalpas; one great kalpa consists of four medium kalpas: formation, abiding, destruction, and emptiness. One medium kalpa comprises twenty small kalpas, and one small kalpa lasts sixteen million eight hundred thousand years. The size of the Buddha’s Reward Body is immensely vast. Compared to the Buddha’s body, the Earth is like a table tennis ball in the Buddha’s hand. A single white hair between the Buddha’s eyebrows, if extended, could encircle five Mount Sumerus.

The Response Body Buddha is the physical body manifested in accordance with the capacities of sentient beings throughout the ten directions, resembling sentient beings and sharing their lifespan. It undergoes the eight phases of Buddhahood: descending from Tuṣita Heaven, entering the mother’s womb, taking birth, leaving home, subduing Māra, attaining Buddhahood, turning the Dharma wheel, and entering parinirvāṇa. After leaving home, the World-Honored One manifested actions such as alms gathering, eating, bathing, sleeping, and daily activities—just like sentient beings. The Buddha did not need to do these things but intentionally manifested them for sentient beings. Because sentient beings have dull faculties, if the Buddha did not appear equal to them, they would not follow His example, and the Buddha would be unable to teach them. When the Response Body Buddha enters parinirvāṇa, it is not like arhats who incinerate their bodies and extinguish consciousness, annihilating the five-aggregate body. Instead, He retains a liberated physical body to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings. After passing away in this world, He manifests another physical body in another world. This physical body is liberated, free from afflictions and habits, having severed all ignorance, including momentary ignorance, beginningless ignorance, and dust-like ignorance. Momentary ignorance can only be completely severed by fourth-fruit arhats; only after severing it can they transcend the three realms. Beginningless ignorance is severed by bodhisattvas after realization. Sentient beings, since beginningless kalpas, have been unaware of the true reality mind, the Tathāgatagarbha. After realization, beginningless ignorance is shattered. Dust-like ignorance refers to the countless matters and principles unknown to sentient beings, as numerous as dust and sand. After enlightenment, ignorance is gradually exhausted until Buddhahood is perfectly accomplished.

The Transformation Body is the immeasurable physical bodies manifested by the Buddha through supernatural powers and samādhi, distributed throughout the ten directions to widely deliver those with affinities. He manifests whatever form is suitable to deliver beings and expounds the Dharma accordingly, working and walking alongside sentient beings. The Reward Body, Response Body, and Transformation Body are all born from the Dharma Body; they are subject to birth, death, change, and impermanence—they are not the true Buddha. Therefore, to see the Tathāgata, one cannot rely on bodily form. The true Buddha is formless; that which has form is not true.

Original text: Why is this? The bodily form spoken of by the Tathāgata is not bodily form.

Explanation: Why is this so? Because the bodily form spoken of by the Tathāgata is the form without physical form.

After Subhūti turned his mind toward the Mahāyāna, he cultivated the true suchness principle of reality. His wisdom became sharp and profound, enabling him to deeply comprehend the true meaning spoken by the Buddha. What form did the World-Honored One refer to in the previous sentence regarding the Tathāgata’s bodily form? Subhūti said that the bodily form spoken of by the Tathāgata is the form without physical form—it is the form of formlessness. The Dharma Body Buddha embodies the principle of the Middle Way beyond the eight extremes, possessing immeasurable truths of the Middle Way, with genuine meritorious functions and virtues: the virtue of prajñā, the virtue of liberation, and the virtue of nirvāṇa. The virtue of liberation means the Dharma Body does not cling to any dharma, does not abide in any dharma, and is not bound by any dharma. It is not within the three realms, yet not apart from them; not outside the three realms, yet not separate from them—unmoved by all dharmas. The virtue of nirvāṇa means the Dharma Body possesses the nature of non-arising and non-ceasing, non-coming and non-going, true permanence, quiescence, purity, immutability, and the eternal, blissful, true self, and purity. The virtue of prajñā refers to the great wisdom of the Dharma Body that gives birth to all dharmas.