Every Buddha You Have Ever Seen Is Your Own Mind
Part 7 closes "revealing the true meaning," the section Part 2 opened. Suchness is described positively at last, as the tathāgatagarbha complete with every quality; suchness's function is described as the transformation body and reward body a buddha shows to beings according to what their own practice makes them capable of seeing; and the treatise ends the section exactly where it began, showing how the gate of arising-and-ceasing folds back into the gate of suchness after all.
The Tathāgatagarbha's Own Qualities
復次，真如自體相者，一切凡夫、聲聞、緣覺、菩薩、諸佛，無有增減，非前際生、非後際滅，畢竟常恒。從本已來，性自滿足一切功德。所謂自體有大智慧光明義故，遍照法界義故，真實識知義故，自性清淨心義故，常樂我淨義故，清涼不變自在義故。具足如是過於恒沙不離、不斷、不異、不思議佛法，乃至滿足無有所少義故，名為如來藏，亦名如來法身。
問曰：「上說真如，其體平等離一切相，云何復說體有如是種種功德？」
答曰：「雖實有此諸功德義，而無差別之相，等同一味，唯一真如。此義云何？以無分別離分別相。是故無二。復以何義得說差別？以依業識，生滅相示。此云何示？以一切法本來唯心，實無於念，而有妄心，不覺起念，見諸境界故說無明。心性不起，即是大智慧光明義故。若心起見，則有不見之相。心性離見，即是遍照法界義故。若心有動，非真識知，無有自性，非常、非樂、非我、非淨，熱惱衰變則不自在，乃至具有過恒沙等妄染之義。對此義故，心性無動則有過恒沙等諸淨功德相義示現。若心有起，更見前法可念者則有所少。如是淨法無量功德，即是一心，更無所念，是故滿足。名為法身如來之藏。」
Furthermore, as for the essence and attributes of suchness itself: in every ordinary person, every śrāvaka, every pratyekabuddha, every bodhisattva, and every buddha, it neither increases nor decreases; it is not born at any prior limit, nor does it cease at any later limit — it is, in the end, constant and eternal. From the very outset, its nature is of itself complete with every quality. That is: its own essence has the meaning of great wisdom's illuminating light; the meaning of universally illuminating the dharma-realm; the meaning of true and real knowing; the meaning of mind pure in its own nature; the meaning of permanence, bliss, self, and purity; and the meaning of coolness, changelessness, and freedom. Complete with buddha-dharmas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges and beyond, never separate, never interrupted, never different, and inconceivable — utterly complete, with nothing at all lacking — it is for this reason called the tathāgatagarbha, and also called the Tathāgata's dharma-body.
Question: "Above it was said that suchness's essence is equal, apart from every mark — how, then, can it now be said that its essence has all these various qualities?"
Answer: "Although these qualities are indeed real, they have no mark of differentiation whatsoever — equally of one and the same taste, only the single suchness. What does this mean? Because it is without discrimination, apart from any mark of discrimination, and therefore not two. On what basis, then, can differentiation be spoken of at all? It is shown in dependence on the karmic consciousness, through the marks of arising-and-ceasing. How is it shown? Because all dharmas are, in reality, mind alone, and truly without thought; and yet there is false mind, unenlightened thought stirring up and perceiving various object-realms, and this is called ignorance. That the nature of mind does not stir is precisely the meaning of great wisdom's illuminating light. If mind gives rise to seeing, then there is a mark of what is not seen. That the nature of mind is apart from seeing is precisely the meaning of universally illuminating the dharma-realm. If mind has motion, it is not true knowing; it has no nature of its own; it is not permanent, not blissful, not self, not pure; it suffers heat and vexation, decay and change, and is without freedom — and, in this way, comes to be complete with false, defiling qualities as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. In contrast to this meaning, the nature of mind, being without motion, shows forth the mark of qualities of purity as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. If mind has any stirring at all, going on to perceive some further thing before it that can be thought, then there is something lacking. The immeasurable qualities of this pure dharma are precisely the one mind, with nothing further to be thought — and it is for this reason complete. This is what is called the dharma-body, the tathāgatagarbha."
Fazang shows that every one of the tathāgatagarbha's six qualities is derived by direct negation of a defiled mark this treatise has already catalogued, rather than asserted as some independent positive content: 一本覺智明義，二本覺顯照諸法義，三顯照之時無倒義，四性離惑染義，五性德圓備義，六性德無遷義 — first, the meaning of original enlightenment's wisdom-light; second, the meaning of original enlightenment illuminating all dharmas; third, the meaning of that illumination being free of error; fourth, the meaning of the nature apart from affliction and defilement; fifth, the meaning of intrinsic qualities complete and full; sixth, the meaning of intrinsic qualities never shifting. Read against the passage's own working-out, each pairs exactly with a specific unenlightened mark from earlier pages: mind's stillness is wisdom-light because Part 4's ignorance was precisely mind's stirring; mind's freedom from "seeing" is universal illumination because the perceiving subject named among the three subtle marks always implies something it fails to see; mind's non-motion secures permanence, bliss, self, and purity because motion, on this treatise's own terms, is exactly what produces the four errors those qualities' negation corrects. The tathāgatagarbha's positive description, on this reading, is not a second doctrine layered on top of the treatise's earlier account of delusion — it is that same account, read in reverse, with every negative mark replaced by what remains once the mark is gone.
On the deeper puzzle the question-and-answer format raises — how "equal, apart from every mark" and "complete with six qualities" can both be true — Fazang's summary line is worth holding onto for the rest of this collection: 以依業識，生滅相示 — differentiation is shown only in dependence on the karmic consciousness, through the marks of arising-and-ceasing; it is never asserted as some plurality intrinsic to suchness on its own terms. Suchness itself remains "of one taste"; it is only against the backdrop of a deluded mind's own arising and ceasing that its qualities can be counted out one by one at all. Take away every trace of delusion, and there would be nothing left needing six names — only, as the passage's own closing line puts it, 即是一心，更無所念 (precisely the one mind, with nothing further to be thought).
The Transformation Body, the Reward Body, and Whose Mind They Appear In
復次，真如用者，所謂諸佛如來，本在因地發大慈悲，修諸波羅蜜，攝化眾生。立大誓願，盡欲度脫等眾生界。亦不限劫數盡於未來，以取一切眾生如己身故，而亦不取眾生相。此以何義？謂如實知一切眾生及與己身真如平等、無別異故，以有如是大方便智，除滅無明、見本法身，自然而有不思議業種種之用，即與真如等，遍一切處，又亦無有用相可得。何以故？謂諸佛如來唯是法身智相之身，第一義諦無有世諦境界，離於施作，但隨眾生見聞得益故說為用。
此用有二種。云何為二？一者、依分別事識，凡夫、二乘心所見者，名為應身。以不知轉識現故見從外來，取色分齊不能盡知故。二者、依於業識，謂諸菩薩從初發意，乃至菩薩究竟地，心所見者，名為報身。身有無量色，色有無量相，相有無量好，所住依果亦有無量種種莊嚴隨所示現，即無有邊不可窮盡離分齊相，隨其所應，常能住持不毀不失。如是功德，皆因諸波羅蜜等無漏行熏，及不思議熏之所成就，具足無量樂相故，說為報身。又為凡夫所見者，是其麁色，隨於六道各見不同，種種異類非受樂相故，說為應身。
復次，初發意菩薩等所見者，以深信真如法故，少分而見，知彼色相莊嚴等事，無來無去、離於分齊，唯依心現、不離真如。然此菩薩猶自分別，以未入法身位故。若得淨心，所見微妙其用轉勝，乃至菩薩地盡見之究竟。若離業識則無見相，以諸佛法身無有彼此色相迭相見故。
問曰：「若諸佛法身離於色相者，云何能現色相？」
答曰：「即此法身是色體故，能現於色。所謂從本已來色心不二，以色性即智故色體無形，說名智身；以智性即色故，說名法身遍一切處。所現之色無有分齊，隨心能示十方世界，無量菩薩、無量報身、無量莊嚴各各差別，皆無分齊而不相妨。此非心識分別能知，以真如自在用義故。」
Furthermore, as for the function of suchness: it is that the buddhas, the tathāgatas, originally, while still on the causal ground, gave rise to great compassion, cultivated the pāramitās, and gathered in and transformed sentient beings. They established great vows, wishing to bring across the entire realm of sentient beings, without limiting themselves even to the end of future kalpas — because they take all sentient beings as they would their very own selves, and yet they do not grasp at any mark of sentient beings either. What is the meaning of this? It is that they truly know that all sentient beings and their own selves are equal in suchness, with no difference at all; and because they have such great skillful means and wisdom, having removed and extinguished ignorance and seen the original dharma-body, they spontaneously possess inconceivable karmic activity of every kind — a function equal to suchness itself, pervading every place — and yet there is, likewise, no mark of function to be apprehended at all. Why is this? Because the buddhas, the tathāgatas, are nothing but the dharma-body, a body of the mark of wisdom; in the ultimate truth there is no object-realm of worldly truth, apart from all contrivance — it is only in accordance with what sentient beings see, hear, and gain benefit from that this is spoken of as function.
This function has two kinds. What are the two? First, what is seen by the minds of ordinary people and the two vehicles, in dependence on the consciousness that discriminates objects, is called the transformation body. Because they do not know it is manifested by the perceiving-turned consciousness, they see it as coming from outside, grasping at its form and limits without being able to know it exhaustively. Second, what is seen by the minds of bodhisattvas, from their first resolve up to the very end of the bodhisattva grounds, in dependence on the karmic consciousness, is called the reward body. This body has immeasurable forms; each form has immeasurable marks; each mark has immeasurable excellent features; and the fruit of the land it inhabits likewise has immeasurable, manifold adornments, manifesting according to what is fitting — boundless, inexhaustible, apart from any mark of limitation, always able to sustain itself, undestroyed and unlost, according to what corresponds to it. Such qualities are all accomplished through the habituation of undefiled practices such as the pāramitās, and through inconceivable habituation, and, being complete with immeasurable marks of bliss, this is spoken of as the reward body. And what is seen by ordinary people is a coarse form, seen differently according to each of the six destinies, in all manner of different kinds, not bearing the mark of bliss — and this is spoken of as the transformation body.
Furthermore, as for what bodhisattvas who have just first resolved their minds see: because of their deep faith in the dharma of suchness, they see it in part, knowing that those forms, marks, and adornments neither come nor go, are apart from all limitation, and appear solely in dependence on mind, never separate from suchness. Yet these bodhisattvas still discriminate on their own, because they have not yet entered the stage of the dharma-body. Once they attain the pure mind, what they see becomes subtle and wondrous, its function ever more excellent, until, at the very end of the bodhisattva grounds, they see it in its ultimate fullness. Were the karmic consciousness itself to be left behind, there would be no mark of seeing at all — because the buddhas' dharma-body has no mark of form, this one and that one, seeing one another in turn.
Question: "If the buddhas' dharma-body is apart from any mark of form, how can it manifest a mark of form?"
Answer: "It is precisely because this dharma-body is itself the essence of form that it is able to manifest form. That is to say: from the very outset, form and mind are not two. Because the nature of form is identical with wisdom, the essence of form is without shape, and this is called the body of wisdom; because the nature of wisdom is identical with form, this is called the dharma-body, pervading every place. The form thus manifested has no limitation; in accordance with mind, it is able to display, throughout the worlds of the ten directions, immeasurable bodhisattvas, immeasurable reward bodies, and immeasurable adornments, each one distinct, yet all without limitation and without obstructing one another. This is not something the discrimination of mind and consciousness is able to know — it is the meaning of suchness's own free function."
Fazang ties the two buddha-bodies directly to the two consciousnesses Parts 5 and 6 already distinguished: the transformation body corresponds to the discriminating consciousness, which is why ordinary people and the two vehicles, not yet knowing that what they see is manifested by the perceiving-turned consciousness within their own mind, mistake it for something arriving from outside; the reward body corresponds to the karmic consciousness, seen only by bodhisattvas whose practice has reached that far subtler level. He then poses, and answers, the question this correspondence immediately raises: if the buddha-body is manifested within a perceiver's own consciousness, is a buddha's reward body really nothing more than the perceiver's own mind? His answer is unflinching: 眾生真心即諸佛體，更無差別 — a sentient being's true mind and the very essence of all buddhas are, in fact, without any difference at all — citing the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* directly: 若人欲求知三世一切佛，應當如是觀，心造諸如來 (if a person wishes to know all buddhas of the three times, they should contemplate exactly this: mind creates all tathāgatas), and the *Sūtra of Neither Increase Nor Decrease*: 法身即眾生，眾生即法身，法身與眾生，義一名異 (the dharma-body is precisely sentient beings, and sentient beings are precisely the dharma-body; dharma-body and sentient beings are one in meaning, different only in name). This is, on Fazang's own classification of Buddhist schools elsewhere in his commentary, the distinctively "final teaching" (終教) reading of this passage — a more provisional, "initial teaching" (始教) account exists as well, on which a buddha's compassionate vow supplies only the increment-condition and a being's own karmic seeds the actual cause, producing merely an image modeled on the buddha's real body within one's own consciousness. Fazang is explicit that this treatise itself intends the stronger, non-dual reading: not that a devotee's mind constructs a private approximation of some buddha existing elsewhere, but that the devotee's mind and the buddha's own essence were, from the beginning, the identical thing.
On why, given that identity, buddhas are not seen by everyone at all times, Fazang closes this section of his commentary with an image from the Mahāyānasaṃgraha that answers the question without contradicting the identity just established: 由失尊不現，如月於破器 — the honored one seems to fail to appear only because of a defect on the viewer's side, as the moon fails to appear in a cracked vessel. He continues the citation: 如是諸眾生無奢摩他軟滑相續，但有過失相續，於彼實有諸佛亦不顯現 — sentient beings lacking the smooth, unbroken continuity of calming meditation, possessing instead only an unbroken continuity of faults, do not see buddhas who are, in reality, always and everywhere present — exactly as water will not hold still in a cracked vessel, though the moon's reflection is available to any vessel able to hold it. The buddha, on this reading, is never absent; only the capacity to reflect it sometimes is.
Back Into the Gate of Suchness
復次，顯示從生滅門即入真如門。所謂推求五陰色之與心，六塵境界畢竟無念，以心無形相，十方求之終不可得。如人迷故謂東為西，方實不轉。眾生亦爾，無明迷故謂心為念，心實不動。若能觀察知心無念，即得隨順入真如門故。
Furthermore, this shows how one enters the gate of suchness directly from the gate of arising-and-ceasing. That is: seeking out the five aggregates — form together with mind — and the object-realm of the six sense-objects, one finds, in the end, no thought there at all; since mind has no shape or form, it can, in the end, nowhere be found, sought throughout the ten directions. It is like a person who, being lost, takes east for west, though direction itself has never actually turned. Sentient beings are just the same: through the delusion of ignorance, they take mind for thought, though mind itself has never actually moved. If one is able to observe and know that mind is without thought, one thereby accords with, and enters, the gate of suchness.
This short closing passage returns, deliberately, to the very image Part 2's reading note already flagged as the treatise's own model for how the two gates include one another completely — dust and vessel, each already containing the other. Having spent five pages inside the gate of arising-and-ceasing, unfolding the ālayavijñāna, enlightenment, non-enlightenment, the nine marks, habituation, and the two buddha-bodies, the treatise now demonstrates in miniature that none of this ever actually left the gate of suchness to begin with: searching the five aggregates for some real form or mind to be found, nothing is discovered but thought itself, and thought itself, searched for directly, has no location anywhere in the ten directions either. The lost traveler simile from Part 4 reappears here in reverse. There, delusion was explained as depending on a direction the way being lost depends on believing in "east" and "west." Here, the same image shows the way out: the traveler was never actually anywhere but where he always stood; only his belief about which way he was facing ever moved. "Revealing the true meaning," the section Part 2 opened, closes on exactly this note — not a new technique for escaping the arising-and-ceasing gate, but the recognition that the gate one was supposedly escaping from and the gate one was trying to reach were, as Part 2 established at the very start, never two gates apart from each other at all.
Part 7 Complete
This closes Part 7, and with it "revealing the true meaning" — the whole doctrine of the One Mind, its two gates, the ālayavijñāna, enlightenment and non-enlightenment, habituation, and the tathāgatagarbha's essence, attributes, and function, unfolded across seven pages from the single phrase "the mind of sentient beings" that opened Part 1. Part 8 turns to the second of the "part of explanation"'s three sections: countering wrong attachments, where the treatise takes up five specific misreadings of everything just established — the kind of misreadings a careful reader of these seven pages might genuinely be tempted toward — and corrects each one in turn.
Continue to Part 8 — Countering Wrong Attachments →