Ten Reasons for Permanence

Next, these three bodies, being constantly able to give rise to benefit within the world, are said to be permanently abiding. This permanence rests upon ten causes and conditions: the boundlessness of causes and conditions; the boundlessness of the realm of sentient beings; the boundlessness of great compassion; the boundlessness of the bases of miraculous power; the boundlessness of non-discriminating wisdom; constantly abiding in meditative concentration without distraction; peaceful bliss and coolness; conduct within the world unstained by the eight worldly winds; the deathless, still, being far removed from the demon of death; and its inherent, spontaneous nature being without arising or cessation.

First, permanent because the causes and conditions are boundless: throughout immeasurable eons, the bodhisattva has given up body, life, and wealth for the sake of upholding the true Dharma; and since the true Dharma is itself boundless and inexhaustible, this inexhaustible cause invites an inexhaustible fruit — the three bodies — hence they are permanent. Second, permanent because the realm of sentient beings is boundless: at the moment of first arousing bodhicitta, the bodhisattva binds himself to the four great vows: "If sentient beings cannot be exhausted, my vow shall likewise be inexhaustible." Since sentient beings are inexhaustible, the nirmāṇakāya remains constantly present in the world, teaching without end. Third, permanent because great compassion is boundless: if bodhisattvas, possessing only a portion of great compassion, are already able to constantly rescue sentient beings, remaining long within saṃsāra rather than entering nirvāṇa — how much more so the Tathāgata, whose every virtue is fully complete? Fourth, permanent because the bases of miraculous power are boundless: even a worldly being who has attained these powers can extend his lifespan for forty minor eons — how much more so the Tathāgata, the great master of such power? Fifth, permanent because non-discriminating wisdom is boundless: being far removed from attachment to both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, and constantly in accord with the ultimate truth alone.

Sixth, permanent because of constantly abiding in meditative concentration: even a worldly person who has attained concentration is already unharmed by burning, drowning, blade, or arrow — how much more so the Tathāgata? Seventh, permanent because of peaceful bliss and coolness: "peaceful bliss" is the vajra-like mind, able to remove the ground of ignorance's very last moment of suffering; the fruit of buddhahood, thus manifested, is called cool — being the path of liberation, it is called permanent. Eighth, permanent because conduct within the world remains unstained by the eight worldly winds: though the Buddha's own body was once conjoined with saṃsāra even prior to the path, it was never stained by that affliction. Ninth, permanent because it is deathless, still, and far removed from the demon of death: the vajra-like mind, removing ignorance's very last moment of delusion, attains the permanent bliss of buddhahood; being permanently blissful, it is still; being still, it is far removed from death. Tenth, permanent because its very nature is without arising or cessation: the dharmakāya is neither something originally absent that now exists, nor something originally existing that is now absent — though it moves through the three times, it is not itself a dharma of the three times, being inherently, originally existent rather than something that only now comes to exist.

Question: "The Buddha, in teaching the various Mahāyāna sūtras, consistently declares that all dharmas are empty, like clouds, dreams, and illusions — since affliction obstructs, the cloud is given as its simile; since every karmic action is unreal, the dream is given as its simile; and since every retribution of the five aggregates arises from affliction and karma, the illusion is given as its simile. Given that these sūtras have already been taught to reveal this very meaning, why does the treatise go on to say that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature?" Answer: "As already explained at the outset, the five virtues remove five faults, and it is precisely in order to demonstrate the existence of buddha-nature that it is said to exist."

Next, it should be understood that these nine similes reveal five meanings concerning buddha-nature: that it is truly existent; that it can be seen by means of skillful means; that, once seen, its virtue is inexhaustible; and that it is without beginning, and yet is not itself in correspondence with affliction, being merely enveloped by it. Explanation: "without beginning" means that affliction and its karmic retribution are both, alike, without any beginning at all. "Not in correspondence" means that, because of these three afflictions, the dharmakāya is opposed. "Correspondence" means that it is by depending on the dharmakāya that these three arise at all. "Enveloped" means that these three are able to enclose the dharmakāya, hence called "the shell." Fifth, that it is, without beginning, in correspondence, its wholesome nature constituting the dharma. Explanation: "without beginning" means that, by nature, prajñā, great compassion, and meditative concentration, together with the dharmakāya, are all, alike, originally existent. Essence and function having never once been separated, it is said to be "in correspondence." As to "its wholesome nature constituting the dharma": the dharmakāya's own self-nature is unaltered, on account of prajñā; its nature possesses majestic virtue, on account of meditative concentration; and its nature is able to moisten and smooth, on account of great compassion.

These nine similes conclude the explanation of the meaning of no change across former and latter times. Second, no change of defilement and purity: the dharmakāya is never sullied by the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields of saṃsāra, hence undefiled; nor is it fashioned by any wisdom or reckoning, hence without contrived purity. Third, no change of arising: since the dharmakāya has no arising, it never comes into being through any process of arising, and was never something that first came to exist. Fourth, no change of aging: since it undergoes no motion or alteration, it has nothing that changes. Fifth, no change of dependence and abiding: if a dharma has something to depend on and somewhere to abide, change follows — but the dharmakāya depends on nothing else, having no dependence and no fixed location. Sixth, no change of cessation: the dharmakāya is permanently abiding and cannot be destroyed.

This concludes the explanation of the six particular meanings. Next, as to combining these six into three: stillness across former and latter times, that is, no difference across former and latter times; being outflow-free, that is, no difference between defilement and purity; and being unconditioned, that is, being free of the four marks of arising, abiding, and cessation, and hence without change. For this reason, every dharma born of delusive thought undergoes three kinds of change: change on account of the exhaustion of karmic retribution; change on account of being broken by an antidote; and change through perishing moment by moment. The dharmakāya is not like this: being free of these three faults, it is, in the first sense, one and undivided; being still across former and latter times, it is, in the second sense, free of the change of karmic retribution's exhaustion; being outflow-free, it is, in the third sense, free of any antidote that could break it. Not being a conditioned dharma, and free of the change of perishing moment by moment, it is called non-change.