A Body That Neither Comes Nor Goes
The catalogue of Māyā's own form-bodies turns philosophical: a body that does not go, does not come, does not arise, does not cease — each explicitly reasoned, not merely asserted — followed by bodies compared to lightning, illusion, mirage, shadow, and dream, each simile paired with the exact reason it applies.
Fifteen Bodies, Each With Its Own Reason
「不去色身，於一切趣無所滅故；不來色身，於一切趣無所生故；不起色身，不起、不現故；不滅色身，離一切世間語言道故；不虛色身，隨所得故；不欺色身，隨應世間故；無所至色身，不生不死故；不壞色身，法性無壞故；無相色身，三世語言斷故；一相色身，無相善說相故；如電色身，隨應一切眾生心故；如幻色身，智幻滿故；如焰色身，持眾生想故；如影色身，一切眾生本願相續不斷故；如夢色身，隨應眾生不可壞故；」
"...a body that does not go, because it does not cease within any destiny; a body that does not come, because it does not arise within any destiny; a body that does not arise, because it neither arises nor appears; a body that does not cease, because it departs from every path of worldly language; a body not in vain, because it accords with what is attained; a body that does not deceive, because it responds according to the world; a body arriving nowhere, because it neither is born nor dies; an indestructible body, because the nature of dharmas is indestructible; a markless body, because the language of the three times is cut off; a single-marked body, because it well expounds the mark of marklessness; a body like lightning, because it responds according to every sentient being's own mind; a body like an illusion, because it is fully replete with the illusion of wisdom; a body like a mirage, because it upholds sentient beings' own notions; a body like a shadow, because every sentient being's own root vow continues unbroken; a body like a dream, because it responds to sentient beings indestructibly."
Where the previous catalogue named form-bodies by their function, this run names them by their ultimate nature, paired throughout with a stated cause rather than left as bare assertion — "a body that does not go, because it does not cease within any destiny" reads as a small syllogism, not merely a poetic label. The five similes that close this run — lightning, illusion, mirage, shadow, dream — are the same five this collection has used since its earliest teachers to describe a bodhisattva's own way of appearing in the world; here they converge on Māyā herself, gathered into a single unbroken sequence rather than scattered across separate passages.
Part 198 In Progress
Fifteen more form-bodies are now catalogued. Part 199 continues with the remaining items, closing this list on the very structure of the five skandhas themselves — form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness — each declared to be, and not to be, itself.
Continue to Part 199 →