The Tathāgatagarbha, and the Outsiders' Self
Fascicle Two opens with the question Fascicle One's own closing page promised: the sūtras speak of a tathāgatagarbha, pure by nature, wrapped in the filthy garment of the aggregates the way a priceless jewel might be wrapped in rags — so how is this different from the outsiders' own doctrine of an eternal, pervading self? The Buddha's answer turns on a potter shaping one and the same lump of clay into vessel after different vessel. The page then turns to the four dharmas that give a bodhisattva the great skillful means of practice, culminating in the mind-made body — a body that moves as unobstructed and as instantaneous as a single thought.
The Tathāgatagarbha, and the Outsiders' Self
爾時，大慧菩薩摩訶薩白佛言：「世尊！世尊修多羅說，如來藏自性清淨，轉三十二相，入於一切眾生身中，如大價寶，垢衣所纏。如來之藏常住不變，亦復如是，而陰、界、入垢衣所纏，貪欲恚癡不實妄想塵勞所污，一切諸佛之所演說。云何世尊同外道說我，言有如來藏耶？世尊！外道亦說有常、作者離於求那，周遍不滅。世尊！彼說有我。」
佛告大慧：「我說如來藏，不同外道所說之我。大慧！有時說空、無相、無願、如、實際、法性、法身、涅槃、離自性、不生不滅、本來寂靜、自性涅槃，如是等句，說如來藏已。如來、應供、等正覺，為斷愚夫畏無我句故，說離妄想無所有境界如來藏門。大慧！未來現在菩薩摩訶薩，不應作我見計著。譬如陶家，於一泥聚，以人工水木輪繩方便，作種種器。如來亦復如是，於法無我離一切妄想相，以種種智慧善巧方便，或說如來藏，或說無我。以是因緣故，說如來藏，不同外道所說之我。是名說如來藏。開引計我諸外道故，說如來藏，令離不實我見妄想，入三解脫門境界，悕望疾得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，是故如來、應供、等正覺作如是說如來之藏。若不如是，則同外道所說之我。是故，大慧！為離外道見故，當依無我如來之藏。」
爾時，世尊欲重宣此義而說偈言：
「人相續陰， 緣與微塵， 勝自在作，
心量妄想。」
Then Mahāmati Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, in the sūtras the World-Honored One has taught that the tathāgatagarbha, pure by its own nature, and endowed from the outset with the thirty-two marks, enters into the body of every single sentient being, just as a priceless jewel might be wrapped in a filthy garment. Just so, the treasury of the Tathāgata, forever abiding and unchanging, is nonetheless wrapped in the filthy garment of the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields, soiled by the dust and toil of desire, hatred, and delusion, and the unreal false thought they bring — this is what every buddha teaches. World-Honored One, how does this differ from the outsiders' own teaching of a self, when the World-Honored One speaks in just this way of a tathāgatagarbha? World-Honored One, the outsiders, too, teach that there is a permanent agent, apart from any quality, pervading everywhere, and never destroyed. World-Honored One, this is exactly what they mean by 'there is a self.'"
The Buddha told Mahāmati: "What I teach as the tathāgatagarbha is not the same as what the outsiders teach as a self. Mahāmati, at various times I have spoken of emptiness, of the signless, of wishlessness, of suchness, of the true limit, of the dharma-nature, of the dharma-body, of nirvāṇa, of apartness from own-nature, of the unborn and unceasing, of what is, from the outset, utterly still, of a nirvāṇa that is one's own nature — it is through such terms as these that I have already been teaching the tathāgatagarbha. It is precisely so as to sever ordinary people's fear of the phrase 'no-self' that the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Truly and Fully Enlightened One, teaches the gateway of the tathāgatagarbha, apart from false thought, [describing] a domain that has nothing at all. Mahāmati, no bodhisattva-mahāsattva, present or future, should form any attachment to the view of a self on this account. It is like a potter, who, from a single lump of clay, using human effort, water, a wooden tool, a wheel, and string as his skillful means, fashions every kind of vessel. The Tathāgata is just the same: within the no-self of dharmas, apart from every mark of false thought, he uses every kind of wisdom and skillful means to speak, at one time, of the tathāgatagarbha, and, at another, of no-self. It is for this very reason that the tathāgatagarbha is taught, and it is not the same as what the outsiders teach as a self. This is what is meant by teaching the tathāgatagarbha. It is precisely so as to draw in and guide those very outsiders attached to a self that the tathāgatagarbha is taught, so that they may leave behind the false thought of an unreal view of self, enter the domain of the three gates of liberation, and hope to swiftly attain unsurpassed, complete enlightenment — it is for this reason that the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Truly and Fully Enlightened One, teaches the tathāgatagarbha in just this way. Were it not taught in this way, it would be no different from what the outsiders teach as a self. It is for this reason, Mahāmati, that, so as to leave behind the outsiders' view, one should rely on the tathāgatagarbha understood as without any self at all."
Then the World-Honored One, wishing to restate this meaning, spoke in verse: "A person, and the aggregates that continue on — conditions, and atoms, the supreme lord's own making — [the outsiders trace them all to these,] the mere measure of mind, mistaken for something real."
The commentators locate the entire answer in a single, precise distinction Mahāmati's question risks blurring: the tathāgatagarbha and the buddha-nature it names are not a second thing added onto emptiness, but one and the same reality under many names. "此如來藏，生佛本同，諸佛悟此，起三十二相應身之用；眾生迷佛所悟，轉淨為染，故云轉入眾生身中" — "this tathāgatagarbha is, from the outset, identical in sentient beings and in buddhas alike; every buddha, awakening to it, gives rise to the function of the response-body adorned with the thirty-two marks, while sentient beings, deluded about what a buddha has awakened to, turn purity into defilement — hence it is said to 'enter into the body of every sentient being.'" Nothing has actually been added to an ordinary being that a buddha does not also have; the entire difference is whether this single reality has been recognized or missed. On the string of near-synonyms the Buddha lists — emptiness, the signless, wishlessness, suchness, the dharma-body, nirvāṇa, and the rest — the commentators are explicit these are not separate doctrines being juxtaposed: "如是諸句皆如來藏之異名... 如來以種種名演說如來藏義，為令眾生離我" — "every one of these terms is simply a different name for the tathāgatagarbha itself... the Tathāgata teaches the meaning of the tathāgatagarbha under many different names, solely so that sentient beings might leave behind the notion of a self." Naming it "tathāgatagarbha" rather than only "emptiness" is a concession to a specific fear — that a hearer, terrified by the bare word "no-self," would recoil from the teaching altogether — not a retreat from emptiness into some subtler, positively existing self.
On the potter simile, the commentators draw out exactly what is, and is not, being compared: "泥聚一也，本無定器，陶家以作工方便故成種種器，喻法無我亦一也，本無定名，以智慧方便說種種名" — "the lump of clay is one and the same; it has, in itself, no fixed vessel it must become, and it is only through the potter's own skillful effort that it becomes this or that particular vessel — this illustrates that the no-self of dharmas is likewise one and the same, having, in itself, no fixed name it must be called, and it is only through the Tathāgata's own skillful wisdom that it is spoken of under this name or that." The clay does not change when it becomes a jar rather than a bowl; what changes is only the skillful shaping applied to it, and to the crowd of listeners around it. "Tathāgatagarbha" and "no-self" are, on this reading, two different vessels shaped from the identical clay of the very same teaching — never two different lumps of clay to begin with.
Four Dharmas for the Great Skillful Means, and the Mind-Made Body
爾時，大慧菩薩摩訶薩，觀未來眾生，復請世尊：「唯願為說修行無間，如諸菩薩摩訶薩修行者大方便。」
佛告大慧：「菩薩摩訶薩成就四法，得修行者大方便。云何為四？謂：善分別自心現、觀外性非性、離生住滅見、得自覺聖智善樂，是名菩薩摩訶薩成就四法，得修行者大方便。云何菩薩摩訶薩善分別自心現？謂：如是觀三界唯心分齊，離我我所，無動搖、離去來，無始虛偽習氣所熏，三界種種色行繫縛，身財建立，妄想隨入現。是名菩薩摩訶薩善分別自心現。云何菩薩摩訶薩善觀外性非性？謂：炎、夢等一切性，無始虛偽妄想習因，觀一切性自性。菩薩摩訶薩作如是善觀外性非性，是名菩薩摩訶薩善觀外性非性。云何菩薩摩訶薩善離生住滅見？謂：如幻、夢一切性，自他俱性不生，隨入自心分齊故。見外性非性，見識不生及緣不積聚，見妄想緣生，於三界內外一切法不可得。見離自性，生見悉滅，知如幻等諸法自性，得無生法忍。得無生法忍已，離生住滅見，是名菩薩摩訶薩善分別離生住滅見。云何菩薩摩訶薩得自覺聖智善樂？謂：得無生法忍，住第八菩薩地。得離心、意、意識、五法、自性、二無我相，得意生身。」
「世尊！意生身者，何因緣？」
佛告大慧：「意生者，譬如意去，迅疾無礙，故名意生。譬如意去，石壁無礙，於彼異方無量由延，因先所見，憶念不忘，自心流注不絕，於身無障礙生。大慧！如是意生身，得一時俱。菩薩摩訶薩意生身，如幻三昧力自在神通，妙相莊嚴，聖種類身，一時俱生。猶如意生，無有障礙，隨所憶念本願境界，為成熟眾生，得自覺聖智善樂。如是菩薩摩訶薩，得無生法忍，住第八菩薩地，轉捨心、意、意識、五法、自性、二無我相身，及得意生身，得自覺聖智善樂。是名菩薩摩訶薩成就四法，得修行者大方便。當如是學。」
Then Mahāmati Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva, considering sentient beings still to come, again made a request of the World-Honored One: "I beg you to teach the great skillful means of practice, without interruption, that every bodhisattva-mahāsattva relies on in his own practice."
The Buddha told Mahāmati: "A bodhisattva-mahāsattva who accomplishes four dharmas attains the great skillful means of a practitioner. What are the four? Skillfully discriminating one's own mind's manifestation; rightly observing that what is external has no [fixed] nature; leaving behind the view of arising, abiding, and ceasing; and attaining the bliss of self-realized noble wisdom. These are the four dharmas a bodhisattva-mahāsattva accomplishes so as to attain the great skillful means of a practitioner. What is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's skillful discrimination of his own mind's manifestation? It is to observe that the three realms are, in their entirety, nothing but the measure of mind, apart from a self and what belongs to a self, without any motion, apart from any coming or going — [seeing that] the three realms, bound by every kind of form and activity through the beginningless, false habituated force, and the body and its resources thereby established, are set forth only through the entry of one's own false thought. This is called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's skillful discrimination of his own mind's manifestation. What is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's right observation that what is external has no fixed nature? It is to observe, [recognizing] that a mirage, a dream, and every such [external] nature has as its cause only the beginningless, false, habituated force of thought, the own-nature belonging to every [external] nature. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva who observes in this way is said to rightly observe that what is external has no fixed nature. What is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's leaving behind the view of arising, abiding, and ceasing? It is that, [seeing] every nature to be like an illusion or a dream, that neither self, nor other, nor both together truly gives rise to anything, and thereby entering into the very measure of one's own mind — one sees that what is external has no fixed nature; one sees that consciousness itself does not truly arise, and that conditions do not truly accumulate; one sees that [what appears] arises only through the condition of false thought, and that, within the three realms, inner and outer, not a single dharma can ultimately be apprehended. Seeing that all is apart from own-nature, every view of arising is thereby extinguished, and, knowing the own-nature of every dharma to be like an illusion, one attains the forbearance of the unborn dharma. Having attained the forbearance of the unborn dharma, one leaves behind the view of arising, abiding, and ceasing — this is called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's skillful discrimination in leaving behind the view of arising, abiding, and ceasing. What is a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's attaining the bliss of self-realized noble wisdom? It is that, having attained the forbearance of the unborn dharma, and abiding on the eighth bodhisattva ground, one attains freedom from mind, will, and consciousness, from the five dharmas, from own-nature, and from the mark of the two kinds of no-self, and attains a mind-made body."
"World-Honored One, by what cause and condition is there a mind-made body?"
The Buddha told Mahāmati: "It is called 'mind-made' because, just as thought itself travels swiftly and without any obstruction, [this body moves] just the same. Just as thought passes through stone walls without any hindrance, reaching immeasurable yojanas away in a different direction entirely, because, remembering what was seen before, that memory is never lost, and one's own mind flows on without break — so too does this body arise without any obstruction at all. Mahāmati, such a mind-made body is attained all at once, in a single instant. A bodhisattva-mahāsattva's mind-made body — through the power of the illusion-like samādhi, mastery in the superknowledges, adorned with fine marks, the very body proper to the noble lineage — arises all at once, in a single instant, just like a thought itself, without any obstruction, following wherever one's own past vow and remembered domain lead, so as to bring sentient beings to maturity, and attaining thereby the bliss of self-realized noble wisdom. In this way, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva who has attained the forbearance of the unborn dharma, and who abides on the eighth bodhisattva ground, turns and relinquishes the body bound to mind, will, and consciousness, to the five dharmas, to own-nature, and to the mark of the two kinds of no-self, and attains, in its place, the mind-made body, attaining thereby the bliss of self-realized noble wisdom. This is called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's accomplishing the four dharmas so as to attain the great skillful means of a practitioner. One should train in just this way."
The commentators are precise that the four dharmas are not four independent practices but a single progression from cause to fruit: "然此四者不出修性因果，謂全性起修，從因至果也" — "these four, in fact, amount to nothing other than cultivation, nature, cause, and effect: cultivation arises entirely from [one's own already-present] nature, and one proceeds from cause to fruit." The first two dharmas — discriminating mind's own manifestation, and observing that the external has no fixed nature — are a matched pair of inward and outward contemplation, and the commentators note they need not both be used at once: "此之二觀修乃隨宜，未必俱用" — "these two contemplations are cultivated according to what is suited to the occasion; it is not necessary to use both together." Only once both together have done their work does the third dharma, leaving behind the view of arising and ceasing, become possible — and only that leads to the forbearance of the unborn dharma at the eighth ground, where the fourth dharma, the bliss of self-realized wisdom, finally becomes available.
On the mind-made body's threefold basis in the analogy of thought itself, the commentators name exactly what is being drawn out of the comparison: "意有三義，取以為喻：一迅疾、二無礙、三遍到... 凡夫意到而身不能到，身意俱到惟聖及得通者能之" — "thought has three relevant properties used here as the analogy: swiftness, freedom from obstruction, and the capacity to reach anywhere at all... an ordinary person's thought can arrive somewhere while his body cannot follow; only a noble one, or one who has attained the superknowledges, can bring body and thought to arrive together." What distinguishes a bodhisattva at the eighth ground is not that his mind moves as freely as anyone's thought already does — every mind already has that freedom — but that his body has finally caught up to match it, no longer lagging behind the mind's own unobstructed reach.
Part 12 Complete
This closes Part 12: the tathāgatagarbha shown to be the identical clay as emptiness and no-self, merely shaped under a different name for those too frightened by "no-self" to hear it directly, and the four dharmas — inward and outward contemplation, leaving behind arising and ceasing, and the bliss of self-realized wisdom — that carry a bodhisattva to the eighth ground and the mind-made body, where the body finally moves as freely as thought itself already does. Part 13 turns to the six kinds of cause behind everything that arises, and the four kinds of speech bound up with false thought — closing with the teaching that neither the words spoken nor the meaning they point to is, strictly speaking, ultimate truth itself.
Continue to Part 13 — Six Kinds of Cause, and Four Kinds of Speech →