Three Kinds of Mind-Made Body
Without waiting for a question, the Buddha opens Fascicle Three by naming three kinds of mind-made body a bodhisattva successively attains: one born of the bliss of samādhi at the third through fifth grounds, one born of realizing every dharma is like an illusion at the eighth ground, and one born of directly awakening to the buddha-dharma itself. Mahāmati then asks about a teaching that sounds shocking on its surface — that a man or woman who commits the five acts of immediate retribution does not fall into the hell reserved for them — and the Buddha answers by reinterpreting each of the five acts, one by one, as a description of the very steps that dismantle craving, ignorance, and the deluded consciousness itself.
Three Kinds of Mind-Made Body
爾時，世尊告大慧菩薩摩訶薩言：「意生身分別通相，我今當說。諦聽，諦聽！善思念之。」
大慧白佛言：「善哉，世尊！唯然受教。」
佛告大慧：「有三種意生身。云何為三？所謂：三昧樂正受意生身、覺法自性性意生身、種類俱生無行作意生身。修行者了知初地上增進相，得三種身。大慧！云何三昧樂正受意生身？謂：第三第四第五地，三昧樂正受故，種種自心寂靜，安住心海，起浪識相不生，知自心現境界性非性，是名三昧樂正受意生身。大慧！云何覺法自性性意生身？謂：第八地，觀察覺了如幻等法悉無所有，身心轉變，得如幻三昧及餘三昧門，無量相力自在明，如妙華莊嚴，迅疾如意，猶如幻夢水月鏡像，非造非所造，如造所造，一切色種種支分具足莊嚴，隨入一切佛剎大眾，通達自性法故，是名覺法自性性意生身。大慧！云何種類俱生無行作意生身？所謂：覺一切佛法，緣自得樂相，是名種類俱生無行作意生身。大慧！於彼三種身相觀察覺了，應當修學。」
爾時，世尊欲重宣此義而說偈言：
「非我乘大乘， 非說亦非字，
非諦非解脫， 非無有境界。
然乘摩訶衍， 三摩提自在，
種種意生身， 自在華莊嚴。」
Then the World-Honored One said to Mahāmati Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva: "I shall now speak of the general marks distinguishing the mind-made body. Listen well! Listen well! Consider this carefully."
Mahāmati said to the Buddha: "Excellent, World-Honored One! I gladly receive your teaching."
The Buddha told Mahāmati: "There are three kinds of mind-made body. What are the three? The mind-made body of the true attainment of the bliss of samādhi; the mind-made body of awakening to the own-nature of dharmas; and the mind-made body born together with its own kind, free of any deliberate activity. A practitioner, understanding the marks of ever-further advancement from the first ground onward, attains these three bodies in turn. Mahāmati, what is the mind-made body of the true attainment of the bliss of samādhi? It is that, through the true attainment of the bliss of samādhi at the third, fourth, and fifth grounds, one's own mind becomes still in every way, abiding securely within the very ocean of mind, so that the wave-like mark of consciousness no longer arises, and one knows that the object-realm manifested by one's own mind has no fixed nature at all — this is called the mind-made body of the true attainment of the bliss of samādhi. Mahāmati, what is the mind-made body of awakening to the own-nature of dharmas? It is that, at the eighth ground, one observes and fully realizes that every dharma, like an illusion, has nothing at all within it; body and mind having thereby turned and transformed, one attains the illusion-like samādhi and every other gateway of samādhi besides, with immeasurable marks, power, mastery, and radiance, adorned like an exquisite flower, swift and unobstructed as thought itself, just like an illusion, a dream, the moon in water, or an image in a mirror — neither truly made nor entirely unmade, and yet resembling something made — every form, in every one of its manifold parts, fully adorned, entering freely into the great assembly of every buddha-land, having thereby penetrated the dharma of own-nature itself — this is called the mind-made body of awakening to the own-nature of dharmas. Mahāmati, what is the mind-made body born together with its own kind, free of any deliberate activity? It is precisely the awakening to every buddha-dharma, the very mark of bliss attained through self-realization — this is called the mind-made body born together with its own kind, free of any deliberate activity. Mahāmati, you should diligently train in observing and fully realizing these three kinds of body."
Then the World-Honored One, wishing to restate this meaning, spoke in verse: "It is not that I ride the Mahāyāna as though it were something to ride at all — it is neither teaching nor written word,
neither a truth nor a liberation, and yet it is not that no domain at all is shown by it.
And yet I do ride the Great Vehicle, mastery itself within samādhi —
every kind of mind-made body, free and adorned like a flower."
The commentators map each mind-made body precisely onto the bodhisattva grounds it belongs to, and are explicit about what distinguishes the first from mere quietism: "此菩薩從三地至四地斷見惑，從五地至七地斷思惑，得真空三昧之樂...種種自心等，謂菩薩證空，不同二乘，心生味著，為相風所動，故曰安住心海" — "this bodhisattva cuts through the afflictions of view from the third to the fourth ground, and the afflictions of habitual attachment from the fifth to the seventh, attaining the bliss of the samādhi of true emptiness... 'his own mind becomes still in every way' means that, though this bodhisattva realizes emptiness just as the two lesser vehicles do, he does not, like them, give rise to attached delight in it, stirred by the wind of [conditioned] marks — hence he is said to 'abide securely within the very ocean of mind.'" The very same realization of emptiness that leaves a śrāvaka clinging to its bliss leaves this bodhisattva undisturbed by it — the difference is not what is realized but whether attachment follows the realization.
On the third body, born "together with its own kind" (種類俱生), the commentators cite an authoritative gloss distinguishing this from a merely numerous multiplication of forms: "《輔行》云：『了佛證法，即入中道，屬佛種類。』或謂千種萬類，非也" — "the *Fu Xing* commentary states: 'fully realizing what a buddha realizes is itself entering the middle way, and belonging to the buddha's own kind [of being].' Some read this as meaning a thousand different kinds of manifold forms — this is mistaken." The phrase names a kinship of realization — this bodhisattva now belongs to the same category as a buddha with respect to what has been directly awakened to — not a boast about the sheer number of forms he can now assume; the "kind" in question is a spiritual lineage, not a headcount.
The Five Acts of Immediate Retribution, Reread
爾時，大慧菩薩摩訶薩白佛言：「世尊！如世尊說，若男子女人行五無間業，不入無擇地獄。世尊！云何男子女人行五無間業，不入無擇地獄？」
佛告大慧：「諦聽，諦聽！善思念之，當為汝說。」
大慧白佛言：「善哉，世尊！唯然受教。」
佛告大慧：「云何五無間業？所謂：殺父母及害羅漢、破壞眾僧、惡心出佛身血。大慧！云何眾生母？謂：愛更受生貪喜俱。如緣母立，無明為父，生入處聚落，斷二根本，名害父母。彼諸使不現，如鼠毒發，諸法究竟斷彼，名害羅漢。云何破僧？謂：異相諸陰和合積聚，究竟斷彼，名為破僧。大慧！不覺外自共相，自心現量七識身，以三解脫無漏惡想，究竟斷彼七種識佛，名為惡心出佛身血。若男子女人行此無間者，名五無間事，亦名無間業。
「復次，大慧！有外無間，今當演說。汝及餘菩薩摩訶薩，聞是義已，於未來世，不墮愚癡。云何五無間？謂：先所說無間。若行此者，於三解脫，一一不得無間等法。除此法已，餘化神力現無間等，謂：聲聞化神力、菩薩化神力、如來化神力，為餘作無間罪者，除疑悔過，為勸發故，神力變化，現無間等。無有一向作無間事，不得無間等法。除覺自心現量，離身財妄想，離我我所攝受。或時遇善知識，解脫餘趣相續妄想。」
爾時，世尊欲重宣此義而說偈言：
「貪愛名為母， 無明則為父，
覺境識為佛， 諸使為羅漢，
陰集名為僧， 無間次第斷，
謂是五無間， 不入無擇獄。」
Then Mahāmati Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, as the World-Honored One has taught, a man or woman who commits the five acts of immediate retribution does not fall into the Hell Without Reprieve. World-Honored One, how is it that a man or woman who commits the five acts of immediate retribution does not fall into the Hell Without Reprieve?"
The Buddha told Mahāmati: "Listen well! Listen well! Consider this carefully — I shall now explain it to you."
Mahāmati said to the Buddha: "Excellent, World-Honored One! I gladly receive your teaching."
The Buddha told Mahāmati: "What are the five acts of immediate retribution? They are: killing one's father and mother, killing an arhat, causing a schism within the monastic assembly, and, with an evil mind, drawing a buddha's blood. Mahāmati, what is a sentient being's 'mother'? It is craving, which draws one to receive further existence, bound up with desire and delight — established, as it were, as a mother is; ignorance, in turn, is the 'father.' Once one enters the sense-fields and the village-like aggregation [of the six sense-objects, springing from mother and father in this sense], cutting through these two very roots is what is called 'killing one's father and mother.' As for the underlying tendencies not yet manifest — like a rat's poison, latent until it flares — cutting through every dharma bound up with them, once and for all, to their very root, is what is called 'killing an arhat.' What is 'causing a schism in the assembly'? It is that the aggregates, gathered together in their manifold, distinct marks, form a single accumulation — cutting through this, once and for all, is what is called 'causing a schism in the assembly.' Mahāmati, failing to perceive that the own mark and shared mark of what is external is the very body of the seven consciousnesses, itself one's own mind's manifestation — cutting through these seven kinds of consciousness, mistaken for a buddha, once and for all, through the undefiled thought proper to the three gates of liberation, is what is called, 'with an evil mind, drawing a buddha's blood.' A man or woman who carries out these acts of immediate retribution [understood in just this way] is said to have accomplished the five matters of immediate retribution, also called the acts of immediate retribution.
"Furthermore, Mahāmati, there is an outward kind of immediate retribution as well, which I shall now explain, so that you and the other bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, having heard this meaning, will not fall into confusion in ages to come. What are the [outward] five acts of immediate retribution? They are precisely the ones just described [in their literal, outward sense]. One who actually commits these does not, in any of the three gates of liberation, attain the dharma of true immediacy. Apart from this rule, however, there remain the spiritual powers of skillful transformation that manifest an apparent immediacy — namely, the transformative spiritual power of the śrāvaka, of the bodhisattva, and of the Tathāgata, [each of whom may] manifest, through spiritual transformation, an apparent act of immediate retribution, on behalf of another who has actually committed such a crime, so as to help him regret and repent it, and to spur him onward. There is no case of one who genuinely, single-mindedly commits an act of immediate retribution nevertheless attaining the dharma of true immediacy — except by becoming aware of the very measure of his own mind's manifestation, leaving behind the false thought bound up with body and possessions, leaving behind attachment to 'I' and to 'mine.' Or else, at some later time, he may encounter a good spiritual friend, and thereby become free of the false thought that continues him on toward some further destiny."
Then the World-Honored One, wishing to restate this meaning, spoke in verse: "Craving is what is called the 'mother'; ignorance, in turn, is the 'father';
the consciousness aware of its object, mistaken for a 'buddha'; the underlying tendencies, the 'arhat';
the aggregates gathered together, the 'assembly' — cutting through these, one by one, in their proper order,
this is what is called the five acts of immediate retribution — and one who does so does not fall into the Hell Without Reprieve."
The commentators are careful that this reinterpretation does not soften or excuse the literal crimes, and note the sūtra itself immediately supplies the "outward" sense precisely to forestall that misreading: "上說行五無間得證聖智，恐人謂實造無間之因亦不受惡報，故又說此...若聞外五無間事業報不差，則不生疑惑" — "having just explained that carrying out the five acts of immediate retribution [in this inward sense] leads to noble realization, the Buddha, fearing that people might conclude that actually committing the literal crimes also carries no bad consequence, therefore explains this further point... once one hears that the outward five acts of immediate retribution still bring their karmic result without fail, no such doubt will arise." The esoteric reading is not a loophole; it operates entirely within its own register, describing internal steps of practice under a shocking, deliberately provocative vocabulary, while the literal crimes remain exactly as consequential as ever.
On why the sūtra allows that even a genuine perpetrator of the literal crimes is not permanently barred from the three gates of liberation, the commentators locate the reconciliation precisely: "然實造者，未必永不得三解脫法，故曰除覺自心現量等" — "yet one who has actually committed [these crimes] is not necessarily barred forever from the three gates of liberation — hence the qualification, 'except by becoming aware of the very measure of his own mind's manifestation,' and so on." They also note the sūtra's own historical examples for the bodhisattva and buddha's transformative power operating on a genuine offender's behalf: "如調達、阿闍世王等是也" — "as with Devadatta and King Ajātaśatru" — both traditionally remembered for grave crimes, and both eventually reconciled to the Dharma through exactly the kind of skillful intervention this passage describes.
Part 23 Complete
This closes Part 23: the three kinds of mind-made body attained at successive grounds — through the bliss of samādhi, through realizing every dharma is like an illusion, and through directly awakening to the buddha-dharma — and the five acts of immediate retribution reinterpreted as cutting through craving, ignorance, the underlying tendencies, the gathered aggregates, and the seven consciousnesses mistaken for a buddha, with the sūtra itself immediately clarifying that the literal crimes remain exactly as consequential as ever. Part 24 turns to what "the Buddha's own knowing-awareness" actually consists of, and to a teaching that will recur throughout the rest of this sūtra: why the Buddha can say, without contradiction, that he was every buddha of the past.
Continue to Part 24 — The Buddha's Knowing-Awareness →