The Foundation of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa
The second of the three real substances behind the nine similes — buddha-nature as cause — is explained through the remaining five images: treasure buried in the earth and a tree's hidden fruit giving rise to the dharmakāya, the golden image and the universal monarch giving rise to the two further buddha-bodies. From there the chapter turns to the Śrīmālā Sūtra's boldest claim: without the tathāgatagarbha, neither birth-and-death nor nirvāṇa could be spoken of at all.
Two Kinds of Buddha-Nature, Three Buddha-Bodies
又復偈言：
佛性有二種： 一者如地藏、
二者如樹果， 無始世界來。
自性清淨心， 修行無上道，
依二種佛性， 得出三種身。
依初譬喻故， 知有初法身，
依第二譬喻， 知有二佛身。
真佛法身淨， 猶如真金像，
以性不改變， 攝功德實體。
證大法王位， 如轉輪聖王，
依止鏡像體， 有化佛像現。
此偈明何義？餘五種譬喻，所謂藏、樹、金像、轉輪聖王、寶像譬喻，示現生彼三佛法身。以依自體性如來之性諸眾生藏，是故說言一切眾生有如來藏。此示何義？以諸佛如來有三種身得名義故。此五種喻能作三種佛法身因，以是義故說如來性因。此以何義？此中明性義以為因義，
Furthermore, a verse says:
Buddha-nature is of two kinds: first, like a treasure in the earth;
second, like the fruit of a tree — both present from beginningless time.
The mind pure by its own nature, cultivating the unsurpassed path,
in dependence on these two kinds of buddha-nature, gives rise to three kinds of body.
In dependence on the first simile, the first dharmakāya is known;
in dependence on the second simile, the remaining two buddha-bodies are known.
The true buddha's dharmakāya is pure, just like a true golden image;
because its nature does not change, it comprises the real substance of every quality.
Realizing the great Dharma-king's throne, like a universal monarch;
resting on the mirror-image-like essence, the transformation-body buddha's image appears.
What meaning does this verse make clear? The remaining five similes — namely the similes of the treasure, the tree, the golden image, the universal monarch, and the jeweled image — reveal the arising of these three buddha-dharmakāyas. Because sentient beings' own storehouse is, in its own essential nature, the tathāgata's own nature, it is therefore said that every sentient being possesses the tathāgatagarbha. What does this show? That the buddhas, the tathāgatas, attain their name by way of three kinds of body. These five similes can serve as the cause of the three buddha-dharmakāyas; for this reason, it is called the causal nature of the tathāgata. What is this meaning? Here, the meaning of nature is explained as the meaning of cause.
The treasure and the tree divide neatly along a line this chapter has drawn before: a treasure buried in the earth is complete and unchanging the moment it is dug up, giving rise to the unchanging dharmakāya; a tree's fruit must actually ripen and be eaten to nourish anything, giving rise to the two further bodies — the enjoyment-body and transformation-body — that actively engage with beings. The treatise is careful to note that this "causal nature" language does not mean buddha-nature manufactures the buddha-bodies out of nothing, but that the term "nature" itself, in this specific context, is simply being used in the sense of "cause" — a terminological clarification consistent with the treatise's broader insistence that buddha-nature is not something newly produced by the path.
The Śrīmālā Sūtra: The Foundation of Every Dharma
以是義故經中偈言：「無始世來性， 作諸法依止，依性有諸道， 及證涅槃果。」
此偈明何義？無始世界性者，如經說言：諸佛如來依如來藏，說諸眾生無始本際不可得知故。
所言性者，如《聖者勝鬘經》言：世尊！如來說如來藏者，是法界藏、出世間法身藏、出世間上上藏、自性清淨法身藏，自性清淨如來藏故。
作諸法依止者，如《聖者勝鬘經》言：世尊！是故如來藏，是依、是持、是住持、是建立。世尊！不離不離智、不斷不脫不異無為、不思議佛法。世尊！亦有斷脫異外離離智有為法，亦依亦持亦住持亦建立，依如來藏故。
For this reason, a sūtra says in verse: "The nature that has existed since beginningless time serves as the foundation of every dharma; in dependence on this nature there are the paths, and the fruit of nirvāṇa is realized."
What meaning does this verse make clear? "The nature that has existed since beginningless time" — as a sūtra says: the buddhas, the tathāgatas, in dependence on the tathāgatagarbha, teach that the beginningless origin of sentient beings cannot be known.
As for "nature" — as the Noble Śrīmālā Sūtra says: "World-Honored One! What the Tathāgata calls the tathāgatagarbha is the storehouse of the dharma-realm, the storehouse of the transcendent dharmakāya, the storehouse transcending even the transcendent, the storehouse of the dharmakāya pure by its own nature, the tathāgatagarbha pure by its own nature."
"Serves as the foundation of every dharma" — as the Noble Śrīmālā Sūtra says: "World-Honored One! For this reason, the tathāgatagarbha is the support, the holder, the sustainer, the foundation. World-Honored One! It is not separate from, not disjoined from, inconceivable, unconditioned buddha-dharmas outnumbering the sands of the Ganges. World-Honored One! There are also conditioned dharmas that are cut off, disjoined, other, separable, and knowable as separate — and these too are supported, held, sustained, and founded, in dependence on the tathāgatagarbha."
Without the Tathāgatagarbha, Neither Saṃsāra Nor Nirvāṇa
依性有諸道者，如《聖者勝鬘經》言：世尊！生死者依如來藏。世尊！有如來藏故說生死，是名善說故。
及證涅槃果者，如《聖者勝鬘經》言：世尊！依如來藏故有生死，依如來藏故證涅槃。世尊！若無如來藏者，不得厭苦、樂求涅槃，不欲涅槃，不願涅槃故。
此明何義？明如來藏究竟如來法身不差別，真如體相畢竟定佛性體，於一切時一切眾生身中皆無餘盡應知。此云何知？依法相知。是故經言：善男子！此法性法體性自性常住，如來出世若不出世，自性清淨本來常住，一切眾生有如來藏。
此明何義？依法性、依法體、依法相應、依法方便，此法為如是、為不如是，不可思議。一切處依法，依法量、依法信，得心淨、得心定，彼不可分別為實、為不實？唯依如來信。是故偈言：
唯依如來信， 信於第一義，
如無眼目者， 不能見日輪。
"In dependence on this nature there are the paths" — as the Noble Śrīmālā Sūtra says: "World-Honored One! Birth-and-death depends on the tathāgatagarbha. World-Honored One! It is because there is a tathāgatagarbha that birth-and-death is spoken of — this is called a well-spoken teaching."
"And the fruit of nirvāṇa is realized" — as the Noble Śrīmālā Sūtra says: "World-Honored One! In dependence on the tathāgatagarbha there is birth-and-death; in dependence on the tathāgatagarbha, nirvāṇa is realized. World-Honored One! If there were no tathāgatagarbha, one could not grow weary of suffering, nor delight in and seek nirvāṇa, nor wish for nirvāṇa, nor aspire to nirvāṇa."
What does this clarify? It clarifies that the tathāgatagarbha, ultimately, is undifferentiated from the Tathāgata's dharmakāya — that the essential mark of true suchness, the definite, ultimate essence of buddha-nature, should be understood to be, at every time, present without remainder in the bodies of every sentient being. How is this known? It is known through the mark of the Dharma. Hence a sūtra says: "Good son! This dharma-nature, the essential nature of this dharma, abides forever by its own nature — whether a tathāgata appears in the world or does not appear in the world, it is pure by its own nature, ever-abiding from the very beginning, and every sentient being possesses the tathāgatagarbha."
What does this clarify? In dependence on the nature of the Dharma, the essence of the Dharma, correspondence with the Dharma, and skillful means in accord with the Dharma — whether this dharma is thus or not thus is inconceivable. Everywhere, in dependence on the Dharma, on the measure of the Dharma, and on faith in the Dharma, one attains purity of mind and settledness of mind — but can this be discerned as real or unreal? It rests only on faith in the Tathāgata. Hence a verse says:
Only through faith in the Tathāgata does one have faith in the truth of ultimate meaning —
just as one without eyes cannot see the solar disk.
This is among the strongest claims in the whole treatise, and it matches this site's own Śrīmālā translation directly: not merely that the tathāgatagarbha is present within both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, but that neither concept could even be formulated without it. Ordinary suffering already presupposes something that suffers and could be otherwise; the wish for liberation already presupposes something worth liberating. The chapter's closing verse then supplies its own limit: this claim cannot be settled by discursive reasoning, "real or unreal," but rests on faith in the Tathāgata's own teaching — not a lesser substitute for proof, the verse implies, but the only kind of seeing available before a person has eyes of their own to see the sun directly.
Part 20 Complete
Part 21 continues Chapter Six with the treatise's account of exactly why four kinds of being remain blind to the tathāgatagarbha — ordinary beings, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and newly resolved bodhisattvas — each obstructed by a different distorted view, illustrated by the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra's parable of bathers diving for a lost jewel and mistaking tiles and pebbles for the real thing.
Continue to Part 21 — Four Kinds of Blindness, and the Jewel in the Pool →