The Buddha-Ground's Eight Terms

The treatise says: suchness accompanied by taint has already been explained; from here on, suchness free of taint should be explained. Suchness free of taint means that the buddhas, the tathāgatas, within the uncontaminated dharma-realm, are apart from every kind of taint, and, transforming the impure body, attain the pure, wondrous body. It should be understood that this nature of true suchness, the uncontaminated dharmakāya, is briefly distinguished by way of eight terms. What are the eight? A verse says:

Purity and its attainment, and freedom from taint; benefiting self and others, and its correspondence;
resting on the profound, the joyous, and the vast; and its constancy and its inconceivability, matching that same dharma.

This names, in order, the eight terms. This one verse reveals eight meanings — what are the eight? First, essence; second, cause; third, fruit; fourth, function; fifth, correspondence; sixth, manifestation; seventh, constancy; eighth, inconceivability.

As for essence: it was explained above that the tathāgatagarbha is not separate from being wrapped in the storehouse of affliction; it should be understood that, by becoming apart from every affliction, the transformed body attains purity — this is called essence. The verse says "purity." Hence the Noble Śrīmālā Sūtra says: "World-Honored One! If one has no doubt regarding the tathāgatagarbha wrapped in the storehouse of immeasurable affliction, one likewise has no doubt regarding the dharmakāya that has emerged from the storehouse of immeasurable affliction."

As for cause: there are two kinds of non-discriminating wisdom: first, the transcendent non-discriminating wisdom; second, the wisdom of activity resting on both the worldly and the transcendent, attained in dependence on that transcendent wisdom — this is called cause. The verse says "attainment."

As for fruit: it is precisely in dependence on this attainment that the fruit of realizing wisdom is attained — this is called fruit. The verse says "freedom from taint."

As for function: there are two kinds of freedom from taint: first, freedom from the afflictive obstruction; second, freedom from the cognitive obstruction — named, in this order, freedom from taint. Such freedom accomplishes both self-benefit and the benefit of others — this is called function. The verse says "benefiting self and others."

As for correspondence: through benefiting self and others, one attains immeasurable qualities, ever and ultimately sustained — this is called correspondence. The verse says "correspondence."

As for manifestation, constancy, and inconceivability: these refer to how the three kinds of buddha-dharmakāya, from beginningless time, work benefit for sentient beings ceaselessly, without ever resting, inconceivably. The verse says "resting on the profound, the joyous, and the vast."

For this reason, briefly stated, a verse says:

Essence, cause, fruit, and function, and its correspondence, manifestation,
constancy, and inconceivability — it should be understood that these are called the buddha-ground.

Furthermore, in dependence on the essence and the cause within the buddha-ground, and the attainment of the skillful cause for that, three verses are spoken:

It was explained above that the buddha's dharmakāya, the essence pure by its own nature,
is stained by the taint of every affliction, by adventitious dust.

It is like how, in the sky, the sun and moon, pure and free of stain,
are covered by the thick, dense net of cloud.

The Buddha's qualities are stainless, ever-constant, everlasting, and unchanging —
not discriminating among dharmas, having attained uncontaminated, true wisdom.

It should be understood that these three verses are briefly explained by four further verses. A verse says:

The buddha-body is never separate from the pure, true, wondrous Dharma —
like the sun and moon in the sky, wisdom, apart from taint, is non-dual.

The buddha-dharmas, surpassing the sands of the Ganges, the bright and pure qualities,
are not the correspondence of contrived dharmas, yet are never separate from that essence.

Affliction and the cognitive obstruction — these dharmas really have no essence,
yet ever stain it adventitiously — hence the simile of cloud is spoken.

Freedom from these two obstructions has two causes: the wisdom non-discriminating with regard to them,
the true, non-discriminating wisdom, together with what is attained in dependence on it.

What meaning does this verse make clear? It was explained above that the transformed body's essence is pure. Furthermore, purity is, briefly, of two kinds. What are the two? First, purity by nature; second, purity through freedom from taint. Purity by nature means liberation by nature, with nothing to be abandoned — because the essence of the mind pure by its own nature never actually held onto any adventitious affliction in the first place, these never truly corresponded to it. Purity through freedom from taint means the attainment of liberation. And that liberation is not separate from any dharma — just as water is called pure though not literally separate, prior to purification, from the dust and taint within it — because the mind pure by its own nature, once free of every adventitious affliction and taint, has nothing further remaining to remove.

Furthermore, in dependence on this fruit, purity through freedom from taint, four verses are spoken:

It is like a pure pond of water, free of every speck of dust and turbidity,
forever surrounded on every side by trees of every kind of blossom.

It is like the moon free of Rāhu, the sun without cloud or covering —
every stainless quality is complete, and manifests as that very essence.

The queen bee's sweet honey, the firm and pure true gold, the treasure-store, the great fruit-bearing tree,
the stainless golden image, the universal monarch's body, the wondrous jeweled image of the Tathāgata —
such dharmas as these are precisely the Tathāgata's body.