Not Seen Through Physical Marks
The pond, moon, and honey similes are unpacked in full — compassion as water, wisdom as sunlight free of the cloud of delusion — before the treatise distinguishes the liberation-body from the dharmakāya proper and turns to the Diamond Sūtra's own warning: a universal monarch bears the identical thirty-two marks as a buddha, so the Tathāgata can never be recognized by physical appearance alone.
Compassion as Water, Wisdom as Sunlight
禪定習氣潤， 遠離瞋羅睺，
以大慈悲水， 遍益諸眾生。
如十五日月， 遠離雲羅網，
光明照眾生， 能除諸幽闇。
佛無垢日月， 離癡雲羅網，
智光照眾生， 除滅諸黑闇。
得無等等法， 能與妙法味，
諸佛如蜜堅， 遠離蜂糩障。
真實妙功德， 除斷諸貧窮，
能與解脫勢， 故說金樹喻。
法寶真實身， 增上兩足尊，
勝色畢竟成， 故說後三喻。
Moistened by the habitual trace of meditative concentration, apart from the Rāhu of anger,
with the water of great loving-kindness and compassion, universally benefiting every sentient being.
Like the full moon of the fifteenth night, apart from the net of cloud,
its light illumines sentient beings, able to dispel every darkness.
The Buddha, the stainless sun and moon, apart from the net of cloud that is delusion,
the light of wisdom illumines sentient beings, extinguishing every darkness.
Having attained the peerless, equaling Dharma, able to bestow the wondrous flavor of the Dharma,
the buddhas, like honey, firm, apart from the obstruction of bees and husk.
The true, wondrous qualities, extinguishing and cutting off every poverty,
able to bestow the power of liberation — hence the similes of gold and the tree are spoken.
The true body that is the jewel of the Dharma, the supreme one, honored among two-legged beings,
its supreme form ultimately accomplished — hence the last three similes are spoken.
Assigning Rāhu, the eclipse-demon of Indian cosmology, specifically to anger, and cloud specifically to delusion, gives the moon-and-sun pair a division of labor: the moon's cool, reflected light suits compassion, which soothes rather than exposes, while the sun's own direct light suits wisdom, which illuminates and dispels darkness outright. The nine similes of Chapter Six are here fully accounted for and closed out — buddha in the flower, honey in the bees, gold, treasure, sprout, cloth, womb, and mold have each now been matched to their unwrapped counterpart.
The Liberation-Body and the Dharmakāya
又向說以二種智依自利利他業。何者為二？一者出世間無分別智、二者依出世間無分別智轉身，得身行因遠離煩惱，得證智果故。又何者是成就自利？謂得解脫，遠離煩惱障、遠離智障，得無障礙清淨法身，是名成就自身利益。又何者是成就他利益？既得成就自身利已，無始世來自然依彼二種佛身示現世間自在力行，是名成就他身利益。又依自利利他成就業義故，說四偈：
無漏及遍至， 不滅法與恒，
清涼不變異， 不退寂靜處。
諸佛如來身， 如虛空無相，
為諸勝智者， 作六根境界。
示現微妙色， 出於妙音聲，
令嗅佛戒香， 與佛妙法味。
使覺三昧觸， 令知深妙法，
細思惟稠林， 佛離虛空相。
此四行偈，以八行偈略釋應知。偈言：
略說二種法， 業智應當知，
滿足解脫身， 清淨真法身。
解脫身法身， 二及一應知，
謂無漏遍至， 及究竟無為。
煩惱盡無漏， 及習氣滅故，
無閡及無障， 智遍至應知。
無為以不滅， 實體不失故，
不失名為本， 恒等句解釋。
對於恒等句， 有四失應知，
死無常及轉， 不可思議退。
以無死故恒， 以常故清涼，
不轉故不變， 寂靜故不退。
彼究竟足跡， 淨智白法體，
具足色聲等， 示現於諸根。
如虛空無相， 而現色等相，
法身亦如是， 具六根境界。
Furthermore, it was explained above that, in dependence on two kinds of wisdom, there is the function of benefiting self and others. What are the two? First, the transcendent non-discriminating wisdom; second, the wisdom of the transformed body, attained in dependence on that transcendent non-discriminating wisdom, which, as the cause of bodily activity, becomes apart from affliction and attains the fruit of realizing wisdom. And what is the accomplishment of self-benefit? It is the attainment of liberation, becoming apart from the afflictive obstruction and apart from the cognitive obstruction, attaining the unobstructed, pure dharmakāya — this is called the accomplishment of one's own benefit. And what is the accomplishment of the benefit of others? Having already accomplished one's own benefit, from beginningless time one spontaneously manifests, in dependence on these two kinds of buddha-body, the activity of mastery within the world — this is called the accomplishment of the benefit of others. Furthermore, in dependence on the meaning of accomplishing the function of benefiting self and others, four verses are spoken:
Uncontaminated and pervading everywhere, an unceasing dharma, everlasting,
cool and tranquil, unchanging, an unfailing, tranquil abode.
The body of every buddha, every tathāgata, formless like empty space,
becomes, for beings of superior wisdom, the domain of the six faculties.
Manifesting subtle, wondrous form, emitting a wondrous voice,
causing beings to smell the fragrance of the Buddha's moral discipline, and giving them the wondrous flavor of the Buddha's Dharma.
Causing beings to feel the touch of samādhi, causing them to know the profound, wondrous Dharma,
the thicket of subtle contemplation — the Buddha, apart from any mark, is like space.
It should be understood that these four verses are briefly explained by eight further verses. A verse says:
Briefly stated, it should be understood that there are two dharmas — function and wisdom —
completing the liberation-body and the pure, true dharmakāya.
It should be understood that the liberation-body and the dharmakāya are, respectively, two and one:
namely, uncontaminated and pervading everywhere, and ultimately unconditioned.
Because affliction is exhausted, uncontaminated, and its habitual traces are extinguished,
it should be understood that this wisdom is unobstructed, unimpeded, and pervades everywhere.
Because the unconditioned neither ceases nor loses its real essence,
this not-losing is called the root, explained by the terms "everlasting" and the rest.
Regarding the terms "everlasting" and the rest, it should be understood that there are four corresponding faults:
death, impermanence, transformation, and inconceivable falling-away.
Because there is no death, it is everlasting; because it is constant, it is cool and tranquil;
because it does not transform, it is unchanging; because it is tranquil, it does not fall away.
That ultimate footprint, the pure, wisdom-essence, the white dharma,
is complete with form, sound, and the rest, manifesting to every faculty.
Just as empty space, though formless, manifests forms and the rest,
the dharmakāya is likewise: complete with the domain of the six faculties.
Naming the liberation-body and the dharmakāya as "two and one" is deliberately compressed: the liberation-body is described by two features — uncontaminated, pervading everywhere — while the dharmakāya proper is described by a single feature, being "ultimately unconditioned." The distinction tracks the earlier essence/function division: the dharmakāya is what a buddha simply is, while the liberation-body is what results, functionally, from the actual severing of every obstruction — one substance under two aspects, exactly as the treatise elsewhere treats dharmakāya, tathāgata, truth, and nirvāṇa as one substance under four names.
The Diamond Sūtra: Not Through Physical Marks
此偈明何義？經中說言：如虛空相諸佛亦爾者，此依第一義，諸佛如來清淨法身自體相不共法故作如是說。以是義故，《金剛般若波羅蜜經》言：須菩提！於意云何？可以三十二大人相成就得見如來不？須菩提言：如我解佛所說義者，不以相成就得見如來。佛言：如是如是。須菩提！不以相成就得見如來。須菩提！若以相成就觀如來者，轉輪聖王應是如來，是故非以相成就得見如來故。此明何義？以依如來第一義諦清淨法身明如是義。
What meaning does this verse make clear? A sūtra says: "The buddhas are likewise like the mark of empty space" — this is said in dependence on the ultimate truth, on account of the unshared dharma that is the buddhas' and tathāgatas' pure dharmakāya's own essential mark. For this reason, the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says: "Subhūti! What do you think — can the Tathāgata be seen through the accomplishment of the thirty-two marks of a great being?" Subhūti said: "As I understand the meaning of what the Buddha has taught, the Tathāgata cannot be seen through the accomplishment of marks." The Buddha said: "So it is, so it is. Subhūti, the Tathāgata cannot be seen through the accomplishment of marks. Subhūti, if the Tathāgata could be beheld through the accomplishment of marks, then a universal monarch would be a tathāgata — for this reason, the Tathāgata is not to be seen through the accomplishment of marks." What does this clarify? It clarifies this very meaning in dependence on the Tathāgata's pure dharmakāya, the truth of ultimate meaning.
This is the treatise's only direct citation of the Diamond Sūtra in this collection, and its logic is characteristically sharp: since a universal monarch is described, in the very same canonical tradition, as possessing the identical thirty-two marks as a buddha, physical appearance cannot be what makes a buddha a buddha — otherwise a secular king would qualify. The argument does not deny that a buddha's body bears these marks, only that the marks are what is actually being seen when the dharmakāya is truly seen; this sets up the following section's claim that the dharmakāya's real qualities are, like space itself, formless, unseeable, and ungraspable by ordinary sense faculties altogether.
Correspondence: Space-Like, Ungraspable, Unseen by the Two Vehicles
又依相應義故，說二偈：
如空不思議， 常恒及清涼，
不變與寂靜， 遍離諸分別。
一切處不著， 離閡麁澁觸，
亦不可見取， 佛淨心無垢。
此二行偈，以八行偈略釋應知。偈言：
解脫身法身， 示自利利他，
依自利利他， 彼處相應義。
一切諸功德， 不思議應知，
以非三慧境， 一切種智知。
諸眾生佛體， 細故非聞境，
第一非思思。 以出世深密，
世修慧不知， 諸愚癡凡夫，
本來未曾見， 如盲不矚色。
二乘如嬰兒， 不見日月輪，
以不生故常， 以不滅故恒。
離二故清涼， 法性住不變，
證滅故寂靜， 一切覺故遍。
不住不分別， 離煩惱不著，
無智障離閡， 柔軟離麁澁。
無色不可見， 離相不可取，
以自性故淨， 離染故無垢。
Furthermore, in dependence on the meaning of correspondence, two verses are spoken:
Like space, inconceivable, ever-constant, everlasting, cool and tranquil,
unchanging and tranquil, pervading everywhere, apart from all discrimination.
Attached nowhere, apart from any obstructed or coarse, rough touch,
also not to be seen or grasped — the Buddha's pure mind is stainless.
It should be understood that these two verses are briefly explained by eight further verses. A verse says:
The liberation-body and the dharmakāya reveal, respectively, self-benefit and the benefit of others;
in dependence on self-benefit and the benefit of others, there is the meaning of correspondence in that domain.
It should be understood that every quality is inconceivable,
since it is not the domain of the three ordinary kinds of wisdom, but is known by omniscient wisdom.
The buddha-essence of every sentient being, being subtle, is not the domain of hearing;
being ultimate, it cannot be thought by ordinary thought. Because it is transcendent and profoundly secret,
worldly cultivated wisdom does not know it — every foolish, ordinary person has, from the very beginning,
never once seen it, like one blind, unable to behold any form.
Practitioners of the two vehicles, like infants, do not see the sun and moon's disk.
Because it is unborn, it is constant; because it does not cease, it is everlasting.
Because it is apart from the two obstructions, it is cool and tranquil; the nature of the Dharma abides unchanging;
because it realizes cessation, it is tranquil; because it awakens to everything, it pervades everywhere.
Not abiding, not discriminating, apart from affliction, unattached,
without the obstruction of the cognitive obstacle, gentle and soft, apart from coarseness and roughness.
Formless and unseeable, apart from marks and ungraspable,
pure by its own nature, stainless because apart from defilement.
Describing practitioners of the two vehicles as "like infants" who "do not see the sun and moon's disk" is a striking escalation from earlier chapters, which more often compared them to the blind or to those wrapped in cloud. An infant is not simply obstructed from seeing the sun; an infant has not yet developed the capacity to make sense of what it sees at all. This matches the chapter's broader argument that the dharmakāya's qualities are not merely hidden objects waiting to be found by sufficiently sharp senses, but genuinely beyond the reach of any faculty short of a buddha's own omniscient wisdom — formless, unseeable, ungraspable in the most literal sense the treatise can state.
Part 25 Complete
Part 26 completes Chapter Eight with its longest single stretch: the wish-fulfilling jewel and the five masteries of buddha-activity, the twelve deeds of a buddha's earthly life from descent out of Tuṣita Heaven to entry into parinirvāṇa, the Lotus Sūtra's revision of the śrāvaka's premature nirvāṇa, and the chapter's closing verses on the dharmakāya's constancy and inconceivability.
Continue to Part 26 — The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel and the Twelve Deeds →