T1530 The Interpretation of the Buddha Land

Chapter 15: A Discussion on the Three Bodies of the Buddha

Chapter XV

A Discussion on the Three

Bodies of the Buddha

First Theme: The Five Factors

and the Three Bodies

As stated above, the five factors support the three bodies. According to one opinion, the first two [factors of the Pure Dharma Realm and mirror wisdom] support the essence body. The next two [factors of equality wisdom and discernment wisdom] support the enjoyment body. Finally, duty-fulfillment wisdom supports the transformation body. This is so because a scripture teaches that suchness is the Dharma body [and thus the Pure Dharma Realm supports that Dharma-essence body]. And a treatise explains that one attains the essence body through the conversion of the container consciousness in the attainment of mirror wisdom that issues from that conversion of the container consciousness. 65 Therefore we know

that these two support the essence body.

This Scripture teaches that duty-fulfillment wisdom engenders all the creative activities. The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle teaches that in all realms duty-fulfillment wisdom engenders all the various kinds of immeasurable, inconceivable creations.

66 Therefore we know that this last

of the four wisdoms supports the transformation body. Another treatise explains that equality wisdom is able to manifest various buddha bodies in accord with the predilections of the bodhisattvas in the Pure Lands. It also states that discernment wisdom is able to manifest all masterful activity in the great assemblies and to enunciate the Dharma without doubt. Furthermore it is said that one attains the enjoyment body because of the conversion of the active consciousnesses. Therefore we know that these middle two [of the four] wisdoms support the enjoyment body. 67

Furthermore, of all the ten meanings of the three bodies of Buddha, wisdom is the preeminent support. Therefore we know that all of the three bodies attain wisdom.

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According to a second opinion, it is only the first of the five factors, the Pure Dharma Realm, which supports the essence body. The four wisdoms are all associated with that essence and are manifested to bodhisattvas in the stages. In one aspect their subtle marks support the enjoyment body, while, inasmuch as they are manifested to bodhisattvas not yet in those stages, in another aspect the functioning of their crude marks manifests the transformation body. All the scriptures teach that pure suchness is the Dharma body. The Treatise in Praise of Buddha(Buddhastotra-śāstra) expounds that the Tathāgata's Dharma body has no arising and no passing away. The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicleteaches that the basic nature of the Buddha's essence body is eternal.

68 The Treatise on the Diamond Scripture (Vajra cchedikāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra) teaches that the good qualities propounded and discussed in the scriptures mean that the Dharma body does have a cause whereby one is enabled to realize it, while the other two bodies have a cause whereby one is enabled to produce them.

69All the scriptures and treatises state that

the ultimate conversion of support is the Dharma body. This conversion of support is precisely purified suchness. Since this is not the path of wordhearers, we know that the Dharma body has as its nature only the suchness of the Pure Dharma Realm.

Also the Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle teaches that mirror wisdom is the enjoyment body.

70The Treatise on the Summary of the

Great Vehiclesays that the conversion of the active consciousnesses attains the enjoyment body, but that the conversion of the container consciousness attains the Dharma body.

71 This means that one manifests and attains the

Dharma body through the conversion away from the seeds of the two obstacles in that container consciousness. This passage does not mention mirror wisdom because it teaches that mirror wisdom is an enjoyment, [and thus that mirror wisdom supports the enjoyment body, not the Dharma body]. Furthermore, there are two kinds of enjoyment body. The first is one's own enjoyment body, which is the completion of practices for three innumerable eons. The second is the enjoyment body for others whereby all the bodhisattvas [are enabled to] enjoy Dharma. Therefore the enjoyment body includes all the characteristics commonly associated with the four wisdoms [inasmuch as it is one's own enjoyment body], and one aspect of creative 196

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transformation [of duty-fulfillment wisdom, inasmuch as it is the enjoyment body for others].

All the scriptures and treatises teach that the transformation body is the manifestation of various images for sentient beings who have not yet entered the stages leading to conversion, for its images constitute knowable objects for those sentient beings. Therefore we know that these images are not the qualities of ultimate meaning, but only its creative functioning. The scriptures and treatises state only that duty-fulfillment wisdom is able to engender this creative functioning and not that that [wisdom itself] is the transformation body. Although the three bodies are comprised in the preeminence of wisdom, yet the Dharma body is said to be wisdom only by convention because it is a realization supported by wisdom, while the transformation body is said to be wisdom only by convention because it is the functioning of wisdom and because in its manifestation it appears like wisdom. For these reasons there is no logical error in calling these bodies wisdom.

[The enjoyment body, being the experience of joy in the Dharma, is wisdom,] but both the enjoyment body and the transformation body are involved in arising and passing away, for they are involved in the realm of transmigration. The Second Theme: The

Three Bodies as Eternal

[It is objected that] if this is so, then how can the scriptures teach that all the buddha bodies are eternal?

[We answer that] they are eternal because of the Dharma body which is the support for the other two. Although the enjoyment body and the transformation body are characterized by arising and passing away, yet they are also said to be eternal because [the enjoyment body] always experiences joy in various doctrines without ceasing, and [the transformation body] manifests numerous creations in the ten realms without interruption. Therefore they always experience joy and always take on human form.

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle teaches that the three bodies are eternal in basic nature, in the state of not resting, and in continuity. 72The term "basic nature" refers to the essence body because the basic nature of this body is eternal. The phrase "state of not resting" refers to the enjoyment body because it always experiences joy in the Dharma without 197

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interruption. The term "continuity" refers to the transformation body because it manifests an inexhaustibility of creative transformations. Therefore, the Dharma body is eternal because it is free from all discrimination and fabrication and has no arising nor passing away. Although the other two bodies from moment to moment do arise and pass away, yet they are also said to be eternal because they rely on that eternal body without interruption and continue without ceasing. As a scripture teaches,

"The aggregates of material form,

sensation, and so forth, as they pertain to the Tathāgata, are all eternally abiding. " From this doctrinal principle, [the Tathāgata's transformation bodies] do not arise and do not pass away because they arise from the cultivation of uncontaminated seeds. Still, we have the absolute declaration that that which arises is destined to pass away because all material form and mind are seen to be impermanent, and an eternally abiding material form or mind has never yet been seen.

The Third Theme: The

Dimensions of the

Three Bodies

What are the dimensions [of these bodies]?

The Dharma realm has suchness as its essence, and suchness is the real nature of all things. Since things have no limit, the Dharma body has no limit. It pervades all things, and there is no place wherein it is not present. It is like empty space, and one cannot say that its dimensions are either large or small. However, from its perceptible marks we say that it pervades all places. The enjoyment body both has material form and does not have material form. All things that have no material form have no dimensions and cannot be said to be either large or small. Just like the [Dharma] body on which it is supported and which is its content, so [this enjoyment body] may be said to pervade everywhere.

Now there are two kinds of material form: concrete form and magically created form. Concrete form indicates those actions of the major and minor marks of the form body produced by practice for three incalculable eons (i.e., the historical form of an historical buddha, such as Śākyamuni). Through the conversion of the five sense organs, a contaminated form body attains the form of the Buddha's uncontaminated five sense organs, adorned with 198

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its immeasurable major and minor marks. Such a body encompasses the Dharma realm and is called the true Pure Land. But in transmigration its actions do have limitations. The dimensions of this body, which is a creative transformation of the container consciousness, are not determined as to size. Rather they are similar to that of the realm [in which they appear]. Because the good actions of humans in Jambudvīpa are minimal, a form body attained therein would be at most six feet and four inches. Good actions in Pūrvavideha are more eminent, and a body there would be twelve feet and eight inches. In such a fashion, as the good actions progressively increase, the dimensions of the body thereby realized will become progressively larger until a body in the final heaven of the world of form attains a dimension of sixteen thousand leagues because the actions that produce forms therein are preeminent. The dimensions of such bodies become so large because of the accumulated permeations of good and pure roots [cultivated] during the bodhisattva practices in the ten stages. As a scripture explains,

"At the realization of diamondlike

concentration, the body attained fills the entire Dharma realm and pervades the true Pure Land because all obstacles are destroyed and the measure of the power of such good roots is infinite.

" This is because the transformed

body and land of the pure consciousness associated with mirror wisdom are unlimited. The consciousnesses of all buddhas create [these bodies and lands] at the same place and the same time so that the similarity of their characteristics is not mutually incompatible. They will never come to an end, be interrupted, or cease. Thus they are able to cause all buddhas to experience broad delight and are thus called enjoyment bodies and enjoyment lands. Such bodies and lands are known only by buddhas and are not realized through the five senses of any bodhisattva. But the material organs of [buddhas] are able to perceive all sense objects because they are without obstacle. These excellent marks of all buddhas, which are beyond the sight [of all sentient beings], the limitless proclamation of Dharma, and the functioning of all their sense organs are so unlimited because they are universally perfected.

Magically created material form is the manifestation of various kinds of bodies and various kinds of major and minor marks through the power of the compassionate vow [of buddhas] for the sake of leading the multitudes of bodhisattvas to enter that great land.

"Various kinds" here means that their

voice depends upon the kind of land and their dimensions are not determined. 199

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Transformation bodies are the manifestation of magically created bodies through that same power of the compassionate vow for the sake of converting all sentient beings who have not yet entered the stages. [Such a transformation body] both has a material form and does not have a material form. It does not have form because it is the action of the transformation of thought [and thought has no material form], and because the marks of all such qualities, such as the supernatural powers, the fearlessnesses, and so forth, have no material form; thus [those bodies] have no material form and no dimensions. But it does have material form because it is the action of the transformation of body and speech, brought about in accord with the occasion, place, and multitude [of sentient beings to be converted, for speech has material form]. As the Scripture explains, such a manifested body is not determined as to its size. The Fourth Theme:

Differentiation and

the Three Bodies

Are all the tathāgatas differentiated from one another or not? They are undifferentiated because the true nature of the Dharma body is common to all tathāgatas. But we conventionally say that they are differentiated because the causes that render them experientially present are differentiated. The other two bodies are each influenced by different causes, and their different compositions are distinct from one another. But they do not cling to these differentiations, and we say that they are undifferentiated because, being [all] similar in the same place, their actions of benefiting and gladdening are equal one to the other. Therefore we say that all tathāgatas in the three bodies are undifferentiated because the Dharma realm, which supports them in the action of their basic aspiration, is undifferentiated, because their intention of benefiting and gladdening is undifferentiated, and because all the phenomenal activity they perform in unison is undifferentiated. The Fifth Theme: Individual

Qualities and the

Three Bodies

But do [tathāgatas] have conditioned and individual qualities or not? The Tathāgata's Pure Dharma Realm is characterized by the conversion 200

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of support to suchness. It is ultimately true, good, and original purity because it is far removed from all defiled states, because it is the basic support for all good qualities, and because it is the true nature of all good qualities. Therefore it is said to be endowed with all those good qualities, but it does not have any of the qualities whereby one differentiates material form from mind. The Buddha's enjoyment body is endowed with all its true material and mental qualities and manifests these transformed qualities for the sake of others. The Buddha's transformation body is endowed only with those qualities associated with the magical creations of its manifested material and mental [attributes]. Therefore each of the three bodies is said to have qualities surpassing in number the sands of the Ganges River.

The Sixth Theme: The

Relationship of Beings

with Tathāgatas

Are all the beings to be converted common to all tathāgatas or not? According to one opinion, they are common [to all tathāgatas] because each and every tathāgata is able to convert and save each and every sentient being. They are all equal in merit and wisdom. For three incalculable eons they have all cultivated the course of their vows. They have all in the same identical manner sought wisdom in order to save all beings. Therefore it is said that the beings converted by one buddha are converted by all buddhas. But according to another opinion they are not common [to all tathāgatas] because there is a basic relationship between a particular buddha and all those beings he is to convert. Thus at the time of Buddha Tiṣya, the Tathāgata [Śākyamuni] and Maitreya were both his disciples. That buddha [Tiṣya] saw that the good roots of the sentient beings to be converted by Śākyamuni would come to maturation before the good roots of those sentient beings to be converted by Maitreya. He also saw that the preparatory course of Maitreya would be completed before that of Śākyamuni. Thus he entered into the concentration of fire and caused Śākyamuni to witness it. For seven days and seven nights Śākyamuni, while standing on one foot, praised that buddha in a single verse and was thus led to surpass Maitreya and become a buddha before him. 73

Furthermore, when the Buddha was about to enter cessation, he said, "All those who were to be saved by me have already been saved. " Also

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327b

another scripture teaches,

"At the time of his cessation, the Buddha saw that

one who was to have been converted by him was actually found to be in the realm of no conceptualization and no nonconceptualization, and that therefore he had [first] to be reborn into this [conscious] world in order to be converted by him. He then created a transformation body which in a concealed fashion continued to dwell in this world, and then in the [birth] body he had first received [from his mother], the Buddha appeared to enter into cessation. That being in the realm of no conceptualization and no nonconceptualization died and did come to be reborn into this world. That transformation body created by the Buddha taught him the wondrous Dharma and he became an arhat, whereupon that transformation body disappeared and was not seen again. Moreover, all the scriptures in many passages teach that there is a determined relationship between the one who converts and those whom he converts. Therefore those to be converted are not common to all buddhas. The third and correct opinion is that they are both common to all buddhas and are not common to all buddhas. In the basic natures of the lineages [of sentient beings] there is a relationship whereby either many [sentient beings] are related to one [buddha] or one [sentient being] is related to many [buddhas]. During their preparatory course bodhisattvas, whether in common or not, have not matured sentient beings in the identically same manner; thus, on becoming buddhas, they either convert in common or they convert singly. If all the beings to be converted were common to all buddhas, then why would there be many buddhas? One buddha alone would be adequate to convert all beings. Since then there would be but a single buddha dwelling always in the world and through his teaching converting sentient beings, then any other buddha would have entered quiescence. Then even that single buddha would not convert all beings by leading them to enter the Great Vehicle, for that would be rendered useless [since there would be no need for anyone to realize buddhahood because no further buddhas would be necessary to convert anyone]. Rather that single buddha would convert beings by leading them to enter the other vehicles and attain quiescence, for that would be the easiest course of action. What sensible person would reject what was easy and hold onto what was difficult? Who would light a lamp to assist the sun? Therefore the beings to be converted are not common [to all tathāgatas]. 202

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On the other hand, if the beings to be converted were never common [to many tathāgatas], then bodhisattvas would not elicit their broad vows nor successively attend upon all the buddhas. They would not cultivate the Great Vehicle, persons like Sudhana would encounter no spiritual friends, and buddhas would not entrust those they have converted to later buddhas. 74This

refutes the opinion that those to be converted are never common to all buddhas. Therefore it is not true that those beings are never common [to all tathāgatas]. Therefore, although each and every buddha has the ability to convert all sentient beings, nevertheless, sentient beings are not disposed to being converted by all those buddhas with whom they have no relationship, for they have never seen or heard [those buddhas]. But though each and every buddha never comes to an end and always abides in the world, teaching and converting innumerable kinds of sentient beings, yet they manifest particular transformation [bodies] as appropriate, whether they manifest wisdom or cessation, whether they are called Śākyamuni or Maitreya, or anything else. The sentient beings to be saved through these transformations say that all [buddhas] save them.

The abiding of the transformation left behind in the case of the being who was reborn into the realm of no conceptualization [and no nonconceptualization,] and who finally attained salvation by seeing the appropriate transformation of Śākyamuni, is not incompatible [with this principle that transformations are shared by all buddhas].

How is this so? [it is asked.] If that particular being was converted by all tathāgatas [who created that transformation body for his sake], then what buddha was it who came before him to convert him?

[We answer that] all buddhas have the power of their compassionate vows, and it is impossible that just a single buddha would convert him while all the others remained inactive. Each buddha with which he has a relationship manifests a transformation body at the same place and at the same time through his subsequently attained wisdom. Since the visible qualities [of those transformation bodies] are all similar one to the other, they are not mutually opposed. Therefore [these buddhas] in unison were the enabling cause that led the consciousness of that being to be converted and changed so that he might witness one buddha manifesting his supernatural powers 203

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and teaching the Dharma. These things are inconceivable and cannot be understood by those who deny the principle of conscious construction-only. The Seventh Theme:

Differences between

the Three Bodies

Moreover, the essence body is quiescent and peaceful, for it is the support for merits that directly relate to self-benefit. But inasmuch as it is the enabling cause of benefit to the multitudes it is also related to benefit for others. Therefore it is included in the benefit of the other two bodies inasmuch as it is the support for the benefit and merit of those two bodies.

The enjoyment body has two aspects. The first is the aspect of one's own enjoyment of the Dharma and is the actual form body, which is realized in the completion of self-benefiting practices and which leads to one's own experience of wondrous joy. The second is the aspect of the enjoyment of the Dharma for others, which consists in the form bodies that are magically created so that the great multitude of bodhisattvas might enter that great land and which are realized by the full perfection of the practices of benefiting others cultivated for three incalculable eons. It manifests various forms and teaches various doctrines to lead all bodhisattvas to experience joy in the great Dharma. Because of these two aspects, there is no contradiction in saying that this enjoyment body consists only in self-benefit, or in saying that it consists only of benefit for others, or in saying that it consists of both. The transformation body consists of benefiting others because it manifests all the descriptive marks of transformation in order to benefit others. Thus the three bodies have four aspects that can be expressed in four phrases. The first is enjoyment without transformation, for that is the true enjoyment body of self-benefit. The second is transformation without enjoyment, for that is the transformation body for the sake of those not yet in the stages. Whether gross or subtle, whether productive of joy or alarm, its variations are undetermined. It is said to be transformation and not enjoyment because such a body does not necessarily lead to the enjoyment of joy in the Dharma. The third is both transformation and enjoyment, for that is the varied transformation body manifested to bodhisattvas in the stages. [It is said to be] experience because such a body does cause all those bodhisattvas to enjoy the Dharma. 204

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It is changed according to circumstances and is undetermined. The fourth is neither experience nor enjoyment, for it is the essence body. Other texts say that the Buddha has two kinds of bodies: his birth body and his Dharma body. Here the Dharma body includes both the essence body and the true enjoyment body, for the first is the support for all meritorious doctrines and the second is the accumulated perfection of all those meritorious doctrines. The birth body here includes both the transformation body and the enjoyment body for others because they both manifest birth, for sentient beings and for bodhisattvas respectively, as appropriate. Furthermore, another scripture says that there are ten kinds of buddhas: buddhas of full wisdom, buddhas of earnest vow, buddhas whose actions have matured, buddhas of masterful power, buddhas of transformation, buddhas of the Dharma realm, buddhas of mind, buddhas of concentration, buddhas of essence, and buddhas of masterful activity. The first five of these are conventional, while the last five are ultimate meaning. They are included, as appropriate, in the three bodies, and in this manner one should understand their varieties and their descriptions.

The Second Half of the

Fourth Verse

The Scripture says: "This Pure Dharma Realm is enunciated by all buddhas. "

The Commentary explains: This Pure Dharma Realm of all Tathāgatas is enunciated in the same fashion by all buddhas. That fully perfected buddha land is differentiated in the five kinds of factors and in the three bodies. Alternately, [according to the second interpretation of these verses,] it is differentiated into the six characteristics of essence, cause, result, action, associated qualities, and functioning. Therefore these four verses summarize all the marks of the buddha land. As explained above, this is the overall theme enunciated in this sacred teaching.

The Concluding

Passage

The Scripture says: "At that time the Bhagavat finished teaching this Scripture and the entire assembly of the wondrously born bodhisattvas, great beings, all the great word-hearers, gods, humans, and devas in this world all heard 205

Back Matters

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this doctrine of the Buddha and all of them elicited great joy, received it in faith, and upheld it in practice.

"

The Commentary explains: This passage explains that, upon hearing this teaching, that multitudinous assembly relied upon its doctrine and received it in faith. Drawn on by the compassionate vow of the Buddha's pure consciousness and changed by the enabling power of this Scripture, the good roots in their minds matured and became manifest, as described above in the text. This means that upon hearing this buddha teaching, they all "elicited joy, received it in faith, and upheld it in practice. " All those word-hearers

and so forth, whether they were creations [of the Buddha or of bodhisattvas] or were actually word-hearers, heard this doctrine while each remained in his own place either in the land of enjoyment or in the land of transformation. Although what that assembly of word-hearers heard was the same, what they saw was different. There is no incompatibility in this. Those above did see those below, but those below did not see those above. [In this manner] each one realized benefit and happiness.

The Concluding Verses

of the Commentary

I have now expounded all the deep words and meanings of this Scripture on the Buddha Land according to my ability. May the merits [thus attained] spread among all kinds of beings, and may they all quickly realize the unexcelled result. May all the merits that arise from the writing of this Commentary afterward issue in excellent results.

And may they continue without end to benefit and gladden all sentient beings.

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Notes

1 See Noriaki Hakamaya,

"Asvabhāva's and Sthiramati's Commentary on the

Mahāyānasūtra laṃkāra IX 56-76,

" Indogaku Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū 27 (1978): 12-16, for a parallel presentation of these commentaries. 2 The priority of the Buddhabhūmi-sūtrais assumed, on the basis of the passages from Asvabhāva and Sthiramati, throughout Nishio Kyōo's Butsujikyōron no kenkyū (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai, 1982, reprint), pp. 1-32. Hakamaya also follows this judgment in his "Shōjō hokkai kō,

" Nanto Bukkyō 37 (1976): 1, n. 3.

3 Jikidō Takasaki,

"Hōshin no ichigenron Nyoraizō shisō no hō kannen,

" in Hirakawa

Akira hakase kanreki kinen ronshū: Bukkyō ni okeru hō no kenkyū(Tokyo: Shunjūsha, 1975), p. 239, n. 38; Nyoraizō shisō no keisei(Tokyo: Shunjūsha, 1974), pp. 346-347. 4 I have attempted to indicate the additional material in my dissertation, "A Study of the

Buddhabhūmyupadeśa:The Doctrinal Development of the Notion of Wisdom in Yogācāra Thought.

" (Subsequently published under the same title, A Study of the Buddhabhūmyupadeśa: The Doctrinal Development of the Notion of Wisdom in Yogācāra Thought [Berkeley: Institute of Buddhist Studies and BDK America, 2014]). For the most part this was not a difficult task, as the additional sections have been inserted rather mechanically, but on occasion the text has been reworked to such an extent in the Bandhuprabha version that precise identification of new material becomes problematic. 5 These descriptions of wisdom emphasize that the universal buddha wisdom entails both full understanding and full engagement. It is not merely transcendent, but also involved in all aspects of phenomenal living.

6 Such an analysis of the literary forms of buddha discourse show not only an awareness of hermeneutical method but also of the underlying issue of just how the content of awakening relates to its verbal expression. Note that here none of these four "discourses" is described as literal. 7 That is, the passions that lead to attachment (kleśas), the impermanence of the aggregates (skandhas) that constitute a human person, fear of death, and the demon or devil (māra) who dwells within the cycle of transmigration, ensconced in the highest heaven of pleasure.

8 This passage is also found in other Yogācāra texts, such as The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning(Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra), translated by John P. Keenan, (Berkeley: Numata Center, for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000) and The 207

Notes

Summary of the Great Vehicle(Mahāyāna saṃgraha), translated by John P. Keenan, (Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2003, Revised Second Edition).

9 The issue under discussion here is the authority of the text. If the transformation body of Buddha preached it in a transformed land, then it is empirical speech, but if an enjoyment body of Buddha preached it in an enjoyment land, then its teaching is deemed much deeper and more profound, for that body—newly developed in Yogācāra three-body (trikāya) teaching—is the experienced presence of the Buddha to bodhisattvas in deep practice of meditation. 10 11 12 13 14 15 That is, no fabrication of ideas or images mistakenly clung to as imagined. Yet, dependent on the pure mind of wisdom, they do embody buddha wisdom in images and ideas, in order to carry out the tasks of compassion. The issue is basic to the text. Abhidharma thinkers taught that fifteen of the eighteen realms (the six sense organs, their six objects, and the six resultant consciousnesses) are defiled, and also that eight (the five sense organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, plus smell, taste, and touch) can be morally neutral. This Abhidharma argumentation relates to the basic issue of the present text: how can pure buddha consciousness be involved in an obviously defiled world? Yet, if not so involved, what relevance does it have to the world? If involved, how then can it be completely pure?

This objection and its answer, as many others, are almost unintelligible without consulting Dharmapāla's Cheng weishi lun. See the discussion on the Dharma body in Louis de la Vallée Poussin, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi: La Siddhi de Hiuan-Tsang(Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner,1928), pp. 693-716. Also consult the English translation by Francis H. Cook,

"Demonstration of Consciousness Only,

" in Three

Texts on Consciousness Only(Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1999), pp. 355-367. Since this is a more recent English translation, readers will find it more accessible than de la Vallée Poussin's French translation. This Cheng weishi lunfigures more than any other text in the large portion of the Interpretation of the Buddha Landextant only in Chinese, and apparently added either by Bandhu prabha or by Xuanzang. Parallels will be indicated. That is, the Western Paradise of Amitābha Buddha.

The four causes are: (1) the direct cause, the cause for the production of a result, (2) the antecedent cause, the immediately preceding linkage in an ongoing continuity, (3) the object cause, the object of consciousness which, being understood, brings to mind to be what it is, and (4) the dominant, enabling cause, which, although it cannot produce the result, yet enables the direct cause to issue in the result. The issue here is whether nondiscriminative and subsequently attained wisdoms are the direct cause or the dominant cause of the Pure Land.

This objection appears to be that of the Sarvāstivādins, as reported in the Cheng weishi lun.Seede la Vallée Poussin, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi,pp. 44-45; Cook, "Demonstration of Consciousness Only,

" p. 25.

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Notes

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Kapphina is accounted to have been a king in the frontier city of Kukkuṭavati. In his search for wisdom, he heard of the Buddha. Upon listening to and pondering the Buddha's teaching, he was converted and became an eminent disciple. The Discipline of the Original Sarvāstivādins (Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya) (T.1442.23:670a) reports that at the moment of Kapphina's conversion the Buddha was surrounded by all sorts of marvelous beings, among which were many universal monarchs (cakravartins). This listing of the Buddha's merits is the subject of many commentaries, two of which are contained in this commentary. It is also found in commentaries on theScripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaningand on the Summary of the Great Vehicle. The six times are divisions of the times of day into early morning, midday, sunset, evening, night, and late night—that is, all day long.

This is the first appearance of this argument in Mahayana thinking. The "six branches" are perhaps the six kinds of moral discipline treated in the Treatise on the Stages of Yogic Meditation (Yogācārabhūmi, T.1530.30:522): discipline that orients one toward awakening; discipline that extensively covers all that is to be learned; discipline that abides in stainless joy; discipline that perseveres until death; discipline that fortifies against covetousness; and discipline fully adorned with perfected moral observances.

This passage is one of the many Bandhuprabha has apparently added to the earlier text translated into Tibetan by Śīlabhadra. It emphasizes that all previous teachings on wisdom are summarized and subsumed in this teaching of the five factors of wisdom. This commentary agrees almost word for word with the Cheng weishi lun.Seede la Vallée Poussin, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi,pp. 130-135; Cook,

"Demonstration of Consciousness Only,

" pp. 62-65.

One of the earliest explicit discussions of the debate about whether awakened wisdom has images or not, i.e., sākārajñānavādaor nirākārajñānavāda.All Yogācāra thinkers agreed that defiled, samsaric consciousness functioned in images, but, as above, did not agree on whether the mind of wisdom needed an image to function. In the Ocean Wisdom Scripture(Sāgaramati-sūtra) contained in the Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra(T.397.13:58a-b), the Buddha discusses the teaching of wisdom and draws the following simile: "Were a person to paint images in the empty sky—a man, a woman, an elephant, a horse—would such a person be conceivable or not?" [Sāgaramati answered,] "He would not be conceivable, Bhagavat. Just so, you can believe that the Tathāgata Bhagavat knows [the reality of awakening] is ineffable, and yet is able to explain it in detail.

"

The original purity of mind will shortly be expressed in terms of the tathāgatagarbha, the inner seed or embryo which constitutes the pure mind of all beings. The notion that discrimination is adventitious (āgantuka) follows from the assertion of original purity. Such a notion is not in harmony with the classic Yogācāra texts of 209

Notes

27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, for whom discrimination is indeed the very other-dependent nature (paratantra) or consciousness.

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle(Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra,Taishō vol. 31, no. 1604), 9:37 has: "Not being discriminated in any regard, suchness has reached purity, the state of all-tathāgata. Therefore all embodied beings are the embryo (garbha) of that [tathāgata].

"

The preceding paragraph, present only in Bandhuprabha's Chinese version and not in Śīlabhadra's Tibetan, harmonizes this discussion about original purity with the former treatment of the five lineages (gotra). It does seem to weaken the impact of original purity by restricting its compass.

The Summary of the Great Vehicle,10:28 has: "The Bhagavat is not seen because of the faults of sentient beings, just as the moon [is not reflected] in a broken basin, [but] like the sun he fills all worlds with the light of Dharma. "

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle, 9:29 and 19 has: "Just as the rays [of light] are all blended into the disk of the sun, and with one action, make the world visible. . . .

" And "Just as a gem shows forth its brightness without purposeful activity, so the Buddha's effortless activity is manifested. "

The Sāgaramati chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra (T.397.13:67c) has: "Good sons, just as if before a monk were to enter the concentration of destruction he were to vow: 'I will enter concentration but when the bell sounds I will awaken. ' Although

there is no bell sound in concentration, yet because of the force of that vow, when the bell sounds, he does awaken from concentration. "

The Great Vehicle Scripture of the Luminescent Adornment of the Wisdom of Entering All Buddha Realms(Sarvabuddha-viṣayāvatāra-jñānālokā-laṃkāra-sūtra;T.359.12:255a) has: "The Tathāgata then said,

'According to this teaching on birth and nonbirth,

Mañjuśrī is he who is not born and does not perish; this description is the appellation of a tathāgata.

'"

A frequent Mahayana claim to priority not only in importance but also in time. The Diamond Scripture(Vajracchedikā-prajnāpāramitā-sūtra) has: "Because the Tathāgata has no place to come from nor any place to go to, he is called the Tathāgata. "

Scriptures were often presented to kings and rulers; here an unidentified text, and thus unknown king.

36 The term "excellent women,

" literally,

"jewels of women,

" is here meant to include

the entire list of seven jewels of a universal monarch: golden wheels, elephants, swift horses, a queen, good ministers, excellent women, and fine generals. 37 The Great Vehicle Scripture on the Inconceivable Mystery of the Tathāgata (Tathāgataguhya-sūtra; T.312.11:718a) has: "Good sons, conventional usage exhausts all metaphors without being able analogically to express the various merits of the discipline, 210

Notes

38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 concentration, wisdom, liberation, and liberation-wisdom of all buddhas and tathāgatas. All these metaphors, whether of body, speech, or thought, are unable analogically to express them, because those tathāgatas transcend them. The sole exception is [the metaphor] of empty space, which is able to express them analogically, because the tathāgatas' discipline, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and liberation-wisdom are all just like empty space.

"

The thesis that all wisdom states are characterized by an inner image—sākāra, for images of all knowable things are present to mirror wisdom. Perhaps the reference is to the Cheng weishi lun:"Thinking consciousness ceases to exist at the stage of arhatship, in the concentration of destruction, and on the transcendent path" (de la Vallée Poussin, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi,p. 267; Cook, "Demonstration of Consciousness Only,

" p. 139). Frequently the Interpretation of the Buddha

Landis difficult to understand apart from the Cheng weishi lun. This section is quoted almost verbatim from the Cheng weishi lun,the third argument for the nondefiled thinking consciousness. Seede la Vallée Poussin, Vijñaptimātratā siddhi,p. 269; Cook, "Demonstration of Consciousness Only,

" p. 141.

A citation from a Pure Land text, perhaps included to incorporate Pure Land thinking within a Yogācāra perspective.

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle,9:16 has: "Just as the image of the moon is not seen in a broken pot, so the image of Buddha is not seen in sinful beings.

" Vasubandhu's prose Commentarycontained in that text explains: "It is shown by simile . . . that the buddha image is not seen in those beings who are unfit vessels. "

The Diamond Scripture (T.235.8:750a) has: "The Tathāgata's possession of thirtythree marks is a no possession of thirty-three marks, and this is called his possession of thirty-three marks.

"

The Perfection of Wisdom Scripture (Prajñapāramitā-sūtra;T.227.8:579a) has: "If bodhisattvas do not revert, they will attain the power of skillful means, which is called the bodhisattva practice of the perfection of wisdom whereby they see that the twelve dependent co-arisings include all things. When bodhisattvas gain this insight, they do not see anything that does not co-arise dependently.

"

The Great Vehicle Scripture of the Luminescent Adornment of the Wisdom of Entering All Buddha Realms(T.359.12:261c) has: "If one sees into dependent co-arising, then one sees reality, and if one sees reality, then one sees Tathāgata. "

The Treatise on the Stages of Yogic Meditation(T.1579.30:499b) has: "Thus the Tathāgata at the six times, the three [divisions] of day and the three [divisions] of night, constantly by means of his buddha eye, perceives the world. "

47 The Great Vehicle Scripture on the Inconceivable Mystery of the Tathāgata (T.312.11:716c) has: "Both gods and humans delight in seeing the golden colors of the Buddha. This is because he causes them to see his golden-colored body. "

211

Notes

48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 Discussed in the Treatise on the Stages of Yogic Meditation(T.1579.30:542c-543a). In defiled consciousness insight is gained into sensed image, and thus the trigger is the image. In buddha consciousness, wisdom insight employs images and thus reverses the process.

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle,9:58 has: "Its action is the skillful means that employ the transformations of body, speech, and thought. "

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle,12:9 has a detailed description of these sixty qualities of the Buddha's speech.

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle,12:4 has: "The teaching of superior beings comes from scripture, understanding, and mastery. It issues forth from the mouth, from all things, and from space.

"

The Scripture Elucidated by Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra; T.474.14:538a; English translation by John R. McRae, The Vimalakīrti Sutra [Berkeley: Numata Center, for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2004]), has: "Buddha by means of one sound explains the teaching, and sentient beings, according to their level of understanding, all receive that action and obtain benefit. "

SeeXianjuejing (Taishō vol. 14, no. 425), which thematizes states of meditation and concentration.

Similar passages occur in the Flower Ornament Scripture (Avataṃsaka-sūtra), T.278.9:623a and T.279.10:272a, as well as in the Scripture on the Tathāgata '

s Appearance(Tathāgatotpattisambhava-nirdeśa-sūtra), T.291.10:600a. A parallel passage is found in the Mahāratnakūṭa(T.310.11:633b), Samantaprabhāsa Bodhisattva Assembly, Kāśyapa Paripṛcchā: "Kāśyapa, just as the thirty-threefold gods, when they enter that garden of equality, are all equal in the things they employ, just so bodhisattvas, because of the purity of their minds, teach and transform with equality among sentient beings.

"

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle,9:82-85 appears to be the source for this simile.

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle, 9:77 has: "Because of the divisions of the lineage [of buddhas], because they are not without use, because they are beginningless, because they have no divisions, in the uncontaminated ground there is neither one buddha nor many buddhas.

"

These four verses are identical with verses 56-59 from the Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle, chapter 9, and thus have been commented upon by Sthira mati and by Asvabhāsa in their commentaries to that text.

The theme of chapter 5 of the Summary of the Great Vehicle. The Cheng weishi lun has: "The obstacle to knowledge is associated only with bad 212

Notes

62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 or neutral thoughts. The Treatise[on the Stages of Yogic Meditation] says: "Ignorance includes only bad and neutral states; delusion and non-delusion are incompatible. "

Seede la Vallée Poussin, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi,pp. 570-571; Cook, "Demonstration

of Consciousness Only,

" p. 300.

The Summary of the Great Vehicle (T.1594.31:139a) has: "Understand that thinking consciousness is able to imagine, because it has discrimination. "

See the Devadatta chapter of the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dhar ma(Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra;English translation by Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama, The Lotus Sutra (Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2007, Revised Second Edition) for the story of Śāriputra and the dragon girl. The Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom (Dazhidulun) has: "Many people do not believe when they listen to a teaching taught by a human. But they would believe a teaching taught by an animal. This is why bodhisattvas teach in the form of animals, as seen in the Accounts of Previous Births(Jātakas), for the hearers believe because it is extraordinary and because in their judgment animals are of a true mind without craftiness. Others perhaps do think that animals are liars and crafty, and this is why Buddha makes trees to speak. Everybody will believe the trees, which are devoid of thought [and cannot deceive anyone].

" Seede la Vallée Poussin, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, p. 797. The Summary of the Great Vehicle, 10:7 has: "By the conversion of the storehouse (i.e., container) consciousness one attains the Dharma body. "

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle,9:74 has: "duty-fulfillment wisdom in all realms, by means of all kinds of immeasurable, inconceivable transformations, brings benefit to all sentient beings. "

The Summary of the Great Vehicle, 10:35 explains that the essence body and the enjoyment body differ "because the conversions of the active consciousnesses and of the storehouse (i.e., container) consciousness [differ]. "

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle, 9:66 has: "[The three bodies] are equal in their basic nature, disposition, and actions. In their basic nature, state of resting, and continuity, they are eternal.

"

Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Diamond Scripture (Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitāśāstra), 1:14 says that "although there is no cause for the production of the Dharma body, there is a cause for its realization.

"

The Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle, 9:69 has: "[mirror wisdom] is the image of the wisdom of an enjoyment buddha, from which it arises. "

71 Seenote 67.

72 Seenote 68.

73 The Vibhāṣā-śāstra (T.1545.27:890b-c) reports: "There once was a buddha named Tiṣya or Puṣya. That buddha had as his disciples two bodhisattvas, Śākyamuni and 213

Glossary

Notes

74 Maitreya. When asked which would mature first, that buddha saw that it would be Maitreya. But asked when the beings to be converted by these two would mature, he saw that Śākyamuni's would be first. So he thought, How can I arrange it that those to be converted will actually meet their converters? Indeed, it is easier to mature one person than many. So he took up his mat and walked the road to the top of a mountain, where he entered a cave, spread his mat, sat with his legs crossed, and entered the concentration of fire, wherein for seven days and nights he experienced the most sublime joy. Śākyamuni took himself immediately to that mountain and sought that buddha from place to place, just as a calf would seek its mother. Finally he arrived at the cave and, [stopping in mid-step, remained standing on one foot for seven days and praised the Buddha with one verse, at the end of which he had matured to full awakening before Maitreya].

"

Sudhana is the youth of the Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtrawho, on Mañjuśrī's instructions, seeks wisdom through encounters with diverse spiritual friends.

214

Glossary

Abhidharma: A collection of treatises explaining some of the contents of the Buddha's teachings. One of the three divisions (Tripiṭaka) of Buddhist scriptures, along with the Sutras (the teachings of the Buddha) and the Vinaya (rules of monastic discipline). arhat: One who has freed himself from the bonds of birth and death by eliminating all passions. The highest spiritual ideal of the Hinayana. See also Hinayana. asura:A class of superhuman beings that are in constant conflict with the gods. bīja. Seecontainer consciousness.

bodhisattva: In the Mahayana, a selfless being with universal compassion who sees the universal emptiness of phenomena and has generated the profound aspiration to achieve enlightenment (bodhicitta) on behalf of all sentient beings. See alsoemptiness; Mahayana. buddha-nature: The basic enlightened nature of sentient beings, which is chronically obscured by their ignorance. The complete unfolding of the buddha-nature is enlightenment itself. chiliocosm: A system of thousands of world-realms.

concentration: A mental state of concentration involving focusing on one object. conscious construction-only (vijñapti-mātra): The central teaching of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism, which indicates that we mistakenly take mental constructions (vijñapti) as presenting realities external to the consciousness (vijñāna) in which they appear, yet they are only mental constructs and not ultimate truth. See also two truths; Yogācāra.

container consciousness (ālayavijñāna): The latent, seminal consciousness that supports karmically defiled awareness; the storehouse of all the seeds (bījas), imprints of mental defilements, that generate delusion.

conventional truth. Seetwo truths.

dependent co-arising (pratītyasamutpāda): The doctrine that all things come into being only in dependence upon other things.

215

Glossary

deva:A god; a divine being.

dhāraṇī. Seeprayer formulae.

emptiness (śūnyatā): The quality that all things have of being devoid of independent, real existence. All phenomena are devoid of independent, permanent existence, self-nature (svabhāva), and instead exist only in dependence on a complex web of causes and conditions and go on existing only as long as those causes and conditions prevail. The doctrine of emptiness is the central teaching of Mahayana Buddhism. See also dependent co-arising; Mahayana.

four kinds of birth: According to Buddhism, the four possible ways that a being may be born, i.e., 1) from a womb, 2) from an egg, 3) from moisture, or 4) through metamorphosis or spontaneous generation. Four Noble Truths: The basic teaching of the Buddha. They are: 1) Existence is characterized by suffering; 2) craving and attachment are the cause of suffering; 3) all suffering can be ended; 4) the way to end suffering is by following the Buddha's eightfold path (right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration).

four wisdoms: The four types of transformed consciousness discussed in Yogācāra philosophy. They are: 1) mirror wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna), 2) equality wisdom (samatājñāna), 3) discernment wisdom (pratyavekṣanā-jñāna), and 4) duty-fulfillment wisdom (kṛtyānuṣṭhāna-jñāna). These wisdoms emerge from the eight forms of consciousness when illusion is destroyed and enlightenment is realized. gandharva:A class of mythical beings, celestial musicians.

garuḍa:A mythological being in the form of a giant bird.

Hinayana ("Lesser Vehicle"): The name given by Mahayanists to early Buddhist teachings that had as their ideal the arhat; the two kinds of Hinayana practice, that of the wordhearers (śrāvakas) and of the individually enlightened ones (pratyekabuddhas), are known as the two vehicles. Seealso arhat; Mahayana; individually enlightened one; lower vehicles; word-hearer.

individually enlightened one (pratyekabuddha): A sage who attains enlightenment by directly observing the dependent co-arising of phenomena, without the guidance of a teacher. An individually enlightened one intends neither to guide others nor to expound the teaching to others. One of the two kinds of Hinayana sages. See also Hinayana; word-hearer.

kalpa:An immense period of time, an eon.

kiṃnara:A class of mythical beings, either half human and half bird or half human and half horse, that make celestial music.

216

Glossary

lower vehicles: The two Hinayana soteriological paths of the word-hearers and the individually enlightened ones, said to be "lower" by adherents of the Mahayana, which upholds the ideal of the bodhisattva. See also bodhisattva; Hinayana; Mahayana; individually enlightened one; word-hearer.

Mahayana ("Great Vehicle"): A form of Buddhism that developed in India around 100 B.C.E.and which exalts as its religious ideal the bodhisattva, great beings who are willing to delay their own enlightenment until they can save all sentient beings. Such selfless compassion becomes possible only when the practitioner grasps the central Mahayana doctrine of emptiness and so realizes that "self" and "others" are not separate. See also bodhisattva; emptiness.

mahoraga:A class of snake-like mythical beings.

One Vehicle: The single teaching, given in the Lotus Sutra,by which all sentient beings can attain buddhahood. It is contrasted with the three-vehicles teaching, which addresses the bodhisattva vehicle, the individually enlightened ones' vehicle, and the word-hearers' vehicle separately as skillful means to guide all sentient beings to the One Vehicle.

perceiving consciousness (manovijñāna): The mind that perceives that which has been contacted through a sense organ and its corresponding sense consciousness. See alsosense consciousnesses.

Prajñāpāramitā ("perfection of wisdom"): The name of a body of Mahayana scriptures that emphasize the doctrine of emptiness, and which served as the fundamental texts for a number of important Buddhist schools, including Yogācāra. See also emptiness; Mahayana; Yogācāra.

prayer formulae (dhāraṇī). A special verbal formula that contains the essence of a teaching in short phrases and that is believed to hold great power. In this text the terms mystic formulae, prayer formulae, and recollective formulae are used interchangeably to refer to dhāraṇīs.

primal vow: The vows made by bodhisattvas at the outset of their religious careers; especially, a vow made to save all sentient beings and establish a Pure Land for them. See alsoPure Land.

Pure Dharma Realm (dharmadhātu): The sphere of ultimate truth or ultimate reality. See also two truths.

Pure Land: A buddha land, a world or realm in which a particular buddha dwells. In the teachings of the Pure Land school, a major East Asian Mahayana Buddhist tradition, the term refers to Sukhāvatī ("Land of Bliss") in the western quarter, which was produced by the bodhisattva Dharmākara who became Amitābha Buddha upon fulfillment of his vows. In the context of this text, the term Pure Land refers to buddhahood 217

Glossary

comprised of the Pure Dharma Realm and the four wisdoms. Seealso four wisdoms; Pure Dharma Realm.

sense consciousnesses: The consciousnesses, i.e., visual consciousness, aural consciousness, olfactory consciousness, gustatory consciousness, and tactile consciousness, that arise from contact between the five sense organs of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body with their respective objects.

suchness: The state of things as they really are; the truth of ultimate meaning; ultimate reality. The content of the perfect wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) insight into the nature of reality just as it is, i.e., empty of self-nature and dependently arisen. Apprehension of this state is enlightenment. See alsodependent co-arising; emptiness; two truths. tathāgata: An epithet for the Buddha. It means "one who has gone to (gata) and come from (āgata) the truth of suchness (tathā),

" i.e.,

"one who embodies the truth of

suchness (tathā).

" See also suchness.

tathāgatagarbha:Another name for the buddha-nature that is within all beings, conceived of as a kind of storeroom or receptacle where the embryo of the Tathāgata is retained and matured. See also buddha-nature; tathāgata.

thinking consciousness (manas): Each of the sense organs, including the perceiving mind, has a corresponding consciousness by which its objects are known. The thinking function of the mind arises from and leads to defilement by giving rise to discriminative thoughts and false ideas. See alsocontainer consciousness; perceiving consciousness; sense consciousnesses.

three bodies (trikāya): The three bodies of the Buddha, 1) the Dharma body (dharma kāya), which is the Buddha as suchness or the truth of ultimate meaning, 2) the enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya), acquired by buddhas through absolute perfection of their practice; this body can go everywhere, is omniscient, etc., and 3) the transformation body (nirmāṇakāya), whereby, out of infinite compassion, the Buddha reveals himself in an infinite number of forms in order to assist sentient beings. See alsosuchness; two truths.

Three Jewels: The Buddha, the Dharma (teachings), and the Sangha (followers). three realms: 1) The realm of desire (kāmadhātu), this world of desires, 2) the realm of form (rūpadhātu), the realm experienced by one in this world who has severed all desires but still experiences the world as form, and 3) the formless realm (ārūpyadhātu), the realm that has no form but consists of only the other four of the five aggregates; the realm of experience of one who has severed all desires and attachment to form but has still not experienced enlightenment.

three vehicles. As opposed to the doctrine of the One Vehicle, advocates of the three vehicles doctrine hold that each of the soteriological paths—the bodhisattva vehicle 218

Glossary

(i.e., the Mahayana), the individually enlightened ones' vehicle, and the wordhearers' vehicle—are all skillful means to guide sentient beings to liberation according to their capacities. See alsobodhisattva; individually enlightened one; lower vehicles; Mahayana; One Vehicle; word-hearer.

triple world: Seethree realms.

two truths: 1) Ultimate truth, or the truth of ultimate meaning, the transcendent truth that is beyond conceptualization, and 2) conventional truth, the truth that can be put into words. Ultimate truth or ultimate reality is the apprehension of things as they really are (suchness), the state of enlightenment; conventional truth or conventional reality represents a limited understanding of things based in mental constructs. See also suchness.

ultimate truth. Seetwo truths.

word-hearer (śrāvaka): Originally, a disciple of the Buddha, one who directly heard his teachings; later generally used to mean so-called Hinayana Buddhists, as opposed to Mahayana Buddhists who follow the bodhisattva path. See also Hinayana; Mahayana.

yakṣa:A class of demonic beings.

Yogācāra: A major Mahayana Buddhist philosophical school, founded by the Indian masters Asaṅga and Vasubandhu in the fourth century C.E., which advocates the doctrine of conscious construction-only. See alsoconscious construction-only; Mahayana. 219