Planes of Reality

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>From _Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism_ by Lama Anagarika Govinda

 

Part Five: 'OM MANI PADME HUM': The Path of the Great Mantra

 

1

 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE 'THREE BODIES'

AND THE THREE PLANES OF REALITY

 

We have become acquainted with the experience of universality in the sacred

syllable OM, with the luminosity of the immortal mind in the 'MANI', its

unfoldment in the lotus-centres of consciousness ('PADMA'), and its

integration and realization in the seed-syllable HUM.

The way towards the realization of OM is the way of universality, the

way of the Great Vehicle, the Mahayana. The way from the OM to the HUM is

that of realizing the universal in the individual. It is the way of the

Vajrayana, or the inner (mystic) path of Vajrasattva, who accomplishes the

transformation of our earthly, 'material' world into the deeper, invisible

reality from which the visible springs, the reality of the inaudible that

pervades and motivates sound, of the intangible that pervades touch, and

the thought-transcending awareness that pervades and motivates thought.

And just as Vajrasattva represents the active force of Aksobhya so

Avalokitesvara represents the dynamic aspect of Amitabha on the plane of

human experience and activity. For every Buddha manifests himself on three

planes of reality: the universal, the ideal and the individual.

Thus we discern in the figure of the Buddha three 'bodies' or principles:

I. that, in which all Enlightened Ones are the same: the experience of

completeness, of universality, of the deepest super-individual reality of

the Dharma, the primordial law and cause of all things, from which emanates

all physical, moral and metaphysical order;

2. that which constitutes the spiritual or ideal character of a Buddha,

the creative expression or formulation of this universal principle in the

realm of inner vision: the Sambhogakaya, the 'Body of Bliss' (rapture or

spiritual enjoyment), from which all true inspiration is born;

3. that, in which this inspiration is transformed into visible form and

becomes action: the Nirmanakaya: the 'Body of Transformation', the human

embodiment or individuality of an Enlightened One.

In the Dharmakaya, the universal principle of all consciousness, the

totality of becoming and being is potentially contained - comparable to the

infinity of space, which embraces all things and is the conditio sine qua

non of all that exists. Yet we can neither say that space is identical with

things, nor that it is different from them. As little as we can become

conscious of space without its opposite pole, i.e., form, so the Dharmakaya

cannot become reality for us without descending into forms.

This happens in two ways: in the realm of pure form, or pure mental

perception, i.e., in the realm of ideas - and in the realm of action, of

individuality, of materialization or embodiment.

In states of rapture, trance and highest intuition, as characterized

by the stages of deep absorption in meditation (dhyana), we experience the

Dharmakaya as the luminous forms of purely spiritual perception - as pure,

eternal principles of form, freed from all accidentals - or as the exalted

visions of a higher reality. In them the Sambhogakaya, 'the Body of Bliss'

is realized. From it flow all immortal art, all deep wisdom, all profound

truths (dharma, in the sense of formulated or proclaimed truth). Its

enjoyment is of two kinds, like that of every great work of art: the

rapture of the creative act and the enjoyment of those who contemplate the

completed work by retrospectively experiencing and reliving the act of

creation.

A rapture, comparable to the first of these two kinds, is experienced

by all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the course of their sadhana and in

the practice of the highest virtues (paramita)1, as demonstrated by their

lives - while a rapture, comparable to the second kind, is felt by all

those who contemplate the significance of these lives and relive them in

their mind and their deeds.

 

[1 These paramitas or perfections are: 1. the perfection of giving

(dana-paramita), culminating in self-sacrifice; 2. the perfection of

morality (sila-paramita), culminating in all-embracing love; 3. the

perfection of forbearance or patience (ksanti-paramita), culminating in

forgiveness and eradication of ill-will; 4. the perfection of energy

(virya-paramita), culminating in the unshakable determination to attain

enlightenment; 5. the perfection of meditation or inner vision

(dhyana-paramita) culminating in the awareness of Reality, the realization

of the Mind itself; 6. the perfection of Wisdom (prajna-paramita),

culminating in Perfect Enlightenment.

Later Pali Scriptures, like Buddhavamsa and Cariyapitaka, probably under

the influence of the Mahayana, mention ten paramitas, namely: Perfection in

giving, morality, renunciation (nekkhamma), wisdom, energy, forbearance,

truthfulness (sacca), resolution (aditthana), unselfish love (metta), and

equanimity (upekkha).]

 

Therefore two kinds of Sambhogakaya are discerned with regard to

Buddhas: the 'sva-sambhoga-kaya' and the 'para-sambhoga-kaya': The first is

the body of 'pure form' (rupa-kaya), 'which is extremely perfect, pure,

eternal and universal, which is boundless and possesses true attributes,

due to the effects of immeasurable virtue and knowledge, which have been

accumulated by all the Tathagatas in the course of countless kalpas. It

will quietly continue till the end of time: it will always experience

within itself the bliss of the Dharma.

The second is the parasambhoga-kaya (the body that causes enjoyment to

others). It is the subtle body with the attribute of purity, which all

Tathagatas show on account of their Knowledge of Equality (samata-jnana).'1

- Such is the realization of the Dharmakaya within the human mind.

 

[1 Vijnapitmatra-siddhi-sastra X; cfr. Jiryo Masuda Der individualistische

Idealismus der Yogocara-Schule, p. 59 f.; Vijnaptimatratasiddhi, la Siddhi

de Hiuan-Tsang, translated by Louis de La Vallee Poussin, Vol. 2, pp.

705-6, Paris, 1929.]

 

Since it is the mind that creates the human body, it follows that the

more the mind reflects and is filled with the Dharmakaya the more it will

be able to influence and to transform the material body. This

transformation attains its highest perfection in the Fully Enlightened One.

Therefore it is said that the body of the Buddha is adorned with the

thirty-two signs of perfection. Hence the name 'Nirmana-kaya', the 'Body of

Transformation'.

This Nirmanakaya (Tib.: sprul-sku; pron. 'tulku' or 'tuku') of the

Buddha has often been called an illusory body or even a 'phantom body', a

concept which is as misleading as the current interpretation of the

maya-doctrine. If Indian thinkers define this world as maya, this does not

mean that the world is deprived of all reality, but only that it is not

what it appears to us; in other words, that its reality is only relative or

represents a reality of a lesser degree which, compared with the highest

reality (accessible only to a perfectly Enlightened One) has no more

existence than the objects of a dream, a cloud-formation or the lightnings

flashing up within it.

Seen from the opposite direction, however, even the most impermanent of

those phenomena are not mere hallucinations, i.e., they are neither

arbitrary nor meaningless, but expressions of an inherent law, whose

reality is undeniable. Even if this our world and what we call our

personality are mind-made and illusory, this does not mean that they are

unreal. They are as real as the mind that creates them. The body, which we

have created, does not disappear the moment we recognize it as a product of

our mind or when we get tired of it. As soon as the products of our mind

have taken material shape, they obey the laws of matter, or whatever we may

call the laws governing them. Even a saint cannot arbitrarily change or

annihilate the material properties and functions of the body. He can only

transform them step by step by controlling them in their initial states or

in the moment they come into existence. Materialization can be influenced,

directed and modified only while it is still in the process of formation.

The theory of the transformed body of a Buddha is therefore not in

contradiction to its reality, and the realism of earlier as well as later

Theravadins and their belief in the historical human personality, in no way

contradicts their faith in his super-human powers and perfections.

Buddhaghosa speaks of 'that Bhagava who is possessed of a beautiful

rupakaya, adorned with eighty minor signs and thirty-two major signs of a

great man, and possessed of a dhammakaya purified in every way and

glorified by [the five khandhas] sila, samadhi, [panna, vimutti, and

vimuttinanadassana], full of splendour and virtue, incomparable and fully

awakened.'1

 

[1 Quoted by Nalinaksha Dutt in Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its

Relation to Hinayana, p. 101.]

 

In the introductory discourse to his Atthasalini Buddhaghosa describes

the multi-coloured radiance which issues from the body of the Buddha. The

classical beauty of this description could not be surpassed by any Mahayana

text on this subject, which plays such an important role, especially in the

conception and sadhana of the Dhyani-Buddhas. 'Rays of six colours -

indigo, golden, red, white, tawny and dazzling - issued from the Teacher's

body, as he was contemplating the subtle and abstruse Law by his

omniscience. . . . The indigo rays issued from his hair and the blue

portions of his eyes. Owing to them the surface of the sky appeared as

though besprinkled with collyrium powder, or covered with flax and blue

lotus-flowers, or like a jewelled fan swaying to and fro, or a piece of

dark cloth fully spread out. The golden rays issued from his skin and the

golden portions of his eyes. Owing to them the different quarters of the

globe shone as though besprinkled with some golden liquid, or overlaid with

sheets of gold, or bestrewn with saffron powder and bauhinia-flowers. The

red rays issued from his flesh and blood and the red portions of his eyes.

Owing to them the quarters of the globe were coloured as though painted

with red-lead powder. ... The white rays issued from his bones, teeth, and

the white portions of his eyes. Owing to them the quarters of the globe

were bright as though overflowing with streams of milk poured out of silver

pots, or overspread with a canopy of silver plates. . . . The tawny and

dazzling rays issued from the different parts of his body. Thus the

six-coloured rays came forth and caught the great mass of the earth.' Then

follows a beautiful description how the earth, the water, the air, the

space beyond and all the heavenly regions and millions of world-systems are

penetrated by the Buddha's golden light; and the description ends with the

significant words (hinting at the transformation or sublimation of the

physical body) : 'But the blood of the Lord of the world became clear as he

contemplated such a subtle and abstruse Law. Likewise the physical basis of

his thought and his complexion. The element of colour, produced by the

caloric order, born of the mind, steadily established itself with a radius

of eighty cubits.'1

 

[1 The Expositor (Atthasalini), p. 17 f. Translated by Maung Tin. Pali Text

Society, London, 1920.]

 

Not only was such powerful radiance ascribed to the Buddha in Pali

Iiterature, but even the creation of Nimmita-Buddhas, i.e., of mental

projections of himself (a kind of Dhyani-Buddhas in his own form) during

the time of his absence from the world, when preaching the Abhidharma to

his mother in the Tusita heaven.

All this shows clearly that, though the doctrine of the 'three bodies'

was not yet formulated in Pali-Buddhism, the properties of these bodies and

the spiritual qualities on which they are based, were recognized even by

those who stressed the historical and human personality of the Buddha. To

them a human being was not only a physical reality, because the concept of

Man included the infinite possibilities of the Spirit and the boundlessness

of the universe. Thus the contradistinction between realism and idealism

did not yet exist.