Dharmakāya

By Victor M Fontane

All sentient beings, down to the smallest mote of dust, inherently possess the pure Dharmakāya. However, due to a single thought arising from beginningless kalpas, the karma of body, speech, and mind, together with avidyā (ignorance), gives rise to deluded discrimination. From such discrimination arises anger and hatred, leading to endless saṃsāra, sinking into the six realms, and attachment to the notions of heaven and hell.

Sentient beings cling to the rūpa-kāya (physical body), which originates from the great earth, thus giving rise to the three poisons—lobha (greed), doṣa (hatred), and moha (delusion)—in relation to the world. This is but illusory ignorance, for beings mistakenly regard worldly phenomena as real and eternal, neglecting the principle of anitya (impermanence) of all dharmas. In truth, all sentient beings, even down to the smallest particle, possess the dharmatā (true nature of dharma), originally pure. It is only due to the obscuration by beginningless karma of body, speech, and mind that various discriminations and attachments to all appearances and the notion of self arise, resulting in unceasing saṃsāra, with neither heaven nor hell ever emptied.

Saṃsāra itself is without birth or extinction; heaven and hell are but the majestic manifestations of the samādhi of the Dharmakāya. This is the ultimate truth, known only through realization. As stated in the Heart Sūtra: “No ignorance, and also no ending of ignorance” the three poisons and bodhi (awakening) are originally of one essence; saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are not two, nor are they separate destinations. This shore is that shore. All dharmas are neither different nor one.

Sentient beings, lost in delusion and attachment, are beset by scattered thoughts, as if trapped within a cage. Only by breaking through ātma-grāha (attachment to self) and letting go of discrimination can one enter the pure Dharmakāya and realize the Third Bhūmi of the Bodhisattva path (prabhākarī-bhūmi, the Stage of Emitting Light). The so-called Three Bhūmis are the Three Bhūmis of Freedom, provisionally described in sequence as skillful means. The wisdom of the Three Bhūmis is neither real nor unreal.