The Tibetan Book of the Dead — ed. W. Y. Evans-Wentz

Vajra-Sattva, as an esoteric deity, sometimes occupies (as does Vairochana)—according to the School and ritual—the place of the Adi-Buddha, and is then synonymous with him,

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Round—there are four kingdoms of living creatures: (1) those of the Element Fire, (2) those of the Element Air, (3) those of the Element Water, and (4) those of the Element Earth. Over this collective life of innumerable myriads of lives man is king. If he be a Great King, filled with the transcendent consciousness of the triumphant Yogz (or Saint), to him the countless multitude of his elemental subjects severally reveal themselves in their true nature and place in his hand the Sceptre (symbolized by the Tibetan dovje, or thunderbolt) of Universal Dominion over Matter. Then, indeed, is he Lord of Nature, becoming in his turn Ruler by Divine Right, a Chakravartin, or Universal Emperor, God and Creator.!

V. THE WISDOM TEACHINGS

Also involved in symbolical language there are, as fundamental occult doctrines of the Bardo Thodol, what the translator called The Wisdom Teachings; and these—which are essential Mahayana doctrines—may be outlined as follows:

The Voidness.—In all Tibetan systems of yoga, realization of the Voidness (Tib. Stong-pa-iid—pron. Tong-pa-hid: Skt. Shinyata) is the one great aim; for to realize it is to attain the unconditioned Dharma-K aya, or ‘ Divine Body of Truth’ (Tib. Chos-sku—pron. Ché-Ku), the primordial state of uncreatedness, of the supramundane Bodhic All-Consciousness— Buddhahood. Realization of the Voidness (Pali, Su##ata) is the aim of Theravadists too.

The Three Bodies.—The Dharma-K Gya is the highest of the Three Bodies (Tib. Sku-gsum—pron. K a-sum: Skt. Tri-K aya) of the Buddha and of all Buddhas and beings who have Perfect Enlightenment. The other two bodies are the Sambhoga-K aya or ‘Divine Body of Perfect Endowment’ (Tib. Longs-spyodrzogs-sku—pron. Long-chod-zo-ku) and the Nirmana-K aya or

* Manu, in The Laws (xii. 10-11), says: ‘He, whose firm understanding obtains a command over his words, a command over his thoughts, and a command over his whole body, may justly be called a Triple-Commander.

‘The man who exerts this triple self-command with respect to all animated creatures, wholly subduing both lust and wrath, shall by those means attain Beatitude.’—(Cf, trans, by Sir William Jones.)

THE WISDOM TEACHINGS i

‘Divine Body of Incarnation’ (Tib. Spral-pahi-sku-—pron. Tulpat-ku).

The Dharma-Kaya is symbolized—for all human wordconcepts are inadequate to describe the Qualityless—as an _infinite ocean, calm and without a wave, whence arise mistclouds and rainbow, which symbolize the Sambhoga-Kaya; and the clouds, enhaloed in the glory of the rainbow, condensing and falling as rain, symbolize the Mzrmana-K aya

The Dharma-K aya is the primordial, formless Bohdz, which is true experience freed from all error or inherent or accidental obscuration. In it lies the essence of the Universe, including both Saugsaéra and Nirvana, which, as states or conditions of the two poles of consciousness, are, in the last analysis, in the realm of the pure intellect, identical.

In other words, the Dharma-K aya (lit. ‘Law Body’) being
Essential Wisdom (Sodhz) unmodified, the Sambhoga-K aya
(lit. ‘Compensation Body’, or ‘Adorned Body’) embodies,
as in the Five Dhyani Buddhas, Reflected or Modified
Wisdom, and the Virmdnua-Kaya (lit. ‘Changeable Body’,
or ‘ Transformed Body’) embodies, as in the Human Buddhas,
Practical or Incarnate Wisdom.®

1 Sj. Atal Bihari Ghosh (see our Preface, p. x) has added here the following comment: ‘The word Dharma is derived from the verb-root Dhri, meaning ‘to Support’ or ‘to Uphold’, Dkarma is that which upholds or supports the Universe, as also the individual. Dharma is in mankind Right Conduct, the result of True Knowledge. Truth according to Brahmanism is the Brahman, is Liberation—Moksha, Nirvana. Sambhoga is the Life of Enjoyment. Mixmdna is the Process of Building. In the Brahmanic scheme, Dharma is the first thing needed. Then comes Artha (i.e. Wealth, or Possessions), which corresponds with Wirmaza. After this comes Sambhoga ; and the last is Moksha, or Liberation.’

2 ‘Whatever is visible and invisible, whether Sangsara or Nirvana, is at base one (that is, Shinyala|, with two Paths [Avidyd, Ignorance, and Vidya, Knowledge] and two ends [Sangsdra and Mirvana).’ ... ‘The Foundation of all is uncreated and independent, uncompounded and beyond mind and speech, Of It neither the word Mirvana nor Sangsara may be said ’—The Good Wishes of the Adi-Buddha, 1-2 (cf. the late Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup’s translation, TZantnk Texts, vol, vii, London, 1919). The Skinyatd, the Void, synonymous with the Dharma-Kaya, is thus beyond all mental concepts, beyond the finite mind with all its imaginings and use of such ultimate terms of the dualistic world as Nirvana and Sangsara.

8 Cf. Waddell, op. cit., pp. 127, 347:

Ashvaghosha, the great philosopher of Mahayana Buddhism (see pp. 225-6),

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8 Cf. Waddell, op. cit., pp. 127, 347:

Ashvaghosha, the great philosopher of Mahayana Buddhism (see pp. 225-6),

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The Uncreated, the Unshaped, the Unmodified is the Dharma-Kaya. The Offspring, the Modification of the Unmodified, the manifestation of all perfect attributes in one body, is the Sambhoga-Kaya: ‘The embodiment of all that is wise, merciful and loving in the Dharma-Kaya— as clouds on the surface of the heavens or a rainbow on the surface of the clouds—is said to be Sambhoga-Kaya’. The condensation and differentiation of the One Body as many is the Mirmana-Kdaya, or the Divine Incarnations among sentient beings, that is to say, among beings immersed in the Illusion called Sangsa@ra, in phenomena, in worldly existence. All enlightened beings who are reborn in this or in any other world with full consciousness, as workers for the betterment of their fellow creatures, are said to be Nirmana-K aya incarnates.

With the Dharma-Kaya Tantric Buddhism associates the Primordial Buddha Samanta-Bhadra (Tib. K tin-tu-bzang-po— pron. AKvin-tu-zang-po), Who is without Beginning or End, the has explained the 777-Kaya Doctrine in The Awakening of Faith, translation by T. Suzuki (Chicago, 1900, pp. 99-103), as follows :

‘Because All Tathagatas are the Dharmakaya itself, are the highest truth (paramarthasatya) itself, and have nothing to do with conditionality (samurittssatya) and compulsory actions; whereas the secing, hearing, &c. [i.e. the particularizing scnses], of the sentient being diversify [on its own account] the activity of the Tathagatas.

‘Now this activity [in another word, the Dharmakdaya] has a twofold aspect. The first one depends on the phenomena-particularizing-consciousness, by means of which the activity is conceived by the minds of common people ( prithagjana), Cravakas, and Pratyekabuddhas. This aspect is called the Body of Transformation (Virmanakdaya).

‘But as the beings of this class do not know that the Body of Transformation is merely the shadow [or reflection] of their own evolving-consciousness (pravritti-vijndna), they imagine that it comes from some external sources, and so they give it a corporeal limitation, But the Body of Transformation [or what amounts to the same thing, the Dharmakaya| has nothing to do with limitation and measurement.

‘The second aspect (of the Dharmahkaya] depends on the activity-consciousness (karma-vijiiana) by means of which the activity is conceived by the minds of Bodhisattvas while passing from their first aspiration (cttfotpdda) stage up to the height of Bodhisattvahood. This is called the Body of Bliss (Sambhogakdya)....

‘The Dhaymakdaya can manifest itself in various corporeal forms just because it is the real essence of them’ (cf. p. 2287).

' Cf. A. Avalon, Tantrik Texts, vii London and Calcutta, 1919), pp. 36 n., 41 n.

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