I like Red Pine's translation here. By phrasing it as "Can the Tathagata be seen by means of the perfect development of the physical body" and "Can the Tathagata be seen by means of the possession of attributes," we see a double meaning. Can our own perfect physical development allow us to see the Tathagata? Can we recognize the tathagata by his own perfect physical development? The answer to both questions is no. The Tathagata is formless, and we can recognize the Tathagata, the body of reality, through formlessness. When I meditate, I try to `sweep thoughts from my mind,' try not to dwell on any particular thing. But paradoxically, by freeing my mind this way (not completely of course) I can often gain deeper insight into the nature of reality.
The commentary in Red Pine's book mentions the "reward body" (or "bliss body") and the "dharma body" as relevant to this chapter. These are traditional Buddhist concepts, which I don't fully understand. Here are some definitions I found on the web:
the Dharma Body (Skt. dharmakaya, Jp.hosshin) is the form in which a buddha transcends physical being and is identical with the undifferentiated unity of being or Suchness (Skt. tathata, Jp. shinnyo);
the Bliss or Reward Body (Skt. sambhogakaya, Jp. hojin) is obtained as the "reward" for having completed the bodhisattva practice of aiding other beings to end their suffering and having penetrated the depth of the Buddha's wisdom. Unlike the Dharma Body, which is immaterial, the Bliss Body is conceived of as an actual body, although one that is still transcendent and imperceptible to common people; (excerpted from http://www.jodo.org/about_hs/ho_teach.html)
The fact that the Buddha refers to "perfect development" means he is probably referring to the reward body in the first part of Chapter 20. Red Pine says that `the reward body alone is perfect in form because it is formless.' In any event, however the reward body is conceived, the Buddha has prompted Subhuti to remind us that we should not be attached to it. It is an illusion.
The second part of Chapter 20 relates to the Dharma Body, which is the Buddha's true body, free of all attributes.
I can't say i really understand the difference between the Dharma Body and the Reward Body.
3 comments:
I can't say I understand the difference between the reward body, dharma body and the body I'm sitting in.
By the way, this:
"the perfect physical body is not a perfect physical body, it is called a perfect physical body."
is a clearer formulation of a recurring theme. Its meaning (the name of the thing is not the thing itself) is clearer than this is not a desk, therefore it is called a desk.
If you are interested, I have made some fresh comments going back to somewhere in the vicinity of 16.
Well, I agree Red Pine's translation can sometimes be confusing. Once you understand it, with the help of the other translations, it is often very poetic and even beautiful. In this case, `thus' definitely does not mean `therefore' but rather `in this manner.' This use of the word `thus' is close to the way it occurs in the phrase `thusly.' It took me a long time to figure that out though.
By the way, B., thanks for all your retroactive comments. I actually have it set up so I get an email every time someone posts.
I don't really know why Pritikin omits some passages. I only discovered this after doing this chapter by chapter comparison. (Pritikin's translation is not divided into chapters.) I have two theories: theory one is that there is more than one version of the Diamond Sutra (which is certainly true) and Pritikin is working off of a different one. Theory two is that Pritikin consciously decided to omit and abbreviate passages, perhaps because he is trying to translate the spirit of the thing. But I don't really know.
I think there is a definite difference between the dharma body or the reward body and the body I'm sitting in. The body I'm sitting in has physical characteristics, it has extent in space and time, it has arms and legs, it contains organs, it contains DNA, it implements algorithmic processes, and possibly non-algorithmic ones... The dharma body has no physical attributes. I can't say I know exactly what it is, and in some sense it defies explanation by its very definition. However, I have some guesses. One of the ideas in Buddhism is to try to think of your self as an illusion, and that you are no different from any other being. In fact one can take this further and try to recognize arbitrary boundaries and transcend them in all facets of life. The dharma body is like this. There are no arbitrary boundaries. I think it's fairly obvious that no-one can achieve the ideal of transcending all boundaries, but the practice of recognizing them and transcending them, continuously, from day to day, is an excellent step toward (personal :)) happiness.
Thinking about this now, perhaps one way to conceptualize the dharma body (or reward body, not sure which) is that it is a state of mind, a state of awareness, where we constantly try to recognize arbitrary limitations.
This would have a lot more force if I gave specific examples. Indeed one example is the fear of death. This is an example of an arbitrary boundary. Fear of death has no purpose, it is a mental confinement. Recognizing it and accepting that has helped me immensely in my personal serenity. Of course, it's not always particularly easy to transcend boundaries, and certain things are just plain impossible. However, part of the great thing about transcendence is that you can also transcend the particular method you have chosen to transcend a problem. For example, I am an alcoholic. It is just plain impossible for me to `transcend' my alcholism and be able to drink normally. But in fact, I can transcend it, never drink again, and convert my sickness to an asset. After all, part of the reason I am doing so much soul-searching and striving to be a better individual is because I am transcending my alcoholism. Significantly, also, it helps me to be humble.
Anyway, I've rambled enough...
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