Month: November 2004 Page 1 of 7

Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya

On 30/11/2004

I used to imagine that the Buddha was so very far away. Enlightenment was so inconceivably difficult to attain, and the path there so very long. With my swirling emotions and obscurations, how long the journey seemed, and how very hard I had to strive in order to reach the state of perfect Awakening. When imagining what the Enlightened ‘state’ must be like, I projected it out, as the ‘Transcendental’, some glittering, mysterious plane of being that I aspired to reach. Did I have this ‘Transcendental’ now? … not at all! …. it was unimaginably far away, and remote from my experience.

But the three Kayas of the Buddha are not truly so far away. They aren’t something even which need to be created anew, nor something which are not present at this very moment.

Dharmakaya

The Dharmakaya is the ungraspable, unfathomable, intangible unborness of mind, which resists all efforts to hold or conceptualise. Looking at mind, I try to somehow get hold of it, to get a hold on it, but it’s utterly resistant to all those efforts. I let go of grasping, and its ‘nothingness’ fills awareness. Not a blank nothingness, but an utter unfindability which is the matrix of being. The Dharmakaya is my fertile voidness, and is present whether experienced or not. It doesn’t come fresh into being when realised, but is our very nature. A glimpse of utter indescribableness reveals our Dharmakaya, a jewel waiting to be seen. All that is needed is to see what is already there (which cannot be seen by grasping mind), and keeping that in awareness, allow it to blossom forth.

The Prajnaparamita sutras say that ‘do not think that this body is the real Buddha, the real Buddha is the Dharmakaya’. This Dharmakaya is not so far away .. it’s our inheritance, and our inheritance is present right now, hidden by only our foolish seeing. Calling the Dharmakaya ‘ungraspable’ is another label, and potential source of grasping or holding on to something. The Dharmakaya is not ‘ungraspable’, but it is truly ungraspable. There is no point of reference whatsoever, and this description doesn’t provide one.

Prajnaparamita, transcendent wisdom as deity, 13th century Buddhist statue from Java, Indonesia

Sambhogakaya

The Sambhogakaya is also here right now. Looking deeply at our own mind, there is a knowingness, a luminous clarity which co-exists with the empty unfathomableness. That very luminosity is the Sambhogakaya. Not something needing to be created, our minds reveal that aspect of clarity, of knowingness, that capacity to experience and know. It’s not a thing, not a quality that can be grasped. When looked for … it hides from view, and yet it is there …. radiant and bright. Though only experienced fully by the highest Bodhisattvas, the Sambhogakaya is not something which will arise from scratch. Our mind is luminous, aware of that or not. Looking deeply at mind, though there is no qualities there at all, nevertheless luminosity is apparent … the Sambhogakaya within.

Nirmanakaya

The Nirmanakaya is revealed in our minds. Our mind gives rise to appearances, which seemingly ebb and flow. The unobstructed appearance of ‘thought’ is the Nirmanakaya, the body of the Buddha. Not far away, not needing to be conjured from the start, our minds capacity for spontaneous appearance is the Nirmanakaya within. Continuous seeming manifestation … this is Nirmanakaya. Not solid or real, but seeming to arise and fall. Without anything tangible or real, the Nirmanakaya of appearances are revealed within.

The 3 Kayas are not far off

The three Kayas are not far off, but are our very nature of mind. Looking again and again, the Kayas come into view. Not created where they previously didn’t exist, but just seen where they were previously unseen.

It’s not that I’ve given up on an imagined projected goal, the ‘Transcendental’ which lies so very far away. And that I’ve replaced that with another fantasy, that of ‘already Enlightened’ which lies comfortingly close. The three Kayas are not entirely manifest, or realised, but they are already there. They don’t change or come into being, or are something which is utterly remote from experience. Looking deeply, they reveal themselves within. Our nature is Buddha Nature, the three Kayas are already there. Our experience of them is the path, Taking Mahamudra as the Path. Fully realised they are the goal, the Awakening that benefits all beings.

Not looked for elsewhere, our inheritance awaits us. What we already are, though we forget.

Taking Mahamudra as the Path

By Chodpa

On 28/11/2004

In Mahamudra

Things appear to change. Things appear to go through phases. I say ‘appear to’ as I’m not at all sure that they do. They appear to, but do they really? How do we know? We have memory of what was. How do we know how accurate our memory is of what was? Accessing a memory takes place in the present, about another time which was supposedly some where else, some other time. But the only time we ever has is the present .. never the past. So we can never directly access the past … only in the present have some thoughts which we believe are recollections of the past. And we have a certain trust, usually, of the relative accuracy of the recollections.

Anyway, having said that …. it appears to me that there are changes, or phases to things. Assuming that this is the case (which I don’t assume, but for arguments sake for the point I am about to make!) …. then there seem to be patterns, or periods of time where things go certain ways.

No longer practicing like life or death

One pattern at present is a sense that I am not really ‘practicing’ in the sense that I used to feel like I was practicing.

I used to feel that I had a ‘practice’, a method, means and actions which combined in order to try to bring about a desired result. So basically I was trying to get beyond suffering, and perhaps to help some beings along the way. Hopefully as I developed in my practice I’d gain the ability to really help them, and help them such that they too would find the way beyond suffering. So I practiced, practiced creating the causes for this liberation, and had a ‘practice’, which was all the stuff which would bring this about.

Now, it seems a little different, and I don’t sense a ‘practice’, or that I am ‘practicing’ in quite the same way. I don’t really consciously try to generate causes for a desired result. I am not trying to get Enlightened in quite the same way. I am not trying to attain to the Transcendental, or connect with it, or achieve liberation through some sort of strenuous set of practices.

But I am most definitely doing something though! I feel like there is a focus, a intent, a meaningful centre to things.

What is that then, if it is not a practice, or practicing?

Taking Mahamudra as the path

I guess the traditional Kagyu formulation of Taking Mahamudra as the Path is the closest I can get to describing it. What it comes down to is not really trying to bring something about which isn’t already there by practicing.

It’s more recognising what is already there … ones Buddha Nature … which is Mahamudra, and in recognising that, just keeping it in focus, and deepening the awareness of that by keeping it in view, with various means. Nothing is being created, nothing is being practiced in order to generate something that wasn’t there already.

Recognising our own true nature, we can just keep that in view, and deepen our dwelling in that view by utilising the various skilful means of the Vajrayana. And most importantly, just through looking directly at the nature of Mind, just recognise what is (and was isn’t). And in looking, and recognising .. naturally, those natural qualities, our nature, our Buddha Nature, it just flowers, and blossoms, as our view clarifies and focusses.

Samantabhadra Buddha, Tibet collection of Rubin Museum of Art

Truly inhabiting what we truly are

Nothing new created, no practice of generating results from conditions. Just taking our view of how things are, the nature of Mind, and allowing it to permeate all our actions of body, speech and mind. It’s fullness overflows as we take it as path. Naturally, spontaneously, what already is, but what wasn’t recognised, becomes recognised, and more obviously present in all experience, however it is.

Our nature doesn’t change. Taking Mahamudra as the Path, and keeping our Buddha Nature in view doesn’t change our nature. Nothing new is cultivated or brought about. It’s what we’ve always been, and it’s just ‘how things are’ …. and we just take what we have seen of how things are, and keep the view. Just keeping that view is the path.

So it seems like this … this phase, at present, and it didn’t seem like that before, before Taking Mahamudra as the Path.

But is it, who knows? I don’t … for sure … but just lightly and gently support what seems to be, as it unfolds and envelops all.

Just That

By Chodpa

On 26/11/2004

In General Buddhism

Yesterday in a place of worship ‘belonging’ to a different religion to my own, I noticed so many things about the nature of things, and the nature of those who wish to embrace and understand how things are. So many reflections came up, shedding light on my own practice and tradition, viewed as a result of engaging with a different tradition. And many reflections arose on that other tradition, viewed through the view and prism of my own approach.

So full were those reflections, and so meaningful. And yet, something greater still arose.

Deep stillness and contentment

Underneath, inbetween, and all around those reflections was a deep stillness and contentment, which permeated my experience. There really was little need for words, nor indeed for thoughts. I sat perfectly at peace in this ‘foreign’ environment, watching people at prayer. No need to analyse, justify, compare or contrast. No need to convert, engage or debate.

Things just the way they are

A deep sense of things being the way they are. Peacefulness seems to be as it was, at that moment. Gratitude seems to be it’s own way. Gratitude, Interest, Faith, Understanding …. all were as they were. Not belonging to this or that path, this or that method, or particular person.

Prior to words, prior to concepts, prior to divisions and allegiences.

Compassion is compassion. Connectedness is connectedness. Love is love. Gratitude is gratitude. Turning within is ‘just that’. Coming home is ‘just that’.

All just as they seem to be, and seemingly perfect just as they are. Just what they are, without spin, concept or explication.

Resting in what was, as it was, as it seemed to be. Seemingly arising, seemingly without core.

Words fail

What is what? How are things? …. my words cannot say. Words were so far from ‘what is’ yesterday, and trying to convey this now still comes up short. Not short, but utterly not ‘it’. Words are so far away from ‘it’ … totally utterly not ‘it’ …. letting go of words ….. ‘it’ …. ‘no-name’ … I don’t know what to call it …. resting … allowing to be …..

I cannot summarise or conclude ….. words fail