DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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The three bodies of the Buddha are:

- Reward body of the Buddha: The body formed by karma

- Transformation body: Through practice, the body is sublimating and transforming.

- Dharma body: The body that is identical to the true nature.

Practitioners always reside in the pure Dharma body. Depending on conditions, they manifest transformation bodies to adapt to the situation and have to pay the karma of the reward body. Therefore, even if they have practiced and attained enlightenment, but still have a reward body, it is called: Nirvana with remainder. On the contrary, it is called Nirvana without remainder when they have passed away and no longer have a reward body.

The concept of Buddha Body in the Pali Canon refers to the personality of Buddha Shakyamuni, who attained Buddhahood after many years of asceticism. Buddha Shakyamuni was an ordinary person, a historical person with his karma like other sentient beings, but with the effort and determination to eliminate bad karma and suffering, he achieved ultimate liberation and became an enlightened being. The Buddha then established a philosophical and ethical system called Buddhism.

In the Digha Nikaya, the concept of Buddha is explained as follows:

- The Buddha is called an Arahant, a Tathagata, an Arhat, a Samyaksambuddha, a Perfect One of Knowledge and Conduct, a Well-Gone One, a Knower of the World, an Unsurpassed One, a Trainer of Men to Be Tamed, a Teacher of Gods and Men, a Buddha, a World-Honored One.

He knows the worlds of gods, demons, hermits, brahmins, and humans.

Such a description does not imply that the Buddha is more than a human being. In Buddhist cosmology, there are devas in different heavens. The highest of the heavens is the Brahma, who are beings with great merit and power, but low in the ability to attain sainthood or Arahantship. Therefore, the Hinayana school does not refer to any divine or abstract elements in the Buddha's body. All consider the Buddha Sakyamuni as a pure and simple practitioner in this very life, and as a result of the accumulation of merits of previous lives. Leading to the highest stage of perfection and attaining not only wisdom and power higher than any deva or human but also the most transcendent wisdom and power.

In the Majjhima Nikaya, Venerable Ananda explains why the Buddha is considered superior to the Arahants. Venerable Ananda says that no bhikkhu is considered to have all the excellences in their form as the Buddha. Moreover, the Buddha is the initiator of a path that was previously absent or forgotten. It was the Blessed One who announced a path that the Sravakas followed.

The Hinayana in the early period, or a century or two after the Buddha's existence, maintained only the human nature of the Buddha like any other human being, without mentioning the supernatural aspect. But in fact, the Buddha was a great personality. While the Buddha was alive, the monks considered him a superhuman:

- The monks said that a saint has thirty-two good signs and only a saint can possess good signs and two good deeds, which are merit and wisdom.

The Buddhist scriptures also say that the Buddha has thirty-two signs of a saint. Therefore, his disciples had absolute faith in the Buddha Shakyamuni and greatly admired him.

The Buddha himself said that he was a World-knower and a Tathagata, and knew that in the future his supernatural nature would be expanded and made larger. Although his nirvana showed the limitations of humans governed by the law of impermanence, his disciples always considered him an extraordinary personality. The following passage describes:

- Ananda, if you wish, the Tathagata can live for one lifetime or more than one lifetime. And the Mahaparinirvana Sutra also reports:

- The Buddha took his feet out of the coffin to wait for Mahakasyapa to come and pay homage.

This is also a factor for the Buddha's disciples to believe that Shakyamuni Buddha was a superhuman, immortal. And the superhuman nature of the Buddha was passed down through many later generations and was expanded with many sutras that eventually created the legends about the Buddha, such as in the Jataka stories. According to such sutras, the Buddha's enlightenment was achieved not only by the method of practicing asceticism, but also bore the traces of countless good deeds he had done in his previous lives, in countless lives that cannot be counted. And Shakyamuni Buddha is described as a superhuman, who has thirty-two good signs and eighty other special beauties.

According to the later Hinayana and Mahayana theories, the Buddha's disciples regarded him as a teacher of gods and humans and, of course, praised his extraordinary qualities, not only after his nirvana but also while he was alive. These qualities included wisdom and morality, and even his physical body transformed him from a human being to the ultimate being in the world.

The Buddha's lifespan is infinite because of the immeasurable merits from his many past lives. But he manifests a lifespan like other sentient beings.

The Buddha's power is infinite; he can manifest simultaneously in many worlds in this universe. The Buddha never tires of enlightening sentient beings and showing them the path to enlightenment. Chinese commentators have explained that the Buddha's compassion is limitless, and it is possible that he delayed his nirvana for the sake of saving all sentient beings. The Buddha's mind is always in meditation. He never slept or dreamed.

The Buddha could understand all dharmas in a single instant. His mind was like a clear mirror, he could answer any question immediately without hesitation. The Buddha always knew that there were no more impure signs in him and that he would not be reborn again.

What is presented above is further supported by the beautiful words of the Mahavastu-sutra as follows:

- The Bodhisattva in his last life was Prince Siddhartha, born from his mother's right side, not born normally like other beings. He sat cross-legged in the womb, from the heavens he entered the womb, and he acted as a protector. While in the womb, he remained pure, not defiled by phlegm and other impurities in his mother's womb. And he came out of his mother's womb from his right side, because he had no karma of lust, and Prince Siddhartha's son Rahula was also born in the same way.

The Buddha's achievements are transcendental and cannot be compared to any other worldly dharma. His practice is transcendental, and therefore, his merits and body, even his activities such as walking, standing, lying down, sitting, are also transcendental. Eating, drinking, wearing robes, and all other gestures are also transcendental. Because they are only temporarily manifested in a worldly way, his feet are clean, but he still washes them. His mouth is fragrant like a blue lotus, but he still brushes his teeth. His body is not affected by the sun, wind, and rain, but he still wears robes and lives under a roof. He is originally free from illness, but he still appears to be sick and takes medicine. The Buddha can appear in many worlds at the same time, and he has omniscience, knowing all phenomena at the same time.

If the transcendence of the Buddha is accepted, then the Buddha's life must be endless, and he must not be controlled by sleep and dreams since he is not tired. And the Buddha's body is pure with the following description:

1. The Tathagata's body is transcendental to all worlds

2. The Tathagata has no worldly entity

3. All the Tathagata's words are for preaching

4. The Tathagata clearly explains the phenomena of dharmas

5. The Tathagata teaches all dharmas as they are

6. The Tathagata has a physical body

7. The Tathagata's capacity is infinite

8. The Tathagata's lifespan is infinite

9. The Tathagata never tires of saving sentient beings

10. The Tathagata does not sleep

11. The Tathagata is beyond the need for questioning

12. The Tathagata often meditates without speaking, however, he only uses language as a means of preaching

13. The Tathagata understands all problems immediately

14. The Tathagata with wisdom understands all dharmas completely in a single instant

15. The Tathagata has perfect knowledge and the unborn wisdom until nirvana is attained.

The assertion of the Mahasanghikas that the Buddha's body is superhuman, without defilements, and a passage in the Mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra states:

- Although the Tathagata is still in the world, he is transcendent and unstained by defilements.

And a passage in the Āgama states:

- Although the Buddha's physical body is destroyed, his life is very long, because his dharmakaya still exists.

This also supports the view of the Mahasanghikas. According to this view, it is not that the Buddha's body is destroyed at the age of eighty; the extraordinary nature is the Buddha's real body, and the physical body is only a miraculous manifestation of his real body. Such a view can be regarded as the development of the doctrine of the superhuman nature with thirty-two excellent marks and eighty minor marks. And there is nothing in this world that can be equal to the Buddha. All the marks associated with him are beyond this world.

In short, the Buddha was a real human being living in this world like any other human being, and subject to the frailties of the body. Metaphorically, they sometimes said that the Buddha was identical with the dharma, without any metaphysical implication, but these points allowed the Sarvāstivāda and Mahāyāna to develop the theory of the Buddha's dharmakaya.

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