Outlines of Mahayana BuddhismSuzuki, Daisetz Teitaro
Religion
Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism
Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro
Mahayana Buddhism -- Doctrines
Some Buddhists may not agree entirely with the view here expounded.
They may declare: “We conform to your view when you say the Dharmakâya
is intelligence and love, as this is expressly stated in the sûtras
and çâstras; but we do not see how it could be made a will. Indeed,
the Scriptures say that the Dharmakâya is in possession of the
Pranidhânabala, but this bala or power is not necessarily the will, it
is the power of prayers or intense vows. The Dharmakâya actually made
solemn vows, and their spiritual energy abiding in the world of
particulars works out its original plan and makes possible the
universal salvation of all creatures.”
It is quite true that the word pranidhânabala means {240} literally
“the power of original prayers.” But this literary rendering totally
ignores its inner significance without which the nature of the
Dharmakâya would become unintelligible. We admit that the Dharmakâya
knows no higher existence by which it is conditioned, nor has it any
fragmentary, limited consciousness like that of human being, nor has
it any intrinsic want by which it is necessitated to appeal to
something other than itself. It is, therefore, utterly nonsensical to
speak of its prayer, “original” or borrowed, as some Buddhists are
inclined to think. On the other hand, we are perfectly justified in
saying that whatever is done by the Dharmakâya is done by its own
free will independent of all the determinations that might affect it
from outside.
But I can presume the reason why they speak of the prayers of the
Dharmakâya instead of its will. Here we have an instance of emotional
outburst. The fervency of the intense religious sentiment not
infrequently carries us beyond the limits of the intellect, landing us
in a region full of mysteries and contradictions. It anthropomorphises
everything beyond the proper measure of intellection and ascribes all
earthly human feelings and passions to an object which the mind
well-balanced demands to be above all the forms of human helplessness.
The Buddhists, especially those of the Sukhâvatî sect,[103] recognise
the existence {241} of an all-powerful will, all-embracing love, and
all-knowing intelligence in the Dharmakâya, but they want to represent
it more concretely and in a more humanly fashion before the mental
vision of the less intellectual followers. The result thus is that the
Dharmakâya in spite of its absoluteness made prayers to himself to
emancipate all sentient beings from the sufferings of birth and death.
But are not these self-addressed prayers of the Dharmakâya which
sprang out of its inmost nature exactly what constitutes its will?
CHAPTER X.
THE DOCTRINE OF TRIKÂYA.
{242}
(/Buddhist Theory of Trinity/.)
_The Human and the Super-human Buddha._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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