The Way of Zen - Alan Watts [38]
Chinese commentators worked out a fourfold classification of the Dharmadhatu which became of considerable importance for Zen late in the T’ang dynasty. Their classification of the “Four Dharma Realms” b was as follows:
1. Shih,c the unique, individual “thing-events” of which the universe is composed.
2. Li,d the “principle” or ultimate reality underlying the multiplicity of things.
3. Li shih wu ai,e “between principle and thing no obstruction,” which is to say that there is no incompatibility between nirvana and samsara, void and form. The attainment of the one does not involve the annihilation of the other.
4. Shih shih wu ai,f “between thing and thing no obstruction,” which is to say that each “thing-event” involves every other, and that the highest insight is simply the perception of them in their natural “suchness.” At this level every “thing-event” is seen to be self-determinative, self-generating, or spontaneous, for to be quite naturally what it is, to be tatha–just “thus”–is to be free and without obstruction.
The doctrine of the Dharmadhatu is, approximately, that the proper harmony of the universe is realized when each “thing-event” is allowed to be freely and spontaneously itself, without interference. Stated more subjectively, it is saying, “Let everything be free to be just as it is. Do not separate yourself from the world and try to order it around.” There is a subtle distinction between this and mere laissez faire, which may be suggested by the way in which we move our various limbs. Each one moves by itself, from within. To walk, we do not pick up our feet with our hands. The individual body is therefore a system of shih shih wu ai, and a Buddha realizes that the whole universe is his body, a marvelously interrelated harmony organized from within itself rather than by interference from outside.
Mahayana philosophy thinks of the Buddha’s body as threefold, as the Trikaya or “Triple Body.” His body, considered either as the multitude of “thing-events” or as his particular human forms, is termed the Nirmanakaya, or “Body of Transformation.” The particular human forms are such historic and prehistoric Buddhas as Gautama, Kasyapa, or Kanakamuni, and since these appear “in the flesh” the Nirmanakaya includes, in principle, the entire universe of form. There is next the Sambhogakaya, or “Body of Enjoyment.” This is the sphere of prajna, wisdom, and karuna, compassion, the latter looking down to the world of form, and the former looking up to the realm of the void. Sambhogakaya might also be called the “Body of Realization” since it is in this “body” that a Buddha realizes that he is a Buddha. Finally there is the Dharmakaya, the “Dharma Body,” which is the void, the sunya itself.
Nagarjuna did not discuss the way in which the void appears as form, the Dharmakaya as the Nirmanakaya, feeling, perhaps, that this would be completely unintelligible to those who had not actually realized awakening. For the Buddha himself had compared such inquiries to the foolishness of a man shot with an arrow, who would not permit it to be taken out of his flesh until he had been told all the details of his assailant’s appearance, family, and motivations. Nevertheless, Nagarjuna’s successors, the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu (c. 280–360), who worked out the type of Mahayana philosophy generally known as Yogacara, made some attempt to discuss this particular problem.
According to the Yogacara the world of form is cittamatra–“mind only”–or vijnaptimatra–“representation only.” This view seems to have a very close resemblance to Western philosophies of subjective idealism, in which the external and material world is regarded as a projection of the mind. However, there seem to be some differences between the two points of view. Here, as