Dharma Body Research Articles

Philosophy Buddhism] A First Look at the World of Information - Understanding Information from the Buddhist Perspective

The information revolution is undoubtedly one of the most important technological achievements of human society; however, there is no consensus among scientists about what information is. What is information? What are the characteristics of information? What is the relationship between information and signals and between information and consciousness? In this study, we try to answer these questions from the perspective of Buddhism. We consider information to be the Buddha’s sambhogakāya, similar to the Buddha’s dharma body, and it is considered to be beyond time and space. Information is “not produced, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, not increase, and not diminish.” By studying these characteristics of information, the connections between traditional Buddhism and modern technology may be determined, and it can provide insights for the human society to better understand truth.

The Interpretation of <i>jijuyūshin </i>自受用身 in Ryōei Rihon 良栄理本’s Doctrine: The Discussion of <i>juezhaoxing</i> 覚照性 in the <i>Qunyi lun </i>群疑論

This paper concerns Ryōei Rihon’s良栄理本 （1346-1428）understanding of juezhaoxing覚照性 in the seventh century Shi Jingtu qunyi lun 釈浄土群疑論 of Huaigan 懐感. Heretofore, it has been understood that the wisdom of the self-enjoyment body自受用身 recognizes the truth 理 of the Dharma body. However, adding to this previous interpretation, Ryōei established the interpretation that juezhao覚照 is the work of wisdom connected with the Dharma body. The main point of these two interpretations concerns the difference between the Dharma body and the self-enjoyment body. That is, if the former interpretation is adopted, the Dharma body and the self-enjoyment body are distinguished. In contrast, if the latter is adopted, the two bodies are the same.

The cult of the Cintāmaṇi: The nature and context of the Dunhuang manuscript P. 4518 (10)

The Dunhuang manuscript P. 4518 (10) is a fascinating illustrated manuscript that could be dated in the 10th century. Although it is commonly known as the scene of preaching Dharma, contemporary scholarship does not offer an adequate interpretation. Combining both traditional canonical texts and uncovered Chinese and Sanskrit manuscripts from Dunhuang and Khotan, this study suggests that this is an illustration showing that the Buddha explained the Mani pearl as the symbol of his Dharma Body (Dharmakaya) to two Arhats who were depicted as two monks with halo, upon the inquiry of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva. This story might come from the Jñānālokālaṃkāra-sūtra, a popular text in Central and East Asia, as its Sanskrit fragments from Khotan and Chinese manuscripts from Dunhuang indicated. One of the most important themes in this text was the Mani pearl appeared as the symbol of the Dharmakaya, which should be honored and worshipped.

Reaching the Dharma Body (法身) of Vairocana (毘盧遮那佛) Portrayed in the Flower Ornament Sutra (大方廣佛華嚴經) through Literature and Film

This paper first claims that the Avatamsaka (Sanskrit) Sutra, or the Flower Ornament Sutra (大方廣佛華嚴經) is the best writing among the innumerable Sutras and other books that describe Truth. The Chinese characters in the Avatamsaka Sutra shows infinity, innumerable Bodhisattvas and the infinite Dharma body (無限法身) of Vairocana (毘盧遮那佛). Yet this dimension of the ultimate reality is not simply that of the nihilistic (虛無主義的) nothingness or void. Emptiness is the perfect emptiness with wondrous movement, and it is the most profound source (根源) of all animate existences and inanimate things. I claim that literary reading and watching films have the innate purpose (目的) of having this meditative mind, of which the most profound spiritual vision is presented as Ocean Samadhi in the Avatamsaka Sutra. In the first place, the innate (內在的) guide us to clearly see the binary structure (二元對立構造) of ego (自我). The ego is unstable between good and evil, right and wrong, decency and destitute. In order to let the audience feel free from the ego, we should take a profoundly different way than thematic approach (主題的接近). This way of understanding literary works and films is not to find the author’s intention and the main message implied in the work. Literature, film, and other arts are special areas that lead audiences outside the local, petty ego that is, into the dimension of the true self or the Transmiddle zone (領域) with special power of sensibility (感覺). As a literary text or film constructs the plot, story, and mood, it deconstructs itself (in terms of postmodernism). Ethical deconstruction would lead the audience beyond the limits of time and space into the spiritual dimension. A serious (深奧) literary text or film Great works (傑作) of literature and film direct our attention to break the shell (外觀) of our ego and encounter (直面) the source of life outside the ordinary habit of the ego. The exterior of the ego is the dimension of the pure consciousness. The unveiling process is the way in which it unlocks our spiritual sight (靈的視視) and presents with us a story of the protagonist’s failure (失敗) to flourish (繁榮) in the society (社會). The primal reality of the ego is that it is split into two, and thus fundamentally unstable. The ocean Samadhi (海印三昧) as portrayed in the Avatamsaka Sutra presents us with the vision that the whole cosmos (宇宙) and uncountable atoms are one. In this spiritual light, all phenomena in the whole universe are dependent co-arising or interdependent arising (同時發生); it is possible because everything is empty and has no stable substance. The Avatamsaka Sutra presents that the Buddha-body comprises, and thus it is truly “Emptiness (眞空) as Fullness (充滿).” Phenomena as the variances of Emptiness go through the processes of birth and death, not the Emptiness itself. It is like “empty space.” In the Hua-yen marvelous cosmos of Emptiness as fullness, one and all are interconnected with one another, and it is beyond our intellectual understanding (知的理解). In this way, Chinese characters (漢字) in the Avatamsaka Sutra (華嚴經, 大方廣佛華嚴經) describe (描寫) the infinite Dharma body (無限法身) of Vairocana (毘盧遮那佛). The ultimate truth is nondual (不二), and thus nonphenomenal (非現象的). The truth (眞理) of every existence (存在) is actually the spiritual dimension of not one, not two (不一, 不二). “Not one, not two” is the characteristic nature of the dimension beyond time and space, for it indicates the most fundamental realm (根本領域) of transcendence, where all phenomena are both separate and one.

Embodied Implacement in Kūkai and Nishida

Examined here is the importance of embodied implacement in correlativity with the environment in the philosophies of two significant philosophers in the history of Japanese thought: Kūkai (774–835), the founder of Shingon Buddhism, and Nishida Kitarō (1870–1945), the founder of Kyoto School philosophy. We look into Kūkai’s concepts of sokushinjōbutsu (“attainment of Buddhahood in this very body”) and hosshin seppō (“the dharma body’s expounding of the dharma”) and Nishida’s concepts of kōiteki chokkan (“acting-intuition”) and rekishiteki shintai (“historical body”) among others, to explore the significance for both of an embodied implacement in the world and in interaction with the environment. The body as the medium or place of interrelations, in both thinkers, proves to be a chiasma in manifold significances, as both microcosmic and macrocosmic. And as non-substantial, empty, it is an open body.

How Bisvaṃtara Got His Dharma Body: Story, Ritual, and the Domestic in the Composition of a Newar Jātaka

introduction The tale of the generous prince who renounces his right to the throne, his children, and, eventually, his wife, and who is finally rewarded for his generosity by receiving back all of the above in a triumphant homecoming, is one of the most popular stories of Buddhism and certainly the most widely known shared tale in Buddhist South and Southeast Asia. Recorded in Pāli, in the South and Southeast Asian vernaculars, and transmitted through texts, performances, and visual representations, the story has become an important part of those societies in the region that support a living Buddhist heritage. The prince is known as Vessantara in Pāli and Sinhala, Vessantar in Khmer, Wethandaya in Burmese, and Wetsandon in Thai versions. The story, which originated in South Asia, is also found in Sanskrit Buddhist literature and it has made its way into Central and East Asian Buddhist literatures as well. The plot is as follows. In his last birth as a human being before becoming the Buddha, the bodhisattva is born to a royal couple and from early on reveals his propensity towards practicing the virtue or perfection of generosity (Pā. dāna pāramī or Pā. and Skt. pāramitā). This becomes a major political issue once he gives away his father’s state elephant to the king of the neighboring realm. His acts of generosity are on such a scale that the ministers convince the king to have his son banished. The prince leaves the kingdom together with his wife, his daughter, and his son on a horse-drawn chariot. But he gives away first the horses and then the chariot to people they encounter on the way. Continuing on foot, they make it into the wilderness where the prince spends his time in meditation. He is approached by a wicked Brahman to whom the prince hands over his two children. They are led away pleading and crying. Intent on receiving compensation, the Brahman brings them back to their grandfather. When the prince’s wife discovers what her husband has done she is devastated. But she too is given away by the generous prince and, being the good wife that she is, acquiesces without complaint. However, this time the recipient is the king of the gods, who had

『論註』二種法身説と広略相入の関係考

『論註』二種法身説と広略相入の関係考

法身と受用身 : 『大日経疏』を視野に入れて(遠藤祐純先生吉田宏晢先生古稀記念論文集 慈悲と智慧の世界)

法身と受用身 : 『大日経疏』を視野に入れて(遠藤祐純先生吉田宏晢先生古稀記念論文集 慈悲と智慧の世界)

On a Comparison between “Original Enlightenment Thought” and “Tathagatagarbha Theory”

Mr. Shiro Matsumoto insisted that the “thought of the matrix of the Tathagata” (nyoraizo shiso) is a non-Buddhist teaching because it is dhatu-vada. Upon receiving Mr. Matsumoto's theory, Mr. Noriaki Hakamaya opposed the concept of “original enlightenment.”I responded to Mr. Hakamaya's opposition, stating that the word dhatu, as found in the “Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, ” should be interpreted as “the essential truth of things” (shin-nyo) or “dharma body” (hosshin), and that therefore, the concept of dhatu differs from the concept of “original enlightenment.” I requested that Mr. Hakamaya did not use the terms “original enlightenment” and dhatu interchangeably when discoursing on dhatu-vada, as referred to in Mr. Matsumoto's writing. Mr. Matsumoto and Mr. Hakamaya responded to my proposal, defending their views.At this time, I doubt that “original enlightenment” is dhatu, as found in the “Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana” (Kishin-ron)The world of truth, which has no emergence and no disappearance, is the world of absoluteness. This human world, which has emergence and disappearance, is the relative world. While describing the Buddha's enlightenment in the relative world (shigaku), the concept of “original enlightenment” is expounded in order to emphasize the contrast between “original enlightenment” in the world of truth (hongaku) and the Buddha's enlightenment during His lifetime in India in the relative world (shigaku). Therefore, dhatu is not “original enlightenment.” This is my counter-response to Mr. Matsumoto and Mr. Hakamaya.

Tanluan's Theory of the Two-fold Dharma-body: The Body of Suchness and the Body of Compassion

Tanluan's Theory of the Two-fold Dharma-body: The Body of Suchness and the Body of Compassion

The Conditions for Obtaining the Eternal Dharma-body in the Mahapari-nirvana-sutra

The Conditions for Obtaining the Eternal Dharma-body in the Mahapari-nirvana-sutra