Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 13-24

  

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda: Analysing the Heart Sutra from Theravadin Perspective—Part 13-24

 Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 13

5.1.13. Sarvāstivādi Māyāvāda

Śūnyavāda and Māyāvāda are two parts of Sarvāstivādi eternalism. They have roots in the Vedas.

The Sarvastivāda Mahayana presents three asankhata (asaṁskrṭa dharmas): the Pratisaṅkhyā-nirodha (observed cessation), the A-pratisaṅkhyā-nirodha (unobserved cessation) and Ākāśa (space). The Sautrāntika Mahayana rejected them. [ON SARVASTIVĀDA (Samuel Buchoul)]

• Ākāśa (Sanskrit meaning):
  • 6) Brahman (as identical with ether); 
• Ākāśa (Mahayana):
  • “Space (ākāśa) is beginningless, without middle and without end; and it is the same with dharmas”.
  • Space is invisible (adrśya) but, looking at it from afar, the eye perceives a light blue color.
  • (Vajrayana) Ākāśa (आकाश, “space”) or Ākāśadhātu refers to “(the element of) space”
• Ākāsa (Theravada):
  • Later Buddhist schools [Mahayana] have regarded it as one of several unconditioned or uncreated states (asaṅkhatadhamma) – a view that is rejected in Kath. (s. Guide. p. 70). Theravāda Buddhism recognizes only Nibbāna as an unconditioned element
• Vibhajjavada:
  • Space is rūpa (a sankhata dhatu), a conditioned paramattha (reality). Space is essential for sankhāra (construct/activity); e.g. occupying space. The four mahabhuta (rūpa dhatu) fill the space.
• Sarvastivāda
  • Space has blue colour, and is asankhata, but it is not the mind. Citta-matrata: Everything other than the mind is maya. Asankhata (asaṁskrṭa) means unimagined, as imagined is maya. Space being asaṁskrṭa rejects Māyāvādi creationism (imaginationism), Vijñaptimātra and Vijñānavāda (the doctrine of consciousness).

Māyāvāda (ಮಾಯಾವಾದ):—[noun] (phil.) the doctrine that the universe is an illusion or an apparent phenomenon and the Supreme Soul is the only truth.

• citta-matrata replaces soul with mind (indestructible buddha-nature).

[Bloodstream:] This mind is the Buddha.

• Or the original Tathagata.

Space

Space is emptiness, cessation, nirvana.

Mahayana is the religion of Nâgârjuna. He believes in the equality of space as the nature of all things. The concept equates mind with empty space or emptiness. Thus, Śūnyavāda and Māyāvāda are two parts of Sarvāstivādi eternalism or creationism.

The Svābhāvakāya [...] is attained through the power of the dharmakaya, through realisation. The vajrayana calls this the body of great bliss (mahâsukhakâya) because its distinctive quality is supreme, unchanging bliss. Ârya Nâgârjuna has said : « I pay homage to that which is free from the activity of the three realms ; which is the equality of space ; which is the nature of all things ;… Praise to the Three Kâyas (Kayâtrayastotra), Toh 1123, Tengyur, bstod tshogs,ka,70b3.[The Svâbhâvakâya or Svâbhâvikakâya in Mahayana Teachings (Jacques Mahnich)]

• vajrayana: vajra wisdom: 
  • Five buddha families: The buddha family; vajra family; ratna family or jewel family; padma family or lotus family; karma family
• Maya is very complex and dramatic.

[Britannica:] The Yogachara (or Vijnanavada) school was founded, according to tradition, by the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu (4th/5th century CE) and by Sthiramati (6th century), who systematized doctrines found in the Lankavatara-sutra and the Mahayana-shraddhotpada-shastra (attributed to Ashvaghosha but probably written in Central Asia or in China). Later Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism include doctrines that were to be influenced by Yogachara teaching.

• Thus, one must learn Lankavatara to understand the core doctrines of Sarvāstivāda (Mahayana).

Right/Wrong Māyā

The concept of māyā could be as old as imagination. It is in the ancient Vedas, too.

the māyā is right when it conforms to, underline the three-lettered word again, Ṛta. It is the Ṛta that makes māyā real [...] While Agni is the creative power of māyā, and Varuṇa the discriminative, there is a point at which māyā becomes the reality or just the opposite. Only the right māyā can destroy the “wrong” one [...] Vedānta, Buddhism, and Jainism [...] view Māyā as a hindrance [and] the world is dark, as a burden, a distraction [Vedā: Māyā (Kiron Krishnan)]

• Sarvāstivādi sutras present buddha-lands, etc. The lifestyle is oneness, as Buddhas and bodhisattvas do not have individualised will-control (Lankavatara/Suzuki-Goddard) or individualism.

Māyāvāda

Sarvāstivādi Māyāvāda is based on Māyāvāda of the Vedas.

[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:] the Self, the Reality that has no second, appears as something else, like a second moon when one has got the disease of double vision (Timira) [...]
Verse 1.4.5: He knew, ‘I indeed am the creation, for I projected all this.’ Therefore he was called Creation. He who knows this as such becomes (a creator) in this creation of Virāj. [Section IV - The Creation and Its Cause Swāmī Mādhavānanda]

• Because brahma was bored, he created Maya, his imagination with self.
• The religion: all imaginations are responsible for their wellbeing, progress and escape from burdens.

BG 7.13: Deluded by the three modes of Maya, people in this world are unable to know Me, the imperishable and eternal. [bhagavad-gita chapter/7/verse/13]

• Bodhidharma says something similar:

[Bloodstream:] "Someone who sees his nature is a buddha." 

• Nature, or self-nature: svabhāva
• His nature (self-nature) is emptiness (svabhāva-śūnya). His self-nature is buddha-nature (gotra-svabhāva).
• Emptiness and buddha-nature are the mind. Vijñānavāda: only mind exists, only mind is real.

māyāvāda was openly denounced as ‘crypto-Buddhism’ by early philosophers like Bhaskarācārya, Pārtha-sārathī Miśra, Yādava-prakāśa, Rāmānuja and Madhva. There are differences between the māyāvādīs and the Buddhists so far as the external rules of social conduct go, yet as far as their philosophies are concerned there is absolutely no difference between these two schools. [The Self-Defeating Philosophy of Māyāvāda (Gaura Gopāla Dāsa)]

Māyāvādi God

[harekrsna.com: mayavadi:] "One who is transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me." [...] Strictly speaking, Mayavada philosophy is atheism, for it is a process in which one imagines that there is God. This Mayavada system of philosophy has been existing since time immemorial. The present Indian system of religion or culture is based on the Mayavada philosophy of Sankaracarya, which is a compromise with Buddhist philosophy. According to Mayavada philosophy there actually is no God, or if God exists, He is impersonal and all-pervading and can therefore be imagined in any form [as Viṣṇu, Lord Śiva, Vivasvān, Gaṇeśa or Devī Durgā, Tathagata, Tathagata-garbha, Avalokiteśvara, citta-matrata etc.]. This conclusion is not in accord with the Vedic literature. That literature names many demigods, who are worshiped for different purposes, but in every case the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Visnu, is accepted as the supreme controller. That is real Vedic culture.

• Māyāvādi God is impersonal, oneness, all-pervading and imagined by the authors of the sutras.

[Lanka Chapter 11:] [4] [bodhisattva vow #8:] to attain perfect self-realization of the oneness of all the Buddhas and Tathagatas in self-nature, purpose and resources;

• the oneness (mind) in all the Buddhas and Tathagatas is the original Tathagata, according to the theories of citta-matrata.
• Lankavatara, Lotus and Heart are Mayavada philosophy that propagates the ultimate oneness, citta-gocara (thought realm), Maheśvara and buddha-lands.
• Māyāvāda and oneness are not universally accepted among the Hindus. However, it found a permanent home in Sarvāstivādi sutras, which were adopted into Mahayana.

Form

The works of [Śāntaraṣita and Kamalaśīla] produce abundant citations from these sūtra literatures stressing the significance of the passages like this from the Laṅkāvatārasūtra: “Material forms do not exist, one’s mind appears to be external. [Sonam Thakchoe]

• Material forms do not exist because they are imagined by the mind.
• mind appears to be external: The statement proposes a theory.

Emptiness/Śūnya is mind, the external agent inside form (maya: flesh and blood). Citta-matrata: Only mind is real (non-duality).

[Laṅkā (wiki):] what is seen as something external is nothing but one's own mind" (svacitta-drsya-mātram).^[12]

Some questions:

• If all different forms share the same one mind (the same consciousness), how does that one mind communicate with itself as countless individuals?

Individuation:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] By attachment to names is meant, the recognition in these inner and outer things of the characteristic marks of individuation and generality, and to regard them definitely belonging to the names of the objects.

• Individuation means the mind recognises and is attached to its imaginations: Forms and Names.

Some questions:

• Why is one mind exists as many?
• Individuation does not explain:
  • how one mind exists as many,
  • how the mind discriminats itself as different individuals,
  • how it commits wholesome/unwholesom deeds, and
  • how it takes responsiblity for its kamma.
• If we all share the same mind, if your mind is also my mind,
  • how are we different individuals psychologically?
  • and how do we keep secrets from each other?

Ātmavādopādāna

Ātmavāda (आत्मवाद) or Ātmavādopādāna refers to the “doctrine of self grasping” and represents one of the four graspings (upādāna),

• If the mind in all the mortals is the same one mind, self-grasping of the mind means reality grasping reality, which cannot be a problem.

[Vibhajjavada (Acela Sutta):] "'He who performs the act also experiences [the result]' — what you, Kassapa, first called 'suffering caused by oneself' — this amounts to the Eternalist[3] theory.

• Sakkayaditthi should be discerned.

I (Ātman)

• Attavada (atmavada) claims I (Ātman) as Transcendental Changelessness is a Vedāntic concept, but anattavada rejects that.
• The indestructible buddha-self-nature is atta by definition.
• Sarvastivādi Māyāvāda is an attavada which proposes the unbornness of the mind and rejects the three truths: anicca, dukkha, anatta.
• How does Mayavādis reject the truth of dukkha (pain and fear of pain)?
  • Maya has no feeling (vedanā): Form is emptiness, emptiness is form (the Heart Sutra).

The Enigmatic Dukkha

[Heart (Red; page 134)]: Our fear begins with our separation from emptiness. And it ends with our reunion.

• Maya's fear begins with maya's separation from the mind (buddha-nature, Ālayavijñāna).
• How is imagination separate from the mind?

Eternal Perceiver and Perception

[Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi]

4. by what means can one perceive the perceiver?”
79. The teacher said, “It would be true, if there were a distinction between perception and perceiver. The perceiver is indeed nothing but eternal perception. And it is not [right] that perception and perceiver are different as in the doctrine of the logicians.”

• Lankavatara complains about philosophers (logicians), too.

34. When a man is asked, ‘Where do you have pain?’, he points to the Śakara locus where [the body] is burned [or cut] and not to the perceiver, saying, ‘I have pain in the head’ or ‘In the chest’ or ‘In the stomach.’ If pain or the cause of pain such as burning and cutting were located in the perceiver, he would point to [the perceiver] as the locus of pain just as [he points to a part of the body as] the locus of burning and so forth.

• Brahma was bored, so he created Maya.
• If boredom is not brahma's imagination, it is a real pain, which rose from anusaya kilesas and caused brahma to need something.
• Why did the original Tathagata (mind) imagine?

33. in all the śrutis and the smtis the highest Ātman is said to be ‘free from evil, ageless, deathless, sorrowless, hungerless, thirstless’ (Ch. Up. VIII, 1,5) [Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi]

• So is the mind.

Vedāntic Māyāvāda provides a meditation method to deal with pain:

115. [meditation method] I (= Ātman) am of the nature of Seeing, non-object (subject) unconnected [with anything], changeless, motionless, endless, fearless and absolutely subtle. So sound cannot make me its object and touch me, whether as mere noise in general or as [sound] of particular qualities [...] For this very reason neither loss nor gain is caused [in me] by sound...

• We could meditate like that in an ideal condition. That method cannot be practical to deal with an extreme condition. Real pain hurts, so it invalidates Mayavāda.

[pages 4-5] but Vedānta declines on the one hand that the Upanisads embody an injunction (e.g., that Brahman or the self must be studied and known, or that the world must be dephenomenalized)

• Sarvastivādi Māyāvāda avoids to explain self, too:

[Heart (Dharmanet):] Emptiness is a pedagogical term that points to the futility of any concept to accurately express the nature [svabhāva] of reality.

• Reality is soul or the mind. Maya is flesh and blood. This belief was very strong during the Buddha's time. However, He abandoned the belief he was born into. Yet, His innitial effort based on the existing belief led Him into self-mortification:

Soul in the Flesh

What inhibits the freedom of the soul is its bondage to the flesh. To redeem the soul it is necessary, therefore, to mortify the flesh. This is the principle that sustains all forms of asceticism, what Buddhism calls attakilalamathanuyoga or the practice of self mortification. Self-mortification could assume varying degrees of intensity and visibility depending on how the relation between the soul and the physical body is defined. [The Early Buddhist Teaching On the Practice of the Moral Life (Y. Karunadasa; page 3) THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY THE NUMATA YEHAN LECTURE IN BUDDHISM Fall 2001]

Oneness

Ātman is described as Wholeness, Fullness, Oneness, etc.

Sarvāstivādis also describe Ātman as Emptiness.

“In the beginning, my dear, this universe was the existent only, one alone, without a second” (Ch. Up. VI, 2, 1) [...] “Ātman, indeed, is this all” (Ch. Up. VII, 25, 2); “Brahman, indeed, is this all”; “Ātman, verily, was this universe, one alone, in the beginning” (Ait. Up. I, 1, 1); “Verily, this all is Brahman” (Ch. Up. III, 14, 1). [Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi; page 165]

• Void (emptiness) is oneness, wholeness, or absolute:

[Heart (Thich):] Thich Nhat Hanh considered emptiness is "totality" and "wholeness."

• Totality: Oneness, non-duality;

[Upanishads:] Atman is non-duality, all-pervading, the same in all creatures, pure, attributeless, beyond prakriti, and free from the changes of birth and growth. [So is Buddha-nature.]

• Buddha-nature can replace Atman in that sentence.

[Lanka Chapter 6:] We are taught that this Buddha-nature immanent in everyone is eternal, unchanging, auspicious.

• Atman is non-duality: Brahma/mind and Māyā are duality, but the latter is an imagination of Brahma/mind.
• Brahma's imagination is not considered as false imagination, delusion, craving, discrimination or sinful: Right Māyā.
• Then why is the imagination of the original Tathagata (mind) all the problems: Wrong Māyā?
• Why doesn't the original Tathagata imagine good māyā?

Three Forms of One God (Krishna.com):

[Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita:] Krishna, God, exists in three principal forms (rupas)—svayam-rupa, tad-ekatma-rupa, and avesha-rupa. Svayam means “original.” In this category there is only one person: Krishna. Originally God is one; no one is greater than or equal to Him [...] [According to Srila Prabhupada,] As mentioned in Bhagavad-gita, the gross material elements are earth, water, fire, air, and ether, and the subtle material elements are mind, intelligence, and ego. All of them are controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha… . Lord Krishna, by His quadruple expansion (Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha), is the Lord of psychic action—namely thinking, feeling, willing, and acting.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.24.35-36, Purport).

Prakriti in Mahayanist Māyāvāda:

Prakriti or Nature, an original energy manifesting in substance is the origin, the material and the agent of evolution [...] To this original Matter Sankhya gives the name of Prakriti, while Vedanta & Buddhism, admitting the term Prakriti, prefer to call it Maya [...] and regards Cosmic Evolution as a cosmic illusion. [Buddhism on Purusha and Prakriti - The Incarnate Word (Sri Aurobindo)]

• Lankavatara shares some major concepts with Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.

The Non-Self (Anatman) Doctrine. According to this doctrine, neither sentient beings nor objects have an independent self-nature, for they are but manifestations of the mind or mind itself. Clinging to the concept of an ego is considered the cause of all suffering and a belief that must be overcome. [The Lankavatara Sutra (Minnesota Zen Meditation Center)]

• Māyā does not have self-nature, but only responsiblity, must attain buddhahood, and its sufferings are not recognised by its religions.
• All its actions are done by atman or the mind (buddha-nature).
• Dead bodies do not have atman or the mind (buddha-nature).
• Dead bodies are not dead māyā.

[Lanka:] Buddha-Nature "is not the same as the philosopher's Atman."

• Buddha-nature is different from atman by name only.
• Two sides accusing each other as philosophers or logicians.

Mahayana from Vedantin Perspective

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) recognises Mahayana as a Vedic Māyāvāda in Buddhist clothes and the Mahayanist movement as the mission of Lord Śiva. That belief is firm among the followers of Swami Prabhupāda.

“[Lord Śiva informed goddess Durgā, the superintendent of the material world:] ‘In the Age of Kali I take the form of a brāhmaṇa and explain the Vedas through false scriptures in an atheistic way, similar to Buddhist philosophy.’ ” [CC Madhya 6.182 (Swami Prabhupāda)]

• That is the original words of Swami Prabhupāda. He does not say the Mahayanist Māyāvāda is true or false but the work of Lord Śiva.
• Adi Samkara (Śaṅkarācārya) consideres the śūnyavādins (Mahayanists) as “nihilists”.
• Bhakti Charu Swami delivered the words of Swami Prabhupāda to an audience and mentioned the role of Śaṅkarācārya:

the Lord instructed Lord Śiva and that’s why He came as Śaṅkarācārya [...] “In the age of Kali appearing as a brāhmaṇa, I will establish a temporary philosophy, temporary conclusion: asac-chāstraṁ” [...] which is covered Buddhism.

Buddism is covered atheism and māyāvāda is covered buddism. But he needed to do that? Why he needed to do that? So that the Vedas can be reestablished; to reestablish the Vedas he did that and how did he do that? It is interesting to note : the buddist are saying  nirvāṇa  is the ultimate goal of life and what is  nirvāṇa ? It is to become nothing and Śaṅkarācārya came and he said, look this concept of nirvāṇa  is not your concept, it is from the Vedas. And according to the Vedas,  nirvāṇa  actually means to merge into Brahman, to merge into the Absolute. Buddist are saying to merge into nothing; Śaṅkarācārya is saying merge into the Absolute, and what is Absolute? Absolute is Brahman? And what is Brahman? Brahmā is nirākār nirvises, Why? Because…. otherwise the Buddhist will not accept it. They will say you brought in the concept of Form. Then the Buddhist will say, well that is your understanding, not ours. But he took their point,  nirvāṇa , okay,  nirvāṇa  means not to merge in the void,  nirvāṇa  means to merge in the Absolute or Brahman; What is Brahman? Brahman is Absolute. ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA DROVE NIRVISESA-VĀDA AND ŚŪNYAVĀDA AWAY FROM THE WESTERN WORLD (Bhakti Charu Swami)]

• Theoretically, that is how the Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana disappeared in India and unable to reach the East Asia and limited the spread of the true message of the Vibhajjavadi Buddha.

Mahayana Buddhism is the largest Buddhist sect in the world, and its beliefs and practices are what most non-adherents recognize as "Buddhism" in the modern era. [Mahayana Buddhism - World History Encyclopedia]

• So, they follow the Buddhas they may never know.

Mahayanist Buddhahood

Anuttara is unsurpassable:

[Anuttara means] the doctrine of the Buddha cannot be either refuted or destroyed because it escapes any discussion; it is true (satya) and pure (viśuddha).

• Mahayana and Upanishad: Like soul in the flesh, Ālayavijñāna (Mahayana) and Virāj (Upanishad) are "what is truly real."

The meaning of what is truly real is severed from words. It cannot be thought of. You should go forward quickly. [(Venerable Master Hua) The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra]

• Isn't a sankhata dhatu truly real?
• What is truly real? One can't explain that based on the Heart Sutra. But could they find the answer in Sarvāstivāda, Vijñānavāda*,* Śūnyavāda and Māyāvāda?
• When they try to answer what is truly real, the Four Noble Truths are not in their minds because they do not know and because these Truths contradict their belief.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] [Nirvana] is where the manifestation of Noble Wisdom that is Buddhahood expresses itself;

• Noble Wisdom or Buddhahood exists in all three times (past, present, future). It is not something to attain, but it manifests within the forms, the mind's imaginations or bodhisattvas.
• A Mahayanist Buddha in citta-gocara (thought realm) is a physical body only, which is occupied by the original Tathagata, which manifested in them, according to Lankavatara.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 61):] And that emptiness [or space], that is neither produced nor stopped, is neither defiled nor purified, [...] no decay and death, no stopping of decay and death; no suffering and no comprehension of suffering; no origination and no forsaking of origination; no stopping and no realization of stopping; no path and no development of the path; no attainment, and no reunion; no Streamwinner, and no fruit of a Streamwinner; etc. to: no Bodhisattva, and no knowledge of the modes of the path; no Buddha, and no enlightenment. (Ill) It is in this sense, Sariputra, that a Bodhisattva, a great being who courses in perfect wisdom, is to be called "joined".

• joined: Buddhahood expresses itself
• Sarvastivādi Māyāvāda, which originated in the Vedas, presents I (Ātman) or Transcendental Changelessness as "all dharmas exist in all three times".

[Heart (Red; page 134)]: [the] tenth stages concern buddhahood.

• Once a bodhisattva reaches the tenth stage:

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Buddhas from all Buddha-lands will gather about him and with their pure and fragrant hands resting on his forehead will give him ordination and recognition as one of themselves. Then they will assign him a Buddha-land that he may posses and perfect as his own.

• Avalokiteśvara was a tenth-stage bodhisattva or a Mahayanist Buddha, who is supposed to be in a Buddha-land.

The Dalai Lamas are believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig (His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama).

5.1.14. Who Was the Vibhajjavādi Buddha?

"Just like a red, blue, or white lotus — born in the water, grown in the water, rising up above the water — stands unsmeared by the water, in the same way I — born in the world, grown in the world, having overcome the world — live unsmeared by the world. Remember me, brahman, as 'awakened.' [Dona Sutta: With Dona (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

• The Sammasambuddha means the self-awaken being.
• When Prince Siddhatta reached enlightenment, two brothers from Ukkalapa found Him and donated alms food. The brothers received eight strangs of hair. The kingdom of Ukkalapa built several stupas, including the Shwetigon Pagoda, to store Buddha's hair relics.

The most revered involved the enshrinement of hair-relics in the Shwedagon by two brothers, Tapussa and Bhallika, obtained from the Buddha in India (Pe Maung Tin 1934). The second maintained that the Buddha flew to Lower Burma, converted a Mon king and granted hair-relics to six hermits in Thaton who returned to their hermitages and enshrined their relics in stone stupas. [Sacred Sites of Burma: Myth and Folklore in an Evolving Spiritual Realm (DONALD M. STADTNER; page 24, 156)]

• The kingdom of Suvannabhumi (Thaton) and the kingdom of Sakka joined together and built the KYAIK-HTI-YO, Kyaiktiyo or the Pagoda-on-a-Hermit's-Head.

At the age of eighty the Buddha passed away in the village of Kusinara, his life a testament to the power of the human mind. His last words were an exhortation to his disciples: "All conditioned things are impermanent - strive on with diligence!" [The Buddha: Who was the Buddha? (Cynthia Thatcher)]

• Nibbana is not space but relief from the burden of nāma and rūpa (the five upadanakkhanda).

 Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 14

5.1.15. Amata

The Vedas were readily available to Prince Siddhatta. The sages of Kapilavattu were the Vedic experts. They did not find amata (deathlessness) in the Vedas. However, they believed the prince would find it, so they left the palace and waited the prince for several years in the jungle. When he joined them, they supported him as he sought amata.

Pali and Sanskrit see amata differently:

[Pali] amata : (nt.) ambrosia; the deathless state.

[Sanskrit] Amata (अमत). 1. Sickness, disease. 2. Death. 3. Time. 

The Buddha explains His finding to Tapussa in Tapussa Sutta AN 9.41:

With the complete transcending of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, I entered & remained in the cessation of perception & feeling. And as I saw with discernment, the mental fermentations went to their total end. [Alaya-vijnana: The Storehouse Consciousness: The Subconscious Source of All Experience (Barbara O'Brien)]

Mahayanists call the Buddha's achievement as Hinayana. But they do not get a say. Only the Buddha get a say what His sasana is or is not.

Amata Sutta (SN 47:41)

Monks, remain with your minds well-established in the four [satipatthana]. Don’t let the deathless be lost for you.

The Path to Amata

The path is old. It has existed since the first Buddha rose out of the muddy water at the dawn of time. Sakyamuni Buddha gave us the formular to reach amata as follow:

right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration [Access to Insight]

Samudaya Sacca

Avijja-paccaya sankhara: general activities are based on ignorance:

All beings are covered or spread over by and caught in the net of ditthi, the wrong belief. They are drifting in the current of ditthi. As such, seeing, for having perceived, in the hearts of Buddhas, towards beings, Great Compassion with pity has arisen.

The current of tanha, as has been stated, is generally flowing into the realm of four Apayas. Therefore, all those beings who are not yet liberated from the bonds of tanha and ditthi are immensely suffering after descending to the four nether worlds. Having clearly perceived this miserable condition of life, Buddha was moved to have pity towards all living beings. Emulating the example as shown by the Buddha, our male and female benefactors and all those who desire to follow His exemplary conduct can also try to develop karuna. [Caught in the net of Dittha, and drifting in the current of Ditthi (Mahasi Sayadaw)]

Like glue, tanha (craving) sticks us to the round of pain (dukkha samsara). Natural worldview is designed with the three cravings: sense-pleasure, existence and nonexistence (kama, bhava, vibhava). One wants nonexistence only when realises deep suffering without knowing whether it exists or not. Thus, natural worldview is ignorance (avijja).

5.1.16. Sammuti and Paramattha 1

Conventional Truth (Samutti Sacca) and Ultimate Truth (Paramattha Sacca)—Various traditions employ two concepts of truth without agreeing what is true.

Paramattha are citta, cetasika, rūpa (khandhas) and Nibbana. Generally, they are unknown or misunderstood if not explained by an ariya-puggala.

Sammuti Sacca is paññatti or concepts (names: nouns and pronouns) and conventions, which we employ for convenience. Samuti and our collective ego/need force us to conform and understand things according to them. Our mental and physical existences evolve in samuti.

Vasubandhu

Before converting to Mahayana and became a cofounder of Yogacara school (also Vijnanavada), Vasubandhu wrote Abhidharmakośa (Sarvāstivādi abhidharma), in which he presents Sarvāstivādi conventional truth (māyā) and ultimate truth (vijñāna, nirvana, space). The Mahayanists regard him as a second Buddha. Vasubandhu:

An entity, the cognition of which does not arise when it is destroyed and, mentally divided, is conventionally existent like a pot and water. Ultimate existence is otherwise.” [...] A pot and water are designated as conventionally existent therefore conventionally real for the concept “pot” ceases to exist when it is destroyed physically, and the concept “water” no longer arises when we conceptually exclude from it its shape, colour etc. [...]

(i) ultimate reality is both physically and logically irreducible, as it does not disintegrate when it is subjected to physical destruction and that its identity does not disappear when its parts are separated from it under logical analysis; [The Theory of Two Truths in India (Sonam Thakchoe)]

• Tittha Sutta: the Vabhajjavadi Buddha talked about the parable of blind men speculating about an elephant.

Some recluses and brahmans, so called,
Are deeply attached to their own views;
People who only see one side of things
Engage in quarrels and disputes.—Sakyamuni Buddha

• Analysing the pot and water:
  • Pot the object is a construct (saṅkhāra).
  • Pot the word is sammuti.
  • Pot the rūpa (khandha) and water the rūpa (khandha) are a paramattha.
• What can be a good example of mentally divided?
• the concept “water”: Vasubandhu did not know the four mahabhuta. Regarding to the shape of water, Bruce Lee developed a martial-art philosophy:

If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend—Bruce Lee.

• [ultimate reality] does not disintegrate: Contrary to that, conditioned paramatthas are subject to change and impermanent; sassatavada (eternalism).

5.1.17. Rūpa Svabhāva

[Vasbandhu (Thakchoe):] (ii) ultimate reality does not borrow its nature from other things including its parts. Rather it exists independently in virtue of its intrinsic reality (svabhāva)

That is Sarvāstivādi Vasbandhu's position, which might violate Sarvāstivādi māyāvāda. Vijñaptimātra means the imaginations of the mind do not have svabhāva.

Is svabhāva (sabhāva) conventional or ultimate reality?

The sabhāva of the ultimate realities is ultimate reality.

• For example, water is rūpa, so it has rūpa sabhāva (physical nature). Water is wet, etc. These properties of water would never change, or water would become something different. Water is an ultimate reality as its characters would not change.

The sabhāva of saṅkhāra is saṅkhāra.

• For example, a cat, cat-ness or cat nature which might be evolving. cat is made of many parts, so we can identify them with their natures. Leg has leg nature; head has head nature, etc. Cat leg is somewhat unique, but a leg is a leg. Cat is different from other species, so we could identify the cat's unique characters.
• Human and human nature, animal and animal nature, brahma and brahma nature... All of these are saṅkhāra. These differences will exist; however, each of them could develop/evolve differently gradually. The development of human and animal are fast. The evolution of brahma might be very slow. The point is we should acknowledge the nature of saṅkhāra is change (anicca). The Vibhannavadi Buddha was concerned about change, not how they change.

Sabhāva and Asabhāva Rūpa

[A Survey of Paramattha Dhammas: Chapter 4 - Exposition Of Paramattha Dhammas II: Rupa (Sujin Boriharnwanaket):]

[4]: Sabhāva rupa is a rupa with its own distinct nature. Sa in Pali means with, and bhāva means nature. There are also asabhāva rupas which, though classified among the 28 kinds of rupa, are not separate rupas with their own nature, but special qualities connected with other rupas. They will be explained later on.

• sabhāva: natural; asabhāva: unnatural;
• sabhāva rupa: natural elements: solid, liquid, gas, heat, space (pariccheda rupa);

The rupa which is space, ākāsa rupa, has the function of limiting or separating all the different groups or kalāpas of rupas. Space in this context is not outer space, but the infinitesimal space surrounding each kalāpa. After its function it is also called pariccheda rupa (pariccheda meaning limit or boundary) [...] Because of pariccheda rupa which surrounds each kalāpa, even large matter can be broken up into infinitely tiny particles; it can be broken up only at those points where there is space^[9] 

Satipatthana is to understand the paramatthas:

[Pubbabhaga Magga:] Nama and rupa sabhava can be known only when you note at the moment of arising. [On the Path to Freedom: CHAPTER 6 TRAINING (Sayadaw U Pandita)]

• That is to get rid of cittasaṅkhāra (wrong view):

It only has the sabhāva dhamma of rūpa lakkhaṇa, and seeing its nature. I am not seeing the cittasaṅkhāra such as woman, dog, etc. The visual form, sound, smell etc. are only sabhāva nature. Fragrance, smelly, sweet, sour, etc. (taste and smell cittasaṅkhāra are ceasing.) [...] If from the eye seeing woman, man, etc. sīla not stable. Sotāpanna sees the one Dhamma (eka-dhamma) of rūpa sabhāva, nāma sabhāva or seeing one sabhāva dhamma. The noblest knowing is this one sabhāva of knowing. 

There are 40 samatha practices, practice with one of them as one’s preference. Knowledge comes from the doors of the six senses and their corresponding objects as the noblest knowing. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and knowing are dhammas. Seeing is visual paramatā, hearing is sound paramatā … knowing is dhamma paramatā. Some thought that seeing was a concept. NO, seeing is paramatā. 
[The Way of a Stream Enterer (Dhamma Talks by Sayadaw U Ukkaṭṭha)]

• rūpa sabhāva: dukkha sacca is the nature of the four mahabhuta and sense nature (vedanā: sight-seeing, sound-hearing, odor-smelling, touching, tasting, as per satipatthana)
• nāma sabhāva: sabhāva of knowing or awareness, knowing; dukkha sacca as well;
• paramatā: paramattha (vs. paññatti); knowing the paramattha (reality); yathā-bhūta-ñāṇa-dassana; vipassana-insight (penetrating cittasaṅkhāra); mind fixed on reality, as per the satipatthana; (paramatā: this definition is not related to the Pali literature);
• Sayadaw U Ukkaṭṭha talks in Burmese about paramattha vs. paññatti and Dhammapada Verse 282 Potthilatthera Vatthu.

As instructed by the samanera, Thera Potthila kept his mind firmly fixed on the true nature of the body; he was very ardent and vigilant in his meditation.

• the true nature of the body: rūpa sabhāva (rūpa dhamma); i.e. constantly changing (as a process); e.g. put a grain of salt on the tongue, and one can observe the change (not the taste, not saltiness);

What the young Arahat suggested was for Potthila not to allow //javana// merely to hang on to the five sense-doors of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and touch, but to shut them up and note only the mind-door so that impulsion could lead him on to insight-meditation. This gave the learned monk a clue to the method of vipassana-practice. When one sees, one must stop at the thought-moment of //votthapana// and note all phenomena with mindfulness. It is the same as saying: When you see, you just see it. Having practised meditation as suggested, Potthila attained Arahatship. [POTTHILA THERA (A Discourse on MALUKYAPUTTA SUTTA Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw)]

• When you see, you just see it: to observe the nāma-rūpa sabhāva; paramattha, without paññatti or cittasaṅkhāra; yathā-bhūta-ñāṇa-dassana;
• Sotāpanna sees the one Dhamma: the change is flowing; the mind is stilling, not following the flow; the cessation of cittasaṅkhāra as citta-visuddhi:

[visuddhi:] "Whosoever has cultivated, developed, and frequently practised 'equanimity regarding all formations' in him arises very strong faith known as determination (adhimokkha-saddhā) and his energy is better exerted, his mindfulness better established, his mind better concentrated, and a still stronger 'equanimity regarding the formations' arises. 'Now the path will reveal itself', thus thinking, the meditator contemplates with his equanimity-knowledge all formations as impermanent, etc., and thereafter that knowledge sinks into the subconscious stream of existence (s. bhavanga-sotā). Immediately afterwards there arises advertence at the mind-door (s. viññāna-kicca). And just like equanimity-knowledge, the adaptation-knowledge, too, takes as its object the formations, regarding them as something impermanent, miserable and impersonal. Thereupon, while continuing the uninterrupted continuity of consciousness (citta-santati), there arises the 1st impulsive moment (javana, q.v.), called 'preparation' (parikamma), taking the same formations as object. Immediately thereafter, with the same formations as object, there arises the 2nd impulsive moment, known as 'access' (upacāra). And again immediately after that, there arises the impulsive moment called 'adaptation' (anuloma)."

(VII) Purification of knowledge and vision (ñānadassana-visuddhi) is the knowledge associated with any of the 4 kinds of supermundane path-consciousness (s. ariyapuggala). [See Path of Purification, by Buddhaghosa, tr. by Ñyanamoli (BPS); Path of Freedom, by Upatissa (BPS)]

• formations: saṅkhāra—means 'changing' in this context; Whosoever has cultivated, developed, and frequently practised 'equanimity regarding all changing (rūpa sabhāva/saṅkhāra) in him...
• One should observe the rūpa sabhāva;

5.1.18. Sarvastivādi Māyāvāda and Citta-mātratā

Bhāvavevika:

Bhāvavevika is the originator of Sarvastivādi māyāvāda. He founded the two Svātantrika Madhyamaka schools (Sautrāntika and Yogācāra). They follow his Sarvastivādi māyāvādi two truths: the ultimate emptiness reality (bhagwan brahma) and the ultimate emptiness of reality (māyā).

[Bhāvavevika:] nonself or emptiness alone is the ultimate reality, and the rest—the entire range of dharmas—are ultimately empty of any intrinsic reality. [...] says Bhāvavevika because “The Lord (bhāgvan / bcom ldan ldas) has taught the two truths. [Thakchoe]

• Bhagavan (bcom ldan ldas)

Sanskrit: {MSA} buddha ... bhagavat
Comment: The term bcom ldan 'das is translated in accordance with the etymology favored in Tibet, where it is recognized that bhagavan also can be etymologized as one who possesses the six goodnesses (legs pa drug dang ldan pa), which seems to fit the more widely used translation as Blessed One.

• Now how do you like to namo the Amitabha?

The Trisvabhavanirdesha Verses

[Kaz Tanahashi:]

Scholars believe that this short treatise, it’s only 38 verses long, is Vasubandhu’s last and most mature writing.

Vasubandhu's addenda to the Sarvastivādi māyāvāda are his final verses, which deal with three natures (svābhāva), including the Imagined Nature (māyā), the Other–Dependent Nature, and the Consummate Nature.

• Vasubandhu's three-nature concept comprises the output of māyā (imaginatons) and māyā's reunion with the imagionator.
• Why must the imaginations reunite with the imaginator?

1) The first nature is the Imagined Nature, which is the everyday world as we understand it.

• The Imagined Nature is māyā.

[imagining nature] 2) The second nature is the Other–Dependent Nature, which Vasubandhu defines as the “causal” process of the thing’s fabrication, the causal story that brings about the imagined thing’s apparent nature—its middle way arising. This is the “how to; it couples natures one and two and emphasizes that both are simply imagined.

• The Other–Dependent Nature is the manufacturing process of imagintions (māyā).

3) The third nature, the Consummate Nature, is the lack of duality. It is a singularity—the fact that the Imagined Nature and the Other-Dependent Natures do not exist as they appear, but rather exist in “as things are,” with no subject/object distinction.

• The Consummate Nature (the lack of duality) means māyā has completely returned to brahmā.

Citta-mātratā (Only mind is reality)

[Kaz Tanahashi continues:]

Vasubandhu’s magician uses a mantra to make everyone see “the elephant.” So, (1) the mantra is compared to the store-consciousness; (2) Suchness–emptiness, or the consummate–or underlying non-dual is analogous to the wood; discriminating (3) is compared to discrete entities of the elephant’s appearance; and (4) duality is compared to the elephant itself.

[verse 27:] Like an elephant [māyā] that appears Through the power of a magician’s mantra [Ālayavijñāna/memory]—Only the percept appears, The elephant is completely nonexistent.

• Explanation:

Mantra = storehouse consciousness [Ālayavijñāna]; Wood = consummate nature [the unification]; Elephant = duality [māyā]; Magician = our mind [brahmā];

• Ālayavijñāna/memory:

The alaya-vijnana is the foundation or basis of all consciousness, and it contains impressions of all of our past actions*. These impressions, sankhara, form bija, or "seeds," and from these seeds, our thoughts, opinions, desires, and attachments grow. The alaya-vijnana forms the basis of our personalities as well.* [Alaya-vijnana: The Storehouse Consciousness (Barbara O'Brien)]

• Ālayavijñāna is the foundation or basis of all consciousness: compare that with the industructible buddha-nature, which is awareness/consciousness (Bodhidharma).
• The Heart Sutra is a mantra.

That is Sarvastivādi māyāvāda and the notion of citta-mātratā.

5.1.19. Reunion with the Super Self

[Sarvastivadi] authors almost unanimously accept vijñapti-mātratā or prajñapti-mātratā or citta-mātratā as the Yogācārin’s description of the absolute, undefiled, undifferentiated, non-dual, transcendent, pure, ultimate, permanent, unchanging, eternal, supra-mundane, unthinkable, Reality, which, according to them, is the same as Parniṣpanna-svabhāva, or Nirvāṇa, or Pure Consciousness, or Dharma-dhātu, or Dharma-kāya, or the Absolute Idea of Hegel, or the Brahman of Vedānta. [Vasubandhu: 5. Controversy over Vasubandhu as “Idealist” (Jonathan C. Gold)]

• citta-mātratā: citta is Nirvana:
  • Nirvana: Māyā (false imagination) is removed from the mind (awareness).
  • Bodhisattva: Māyā is the physical body (only imagination), and the mind leaves the body by means of astral travel and will not return to the physical body but remain in buddha land. That is the tenth-stage nirvana of the bodhisattvas. They become Buddhas there. They have reunion with the super self (the original Māyāvādi Tathagata), emptiness, space, oneness.
  • Lotus sutra presents this nirvana (annihilationism/ucchedavada), which returns to emptiness (reunion with reality).
  • Lankavatara presents this nirvana (eternalism/sassatavada) with buddha lands: Mahesvara, citta-gocara (thought realm).
  • Other sutras seem to have different concepts, too, suggesting their authors did not understand or accept the original concept.
• Ālayavijñāna is storehouse consciousness, the Universal Mind. Just like all storehouses, this storehouse must keep everything that is stored in it. If a storehouse is destroyed, all the stored items would be lost. Ālayavijñāna could not be impermanent, as it is consciousness. When someone reunites with the reality (brahman), his or her contents inside the storehouse might be destroyed.
• citta is Nirvana:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] Even Nirvana and Samsara's world of life and death are aspects of the same thing, for there is no Nirvana except where is Samsara, and Samsara except where is Nirvana.

• The same is said in the Vedanta:

[Advaita Vedanta:] The world has no separate existence apart from Brahman.

• That is a major point that says Sarvastivādi māyāvāda (Mahayana) and Vedantin māyāvāda are the same.
• Brāhman is the main part of the ancient Vedic creationism, as the origin of cause and the original creator.

[Britannica:] Brahma, one of the major gods of Hinduism from about 500 BCE to 500 CE, who was gradually eclipsed by  Vishnu, Shiva, and the great Goddess (in her multiple aspects).

• Mayavāda does not need to move on likely because it is not centerd around the brāhman priests as the sole guardians of the religious rituals.

Bhakti, in Hinduism, a movement emphasizing the mutual intense emotional attachment and love of a devotee toward a personal god and of the god for the devotee. According to the Bhagavadgita, a Hindu religious text, the path of bhakti, or bhakti-marga, is superior to the two other religious approaches, the path of knowledge (jnana) and the path of ritual and good works (karma). [...] Many, but not all, bhakti movements were open to people of both genders and all castes. Devotional practices included reciting the name of the god or goddess, singing hymns in praise of the deity, wearing or carrying identifying emblems, and undertaking pilgrimages to sacred places associated with the deity. [Bhakti | Hinduism, Devotion & Rituals - Britannica]

• That is to surrender to the Lord.

if Arjuna fights remembering Kṛṣṇa, then he will be able to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. But one must be completely surrendered in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. [Transcendental loving service and surrender]

• Abrahamic religions prefer submission.

After Completed Surrender

[Heart (Thich)] Avalokiteshvara [...] suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realisation he overcame all Ill-being.

• How that happened:

[Lanka Chapter 6:] When [...] the twofold egolessness is fully understood, and the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva is attained - that which remains is the self-nature of the Tathagatas [...] which is realized in their deepest consciousness is their own Buddha-nature revealed as Tathagata.

• the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva is attained : complete surrender
• their own Buddha-nature : each mortal has own buddha-nature, but not own nature.
• revealed as Tathagata : reaching the level of the super self: Noble Wisdom [āryajñāna] or anuttarasamyaksambodhi. The Heart Sutra prefers the latter in favour of prajña over jñāna.

Prajña (ध्यान, “wisdom”): the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 110) states that the Pali literature also informs us with these prajñā (panna (Pali): śruta-mayī (suta-maya panna), cintā-mayī (cinta-maya panna), bhāvanā-mayī (bhavana-maya panna). Prajña (Sanskrit) is paññā (Pali): Vipassanā-paññā, for example. But these are unrelated to Noble Wisdom [āryajñāna] or anuttarasamyaksambodhi.

• Māyāvādi bhakti has the purpose of seeking self, according to Śaṅkara:

Bhakti is the seeking of men’s own true self. Nārada defines Bhakti as the extreme one to God. Śāṇḍilya defines it as extreme ‘attachment to God’. Śaṅkara’s definition of Bhakti is on Advaitic point of view. He blends Bhakti and Jñāna. He does this in ‘Brahmasūtrabhaṣya and in Gītabhaṣya’. [Śaṅkara’s Definition of Bhakti (Lathika M. P.)]

• Māyāvāda is more of philosophical in nature, according to Krishna:

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu [Krishna] said, “I am a Māyāvādī in the renounced order of life, and I do not even know what transcendental loving service to the Lord is. I simply float in the ocean of Māyāvāda philosophy. [CC Madhya 8.124]

• Brāhma fell from favour in Hindu religious movements. The same could be true to Sarvastivādi māyāvāda (Mahayana), too, but its sutras present the original Māyāvādi Tathagata, who can be either Brāhma, Krishna or Siva.

[Dhammapada] Verse 396 - What is a Brāhman? He is no brahmin by mere lineage. Dispossessed, unattached, he is indeed the true brahmin.

• The Sakyamuni Buddha, who was born in a major Vedic society, had a great impact on the concept of brāhman.

Prajña an Amitabha God:

• Prajña (प्रज्ञ) is one of the twenty Amitābha gods in the Purana and Itihasa.
• Avalokiteśvara is Siva. Amitabha gods could be Amitabha Buddha. Prajña could be Prajña-paramita.
• Avalokiteśvara teaching about Prajña and maya (svabhāva-śūnya) as a Buddhist tradition is significant.

Ratvata (in) — the fifth Manu, during his epoch were Devabahu and six other sages, Gods named “Abhutarajasas. Vibhu was Indra, Amitabha and other three ganas of gods each 14 in number, Hiranyaroma and other SIX formed the saptarsis, Balabandhu and others were his sons, of the Priyavrata line. [THE PURANA INDEX VOLUME 3, page 100]

• Amitabha and other three ganas of gods: Amitabha and Avalokiteśvara (Śiva) are the names of gods not unique to Mahayana. Having these names together as the most important individuals makes Mahayana completely different from Theravada.
• Amitabha Ganas: Amitabha community (a Buddha-land probably qualifies as a ganas)
  • Ganas: a class of demigods who attend Śiva; community; troop; attendants;
  • 'Amitabha ganas' is only found in The Purana Index by V. R. Rallachandra Dikshitar, who was a professor of history and archaeology in the University of Madras and the author of standard text books on Indian history.

Sadhguru: In the yogic lore, the ganas are all Shiva’s friends. They were the ones who were always around him. Though he had disciples, a wife and many other admirers, his private company was always ganas.

5.1.20. Was māyā a discovery?

[Heart (Thich)] Avalokiteshvara [...] suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realisation he overcame all Ill-being [...] Whoever can see this no longer needs anything to attain.

• Thich Nhat Hanh's translation might be at odd with Lankavatara, Lotus and Prajñaparamita because in māyāvāda, prajñā, Amitabha and Avalokiteśvara are lumped together as the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (mind/Brāhma). That is why there is nothing to attain, there is nothing to discover.
• The longer version of the Heart Sutra does not have the concept of discovery:

[Heart (Wiki):] 1.­11 “There is no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment.

• Avalokiteśvara did not discover the wisdom, but he just knew it the way we can discuss aboust māyā and brahma.

[Heart (Red, page 132-133):] Here, the bodhisattva's refuge is in wisdom alone [...] Thus, bodhisattvas know that all dharmas are marked with emptiness and that there is nothing to attain or not to attain. And realizing there is nothing to attain or not to attain, they take refuge in this realization.

The historical fact is the Mahayanist māyāvāda was originated by Vasubandhu and the Sarvastivādis. That is why he is considered as a second Buddha. Māyāvāda was considered special because it was a revolutionary Buddhist philosophy, although it contains no Buddhism (the Dhamma-Vinaya). Avalokiteśvara could only discover māyā (svabhāva-śūnya) and brāhma (gotra-svabhāva). There is nothing else to find.

[Ethan Mills:] some contemporary interpreters fail to understand how thoroughly revisionary and revolutionary Vasubandhu’s philosophy is

Vasubandhu rediscovered māyā (svabhāva-śūnya) in the Vedas and wrote about it until it became Sarvastivādi Māyāvāda. His final work the Trisvabhavanirdesha comprises three natures: māyā, imagination and reunion. He did however make them very complicated and indecipherable.

Self-Nature vs Sakkayaditthi

atta-vādupādāna: 'attachment to the ego-belief', is one of the 4 kinds of clinging (upādāna, q.v.).

• Avalokiteśvara only discovered the svakāya. In his mind was mind only (citta-matrata).

The Five Khandhas being ungovernable, are not Atta.
Finding it ungovernable and unresponsive to one's own wish while contemplating and noting, and realising it as 'Non-Self', is Anattanupassana-nana. [Mahasi Sayadaw - Part 4]

• Anattavadi Buddha rejects the existence of self completely. Self does not exist momentatrily nor as unity. Anattavadi Buddha would reject Vasubandhu's position, too:

[For Vasubandhu,] the “self” is made up of constantly-changing sensory organs, sensory impressions, ideas, and mental events. These separate, momentary elements are real, but their imagined unity—as an enduring “I”—is a false projection [...] Close philosophical and introspective attention reveals that what seemed like a solid, coherent whole is in fact a false mental construction based upon a failure to notice its countless, fluctuating parts. [2.1 Disproof of the Self (Jonathan C. Gold)]

• Each separate, momentary element is real as self. Self or awareness (the mind) appears inconstantly inside māyā (form) due to the false imagination, which Lankavatara discusses in detail: from māyā to nirvana via 10 stages of the nirvana of the boddhisattvas.
• Whose false imagination is it? Māyā cannot imagine, as it has no self (svābhāva); and thus, māyā's I”—is a false projection.
• However, māyā must reunite with the mind (the original Māyāvādi Tathagata/brahma).

Yogacara (Yogachara / Vijnanavada / Vajrayana)

The Yogachara (or Vijnanavada) school was founded, according to tradition, by the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu (4th/5th century CE) and by Sthiramati (6th century), who systematized doctrines found in the Lankavatara-sutra and the Mahayana-shraddhotpada-shastra (attributed to Ashvaghosha but probably written in Central Asia or in China). Later Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism include doctrines that were to be influenced by Yogachara teaching.

• The brothers had written too much. They must get their sutras read by millions.

Self is imagined, a construct (saṅkhāra) and a mistake.

To think with loving attachment, considering oneself as a living being, or an atta, individual or 'Self', in spite of the fact that in the personalities of themselves there exists only a continual phenomenal process of rupa and nama, is mere attaditthi. It is also called sakkayaditthi. "Sakkaya" means an aggregate of rupas and namas which obviously exists in the so-called body. To think of these aggregates of rupas and namas as a living being, or an atta - being, or "I" or "Self', is nothing but ditthi. It is known as sakkayaditthi, because of an erroneous conception or false belief in this aggregate of rupa-nama. [Mahasi Sayadaw - Part 6 of Brahmavihara Dhamma]

• Mahāyanist literatures do not have a term similar to sakkāyaditthi. However, they offer svakāya (sva-kāya / own body), which refers to inner body parts (or guts). Svakāya is related to svābhāvakāya (svābhāva-kāya / self-nature body).
• In terms of svakāya, Mahayana presents self (self-nature / svābhāva) inside the five aggregates and rejects self being outside them. That demonstrates self being awareness/consciousness. All the technical terms related to consciousness and nature (svābhāva) support the notion of self or the self system (citta-matrata).

L. Ron Hubbard (Author of Battlefield Earth) also founded a religion called Scientology. You don't get to know what it is without spending a significant amount of money. They focus on religion like a business.

You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion—L. Ron Hubbard

The Mahayanist Attavada:

[Lanka Chapter 6:] this Buddha-nature immanent in everyone is eternal, unchanging, auspicious.

• The meaning of Buddha-nature in everyone is provided in the Upanishads.

[Upanishads:] Atman is non-duality, all-pervading, the same in all creatures, pure, attributeless, beyond prakriti, and free from the changes of birth and growth.

• The notion of human being māyā without own svabhāva is designed for dehumanisation with significant impact on human psychology and general society.
• Māyā without own svabhāva is false.
• Nature being self is a false theory.
• Consciousness being self is another false theory.
• Sabhāva (nature): everything has its own sabhāva or dhamma (properties); for example, The nature of love, the nature of family, the nature of art, etc.
• Nature is not a theory but law and properties:
  • Human nature (sabhāva) is what makes human to be human;
  • Animal nature is animal instinct, shape, structure, etc.;
  • Nature (sabhāva) in that sense is not related to self.

[ Satyajit—A:] there is no difference between Dhamma and intrinsic nature (Sabhāva) [...] Visuddhimagga mentions that ‘Dhamma means but intrinsic nature.’ [...] Therefore, intrinsic nature is not supposed to exist independently. [...] (attano sabhâvaṃ dhâretiti dhammo’ DhsA.121-122)” [:] Dhamma is the bearer and sabhāva is that which is born by the Dhamma. [Then] Dhamma becomes the agent (atta) of sabhāva and that is against [Vibhajjavadi] Buddhism. Duality between Dhamma and Sabhâva is only an attribution made for the convenience of definition. For in actual sense Dhamma and Sabhāva denote the same actuality [...] the terms Dhamma and Sabhāva [are] interchangeably.

• Dhamma means nature, natural law, phenomena, instinct, way, properties, etc.
• Dhammata means natural, naturally, or as (its, his, her) nature goes.
• Sabhāva means nature.
• Sabhāva dhamma means natural law, natural phenomena, etc.
• Dhamma sabhāva means the nature of phenomenon, the nature of nature (law, phenomena, instinct, way, properties, etc. ).
• Dhamma is sabhāva: the natural law is natural.
• Sabhāva is a dhamma: nature is a law, a thing, a phenomena, a reality, etc.
• Dhamma and Sabhāva are not two things. Dhamma one thing and Sabhāva another thing—no, they are not.
• Dhamma is not self: nature is anatta.
• Sabhāva is anatta: nature is not self (not me, not mine, not I am).
• Buddha Dhamma: the laws of nature taught by the Vibhajjavadi Buddha.
• Buddha Sasana: the Vibhannavadi Buddha's teaching of the natural laws.

 Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 15

5.1.21. Non-duality is Illogical

Biological structure and biological processes are not imaginary. Natural phenomena and natural systems are not imaginary, either. They are certainly not imaginations and mental projections. Living things or lifeforms are metaphysical. Citta-mātratā is a result of illogical reasoning.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form cannot mean physical pain does not exist. Citta-mātrat (mind only) cannot prove the mind is not local (or individual).

[Lanka Chapter 2:] Even Nirvana and Samsara's world of life and death are aspects of the same thing,

• If samsara is only imaginary (māyā), it does not exist, as it is not reality. Relief from imaginations (māyā) is unnecessary. The struggle for relief from pain exists because māyāvāda is false, imaginary and illogical reasoning. If pain were imaginary or non-being, the need for nirvana does not exist. Relief from pain is nirvana. We all desire for never to suffer again—the end of suffering.

Nirvana (Sanskrit) and Nibbana (Pali, the language of the earliest Buddhist texts) literally mean “to go out”-like a fire-and “to cool.” Applied to the mind, it refers to extinguishing the fevers of greed, hate, and delusion, the three roots of suffering. The Buddha’s choice of this term was intimately tied to the imagery of his famous Fire Sermon. Here he said: “Everything is on fire; the eyes are on fire; sights are on fire; visual perception is on fire. . . ; the ears are on fire. . . ; the nose is on fire. . . ; the tongue is on fire. . . ; the body is on fire. . . ; the mind is on fire…. They are on fire with greed, hate, and delusion” (from the Mahavagga of the Theravada Vinaya). [Nibbana (Gil Fronsdal, from Tricycle, Fall 2006, “Nirvana: Three Takes”)]

• To portray non-duality, Lankavatara rejects the difference between Nirvana and Samsara. If everything but the mind is mere māyā (imaginations), then liberation from imagination is unanecessary.
• No one exists by his/her imagination. No one can imagine things up to fulfill his/her needs. Things do not exist the way the māyāvādis want them to.
• Right and wrong, true and false, head and tail, start and end, entrance to exit, delusion and enlightenment ...
• The original Māyāvādi Tathagata cannot stop imagining because he is craving and clinging to māyā. The māyāvādis do not notice that.

Taṇhāya sati uppadāna hoti (When there is craving there is clinging.) [Danuse Murty]
Tanha paccaya upadana [Paticcasamuppada]

• One clings to what one craves for. Clinging and craving are mutually supportive.

Thāna Sutta: No Non-Duality:

4. Ṭhāna Sutta.–The five unattainable states - ageing which brings no decay, sickening no disease, dying no death, wasting no destruction, ending no end. A.iii.54f.
[4. Thāna Sutta (palikanon)]

• These five are no non-duality.

4. Ṭhāna Sutta.– Four occasions that exist — when action is unpleasant and unprofitable to the doer, when it is unpleasant but profitable, when it is pleasant but unprofitable, when it is both pleasant and profitable. A.ii.118 f. [Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names (palikanon)]

• These four are also no non-duality.

5.1.22. For every aspiring bodhisattva

[Hatthaka of Alavi:] When I know that, 'This person is to be won over by giving,' then I win him/her over by giving. When I know that, 'This person is to be won over by kind words,' then I win him/her over by kind words. When I know that, 'This person is to be won over by beneficial help,' then I win him/her over by beneficial help.[1] When I know that, 'This person is to be won over by consistency,' then I win him/her over by consistency.[2] 

Translator's note: The four grounds for the bonds of fellowship (see AN 4.32) appear in the early Mahayana sutras as guidelines for every aspiring bodhisattva — one of the few teachings that even the more radical Mahayana sutras adopt from the early canons. [Hatthaka Sutta: About Hatthaka (2) (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

Sarvāstivādis' perspective

[Heart (Red page 6):] Thus, the conceptual truths on which early Buddhists relied for their practice are held up to the light and found to be empty of anything that would separate them from the indivisible fabric of what is truly real.

Sarvāstivādis cling to māyāvāda becuase most of them do not know or cannot understand the Ariya Sacca and the Noble Eightfold Path (samātha-vipassanā).

Desire for enjoyment and desire for liberation; [Two Types of Desire (ASHIN NYANISSARA)]

Sarvāstivādis are concerned with stilling the mind.

[The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw:] the states of Ordinary Absorption (lokiya jhana) such as four Form Absorptions (rupa-jhanas) and four Formlessness Absorptions (arupa-jhanas), by virtue of which one would be reborn in the plane of Brahma.

Nibbana is not the emptiness or suchness of the sutras:

Preached to Ananda at the Migaramatupasada. True solitude is not to be found in forest dwelling nor in the concentration of heart away from all ideas, but in attaining to deliverance from the asavas. M.iii.104ff [Cula Sunnata Sutta: Sunnatavakkanti]

Sarvāstivādis are not concerned with escaping cittasaṅkhāra (the auto-mental activities due to uppadāna):

taṅhā, desire or craving, is not just something added to our experience: It is literally built into our cognitive process. We are, if you will, born with the pathology of desire. Craving, or taṅhā in Pali, is the central problem identified by the Buddha. Discourses on craving are scattered throughout the Pali Canon [Mindfulness & the Cognitive Process (John Peacock)]

Sabbe Saṅkhāra Anatta,ti

Verse 277: "All conditioned phenomena are impermanent"; when one sees this with Insight-wisdom, one becomes weary of dukkha (i.e., the khandhas). This is the Path to Purity.

Sarvāstivādis did not know the definitions of Vibhajjavada, Anatta-vada, arahant and Nibbana. Sarvāstivādis, being the outsider, completely missed the Patipatti Sasana.

[Heart (Red page 6):] In their place, Avalokiteshvara introduces us to emptiness, the common denominator of the mundane, the metaphysical, and the transcendent.

• Avalokiteshvara (Avalokiteśvara) introduces us to emptiness with no new definition unknown to the early Buddhists.
• Oh! Wait! The early Buddhists did not know the Sarvāstivādi māyāvāda.
• But don't forget the name of the Buddha's mother Maya.

Atta-Suññatā

The Venerable Sariputta, an expert in atta-Suññatā, who knew the path to Nibbāna, instructed Anattanupassana (Comtemplation on Anatta) to Anathapindika:

"Then, householder, you should train yourself in this way: 'I won't cling to what is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect; my consciousness will not be dependent on that.' That's how you should train yourself." [Anattavada Dhamma: Anathapindikovada Sutta: Instructions to Anathapindika]

• Free Will: One may act freely, but one action is a mear reaction to the external sources, which come through the six sense organs namely:

1. Cakkhu-vinnana = 2 eye-consciousness;
2. Sota-vinnana= 2 ear consciousness
3. Ghana-vinnana= 2 nose consciousness
4. Jivha-vinnana = 2 tongue consciousness
5. Kaya-vinnana = 2 body consciousness
6. Mano-vinnana = 79 mind-consciousness

[Vithi - Process of Consciousness - Part 2: Six Types of Vinnana and Vithi / The mango simile (Evelin C. Halls and Pennie White; Chan Academy)]

Anatta-vadi is not concerned about what Mahayana teaches.

The title of Anatta-vadi conferred upon the Buddha by Theravada Buddhists, the elevated status accorded to the huge collection of prajnaparamita or ‘perfection of wisdom’ texts, which focusses emphatically on the idea of sunyata or ‘emptiness’, and the testimonies of meditation teachers across the various Buddhist traditions, all bear witness to the centrality of the doctrine of anatta. In particular, Buddhist meditators have often described anatta as the single most profound discovery of the Buddha, and that an insight into anatta is crucial for attaining that utter liberation of the mind which is the summum bonum of Buddhist praxis. [Anatta and Meditation (Chris Kang BOccThy (Hons) The University of Queensland)]

Anatta dhamma

To the ordinary level of knowledge and thinking the Anatta dhamma may appear as a metaphysical concept, but it is the only practical realistic truth in life. This can be correctly realised by means of satipatthana practice on the existing phenomena. We all experience such as emotion, cognition, feeling, thinking, etc. They are all sankhara dhammas, that is, the processes of rise and fall, in short, by looking through the nama and rupa we discern, in a deeper insight dimensions, the voidness of soul in us. With the progress of Vipassana insight the three characteristics of existence are fully known: impermanence, suffering, and absence of individuality or ego. At first we may learn these profound spiritual truths by means of hearing and thinking. At perceptual level, these truths may seem dreary or pessimistic. But at insight level the highest truths are revealed to deliver us from the clutches of pride, lust and delusion. [The Doctrine of Anatta U Han Htay Research Officer]

Right View and Morality Go To Understanding Reality; Wrong View To Speculative Theories;

If Buddhism transcends the mutual conflict between sassatavada and ucchedavada, it is through its doctrine of Dependent Origination (paticcasamuppada) [...] The sole purpose of this doctrine is to establish the causal structure of individual existence [...] of inter-dependent mental and material phenomena, all in a state of constant change. Within the empiric individuality there is no independent self-entity, mental or material, which is impervious to change. Nor is there a soul, in the form of a spiritual essence, which relates it to a transcendental reality [...] It is through the doctrine of Dependent Origination that Buddhism seeks to explain the uninterrupted continuity of the life-series in samsara (cycle of births and deaths). In common with other religions, Buddhism, too, recognizes both survival (punabbhava) and moral responsibility (kammavada). But in Buddhism both are explained strictly according to the principles of Dependent Origination. [The Early Buddhist Teaching On the Practice of the Moral Life (Y. Karunadasa; page 3)]

5.1.23. DHAMMA IS NOT FOR EVERYONE

Dhamma is easily and readily available for everyone. However, not everyone is ready to understand the Dhamma and follow the Noble Path. Therefore, the Dhamma is not for everyone. [Even In The DARKEST MOMENT Ven. K. Rathanasara (Selected Dhamma Talks)]

• Dhamma is for the ones who want to get rid of asava-s (corruptions): kāmāsava (sensuality), bhavāsava (becoming), ditthāsava (belief), avijjāsava (ignorance).

DHAMMA: A Gradual Training

[The Buddha:] Just as the ocean has a gradual shelf, a gradual slope, a gradual inclination, with a sudden drop-off only after a long stretch, in the same way this Doctrine and Discipline (dhamma-vinaya) has a gradual training, a gradual performance, a gradual progression, with a penetration to gnosis only after a long stretch. — Ud 5.5 [A Gradual Training (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

Jhana:

[The Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw:] the states of Ordinary Absorption (lokiya jhana) such as four Form Absorptions (rupa-jhanas) and four Formlessness Absorptions (arupa-jhanas), by virtue of which one would be reborn in the plane of Brahma.

Jhana Sutta: Mental Absorption

In the same way, there is the case where a monk... enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. He regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with form, feeling, perception, fabrications, & consciousness, as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a disintegration, an emptiness, not-self. He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.'

2 The progressive abodes (anupubba vihāra):

Jhāna Sutta structures itself on the model of the nine progressive abodes (anupubba vihāra), that is,
 the 4 form dhyanas (rūpa jhāna),
 the 4 formless attainments (arūpa samāpatti),
 the cessation of perception and feeling (saññā,vedayita,nirodha).

Vipassanā-Paññā

Vipassanā:—Insight into the character of impermanence and the actual nature of the universe. [Wisdom Library: Buddhism]

1. discernment of the corporeal (rūpa),
2. of the mental (nāma),
3. contemplation of both (nāmarūpa; i.e. of their pair wise occurrence in actual events, and their interdependence),
4. both viewed as conditioned (application of the dependent origination, paticcasamuppāda),
5. application of the 3 characteristics (impermanency, etc.) to mind-and-body-cum-conditions.

[End quote]

• Nama and rupa are Dukkha Sacca and Samudaya Sacca.
• Nirodha Sacca is Nibbana, relief from the burden of the Nama-Rupa complex (saṅkhāra)

MAHASARANAGAMANA The Great Refuge

Mahathera Ledi Sayadaw, Agga Maha Pandita, D. Litt. Translated by Daw Mya Tin, M.A.

[The nature of Dukkha:] (a) Pancakkhandha Dukkha, (b) Ayatana Dukkha, (c) Dhatu Dukkha, (d) Paticcasamuppada Dukkha;
Paticcasamuppada [...] is dukkha. when the origin of cause of dukkha ceases, dukkha also ceases the chain of causal sequences consists of twelve links

• (a) Abandonment of three kinds of Craving (tanha),
• (b) Abandonment of the ten difilements (kilesas) through attainment of Maggas,
  • Abandonment of defilements through Sotapatti Magga
  • Abandonment of defilements through Sakadagami Magga
  • Abandonment of defilements through Anagami Magga
  • Abandonment of defilements through Arahatta Magga
• (c) Abandonment of asavas, oghas, yogas, ganthas, etc.

1. Asavas, oghas, yoga; ganthas: These four are defilements based on Kama, bhava, ditthi and Avijja -- craving for pleasures of the senses, craving for better existences, clinging to false Views and ignorance. Asavas convey the idea of some thing flowing out. They intoxicate or befuddle the mind. Oghas are likened to whirlpools that keep one submerged in the round of existences , samsara.
2. Upadana (Clinging): The four kinds of Clinging are clinging to sense desire, clinging to wrong view, clinging to wrong view of the practice if morality and clinging to belief in (mind and matter as) atta, Self.
3. Nivaranas (hindrance): They are sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, doubt and ignorance of the Ariya Truths.
4. Anusayas. These are defilements that have not yet been eradicated by Magga Insight. They have the tendency to arise again when conditions are favourable. The seven anusayas are craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence in rupa and arupa realms, hatred, doubt, conceit, ignorance of the Ariya Truths, and the illusion of Self.
5. Samyojanas (fetters). The ten fetters comprise the above seven plus the belief m the efficacy of rites and rituals that are outside the Ariya Path of Eight Constituents; jealously (issa) and stinginess (macchariya)

• Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipada Ariya Sacca
  • (a) The seven kinds of Purity (visuddhi)
  • (b) The Ten Vipassana Nanas (Insight Knowledge)
  • (c) Contemplation of Sunnata, Animitta and Apanihita
  • (d) Bodhipakkhiya Dhamma
  • (e) Lokuttara Nana
• Nibbana
  • (a) The Four Phalas
  • (b) Nibbana Dhatu: (The Element of Nibbana) aka. asankata dhatu

 Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 16 

Heart (Thich), Heart (Red), Lanka (Red Pine), Lanka Chapter, Lotus Chapter

5.2. MAHĀDEVA'S THESES:

[Heart (Thich):]“Listen Sariputra, this Body itself is Emptiness and Emptiness itself is this Body. This Body is not other than Emptiness and Emptiness is not other than this Body. The same is true of Feelings, Perceptions, Mental Formations, and Consciousness.

• A bodhisattva teaching a Mahasavaka is an execution of the downgrading of the arahants by the group that adopted the five points of Bhadra, a.k.a Mahādeva.

Bhadra aka Mahādeva sought to redefine the concept of arahantship as totally distinct from the attainment of Buddhahood or Enlightenment. He claimed that an arahant (1) could still be seduced by deities in dreams and have seminal discharge while asleep, (2) might be ignorant of some matters, (3) might have doubts, (4) might be instructed by other persons, and (5) could enter the path as a result of the spoken word. [The Bodhisattva Ideal: Essays on the Emergence of Mahāyāna: Bodhi and Arahattaphala: From Early Buddhism to Early Mahāyāna¹ Karel Werner (pages 59-60)]

Śrīmālā-Sūtra:

The Sarvāstivādis drifted away from their original scriptures.

The Śrīmālā-sūtra adopted Mahādeva's five theses [The Mahāsāṃghika and the Tathāgatagarbha (Wayman 1978)].

• Mahāsāṃghika:

[~Encyclopedia of Religion:~] the Mahāsāṃghika represented the more lax position in matters of discipline. Less common is the position of those who would claim the opposite, pointing to the fact that the Mahāsāṃghika had a very conservative Vinaya

• Those who claim the opposite cannot present the reason for the split because the Mahāsāṃghika was on the wrong side of history. Their speculation and rejection of history have no solid support.

Sila: Precepts

• Theravada presents 5 precepts for lay and 10 for monastics.
• Mahayana presents 8.
• And Japanese Zen presents 16.
• The first 5 precepts are similar. The rest are different.

Additional Precepts for monastics: [Theravada - dasa-sila (Pali)]

6. Abstain from untimely eating.
7. Abstain from dancing, singing, music and unseemly shows
8. Abstain from wearing garlands, smartening with scents, and beautifying with perfumes.
9. Abstain from the use of high and luxurious couches.
10. Abstain from accepting gold and silver (money).

Mayayana (Mahayana) Precepts (vows): 

6. Abstain from eating more than one meal that day
7. Abstain from sitting on animal skins or on a high, expensive bed or seat with pride
8. Abstain from wearing jewelry, perfume, and cosmetics and singing, dancing or playing music with attachment

III. The Ten Grave Precepts

6. Abstain from discussing faults of others
7. Abstain from praising yourself while abusing others
8. Abstain from sparing the Dharma assets
9. Abstain from indulging in anger
10. Abstain from defaming the Three Treasures

Lotus, Lankavatara, Prajanaparamita, and the Heart Sutra also presents Mahādeva's five points by placing an arhat below a bodhisattva. The authors of these sutras were not concerned about consistency. Their main purpose was attacking Vibhajjavada.

[Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra (The Flower Adornment Sutra):] All of these were states of Universal Worthy Bodhisattva's wisdom-eye; they had nothing in common with the Two Vehicles...these great disciples had relied on the Sound Hearer Vehicle to escape... They forsook living beings and dwelt in their own affairs... Which is why ... they could not behold such vast great spiritual penetrations.

• Sound Hearer: When an ordinary person understands the Dhamma as explained by the Buddha, this person becomes free of doubt and attains conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Now he/she is free from being ordinary (puthujjana). This person becomes an ariya-puggala by seeing reality (paramattha).
  • For example, the Veneravle Assaji Thera put the Four Noble Truths into a verse for Upatissa, who became a sotapanna upon hearing it. After a few weeks, he became an arahant and is known as Sariputta Mahathera.
  • Wiki: Mahayana calls it the Pratītyasamutpāda-gāthā (the Pratītyasamutpāda-dhāraṇī).

From Ye dhamma... to Vibhajjavada

Reality is the Sakyamuni Buddha rediscoverd the Four Noble Truths (Catusacca) and the Four Realities (Paramattha).

Ye dhamma hetuppa bhava; tesam hetum tathagato aha; tesanca yo nirodho; evam vadi maha samano.
The Tathagata has declared the cause and also the cessation of all phenomena which arise from a cause. This is the doctrine held by the Great Samana.
[Verse 392 (Dhammapada):] If from somebody one should learn the Teaching of the Buddha, he should respectfully pay homage to that teacher, as a brahmin worships the sacrificial fire.

• That is the establishment of the Theravada Sangha lineage. The Buddha established the Dhamma and the Sangha. The theras have kept them going. The Dhamma is the teacher.

The Vibhajjavadi arahants follow and maintain the Dhamma-Vinaya. The Buddha taught us the Four Noble Truths (Ariya Sacca). The Magga Sacca (the Eightfold Noble Path) can be followed by everyone to reach true liberation from the Dukkha Sacca. The Vibhajjavadis do not create an imaginary world, so they do not have imaginary nirvana and bodhisattvahood.

The four realities (paramattha) are citta, cetasika, rupa and Nibbana. Nibbana is the Nirodha Sacca (the cessation of dukkha) and santi sukha.

The first three Realities belong to the Dukkha Sacca and the law of Kamma (Paticcasamuppada, a.k.a the unified theory of life).

Dukkha Sacca: the five upādānakkhandhā (grasping groups):

• Nama group: Citta (vinnana) and cetasika (vedana, sanna and sankhara);
• Rupa group: the four mahabhuta (solid, liquid, gas, heat);
• Nama and rupa aggregates are interdependent and rise together as a being; for example, feeling (vedana) depends on contact: feeling < consciousness < eye < light. Consciousness and feeling rise together as seeing.

Seeing the Paramattha is the Goal

Seeing does not mean reading and having the saññā (suta-mayapanna) of the paramattha (four realities): citta, cetasika, rupa and Nibbana.

every living thing in the universe is made up of the first three of these ― citta-cetasika and rupa. Nibbana ― which is the object of the pathmoment that erases defilement in each of the four stages of enlightenment ― is the fourth part of ultimate reality: citta-cetasika, rupa, and nibbana. [Vipassana Bhavana (Theory, Practice, & Result), 2nd ed. (Boonkanjanaram Meditation Center)]

• Nama and rupa are the Dukkha Sacca governed by the law of Kamma (Paticcasamuppada, a.k.a the unified theory of life).
• Nibbana is the Nirodha Sacca (the cessation of dukkha), the santisukha.

Sarvāstivād position:

[Lanka Chapter 10:] The Stream-entered are those disciples, who having freed themselves from the attachments to the lower discriminations and who have cleansed themselves

• Mahayana denying stream-entering (sotapannahood) and arhathood is rejecting the Sammasambuddhas from teaching and establishing the Sangha of the highest attainment.
• The disciples are the proof of the Buddha's ability to teach and cause the condition for attaining the highest dhamma and leaving the avijja-yana.

Devadatta instructed his student patricide:

[Ajatashatru (wiki)] In the Samaññaphala Sutta, Buddha said that if Ajatasattu hadn't killed his father, he would have attained sotapannahood,

• The venerable Mogoke Sayadaw said that being attached to a certain wrong view (e.g. sakkayaditthi) is worse than killing one of the parents.

Anantarika-kamma:

Anantarika-karma, in the Theravada (“Way of the Elders”) tradition of Buddhism, a heinous sin that causes the agent to be reborn in hell immediately after death. There are five sins of this kind: killing one’s mother, killing one’s father, killing an arhat (saint), injuring the body of a buddha, and causing a division in the Buddhist community. [Britannica]

• Due to their wrong views, some walked away from the Nibbana.
• Many a lifetime, the bodhisatta was born in a family of wrong-viewers; however, he is not truly attached to these views, as his permanent direction was set towards the bodhi (awakening).
  • Temiya Jātaka (Mūgapakkha Jātaka), for example.
• A sammasambodhisatta would not commit anantarika-kamma.
• Some hold wrong-views temporarily, as they have the tendency to accept right-views.
• Right View is anattavada. Wrong view is attavada, which includes sakkayaditthi, ucchedaditthi, sassataditthi, ahetuka-ditthi, etc. [See Sammaditthi Dipani. The Manual of Right Views (Mahathera Ledi Sayadaw)]

Sarvāstivādi Lank-avatar-a: Avatar in Lanka

Abhasita Sutta: Two who slander the Tathagata

He who explains what was not said or spoken by the Tathagata as said or spoken by the Tathagata. And he who explains what was said or spoken by the Tathagata as not said or spoken by the Tathagata. These are two who slander the Tathagata."

Mahayana presents significant numbers of Buddhas and bodhisattvas but they are not here but in the buddha-lands.

Mahayana should not present something unreal in the name of the Sakyamuni.

The definition of the Mahayana as one of three vehicles was intended to establish the Mahayana’s superiority over other teachings, and it has no historical basis.  [Mahayana (Britannica)]

• There is an avatar in Lank-avatar-a.

[Lanka (Red Pine):] The earliest recorded appearance of Buddhism on the island did not occur until 150 years after the Buddha’s Nirvana, when Mahinda, the son of King Ashoka (r. 250 B.C.), introduced the Dharma to the island’s inhabitants. As for the second part of the title, avatara, this means “to alight or descend,” and usually refers to the appearance of a deity upon earth—and from which we get the word avatar. Thus, the sutra’s title could be translated as Appearance on Lanka, referring to the Buddha’s reputed visit to the island.

• Arahants arrived in the Lanka in 250 BC. That is a historical fact.
• the second part gives no date for the arrival of the avatars.
• Sarvāstivādi Santas were very real, too.

[Samyaksambuddha (SpiritWiki):] In Mayayana Buddhism, one who is fully perfected, perfectly connected, and available to teach the world.^[1] A perfected, connected, Avatar.
Perfected One > Bodhisattva, Rishis, Samyaksambuddha
A Connected One is an individual who is able to exist in a moderate to high state of pure and persistent connection.
An Avatar (Sanskrit:अवतार) is an individual who has attained Perfection, who can thus maintain a strong and persistent Connection, and who has devoted their life to helping the world Heal and Connect.

• The word avatar perfectly fits the concept of Samyaksambuddha and the tenth-stage bodhisattva, as they are perfectly connected to the source (the eternal mind, the holy self). In Mahayana system, they are tasked with outgoing mission of emancipation (Lankavatara).

[Lanka Chapter 12:] as Citta-gocara, it is the world of spiritual experience and the abode of the Tathagatas on their outgoing mission of emancipation. 

• Lank-avatar-a: Avatar(s) descended to Lanka from Mahesvara (Citta-gocara).
• Citta-gocara is the realm of thought, only the mind (the Noble Wisdom) exists—as the inscrutable Oneness.

[Lanka Chapter 12:] all remaining within its inscrutable Oneness, with no signs of individuation, nor beginning, nor succession, nor ending, We speak of it as Dharmakaya, as Ultimate Principle, as Buddhahood, as Nirvana; what matters it? They are only other names for Noble-Wisdom.

• After all the hardwork to reach the Noble Wisdom (the inscrutable Oneness), there is a special approach to keep individuation so that different minds may exist as buddhas and bodhisattvas:

[Lanka Chapter 12:] These different names are sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes they are discriminated, but different objects are not to be imagined because of the different names, nor are they without individuation. 

• Individuation is neccessary for the inscrutable Oneness.
• When the inscrutable Oneness is identified with a name, it becomes something of that name.
• The inscrutable Oneness is countless things, as there are countless names.
• That was how the countless avatars landed in Lanka in Lankavatara.

avatar (in Hinduism and Buddhism) a god appearing in a physical form [Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary]

• Dalai Lama is believed as an avatar of Avalokiteśvara.
• Avalokiteśvara, Amitābha Buddha and countless Buddhas and bodhisattvas are the avatars of the inscrutable Oneness (the original Tathagata, the Noble Wisdom, the mind, the holy self).

240 B.C.E. Ven. Mahinda establishes the Mahavihara (Great Monastery) of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The Vibhajjavadin community living there becomes known as the Theravadins. Mahinda's sister, Ven. Sanghamitta, arrives in Sri Lanka with a cutting from the original Bodhi tree, and establishes the bhikkhuni-sangha (nuns) in Sri Lanka. [Timeline of Theravada Buddhism: Major Events in Theravada Buddhism (Buddha Net)]

• Two Vibhajjavadi arahants established Theravada in Sri Lanka with the support of the Siri Lankans in general.

[Lanka (uidaho):] Kalupahana finds its strange that no scholar has taken the title very seriously, so in an appendix (pp. 241 ff.) he attempts to reconstruct the possibility of a Mahayana campaign on the island during the 4^th Cent. CE. He speculates that the Lankavatara was quickly thrown together (hence its unsystematic character) to aid in this missionary movement, one that ultimately failed and made Sri Lankan Buddhist very suspicious of any Buddhism coming over from India.
Kaluphana appears to be correct when he states that this is one of most inconsistent Mahayana sutras.

• Lankavatara is an attack on the Vibhajjavada in Sri Lanka.

The proper appraisal of the early Mahayana is even further complicated by the fact that most reconstructions have been heavily influenced by the agendas of modern sectarian movements and that the scriptures most valued by later groups are not necessarily the texts that best represent the movement in its formative period. [Mahayana (Britannica)]

• Rooted in a campaign against the Vibhajjavada and politics based on self-sustenance, the Mahayanist movements did not preserve the Mahayanist path, as they do not have to.
• The inconsistency of Mahayanist concepts occured due to poor grasping of each other's ideas and competition among the fraudsters who tried to dominate the academic fields. Their lack of virtues could not keep them together to develop a coherent dharma. As rebels who did not walk the path (magga), they became too infertile for the fruit (phala).

Dual or Nondual

A bodhisatta does not undergo the bodhisattva stages. For the need to communicate in the real world, a bodhisatta may not abandon duality: ultimate truths and conventional truths. Societies need languages and dialects to communicate effectively and intelligibly. Ordinary beings cannot communicate the way bodhisattvas and the Oneness Buddhas communicate in Buddha-lands:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] In some Buddha-lands ideas are indicated by looking steadily, in other gestures, in still others by a frown, by a movement of the eyes, by laughing, by yawning, by the clearing of the throat, or by trembling.

• Buddha-land and buddha-field must be the same.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 40:] They then, in their great joy and rejoicing, went each to his own Buddha-field and approached the presence of the Buddha, the Lord who had arisen therein, saluted his feet, and they all raised their folded hands and paid homage to the Lord.

• Each Buddha-field has the presence of the Buddha. The Buddha must be present in all the Buddha-fields at the same.

Lankavatara presents three positions based on Citta-mātratā:

1. There are true mind and māyā's mind. The former does not need physical body for sensory experience, as it is the only reality, and the rest is imaginary (māyā).
2. The true mind needs māyā to become Buddhas for emancipation missions to free māyā or there would have been the cessation of all things and the family of the Tathagatas would have become extinct. Note: Tathagata can talk only because the mind is provided with physical body (māyā).
3. Māyā is emptiness (i.e. no self-natureness). Emptiness is the Tathagata, the nirvana, the reality.

[Note: Lankavatara uses physical body (māyā), not mind-to-mind transmission, so are all sutras in physical form. The alleged mind-to-mind transmission is a strategy and a means to present the events that did not happen. And it does not happen nowadays.]

5.2.1. Sautrāntika-Yogacara

Organ of Omniscience: Let us return to the original issue. It is the contention of the Buddhists of the Sautrāntika-Yogacara school that our inner essence is consciousness which is intrinsically pure and transparent. But being associated with and dominated by evil tendencies and predispositions it becomes incapacitated for envisaging the Truth. These impurities are called Klesavaranat. They serve to subdue the mind and cover up the natural light of consciousness. They foster the sense of egoity and engender possessive instincts. Consequently all that tends to gratify the senses is hugged and whatever seems disagreeable is hated by the person under its influence. Egoity is thus the initial handicap and love, hate, pride and fatuity stem from it. So long as a person is deluded into thinking that he is an individual and his interests me thwaited by other individuals, he will not cease to entertain feelings of hostility and hatred toward the latter. His attachment to agreeable persons and things and hatred for the opposites constitute this bondage. This bondage can be put to an end only when the illusion of egoity is eradicated by the realization of the impersonal nature of one’s being, and this automatically leads to the cessation of the passions of love and hate This is effected by a prolonged [The Nava-nalanda-mahavihara Research Publication Vol-2 (1960) (Mookerjee, Satkari; page 28)]

• inner essence is consciousness: svabhāva, self-nature, the indestructible buddha-nature, permanent and never-changing;
• Klesavaranat (the māyā) is able to subdue the mind (the reality) and cover up the natural light of consciousness (the essence)
• the sense of egoity and engender possessive instincts: Sakkayaditthi: the psychology pointed out by the Sakyamuni.
• love, hate, pride and fatuity stem from it: love and 'Truth is Love' might be two different words:

[Lanka Chapter 5:] The Paramita of Wisdom (Prajna) will no longer be concerned with pragmatic wisdom and erudition, but will reveal itself in its true perfectness of All-inclusive Truth which is Love.

• Although the two prajñāpāramitā-s reject jñāna, Lankavatara presents both prajna and jñāna as the Paramita of Wisdom (Prajna) and the Noble Wisdom (āryajñāna).

Avijja-yana: The True One Vehicle

Avijja-paccaya sankhara; Sankhara-paccaya vinnanam; Vinnana-paccaya nama-rupa;

• The escape from avijja (delusion) is not a vehicle (yana).
• Avijja-yana carries the drifters to nowhere. Those who do not understand the Dhamma will remain as drifters in the samsara.

The Thirty-one Planes of Existence (Access to Insight)

The inhabitants of these [arupa] realms are possessed entirely of mind. Having no physical body, they are unable to hear Dhamma teachings.
The highest of [brahma] realms, the Pure Abodes, are accessible only to those who have attained to "non-returning," the third stage of Awakening. The Fine-Material World and the Immaterial World together constitute the "heavens" (sagga).

• Arupa brahma: Without physical sense organs, mind is unconscious and cannot have sensory experiences, according to the Vibhajjavadi Buddha.
• [‘A Study on Arūpā Brahma in Theravāda Buddhism” (Myo Thein)]

Sautrāntika-Yogacara took māyāvāda as Buddhism from Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra and Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya and presents it in Lankavatara.

Lankavatara

Any phenomenon [dharma] that is true [satya], real [tattva], eternal [nitya], sovereign/ autonomous/ self-governing [aisvarya], and whose ground/ foundation is unchanging [asraya-aviparinama], is termed ’the Self’ [atman] [...] For the sake of beings, [Tathagata] says "there is the Self in all things" [page 32, The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Kosho Yamamoto)

• Sarvāstivāda is an attavada that represents Self: atma, jiva, buddha-nature, Ālayavijñāna, the true mind (original Tathagata).

[Lanka Chapter 10:] In their minds the self-nature of things is still discriminated as good and bad, therefore, their minds are in confusion and they cannot pass beyond the sixth stage. But at the sixth stage all discrimination ceases as they become engrossed in the bliss of the Samadhis wherein they cherish the thought of Nirvana and, as Nirvana is possible at the sixth stage, they pass into their Nirvana, but it is not the Nirvana of the Buddhas.

• self-nature can be understood as atta-sabhava (atma-svabhava).
  • A common concept of 'I am the self/atta': I have names, a head, hands, legs, body and shadow; but who am I if I am not my names, my head, my hands, my legs, my body and my shadow?
• Lankavatara is completely outside the Pali Canon.

Emptiness, Void and the Primordial Abyss

General bliss, kundalini, Hindus also have that; it is not particular to Buddhists, but emptiness is not in Hinduism. [Bliss and Emptiness Meditation (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)]

• kundalini: Mahayana having another practice from Brahmanism.
  • The Buddha on simsapa leaves: those things that I have known with direct knowledge but have not taught are far more numerous [than what I have taught]. And why haven't I taught them? Because they are not connected with the goal [SN 56]

The kundalini enables man to consciously cross the lower planes and it ultimately merges into the universal cosmic power of which it is a part, and which also is at times described as kundalini ... [but it] cannot dispense with the need for the grace of a Perfect Master.^[26] [kundalini (wiki)]

• Lankavatara in chapter 11 presents the bodhisattva stages similar to that definition of kundalini:

[Lanka Chapter 11:] [bodhisattva vow #8:] to attain perfect self-realization of the oneness of all the Buddhas and Tathagatas in self-nature, purpose and resources;

• merges into: realising oneness
• the universal cosmic power: Emptiness

Mahayanist Emptiness (void): space; māyā, devoid of own self; the true mind (the original Tathagata);

• Emptiness in Hinduism: space, brahman.

1. The Primordial Abyss [...] “Brahman,” an unfathomable void that exists beyond time and space. This eternal emptiness, devoid of form or substance, holds within it the infinite potential for creation and dissolution. From this void emerges the divine presence of Lord Brahma, heralding the inception of all that is and will be. [Creation of the Universe by Lord Brahma (bhaktikathain)]

• Brahma is also considered to be the true mind (Brahma consciousness):

According to the Vedantic view, beyond this awareness is another, deeper awareness of Brahman as absolute consciousness, when the meaning of "neti, neti; tat tvam asi" is fully realized. Having truly experienced "not this, not this" there arises the profound awareness that all is Brahman as the unknowable "that", the subject of every object, of which it can never be said "this is Brahman"; and to know the self as Brahman. [Brahma consciousness (UIA)]

• Emptiness has many meanings. Totality or fullness is mentioned by some Zen teachers.

Ishwar reside in the heart of Jiva as the inner controller, is absolutely independent and is the judge supreme of all actions of all Jivas. [...] Maya is unborn. It is of the nature of Darkness, helps in creation and division of good and bad by nature. [...] Lord Krushna said in Gita that this, my Maya, is difficult to cross, but those who take Refuge in Me alone succeed in crossing beyond it.
[Jiva, Ishwar, Maya, Brahm and Parbrahm (Shree Swaminarayan Temple - Bhuj)]

• Buddha-nature in the mortals is unborn (eternal), no beginning, no ending.

These five eternal elements are: jiva, ishwar, maya, Brahma, and Parabrahma. The jiva, also called 'atma' or soul, is eternal [The Five Eternal Elements (Swaminarayan Sansta)]

• Ishwar reside in the heart of Jiva. Ishwar is ununborn.

Man is subject to the laws of birth and death, the laws of karma. Ishwara is unborn, undying. [Yoga-sutras (Vedanta Commentaries)]

• [That is a comparison to show how close Mahayana and Hinduism are. This is no attempt to analyse the Hindu concepts.]

[Lanka (Red Pine):] “Mahamati, there are followers of other paths who are attached to such things as form and space as having shape and location. Although they aren’t able to distinguish space, they say space exists apart from form, and they thus give rise to the projection of their separation. Mahamati, space is form. It is part of the material elements. And form is space, Mahamati. But in order to establish the existence of which supports and which is supported, they separate space and form. Although their individual characteristics differ, Mahamati, where the four material elements are present, they neither occupy space, nor do they exist without space.

• the followers of other paths: Who were they?
• space exists apart from form: Space exists between two particles, two objects, two beings, two bodhisattvas, etc.
• aren’t able to distinguish space: That's a good rhetoric to entertain the Sarvāstivādis.
• they neither occupy space, nor do they exist without space: Space is total vacuum but occupied by matters. Space as vacuum is dark, which the eyes can see as darkness. When space is occupied by light, the objects are visible due to reflection entering the eyes. Movement is possible when there is space for it.
• form and space as having shape and location: space is outside form. Form is inside space.
  • However, Emptiness is in Hinduism as a concept:

Ākāśarūpa (आकाशरूप) refers to “one whose form is like the (supreme) ether”, according to the Yogabīja (verse 76cd-78ab; Cf verse 51-53).—Accordingly, “The wise [Yogin] burns his body, consisting of the seven Dhātus, with the fire [stoked by Haṭhayoga]. His diseases and torments such as deprivation and physical harm vanish, and he remains embodied, his form [like] the supreme ether (parama-ākāśarūpa). What more can be said? He does not die”.

• “one whose form is like the (supreme) ether” is similar to The transcendental nature of Bodhisattvas
  • a bodhisattva goes to Nirvana,’ but no one can say where he went to [...] Quite pure is he, free form conditions, unimpeded. That is his practice of wisdom, highest perfection. [Aṣtasāhasrikā and Ratnaguna].
  • Yogin [who] burns his body and a bodhisattva become eternal beings.

"You Brahmin priests with your fancy fire sacrifices aren't the only ones who get people to heaven. We can do it without killing animals and wasting trees. So there." [The meaning of the mantra at the end of the Heart Sutra (Richard Hayes)]

• Were Sarvāstivādis the followers of Hinduism to focus on space (ākāśarūpa)?
• Ākāśarūpa is emptiness or nirvana—reunion with emptiness (ākāśarūpa):

[Lotus Chapter 5:] ultimate Nirvana which is constantly still and extinct and which in the end returns to emptiness.

• Emptiness is reality, the eternal Tathagata, and nirvana. Māyā is also the emptiness of svabhāva.

[Heart (Dharmanet):] Emptiness is a pedagogical term that points to the futility of any concept to accurately express the nature [svabhāva] of reality.

• Why is so difficult to explain Citta-mātratā?

[Lanka Chapter 5:] The cessation of the continuation aspect of the mind-system, namely, the discriminating mortal-mind the entire world of maya and desire disappears. Getting rid of the discriminating mortal-mind is Nirvana.

• discriminating mortal-mind: that is māyā's mind.
• maya and desire: both are māyā.
• Nirvana: separating māyā the physical form from māyā the mental form (mortal-mind);

“Mayayana Sutra on Contemplation of the Mind-Ground of Essential Nature”

Māyāvāda Mayayana Mahayana

• Citta-mātratā: Only the mind is real.
• How did the unreal māyā come to exist?
• If citta and māyā always exist, they both are reality.

[Lanka Chapter 1:] the discriminations of the mind and is perpetuated by habit-energy, and from which they are given over to false imagination.

• Māyā being reborn as māyā is samsara.
• The true mind vs māyā's mind: which is the imaginator responsible for the existence of lifeforms?

The Sarvāstivādis built māyāvāda (the doctrine of illusion) with the mind as the creator of the unreal in their fictional universe, with which they tried to destroy the Vibhajjavada. In that māyāvādi universe, the Sarvāstivādis portray the fictional truths and events:

• Only the true mind is reality.
• Everyone is imaginary (māyā).

THE DREAMER IS DREAMING

Lankavatara presents THE DREAMER to condemn it. It is the concept that the real mind is not responsible for the existence of māyā.

• Māyā and māyā's minds are māyā.
• Nirvana is the only way for māyā to escape from māyā.
• Māyā must become bodhisattvas and finally Buddhas.

Citta-mātratā: the real buddha-nature inside the unreal māyā:

• Māyāvādi svabhāva is defined as self (atta/atma) and nature (sabhāva).
• Māyā has its own mind (māyā's mind).
• Māyā does not have self (svabhāva).
• Māyā has the true mind (Ālayavijñāna/Universal Consciousness and Tathāgatagarbha/Tathagata-womb).

ZEN: Approach to Zen: The Reality of Zazen/ Modern Civilization and Zen (Kosho Uchiyama Roshi; 1973)

[The Self Settled in Itself pp98-99:] This is what the Mahayanists realized from the founder's active life, devoted to the salvation of all beings. And the development of Mayayana Buddhism lay in realizing the importance of the true and immovable self as a manifestation of vital life. In brief, the self settled in itself does not mean to display personal desires, nor does it mean to discard vital activity and become lifeless either. On the contrary, life in itself is simply manifest function, so there must be activity. In this activity an immeasurable and boundless world will be open to us.

• Mayayana Buddhism: Mahayana and Mayayana are the same Mayavada.
• the self settled in itself: the true mind is stated as the self.
• The book also explains: self and Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)

The Self of the Zen Man, 55

The Self is the Universe, 55

The Activity of the Reality of Life, 60

Waking up and Living, 66

The Direction of the Universal, 71

[4· The Bodhisattva-Three Minds, 120:] One who finds the direction of his life in zazen and at the same time lives by repentance in zazen is called a Bosatsu (Bodhisattva). A Bosatsu is an ordinary man who has found the direction of his life in the Buddha-i.e. in zazen [...] Therefore in Buddhism to say the self settles in itself is to say the Universe settles in itself. The mind which sees the self and all things as one, which does not discriminate but sees every encounter as his own life, and which, however it may falter, seeks always to manifest this life-this is the Bosatsu's great mind.

• Bosatsu: Bodhisattva
• The intention is beautiful. However, one still needs the true teaching of the Buddha.

The Mind Only (citta-mātratā)

[Lanka Chapter 6:] We are taught that this Buddha-nature immanent in everyone is eternal, unchanging, auspicious. It is not this which is born of the Womb of Tathagatahood the same as the soul-substance that is taught by the philosophers? 

• That Buddha-nature is Buddha, mind, unborn, Noble-Wisdom, etc.

[Lanka Chapter 12:] When the teachings of the Dharma are fully understood and are perfectly realized by the disciples and masters, that which is realized in their deepest consciousness is their own Buddha-nature revealed as Tathagata. In a true sense there are four kinds of sameness relating to Buddha-nature:

• the illusory body and mind: this Mahayanist concept is essentially Sarvāstivādi Māyāvāda.
• Suzuki translation has 13 chapters and has buddha-nature 3 times.
• Red Pine translation is much longer and has tathagata-garbha 52 times.

As the Buddha guides Mahamati through the conceptual categories of Mahayana Buddhism, and those of other paths as well, he tells him that these too are fabrications of the mind and that reaching the land of buddhas requires transcending all conjured landscapes, including that of the tathagata-garbha

• conceptual categories of Mahayana: Mahayana is Sarvāstivādi Māyāvāda based on the Vedas, in which the Sakyamuni did not find any reality.
• land of buddha is also buddha-field

 Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 17

 Heart (Thich), Heart (Red), Lanka (Red Pine), Lanka Chapter, Lotus Chapter

5.2.2. Avalokitesvara appears once in Prajnaparamita

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 38-40)] (33) and in producing a hundred thousand concentrations and in playing with them. They are the Bodhisattva Bhadrapala, the great being; the Bodhisattvas [...] Avalokitesvara [...] Maitreya the Bodhisattva, the great being, at the head of many hundred thousands of niyutas of kotis of Bodhisattvas. [...] And those who were thus reborn among gods and men, through the might of the Lord, recalled their former lives. They then, in their great joy and rejoicing, went each to his own Buddha-field and approached the presence of the Buddha, the Lord who had arisen therein, saluted his feet, and they all raised their folded hands and paid homage to the Lord.

• went each to his own Buddha-field and approached the presence of the Buddha: the Buddha was present in all buddha-fields at the same time.

[Lanka (Red Pine):] 31 The world beyond projection is suchness, the sky as opposed to a flower in the sky. Among the examples of tathata, or suchness, are the undifferentiated mind, buddha-nature, the dharma body, the tathagata-garbha, reality itself, the dharma realm, and dharma nature. As for divisions of the mind, the Lankavatara mentions eight kinds of consciousness.

• The concept of unborn is fundamentally citta-matrata, the tretise of Nagarjuna.

[Lanka Chapter 5:] The cessation of the continuation aspect of the mind-system, namely, the discriminating mortal-mind the entire world of maya and desire disappears. Getting rid of the discriminating mortal-mind is Nirvana.

• maya and desire disappears: Tathāgatagarbha (buddha-nature) is fully developed.
• Nirvana (Māyāvāda) has nothing in common with Nibbana (Vibhajjavada).
• the discriminating mortal-mind is māyā, fake mind. The real mind (citta-mātratā) is buddha-nature that is aware and makes others to be aware (Bodhidharma).
• It is not clear how buddha-nature and the discriminating mortal-mind coexist/work together.
• mind-system: recall Vasubandhu's three-nature system: the Trisvabhavanirdesha
  • Imagined-nature: māyā (the Imagined Nature)
  • Imagining-nature: creation of māyā (the Other–Dependent Nature)
  • Reuniting-nature: māyā returning to brahma (the Consummate Nature)
• Lankavatara was likely authored by someone like Vasbandhu.

In conclusion [...] That is to say the 'tathagatagarbha' thought was formed as an positive soterio-logical approach to counteract the "'sunyam sarvam'" (all is empty) view. The 'tathagatagarbha' which strongly articulates a devotional and experiential approach to salvation provides much to the hope and aspiration of the people at large. It is this positive aspect that was taken up and strongly emphasized in Chinese Buddhism. [The Significance Of 'Tathagatagarbha' -- A Positive Expression Of 'Sunyata' (Heng-Ching Shih)]

• Tathagatagarbha is a philosophical development to plug a hole, so is ālayavijñāna.

On Consciousness: Comparing the Buddha and Vasubandhu

Summary:

A short response to the consciousness concept of Vasubandhu (Jonathan C. Gold)

Problem 1: Vasbandhu believed consciousness must be continuous or a being would die. What keeps the meditator’s body alive when all consciousness is cut off? Consciousness, once cut off, to restart, he invented Yogācāra doctrine of the “store consciousness” (ālayavijñāna) or the “hidden consciousness”—the consciousness that is tucked away in the body.

Problem 2: That concept also solves his other problem: the rebirth of a being without physical body could only be possible if there is ālayavijñāna. Mayavada is based on this concept.

These problems can be explained with the Buddha's teaching on citta, cetasika, rupa.

Problem 1: Consciousness is not continuous because the bhavanga-citta determines consciousness level. The more bhavaga-citta occurs, the less is consciousness. When a unit of citta dies, another rises. A being can sleep or meditate and will wake up after every sleep but does not die before the rise of cuti-citta (death consciousness), which is the last in a lifetime.

Problem 2: Arupa-brahmas rest undisturbed until the cuti-citta arises. Their patisandhi-citta will rise in the physical bodies provided by their new parents. Body (rupa) and mind (nama) are interdependent. The body (rupa) is the base of the mind but is kept alive by biological systems, which are not controlled by consciousness. Only in a living body, citta functions. Māyāvāda is not based on the Buddha Dhamma.

Rūpa in Rebirth Process

Abhidhamma in Daily Life (by Ashin Janakabhivamsa): How Kamma Takes Effect (Ashin Janakabhivamsa)

how rupa is caused by kamma, citta, utu and ahara.
the systematic combination of the kalapas thus formed takes the form of human beings as directed by past kamma.
Kamma determines the sex and basic traits of the human being [...] peta, animal, etc. [...] life from fetus to death is managed by past and present actions good or bad. Rupa caused by kamma is called kammaja rupa.

True Mind (Ālayavijñāna-Tathagatagarbha)

• Emptiness is Tathagata, the Un-born, the Universal Mind, buddha-nature, the reality.

[Heart (Hua)] The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra strikes the keynote of the philosophy of the Emptiness School of Mahayana Buddhism. Like the Sword of the Diamond King, it cuts through the veneer of the experienced world deep into the core of the True Mind—the Cosmic Consciousness—that lies behind everything phenomenal and noumenal in the universe. [...] Deluded and puzzled, he is not aware that the illusory body and mind, and the universe as well, are a mirage conjured up by the excessive activity of his True Mind, his Buddha-Nature, which tends [...] Like a castle in the air, the illusory body and mind, together with the dreamer’s environment, come from nowhere and therefore have no place to go, because they are dream-works when viewed from the standpoint of his True Mind. It follows that the life and death of all sentient beings, and the coalescence and dispersion of the universe, do not affect the True Mind or the Buddha-Nature, because a wild dream does not add to or subtract anything from the dreamer, no matter whether he is awake or asleep. [...] Viewed from the standpoint of totality, a person’s body and mind are actually various projections of his True Mind. Therefore, there is no sense in his attaching any importance to his physical and mental activities and reactions—the five skandhas which constitute the source of all worries and trouble. [...] The true mind itself can merge with enlightenment’s source. To say “true mind” is to speak both of the mind and of prajna. When you have the wonderful wisdom of prajna, you have the true mind, and so you naturally merge with the source of enlightenment. You are united with the original enlightenment of the Buddha; you join with it; you flow into and become the substance of the original enlightenment. “Merge” implies uniting into a single substance. [The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra with Verses Without A Stand and Prose Commentary With the Commentary of Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua; huntingtonarchive]

• Buddha-nature is one's true mind—the Cosmic Consciousness—that lies behind everything phenomenal and noumenal in the universe
• the illusory body and mind [...] are a mirage conjured up by the excessive activity of his True Mind
• The true mind itself can merge with enlightenment’s source.

[Lanka Chapter 9:] This transcendental body [...] furnished with all the differences appertaining to the world of form but without their limitations; possessed of this "mind-vision-body" he is able to be present in all the assemblages in all the Buddha-lands [...] the transcendental personality that experiences the Samadhi Vajravimbopama will be endowed with supernatural powers and psychic faculties and self-mastery by reason of which he will be able to follow the noble paths that lead to the assemblages of the Buddhas, moving about as freely as he may wish [...]

• The astral projection in the Lankavatara Sutra is a jhanic ability. It is a loki-nana. It always exists outside (before and after) the Buddha Sasana.

[Linji:] When about to die, one has only to observe that all five skandhas are empty and that the four elements have no ego, that true mind is formless and neither comes nor goes, that [essential] nature does not come into being with birth nor go away with death, and thus that in deep serenity and utter stillness the mind and surroundings become one suchness. One who can directly and immediately understand in this way will not be bound by the three realms; he will be one who has transcended the world. [—Record of Linji (Ruth Fuller Sasaki); page 229]

• The five skandhas are empty of oneself, but filled with Tathagata (true mind or essential nature).

Māyā's Mind (the illusory mind):

Lankavatara: the real mind and māyā's mind (the dreamer) are inside māyā (the dream) inside māyā's mind (the dreamer). Māyā means the dream and the dreamer are inside each other, and the true mind is also inside the dream.

[Heart (Dharmanet):] Emptiness is a pedagogical term that points to the futility of any concept to accurately express the nature [svabhāva] of reality.

Many generations have struggled to decifer the meaning of 'Form is emptiness, emptiness is form'.

[Heart (Thich):] Thich Nhat Hanh considered emptiness is "totality" and "wholeness."

• Hua and Hanh agree with totality: Viewed from the standpoint of totality, a person’s body and mind are actually various projections of his True Mind.
• Emptiness is Tathagata, the Un-born...

Lankavatara presents a concept:

The dream is the dreamer, and the dreamer is the dream. When he wakes up, he will realise the dream is unreal. Māyā is the cause of māyā, and it must reach buddhahood.

Form (māyā) is emptiness (māyā), and emptiness (māyā) is form (māyā)—in a sense.

Lankavatara: Sarvāstivāda-Māyāvādi mind system has two minds: 1) the real mind and 2) māyā's mind. Both minds are inside māyā.

• The real mind comprises Ālayavijñāna and Tathagatagarbha. They are said to be the same thing.
  • Tathagatagarbha (buddha-nature) is awareness.
• Māyā and māyā's mind are māyā.
  • Māyā's mind is the dreamer who is aware of the dream (form or māyā).

[Lanka Chapter 1 (Tathagata is speaking):] Mahamati, since the ignorant and simple-minded, not knowing that the world is only something seen of the mind itself, [...] and think that they have a self-nature of their own, and all of which rises from the discriminations of the mind [...] It is all like a mirage in which springs of water are seen as if they were real. They are thus imagined by animals who, made thirsty by the heat of the season, run after them. Animals not knowing that the springs are an hallucination of their own minds, do not realize that there are no such springs [...]

• seen of the mind itself: Lankavatara's position is the mind (of māyā) can see without the real eyes. Sakyamuni would rebuk that concept. The mind-only Arupa brahma without sense faculties may not sense
• think that they have a self-nature of their own: How does the one mind think for all the individuals?
• rises from the discriminations of the mind: Why does discriminations of the mind occur?
• no such springs: the spring water is inside the animal, which exists because of water.
  • If that animal is māyā, then Tathagata may not say it exists and it needs water.
  • Māyā is neither mortal nor immortal. Māyā does not drink water.

[Lanka Chapter 1 (Tathagata is speaking):] It is like the city of the Gandharvas which the unwitting take to be a real city though it is not so in fact. The city appears as in a vision owing to their attachment to the memory of a city preserved in the mind as a seed; the city can thus be said to be both existent and non-existent. [...] and their thoughts are not at all clear as to what after all is only seen of the mind. It is like a man dreaming in his sleep of a country [...] and who moves about in that city until he is awakened. As he lies half awake, he recalls the city of his dreams and reviews his experiences there; what do you think, Mahamati, is this dreamer who is letting his mind dwell upon the various unrealities he has seen in his dream,- is he to be considered wise or foolish?

• the mind itself vs this dreamer who is letting his mind : Lankavatara reveals the dreamer with mind, undermining citta-mātratā.
• The dreamer's mind vs the real mind: Why is the real mind not the dreamer?
• greed is multiplied: māyā's mind is responsible for greed.
• The real mind is not responsible for greed. Thus, the role of the real mind is limited to a self concept (self-nature).

[Lanka (Red Pine):] The Buddha expresses this teaching by describing the world we think of as real as sva–citta–dryshya–matra: “nothing but the perceptions of our own mind.” By this, he does not mean that the mind sees or that something is seen by the mind, for any subject or object would be yet another projection of the mind. He simply means that whatever we see or think or feel is our own mind, which is, of course, a tautology. A=A. But then what Buddhist teaching isn’t a tautology?

• whatever we see or think or feel is our own mind: That means no physical world exists outside the mind. As everything seen is just the mind, everything heard (tasted, touched, smelt, communicated with, interacted with, learned about) is one's own mind, which is also mere misunderstanding or does not exist—citta-mātratā (only the mind is real). Technically, one experiences own mind with own mind, which is unreal.

Yet for Vasubandhu, if the cause cannot be specified, then the person must be conceptually constructed. He adduces the following as an example of conceptual construction: When we see, smell, and taste milk, we have distinct sensory impressions, which are combined in our awareness. The “milk,” then, is a mental construct—a concept built out of discrete sensory impressions. The sensory impressions are real, but the milk is not. In the same way, the “self” is made up of constantly-changing sensory organs, sensory impressions, ideas, and mental events. These separate, momentary elements are real, but their imagined unity—as an enduring “I”—is a false projection. [Vasubandhu (Jonathan C. Gold)]

• The sensory impressions are real, but the milk is not: Milk contains nutrients to build the various parts of the form. So form is not empty, nor the projection of the mind.
• but the milk is not: That is the origin of citta-mātratā, Vasubandhu's confusion which he developed from Sarvāstivāda. The opportunity to hear the genuine Buddha-Dhamma was no longer available there; however, Vasbandhu might not like it anyway. These ancient philosophers needed to watch TV or movie to understand projection and reality.

[Lanka (Red Pine):] The Bhagavan then repeated the meaning of this in verse: 1. “There is no form inside the mind/ form is nourished by the mind / body, possessions, the world, and beings / from repository consciousness all appear
I’ve followed Bodhiruchi for this line. Gunabhadra has: “There is no form or mind,” which is not the teaching here. Shikshananda agrees with Bodhiruchi: “What the mind sees does not exist.” The Sanskrit has drshyam na vidyate cittam / cittam dyrshyat pravartate which translates to: “Mind does not exist as what is visible / but the mind emerges from what is visible.” Form is used here to represent all the skandhas, of which it is the first of five.

• There is no form inside the mind: It is about māyā (the dream and the dreamer).
  • Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. The dream is the dreamer, and the dreamer is the dream. The Dreamer is in the dream, and the dream is in the dreamer.
• Form is norished by the mind: Did these people eat any meal at all from birth to death? Yes, they did. They did not eat the mind but material food.

5.2.3. Sankhya philosophy

Part 13 has briefly presented Prakriti in Mahayanist Māyāvāda:

Prakriti or Nature, an original energy manifesting in substance is the origin, the material and the agent of evolution [...] To this original Matter Sankhya gives the name of Prakriti, while Vedanta & Buddhism, admitting the term Prakriti, prefer to call it Maya [...] and regards Cosmic Evolution as a cosmic illusion. [Buddhism on Purusha and Prakriti - The Incarnate Word (Sri Aurobindo)]

The following is a brief addition:

Samkhya is the oldest school of philosophy. It states that everything is derived from the Purusha or self, soul, intellect, and Prakriti or matter, creation, and energy. [...] The great Sage Kapila Muni is considered the founder of the Sankhya philosophy. [...] It finds mention in Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita. [What is Sankhya Philosophy: Sankhya philosophy and its history (Devvrat Yoga Kerala)]

• Named after Kapila Muni is Kapilavattu (Kapilavasthu), the hometown of the Sakyamuni, who mastered Sankhya's philosophy, but abandoned it when He discovered the Four Noble Truths, the level only a Sammasambuddha can understand without help.
• Paramattha (natural reality) can be achieved and attained if try hard enough.
• Kapilamuni and Sakyamuni are two greatest sons of South Asia. The former is accepted as an incarnation of Vishnu. The latter was also added into the panteon by some. The Sarvāstivādis were the most successful in rejecting the Sakyamuni in His name. That is they created Buddhism without Buddhism.
• Philosophical realities cannot become natural.
• prakriti: māyā
• purusha: buddha-nature (the Noble Wisdom/Perfect-knowledge/āryajñāna)

Samkhya adopts a consistent dualism of matter (prakriti) and the eternal spirit (purusha). The two are originally separate, but in the course of evolution purusha mistakenly identifies itself with aspects of prakriti. Right knowledge consists of the ability of purusha to distinguish itself from prakriti. [...] The purusha is ubiquitous, all-conscious, all-pervasive, motionless, unchangeable, immaterial, and without desire. Prakriti is the universal and subtle nature that is determined only by time and space. [Samkhya (Hinduism) (Britannica)]

• in the course of evolution: Darwinism suggests evolution, not God, is responsible for the development of evil. Richchard Dawkin proposed Selfish Gene.
• purusha mistakenly identifies itself with aspects of prakriti: This is Kapila's evolutionary theory.
  • How could perfect consciousness mistakenly identify itself with aspects of prakriti?
  • The Buddha points out anusaya-kilesas and sakkayaditthi.
  • Belief in permanence is attavada rejected by the Anattavadi Buddha:
• A bhikkhu named Sati had a view of eternal consciousness, so other bhikkhus tried to correct him:

"Exactly so, friends. As I understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One, it is this same consciousness that runs and wanders through the round of rebirths, not another." Then those bhikkhus, desiring to detach him from that pernicious view, pressed and questioned and cross-questioned him thus: "Friend Sati, do not say so. Do not misrepresent the Blessed One; it is not good to misrepresent the Blessed One. The Blessed One would not speak thus. For in many discourses the Blessed One has stated consciousness to be dependency arisen, since without a condition there is no origination of consciousness." [...] when consciousness arises dependent on the mind and mind-objects, it is reckoned as mind-consciousness. [​MN 38 Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta: The Greater Discourse on the Destruction of Craving (Bhikkhu Bodhi; sutta.com)]

• Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra; Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam;
• Where did Bhikkhu Sati and the Sarvāstivādis get that view?
• Why do Mahayana sutras hold that view of the true mind (eternal consciousness, the unborn), Ālayavijñāna, Tathagata-garbha? 

Unborn: Mahayana slanders the Tathagata

Mahayanists are free to hold any views.

Mahayanists slander the Taghagata (the Anattavadi Buddha) by attaching their views to Him and Buddhism.

[Abhasita Sutta:] He who explains what was not said or spoken by the Tathagata as said or spoken by the Tathagata. And he who explains what was said or spoken by the Tathagata as not said or spoken by the Tathagata. These are two who slander the Tathagata."

• Bhikkhus must correct a bhikkhu if he holds a wrong view.

Sankhya Theory of Evolution

The Sankhya theory that small things are carved out of one of greater magnitude is supported by experience and presents no logical difficulty. One infinite all pervasive principle called Prakrti, which we have rendered as primordial matter for want of a better equivalent, is the material cause of all physical objects, which are scooped out of the infinite substance and are embedded in it. When small things are found to coalesce into a greater magnitude, there is no new creation, but only the manifestation of the magnitude inherent in the infinite matter in which every limited object moves and lives and has its being. The Prakrti is infinitely great and also infinitely small, and the small is only a function of the great. The Sankhya theory of causation as manifestation of an inherent real obviates a large number of problems which are inevitable in the emergent theory of causation. A new thing or character is found to emerge on the combination of several conditions. But there can be no logical explanation why one set of conditions gives rise to one kind of effect and not another. As we have observed before, the mind or pure understanding is also a quasi-physical entity derived from prakrti'. The Sankhya thus seeks to explain the emergence of the cosmic order with all its bewildering varieties from one single principle believed to be possessed of infinite powers.
The theory of triple guna— sattva, rajas and tamas— is supposed to account for attraction and repulsion and self-sustenance of all that exists in the material plane. Consciousness stands alone and supreme in its own sphere. The combination of the two makes for the emergence of physical, ethical and religious activities and their progression to the maximum limit. We have already alluded to the far-reaching influence of Sankhya on the development of philosophical, religious and cosmological speculations in India. Its influence is not only operative in orthodox thought but also discernible in the Buddhist and Jaina schools. The Jaina believes, with slight modifications in the Sankhya theory of causation. The Jaina contention that the effect is both identical with and different from the cause is only a reiteration of the Sankhya theory. The simultaneous identity and difference of the effect is also expressly asserted in the Yogabkiisya. The Sankhya theory of causation does not endorse the absolute identity of the cause and the effect as is supposed by a superficial student of Sankhya. [The Nava-nalanda-mahavihara Research Publication Vol-2 (1960) (Mookerjee, Satkari; page 53)]

• Māyā's mind (the dreamer) is inside māyā (the dream) inside māyā's mind (the dreamer).
• Māyā means the dream and the dreamer are inside each other, and the true mind is also inside the dream.
• Māyāvāda is an offshoot of Sankhya, which does not mention māyā. Māyāvādi Buddhism is modified Sankhya, but adding māyā's mind against the real mind.
  • purusha becomes true mind, buddha, buddha-nature
  • aspects of prakriti is māyā, which frees the true mind from evil and places māyā as evil doer.
  • Māyāvādi Buddhism replaces atta with svabhava: emptiness of svabhava, but the eternal Tathagata is emptiness.
  • It accepts sakkayaditthi is the problem. However, it presents the eternal mind (buddha, buddha-nature, true mind).
  • Buddha, bodhisattva, and other parallel terms were created without meaning the same.
  • For the sake of māyā and the eternal mind, Māyāvādi Buddhism rejects all four Paramatthas, which are the essential elements of the Four Noble Truths.

Noble Truths

• Taken from the Pali literature, Māyāvādi Buddhism also mentions the Four Noble Truth, without their essence, especially the 3rd Noble Truth, as its nirvana is not Nibbana. It cannot practically separate māyā's mind and the true mind.
• One who understands the Four Noble Truths and is able to follow the Eightfold Noble Path is not a Māyāvādi. Yet, the wrong goal and the wrong method act as betrayal.
• The right path cannot lead to the wrong goal, which can never be reached anyway. To reach the wrong goal, much effort is needed to compromise the right path to become the wrong path, which will lead to a nonexistent goal.

The Third Noble Truth aims at annihilation of craving so that we are no longer enslaved by it. When cessation of craving is attained, the cessation of suffering will follow. [...] As attachment is dissolved, craving is relinquished, wisdom and compassion will arise spontaneously. [...] It is the mind needs to be set free. [...] We can then let go and abandon craving. [...] When cessation is reached we experience nirvana. [...] The path of Buddhahood begins with the right view. [...] Right Views steer us in the right direction. In essence, right view involves correct understanding of the Dharma and Buddha's teaching. [The Four Noble Truths (Nan Tien Institute)]

• The third is Nirodha Sacca, the Noble Truth of Anupādāna, the cessation of anusaya-kilesas, the relief from the burden of Pancha-upadanakkhanda.
• attachment is dissolved: Is it Lankavatara's teaching of attachment?

[Lanka Chapter 3:] There are two kinds of attachment: attachment to objects as having a self-nature, and attachment to words as having self-nature. The first takes place by not knowing that the external world is only a manifestation of mind itself; and the second arises from one's clinging to words and names by reason of habit-energy.

• 'Freeing the mind' has different meanings.
• The path of Buddhahood: that serves the downgrading of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.

The Sakyamuni wasn't a dreamer, nor a Māyāvādi, nor ever taught Māyāvāda.

“Even so, O King, he who sees the Doctrine (dhamma) sees the Buddha; for, O King, the Doctrine (dhamma) was taught by the Buddha.” (So explained the Elder.) [Milindapanha (S.B.V.M.S.)]

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 18

5.2.4. Three Vehicles

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 577):] Gradually they are nirvanized in the realm of Nirvana which leaves nothing behind and that through the three vehicles, i.e. the Disciple-vehicle, the Pratyekabuddha-vehicle, or the great vehicle.

• Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra is recognised to be earlier than Lankavatara and Lotus. Whichever came first, early Sarvāstivādi movement recognised all the three vehicles. Mahayanist scriptures evolved away from the origin.
• Mahādeva was only an ordinary monk, although he led a large number. He did not have intellectual quality to challenge anything taught by the Sakyamuni.

Emancipation belongs to Tathagatas

[Lanka Chapter 12:] Citta-gocara, it is the world of spiritual experience and the abode of the Tathagatas on their outgoing mission of emancipation.

• Citta-gocara: the realm of thoughts, according to Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā.
• The Heart Sutra lets a Bodhisattva (Mahayana) teach a Mahasavaka (Theravada) the knowledge, which only exists in Mahayana. The scene of a non-ariya teaching an arahant is fictional only. The Heart Sutra is a historical fiction without where and when. That is how the Heart Sutra promotes a Bodhisattva to the Buddha's level, but Lankavatara and Lotus disagree.

[Mahayana defines bodhisattvas several ways. ] The 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter VII).—“In the Abhidharma, the disciples of Kātyāyanīputra say: Who is called Bodhisattva? He who has awakened himself and then awakens others is called Bodhisattva;

• Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra puts Subhuti above the Vabhajjavadi aggasavasaka. The Sarvāstivādis may do anything with their sutras. But using the name of the Vabhajjavadi aggasavasaka is an ill-intention.

[Lanka Chapter 4:] Arhats rise when the error of all discrimination is realized.

• The Vibhajjavadi goal is ANUPĀDĀNA and Patisambhida-magga nana: 'analytical knowledge' or 'discrimination'. That is also where Sarvāstivāda confronts Vibhajjavada.

[Lanka Chapter 4]: Perfect-knowledge (jnana) belongs to the Bodhisattvas who are entirely free from the dualism... They no longer discriminate the world as subject to causation...

• The way of Vibhajjavada has been opposed by Perfect-knowledge (āryajñāna) and Anuttarasamyaksambodhi—prajñā vs jñāna.
• Neither dualism nor nondualism deals with reality like the Dhamma-Vinay does.
• Reality is the Four Noble Truths.
• The Lankavatara Sutra promotes bodhisattvas and mahasattvas to the level of Mahasavakas, who keep constant contact with the Sarvāstivādi Buddhas.
• However, Citta-gocara is for the Tathagatas on their outgoing mission of emancipation.

The vast majority of living entities live in the spiritual world and are called akṣara — they are in the position of Brahman, pure spiritual existence. They are different from those who have been conditioned by the three modes of material nature. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) » Canto 4: The Creation of the Fourth Order » CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: ŚB 4.24.28 (Vedabase)]

• akṣara are similar to the Tathagatas and bodhisattvas in Lankavatara's Citta-gocara.

5.2.5. BODHISATTVA IDEAL

The common belief:

In strictly canonical terms a bodhisattva is defined as an individual who discovers the source of the Ultimate Truth better known as nirvana, but postpones his own enlightenment until he has guided all his fellow beings to this same source of fulfillment. [The Bodhisattva Ideal (Nitin Kumar)]

Avalokiteśvara-Concept:

[Britannica:] Avalokiteshvara supremely exemplifies the bodhisattva’s resolve to postpone his own buddhahood until he has helped every sentient being on earth achieve liberation (moksha; literally, “release”) from suffering (dukkha) and the process of death and rebirth (samsara). 

• That Avalokiteśvara-concept is outside the Mahayanist canon:

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Arhats have ascended thus far, but [...] not being supported by the power of the Buddhas, they pass to their Nirvana. The same fate would befall the Bodhisattvas except for their sustaining power of the Buddhas, by that they are enabled to refuse to enter Nirvana until all beings can enter Nirvana with them. [...] If the Bodhisattvas had entered Nirvana at this stage, and they would have done so without the sustaining power of the Buddhas, there would have been the cessation of all things and the family of the Tathagatas would have become extinct.

• are enabled to refuse to enter Nirvana: before the bodhisattvas reach the tenth stage.
• until all beings can enter Nirvana with them: bodhisattvas persuade all beings to enter Nirvana with them.
  • Lankavatara might consider the population size of all beings is less than infinity (-∞).

Prajnaparamita, Lankavatara and Lotus: a bodhisattva progresses.

• Lankavatara's the last stage of Bodhisattvahood:

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Thus passing beyond the last stage of Bodhisattvahood, he becomes a Tathagata himself endowed with all the freedom of the Dharmakaya. The tenth stage belongs to the Tathagatas. Here the Bodhisattva will find himself seated upon a lotus-like throne

• The tenth-stage Bodhisattvas do not exist in human societies.
• That means neither Nagarjuna nor Vasbandhu was a tenth-stage bodhisattva. Nonetheless, the Mahayanists consider them as the second Buddhas.

Ten stages of bodhisattva progress: Lankavatara and Prajnaparamita present two unreconcilable sets of ten stages. Both sutras implement Mahādeva's five theses (points) and attack Vibhajjavada—cheated their own definition of arhat:

[Lotus Chapter 27:] the Bhikshu, Kaundinya, will [become] Tathagata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha.

Prajnaparamita's Ten Stages:

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 9): Ten stages (with page numbers):] a Bodhisattva on the decisive stages of his career. These stages are not thought to be achieved here, but are described as they are conceived in the course of the meditations preceding the path of vision. [...] 1 . He gains the thought of enlightenment, P 121-122; 2. becomes irreversible P 107, 1 17-120, 123, 128; wins 3. perfect wisdom P 123, 136; [...] and 10. reaches the knowledge of all modes, P 151-154.

• Ten stages (page numbers removed): 1 . He gains the thought of enlightenment, 2. becomes irreversible 3. perfect wisdom, 4. the prediction, 5. he "goes forth" to the knowledge of all modes, 7. obtains perfect purity, 8. gains apparitional rebirth, 9. is able to know full enlightenment, and 10. reaches the knowledge of all modes;
• The main aspects of Avalokiteśvara come from Prajnaparamita.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 47):] [2. becomes irreversible:] Thus should a Bodhisattva, a great being be trained in perfect wisdom. Likewise he should train in perfect wisdom if he wants to enter into the fixed condition of a Bodhisattva, to pass beyond the level of a Disciple or Pratyekabuddha, to stand on the irreversible stage, completely to pass beyond the stage of a Crown Prince, to attain the six superknowledges, to become aware of the restless thoughts and doings of all beings, to surpass the cognition of all Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas, to acquire the Dharani-doors and the concentration-doors,

• Stage 3 implements Mahādeva's five theses (points) and a direct attack on Vibhajjavada.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 9):] [3. perfect wisdom:] Thus, as you say, Subhuti, should a Bodhisattva train in perfect wisdom. This is the reason why a Bodhisattva should be considered as incapable of turning away from full enlightenment, and be known as one who is not lacking in perfect wisdom.

• incapable of turning away is stage 2.
• Avalokiteśvara

Lankavatara's Ten Stages:

[Lanka Chapter 13:] [the final stage is] the realm of the Dharmata-Buddha. To the Bodhisattvas to the seventh and eighth stages, Transcendental Intelligence is revealed by the Dharmata-Buddha and the Path is pointed out to them which they are to follow. In the perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom that fallows the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva's individualized will-control, he no longer lives unto himself, but the life that he lives thereafter is the Tathagata's universalized life as manifested in its transformations. In this perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom the Bodhisattva realizes that for the Buddhas there is no Nirvana.

• the Tathagata's universalized life: Māyāvādi bodhisattvas who have reached the tenth stage are universalised, transformed into sameness.
  • They are mere physical, as the mind is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata: Citta-mātratā.
  • Their own minds or their māyā's minds, are cleared away.
  • Being universalised, all Māyāvādi Tathagatas share sameness and uniformity of Oneness:

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 62):] a Bodhisattva, a great being who courses in perfect wisdom, does not join emptiness with emptiness, nor is emptiness a matter for joining; he does not join the signless with the signless, nor is the signless a matter for joining; he does not join the wishless with the wishless, nor is the wishless a matter for joining. And why? Because emptiness is not a matter for joining, or disjoining. 

• That is the concept of Emptiness as Oneness, but not sure why it is described that way.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] There are Bodhisattvas here and in other Buddha-lands, who are sincerely devoted to the Bodhisattva's mission and yet who cannot wholly forget the bliss of the Samadhis and the peace of Nirvana-for themselves. The teaching of Nirvana [...] is revealed according to a hidden meaning for the sake of these disciples who still cling to thoughts of Nirvana for themselves, that they may be inspired to exert themselves in the Bodhisattva's mission of emancipation for all beings.

• Bodhisattvas in Buddha-lands passed the tenth-stage and not among humans.
• The bodhisattvas living among humans are the beginners.
• a hidden meaning: some bodhisattvas are tricked to postpone nirvana to emancipate all beings, although they may not perform emancipation.
• the Bodhisattva's mission of emancipation is unofficial, or illegal.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 118):] Subhuti: A Bodhisattva is called a "Bodhisattva". "Bodhisattva", what is meant by that word? The Lord: Nothing real is meant by the word "Bodhisattva". And why? Unproduced is enlightenment, unproduced is a being, and so there is no trace of enlightenment, or of a being (anywhere). That is why nothing real is meant by the word "enlightenment-being".

• Bodhisattva is nothing real.
• Emancipation is the task of the Buddhas.
• A bodhisattva needs the infinitude of time to become a Buddha.

[Lanka Chapter 12:] These are the seven aspects of the ultimate Principle of the Dharmakaya...We speak of it as Dharmakaya, as Ultimate Principle, as Buddhahood, as Nirvana; what matters it? They are only other names for Noble-Wisdom.

• Noble-Wisdom means their own Buddha-nature revealed as Tathagata.

[Lanka Chapter 9:] The Bodhisattva feels within himself the awakening of a great heart of compassion and he utters his ten original vows: [...] to persuade all beings to embrace the Dharma;

• Māyāvādi Bodhisattvas persuade. We can see this obviously.
• Māyāvādi Tathagatas emancipate. We do not know this ever happened at all.

5.2.6. Śaṅkara's rejection of the invented realities:

Śaṅkara [788–820 CE?] is quite derogatory and pens a vitriolic character assassination of [the Sarvāstivādin, the Sautrāntika, the Mādhyamika, and the Yōgācāra or Vijñānavādin] Buddha:

“Thus by inventing three contradictory systems – the reality of the world, the reality of knowledge and total voidism – it is clear that [Māyāvādi] Buddha was either a man who simply made delirious statements, or else he had a hatred for mankind that induced him to create such a stupid philosophy so that they would become confused.” (Śarirka-bhāṣya 2.2.32) [Māyāvāda and Buddhism – Are They One and the Same? (Swami B.V. Giri)]

• The citta-matrata (mind only) concept existed before Śaṅkara. He developed Sarvāstivādi Māyāvāda into Advaitin Māyāvāda. His criticism of Sarvāstivādi Māyāvāda does not differentiate the two because mind and brahman are different by names only.
• The true Sakyamuni is not the seudonym of a group of unknown authors, who established the Sarvāstivāda without the Buddhavacana.
• The true Sakyamuni is not responsible for their attavada and erroneous texts.

Māyāvāda: all buddhas are one buddha, one mind, the original Tathagata:

[Lanka (Red Pine):] 66 Krakucchanda and Kanakamuni were the names of the first two buddhas of the present kalpa. Kashyapa was the third, and Shakyamuni (Mahamuni) was the fourth. The Buddha taught that all buddhas are one buddha

• According to citta-mātratā in Lankavatara, Māyāvādi buddhas have māyā the bodies but not māyā the minds after their own Buddha-nature revealed as Tathagata itself and in its true perfectness of All-inclusive Truth which is Love.
• That is the reason why everyone must become a buddha.
• Nirvana the emptiness is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata who requires total submission.
• Māyāvādi Nirvana is total submission and the total sacrifice of individualism to the original Māyāvādi Tathagata.

one buddha is one sameness.

[Lanka Chapter 7:] "In the Ultimate Essence which is Dharmakaya, all the Buddhas of the past, present and future, are of one sameness."

• 'Oneness' is sameness, the same Tathagata inside all the Tathagatas who completed their ascent from māyā the bodies and māyā the minds.
• That is māyā's return to emptiness via Nirvana—the reunion:

[Lotus Chapter 5:] ultimate Nirvana which is constantly still and extinct and which in the end returns to emptiness.

5.2.7. Nagarjuna's 'Unborn':

Devoid of all real entities; Utterly discarding all objects and subjects, Such as aggregates, elements and sense-fields; Due to sameness of selflessness of all phenomena, One’s mind is primordially unborn; It is in the nature of emptiness.

29 To those who delight in the great vehicle The Buddha taught in brief Selflessness in perfect equanimity; And that the mind is primordially unborn.

109 A precious mind that is free of afflictions, This is the most unique and excellent jewel; It can be neither harmed nor stolen by Such robbers as the mara of afflictions. [It is in the Nature of Emptiness. By Arya Nagarjuna: A Commentary on the Awakening Mind composed by Arya Nagarjuna.]

• unborn being Devoid of all realities means unborn is unreal. That might be mistranslation.
  • The Un-born is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata in everyone, as the real mind—The Tathagata is not a non-entity. The real mind is not māyā's mind. See "Māyā's Mind" below. That real mind or the Awakening Mind is buddha-nature (i.e. awareness in everyone).
• One’s mind is primordially unborn: Unborn is not māyā's mind. One's mind is māyā's mind.
• 'in the nature of emptiness' agrees with Lankavatara.

[Lanka Chapter 12:] The Blessed One replied: The Tathagata is not a non-entity nor is he to be conceived as other things are as neither born nor disappearing, nor is he subject to causation, nor is he without significance; yet I refer to him as "The Un-born." There is yet another name for the Tathagata. "The Mind-appearing One" (Manomayakaya) which his Essence-body assumes at will in the transformations incident to his work of emancipation. [...] They address me by different names not realizing that they are all names of the one Tathagata.

• Nagarjuna's philosophy was written in the form of sutras. So Lankavatara defines 'unborn'.
• The Un-born or "The Mind-appearing One" (Manomayakaya)
• That is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata or one buddha.
• Lankavatara and Christianity teach perfectly the same thing:

Total and complete submission is an everyday process for the true Christian. But if you’re a “Christian” who is submitting to your flesh, the Bible says you will die! ~For if you live according to the flesh you will die~,~but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live~. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:13) [Submission, Total and Complete (Mark)]

• led by the Spirit of God are sons of God: led by the one mind are buddhas (tathagatas).
• Zen Master Banket (1622-1693):

the Buddha-mind is unborn

so if it is unborn, it is obviously undying.

You can find the expression "unborn, undying" here and there in the Buddha's sutras

But there was never, until now, any proof or confirmation given of the Unborn.

I'm the first one to do this by giving the actual proof of the Unborn, by showing that the Unborn is the Buddha-mind and that it is always without any doubt whatever marvelously bright and illuminating. None of the priests or other people here at this meeting today can say that they have heard of anyone who has done this before me. I'm the first.

[ extracted from the page 41 of THE UNBORN: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Banket 1622-1693]

• The mind being "unborn, undying" reincarnates in empty

The Un-born is the mind "not a non-entity". the Living Entity, the Soul, the Tathagata, who possesses the bodhisattvas in the form of emancipation:

[Lanka Chapter 12:] "The Un-born" is synonymous with Tathagata

• Nagarjuna's Sarvāstivāda and Gaudapada's Brahman monism share the concept of the un-born.

Both Madhyamika (Nagarjuna) and Advaita Vedanta (Gaudapada) deny that the ultimate reality can be understood in a dualistic manner. [...] [1.] the motion of separate self-sufficiency (nihsvabhavata) [...] non-difference is a proclamation of the reality of the non-dual substratum underlying all experiences [...] [2.] ‘ajati’ means there is no birth and in the latter it means there is an unborn.”^[2] [Mahayana Buddhism and Early Advaita Vedanta (Study): Chapter 5 - Nagarjuna and Gaudapada — A Comparative Study (Asokan N.)]

5.2.8. The MIND's NAMES: Lankavatara reveals the ORIGINAL Māyāvādi Tathagata by his names:

[Lanka Chapter 7:] The Blessed One replied: Objects are frequently known by different names according to different aspects that they present, [so Tathagata's names indicate who Tathagata is] -- the god Indra is sometimes known as Shakra, and sometimes as Purandara [according to the Vishnu Purana, which is real. Note this sutra cites the Bramanist version of Indra, instead of Buddhist version]. These different names are sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes they are discriminated, but different objects are not to be imagined [or thought of me as] because of the different names, nor are they without individuation.

• Tathagata is Emptiness, the Ultimate Nirvana, the imaginator (creator).
• nor are they without individuation: That means...

The Tathagata is not only non-duality but also duality.

The Tathagata is everything.

in fact everything, is Brahman. [Brahma consciousness (UIA)]

The List of REALITY: as Emptiness, Emptiness is Tathagata:

[Lanka Chapter 7:] Some recognize me as Sun, as Moon; some as a reincarnation of the ancient sages; some as one of "ten powers"; some as Rama, some as Indra, and some as Varuna. Still there are others who speak of me as The Un-born, as Emptiness, as "Suchness," as Truth, as Reality, as Ultimate Principle; still there are others who see me as Dharmakaya, as Nirvana, as the Eternal; some speak of me as sameness, as non-duality, as un-dying, as formless ... the many names of the Tathagata.

• The Original Māyāvādi Tathagata is also moon and sun.
• a reincarnation of the ancient sages: not the Sakyamuni.

The List of 'Think of Me as': Does 'think of me as' mean imagined, uncertain, but still reality?

[Lanka Chapter 7:] some think of me as the doctrine of Buddha-causation, or of Emancipation, or of the Noble Path; and some think of me as Divine Mind and Noble Wisdom.

• The concept is the Māyāvādi mind is uncaused reality. The Creator, the Supreme Lord, the Paramesvara is uncaused.
• the doctrine of Buddha-causation': It could mean to cause a Buddha or free the buddha-nature trapped in māyā. It could also mean the source of causes (Buddha-causing).

Lotus presents two types of Buddha:

The Eternal Buddha (the Protagonist in the Lotus Sutra):

[Lotus Chapter 16:] "Thus since I realized Buddhahood in the very remote past, my life span has been limitless asamkhyeyas of eons, eternal and never extinguished.

• The true eternal Buddha is the true mind. Certain literature claims being eternal does not mean eternal by pointing Amitabha Buddha to be followed by Avalokiteśvara. However, the two are internally the same true mind (buddha-nature). It is not about the externally difference.

The Buddha with no eternal lifespan:

[Lotus Chapter 1:] "Why must the Buddha take extinction so soon?" The sagely Lord, the Dharma King, Then comforted the limitless multitude: "After my passage into extinction, None of you should worry or fear, For the Bodhisattva Virtue Treasury, With respect to the non-outflow mark of reality, In heart has penetrated it totally; He will next become a Buddha, By the name of Pure Body, and Will also save uncounted multitudes.

• Such extinction constitutes ucheddhavada (annihiliationism/nihilism).
• Buddhavada is the ending of nama-rupa process.
• Nibbana is not extinction but Anupādāna.

*Heart Sutra: Buddhas are capable of attaining:

[Heart (Thich):] All Buddhas ... are all capable of attaining Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment.

• Avalokiteśvara became a Buddha by attaining Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment. However, he must postpone his buddhahood until Amitabha Buddha passing.
• After becoming a Buddha, he is capable of attaining Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment. This could be the Buddha in the Bloodstream Sermon, an idle person.
• Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra and Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya (Heart) present the same concept, which is different from Lankavatara's concept, as the latter allows all bodhisattvas to become Buddhas.

[Heart (Shippensburg Uni):] The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom ... and have Nirvana here and now. All the Buddhas ... rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and live in full enlightenment.

• These contradicting translations suggest everyone is speculative. Yet, some believe, by following the instructions in the sutras, they will attain Nirvana right here right now.
• Non-duality (no attainment, and no nonattainment) suggests there are no Buddhas, no bodhisattvas, who are mere maya, but the one real is the Non-duality Tathagata only. Lankavatara teaches the external world is maya, meaning we are mere illusions; and however illusions try, illusions do not attain anything.

Not a single being is liberated:

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] THREE: The Buddha said... in whatever conceivable realm of being one might conceive of beings, in the realm of complete nirvana I shall liberate them all. And though I thus liberate countless beings, not a single being is liberated.’

Maha-yana is only imaginary. The Eternal Tathagata is Emptiness.

Other Buddhas:

[The Great Chronicle of Buddhas: Part 4 - Story of Cincamana (Cincamanavika)] The Venerable Mingun Sayadaw explains that many other religious leaders claimed they, too, were Buddhas worthy of offering:

“Lay devotees.... Bhikkhu Gotama is not the only one who has attained Buddhahood; we have attained Buddhahood, as well!... Is merit gained by making offerings to the Recluse Gotama only? You can gain merit by making offerings to us as well. Therefore, you should make offerings to us also.”

The people of the ancient India, after experiencing the Buddha's Dhamma, ignored other religions. The buddhas, monks and priests of these religions began to claim they, too, were the followers of the Gotama Buddha.

Nagarjuna, Vasbandhu, and other Mahayanist second Buddhas are other Buddhas, too.

In speaking of the dharmadhātujakāya Buddha, we say that it is enough to hear his name to find salvation; in speaking of the nirmāṇakāya Buddha who is adapted to beings, we say that in accordance with their karmic cause and conditions, some beings, even though they are dwelling with this Buddha, fall into hell. [Buddha, Buḍḍha, Buddhā: 41 definitions]

• enough to hear his name is a Mahayanist approache to buddhahood. Another is enlightenment, and another is ten-stage bodhisattvahood.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 19

5.2.9. Emancipation Truth: Māyāvādi Reality is easily overwhelmed by Māyāvādi unreality; but why? Why is Buddha-nature unable to escape māyā?

[Lanka Chapter 5:] Until this intuitive self-realization of Noble Wisdom is attained[,] The evolving mind-system will go on. [...] With the ending of pleasure and pain, of conflicting ideas, of the disturbing interests of egoism, a state of tranquilization will be attained in which the truths of emancipation will be fully understood and there will be no further evil out-flowings of the mind-system to interfere with the perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom.

• The evolving mind-system : Lankavatara mind-system comprises the discriminating mortal-mind and buddha-nature (Tathāgatagarbha/Ālayavijñāna as per Citta-mātratā).
• That suggests there are two minds: discriminatary mind (bodhisattva's dividualized will-control) and awareness (buddha-nature). The first is the hindrance against the latter from becoming a buddha.
• Good and bad intentions and mental activities require awareness (buddha-nature). The mortal-mind must also be awareness.
• evil out-flowings of the mind-system: Why does the Tathagata keep the mind-system that way?

Epicurus Paradox: Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”― Epicurus

Before enlightenment, the practitioner makes the best effort of cultivation to realize the Buddha-nature. This work is extremely hard [...] after enlightenment, how to remain constant to the Buddhanature free from the obscuration of illusion is also a very hard working due to the bad habit-energy accumulated from the beginningless time [Buddha-nature (as Depicted in the Lankavatara-sutra): 3. Sudden Enlightenment (Nguyen Dac Sy)]

• the practitioner makes the best effort: māyā makes the best effort to squeeaze out buddha-nature, which is unborn (cannot be born).
• after enlightenment...due to the bad habit-energy: Enlightenment in that manner does not end the asava and anusaya-kilesas. That is not the Eightfold Noble Path.
• Their Buddha is Amitābha. Their goal is to merge with the source of enlightenment (Hua).

Dhammapada Verse 173 Angulimalatthera Vatthu

Verse 173: He who overwhelms with good the evil that he has done lights up this world (with the light of Magga Insight), as does the moon freed from clouds. [The Dhammapada: Verses and Stories Translated by Daw Mya Tin, M.A.]

Condition for Emacipation

[Lanka Chapter 3:] By setting up names and forms greed is multiplied and thus the mind goes on mutually conditioning and being conditioned. By becoming attached to names and forms, not realizing that they have no more basis than the activities of the mind itself, error rises, false-imagination as to pleasure and pain rises, and the way to emancipation is blocked.

• attached to names and forms: but the Tathagata is also duality with countless names and forms.
• the activities of the mind itself: māyā comprises name and form. is very conscious for some reasons, as if it has its own self (self-nature), although it is the dream of the dreamer (the brahma/mind).
• The absolute world according to the sutras:
  • The dream (māyā) cannot exist without the dreamer (māyā), and the dreamer cannot exist without the dream.
  • Māyā are the mortals, and inside the mortals are their own buddha-nature, which must escape from māyā.
  • But how did buddha-nature get stuck inside māyā to begin with?
  • Nirvana is their buddha-nature reveals itself as Tathagata.
  • The mind (buddha-nature) is the only absolute reality.

One Vehicle: Lankavatara, Lotus

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Arhats have ascended thus far, but [...] not being supported by the power of the Buddhas, they pass to their Nirvana.

• Lankavatara accepts arhats entering Nirvana.
• no way by which earnest disciples can realize Nirvana unaided: Lankavatara rejects the independence of the Vibhajjavadi arahants:

[Lanka Chapter 7:] there are no vehicles, and so I speak of the One Vehicle. Mahamati, the full recognition of the One Vehicle has never been attained by either earnest disciples, masters, or even by the great Brahma; it has been attained only by the Tathagatas themselves. That is the reason that it is known as the One Vehicle. I do not speak much about it because there is no way by which earnest disciples can realize Nirvana unaided.

• even by the great Brahma: Lankavatara presents brahma being above the masters (Paccekabuddhas).
• One Vehicle only because they must attack the arhats, the theras and Vibhajjavada.

[Lotus Chapter 7:] Your sufferings are ended. You have done what you had to do. Then, knowing they have reached Nirvana, And had all become Arhats, I gather them together, To teach them the genuine Dharma. The Buddhas use the power of expedients, To discriminate and speak of Three Vehicles But there is only the One Buddha Vehicle. The other two were spoken as a resting place.

• That is a point, which demonstrates the five theses of Mahādeva downgrading the arhats.

Recall the outsider Sarvāstivādis were never a part of the Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana before the third sangayana. Their background is outside the Sasana. One Vehicle: all the imaginary mortals must become bodhisattvas with the help of religious organisations. They promoted Mayayana to Mahayana: One Vehicle, which can easily fool the ordinary minds and veil the Vibhajjavada.

The One Vehicle concept serves:

1. Mahādeva's five points, and
2. Māyāvādi literature in the cover of Buddhism.

Before bodhisattva ideal became popular, Sarvāstivādi praised the sangha

Recollection of the Community (saṃgānusmṛti). – “The Community of disciples of the Buddha (śrāvakasaṃgha) is completely endowed with the discipline element (śīlaskandhasaṃpanna), is completely endowed with the concentration element (samādhiskandha), the wisdom element (prajñāskandha), the deliverance element (vimuktiskandha), and the ‘knowledge and vision of deliverance’ element (vimuktijñānadarśanaskandha). [THE TREATISE ON THE GREAT VIRTUE OF WISDOM OF NĀGĀRJUNA (MAHĀPRAJÑĀPĀRAMITĀŚĀSTRA) VOL. III: III. RECOLLECTION OF THE COMMUNITY Étienne Lamotte (pages 1131-1151):]

• vimuktijñānadarśanaskandha (vimukti jñāna): Jnana was a good thing back then. They did not need prajna in place of jnana, or wisdom rather than knowledge (Heart (Red page 6)).
• During those days, the genuine Pitakas were available from the authentic Sangha to the seekers, although not in the written form.
• The Sarvāstivādi māyāvāda-pitakas had very minium impact on the Vibhajjavadis.

[Donnelly p70:] The dhamma [dharma] theory was not peculiar to any one school of Buddhism but penetrated all the early schools, stimulating the growth of their different versions of the Abhidhamma… There are sound reasons for believing that the Pāli Abhidhamma Piṭaka contains one of the earliest forms of dhamma theory, perhaps even the oldest version [(1996: 2)].
[Donnelly p72:] [Karunadasa] eventually argues that ‘the Pāli Abhidhamma Piṭaka did not succumb to this error of conceiving the dhammas [dharmas] as ultimate entities or discrete entities’ (1996: 8)
[Donnelly p75:] They are viewed as ultimate very simply because the Ābhidharmikas thought that all analysis of experience stopped with them.
[Y. Karunadasa, as quoted in Against a Mahāyāna Absolute: Why Absolutism Need Not Be a Conclusion of Mahāyāna Philosophy (Gary Joseph Donnelly 2018; the University of Liverpool)]

• discrete entities: Paramattha (reality) are four distinctive groups (realities): citta, cetasika, rūpa, Nibbana. These four are absolute.
  • The fundamental rūpa are pathavi (solid), water (liquid), vayo (air), tejo (heat);
  • Go to Part 14 to read Vasbandhu; 5.1.17. Rūpa Svabhāva;

Paticcasamuppada

• Page 13, Karunadasa - Early Buddhist Teachings - The Middle Position in Theory and Practice (Y. Karunadasa)

"This world, Kaccana, for the most part depends upon a duality [...] “‘All exists’: Kaccana, this is one extreme. ‘All does not exist’: this is the second extreme. Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma by the middle: ‘With ignorance as condition, volitional formations come to be; with volitional formations as condition, consciousness…. Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering. But with the remainderless fading away and cessation of ignorance comes cessation of volitional formations; with the cessation of volitional formations, cessation of consciousness…. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.” [SN 12:15 Kaccanagotta Sutta (Bhikkhu Bodhi); reddit comment]

• The knowledge of the Paticcasamuppada (the 'unified law of life') is yatha-bhuta-nana-dassana. Its position is not duality, nor can be understood as non-duality.

The ārya Śāriputra

[Śāriputrābhidharma:] According to Erich Frauwallner, it contains some of the same doctrinal content and listings that appear in the Vibhaṅga and Dharmaskandha, which is based on an "ancient core" of early Abhidharma.[2]

• The ārya Śāriputra excelled in wisdom. Thus, he became the Buddha's right-hand man.
• Prajnaparamita recognises the two Aggasavakas:

[Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra:] In all of the disciples of all of the Tathāgatas, the rule is that there are two great masters who bear the holy Dharma: in the lifetime of the Buddha, the ārya Śāriputra, and after his nirvāṇa, the ārya Katyāyanīputra (author of the Jñānaprasthāna).

• Avalokiteshvara’s knowledge is nowhere near that. What did Avalokiteshvara actually teach, though?

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Arhats have ascended thus far, but [...] not being supported by the power of the Buddhas, they pass to their Nirvana.

• Lankavatara accepts arhats entering Nirvana.

*Since Prajñāpāramitā they ignore the Mahayanist Buddhas are arhats, too.

5.2.10. Avalokiteśvara & Mahādeva:

[Heart (Thich):] “Listen Sariputra...

• Avalokiteśvara teaching an arhat has no purpose, as an arhat would pass to Nirvana (or the Nirvana of arhats in Lankavatara). The Heart Sutra does not justify its story based on the concepts of the sutras of the time. The Heart Sutra does not approach the Sarvāstivādi sangha, as if they did not exist or worthy of meeting Avalokiteśvara.
• That leaves us to speculate that the Heart Sutra only serves the five theses of Mahādeva. Avalokiteśvara discovered the emptiness of his own self-nature (svabhāva), which gives a glimpse to the prior existence of the concept of svabhāva-śūnyatā.

[David:] The Heart Sutra is based on the collection of 40 Prajna-paramita Sutras [...] Around 250 CE [...] and later, a mantra: Tadyatha Om Gate Gate Paragate Parasam Gate Bodhi Svaha [Critiquing the Heart Sutra - The Endless Further]

• Red Pine suggests Heart (Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya) might be composed in the Kushan Empire in the 1st century CE.
• The development of Heart suggests multiple authors' involvement.

[Heart (Red page 21)] since the Heart Sutra was clearly organized as a response to the teachings of the Sarvastivadins, it was probably a Sarvastivadin monk (or former Sarvastivadin monk) in this region who composed the Heart Sutra upon realizing the limitations of the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma

• Heart might be a response to the Sarvastivadis, whose origin might or might not be directly related to the Mahāsāṃghika, which was divided by Mahādeva with his five points that became the basis of the Mahayanist movement, including Nagarjuna and Vasbandhu.
• Mahādeva's five theses downgrading the arahants reject the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha indeed. They ignored the historical facts they knew recorded in Mahayanist literature. Mahādeva and his followers, who were never close to the Tipitaka and the scriptural knowledge, invented their own concepts based on whatever they were following, and from which their followers began Mahayana.
• The genuine Sangha established by the Anattavadi Buddha had already vanished in India during the time of Vasubandhu; but four Mahayanist schools were active in the name of Buddhism.

Around the fifth century when Vasubandhu (400-480) was active, there were four major schools in Indian Buddhism; they were the Sarvāstivādin, the Sautrāntika, the Mādhyamika, and the Yōgācāra or Vijñānavādin. [Shankaracharya and Buddhism (Sri Kamakoti Mandali)]

Arahant Kondañña Thera to Become Arahant Again:

[Lotus Chapter 2:] Since the still and extinct mark of all Dharmas, Cannot be expressed in words, I used the power of expedients, To instruct the five Bhikshus. This was called the turning of the Dharma wheel. Then came the sound of Nirvana, As well as "Arhatship,"
[Lotus Chapter 27:] the Bhikshu, Kaundinya, will [...] become a Buddha by the name of Cloud Thunder Sound Constellation King Flower Wisdom, Tathagata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha.

• Lotus admits the Venerable Kondañña Thera was an arahant, but it prophesises he (the Venerable Kondañña Thera) would become an arahant again. Whoever claims the Sākyamuni, the Tathāgata, Arhat made that prophesy must present a convincing proof. Even though He is the protagonist of Lotus, its author was who made that mistake.

Shakyamuni Is Not Sakyamuni

[Sutra Chapter 7:] At that time, the Thus Come One Great-Penetrating-Wisdom-Victory, having received the request of the Brahma Heaven Kings of the ten directions, as well as the sixteen princes [...] At that time the sixteen princes all left home as virgin youths and became Shramaneras [...] Then, the multitudes, led by the Wheel Turning Sage King, eighty thousand million of them, upon seeing the sixteen princes leave home, also sought to leave home [...] I was one of the sixteen [...] The other Buddha, the sixteenth, is myself, Shakyamuni Buddha, here in the Saha World [Samsara/this world], where I have realized Anuttarasamyaksambodhi.
[Lotus Chapter 16:] "From that time on, I have always remained in the Saha World, speaking the Dharma to teach and transform beings. Also, in other places, in hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of asamkhyeyas of lands, I have guided and benefited living beings. "Good men, in that interval, I spoke of the Buddha Dipankara and others, and I further spoke of them as entering Nirvana, but those were just discriminations made expediently.

[Lotus Chapter 5:] ultimate Nirvana which is constantly still and extinct and which in the end returns to emptiness.

• The youth who received prophesy was Sumedha, not one of the sixteen princes.
• Buddha Dipankara is mentioned in Lotus only once.
• Lotus' system is everyone must become Buddha for True Extinction..., which is not Nibbana, one of the four realities (Paramattha).

The definition of the Mahayana as one of three vehicles was intended to establish the Mahayana’s superiority over other teachings, and it has no historical basis.  [Mahayana (Britannica)]

• That is a historical fiction that became a religion.

[What is historical fiction? (Jessica Dukes; Celadon Books):] Historical Fiction is set in a real place, during a culturally recognizable time. The details and the action in the story can be a mix of actual events and ones from the author's imagination as they fill in the gaps. Characters can be pure fiction or based on real people (often, it's both).

Metteyya vs. Avalokiteśvara

Ashin Buddhaghosa explains that the life span increases to an incalculable number of years (Asaṅkheyya) and then begins to decrease again until it reaches 80,000 years, for Buddhas arise only when the life span is decreasing. [58] A tradition in Burma says that Buddha Metteyya will live for 80,000 years and that the human life span will be 100,000 years, just as Buddha Gotama lived for eighty years when the human life span was one hundred years. No definite number of years is given for the period between Buddha Gotama and Buddha Metteyya. [The Coming Buddha Ariya Metteyya by Saya U Chit Tin, PhD. Assisted by William Pruitt, PhD]

• The Lotus Sutra recognises the prophesy of Ajita Bodhisatta becoming Ariya Metteya Buddha but does not mention him as a bodhisattva who would go through the ten stages of Nirvana.
• Ajita Bodhisatta and Avalokiteśvara are not the same type.
• Ajita Bodhisatta will become a Sammasambuddha and will be known as Buddha Ariya Metteyya after the Sakyamuni Buddha's Sasana (Teachings) has long gone.
• Ajita Bodhisatta will become a Buddha on Earth in the human world.
• Avalokiteśvara will succeed the Buddha Amitābha in the Pure Land.
• The Sammasambuddha who appears on the Earth and the Buddhas who appear in the Pure Land are two different types.
• That is so because the Dhamma-Vinaya is not Mahayana.
• As a result of promoting a different system, the Lotus Sutra, which rejects the Nirvana of arhats, was forced to create prophesises. The Lotus Sutra prophesises many arahants to become Buddhas without providing details.

[Lotus Chapter 27:] the Bhikshu, Kaundinya, will [...] become a Buddha by the name of Cloud Thunder Sound Constellation King Flower Wisdom, Tathagata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha.

• The Lotus Sutra also recognises Kaundinya (Aññāta-Kondañña (Aññā-Kondañña) Thera as an arhat who would become an arhat again.
• The Venerable Rahula, the Buddha's son who became the first sermanera, and Venerable Mahaprajapti, who led the bhikkhuni ordination, are, too, prophesised by the Lotus to become Buddhas:

[Lotus Chapter 9:] At that time the Buddha told Ananda, "You in a future age shall become a Buddha by the name of King of Self-control and Penetrations with Wisdom like the Mountains and Seas Thus Come One, [...] The Buddha then addressed Rahula saying, "You in a future age shall become a Buddha by the name of 'One Who Steps Upon Flowers of the Seven Jewels'.

• The Māyāvādi Mahayanists do not understand the four realities (Paramattha).

[Lotus Chapter 7:] Your sufferings are ended. You have done what you had to do. Then, knowing they have reached Nirvana, And had all become Arhats, I gather them together, To teach them the genuine Dharma [because ending sufferings is not enough, not the end, not the True Extinction]. The Buddhas use the power of expedients, [which are not required to become arhats,] To discriminate and speak of Three Vehicles But there is only the One Buddha Vehicle. The other two were spoken as a resting place.

• Your sufferings are ended: The Māyāvādi Mahayanists were not satisfied with ending all sufferings. They must entertain Māyāvāda and eternalism.

forty koṭi Bodhisattvas in the assembly there, upon hearing the name and epithets of Śākyamuni, the Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyak-Saṁbuddha, made a vow with one voice, transferring their roots of goodness to their attainment of anuttara-samyak-saṁbodhi. Immediately, Amitābha Buddha bestowed upon them the prophecy of attaining anuttara-samyak-saṁbodhi [...] Then Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva and Great Might Arrived Bodhisattva said to Amitābha Buddha, “We would like to visit the Sahā World, to make obeisance and present offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha, and to hear Him expound the Dharma.” [Sūtra of the Prophecy Bestowed upon Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (Translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the Liu Song Dynasty by the Śramaṇa Dharmodgata from China)]

• Śākyamuni, the Tathāgata, Arhat: We should appreciate them when Mahādeva's followers recognise arhats. However, the Śākyamuni, the Tathāgata, Arhat in the Lotus Sutra did not prophesise Avalokitesvara would become a Buddha.

Avalokiteśvara: Prophesy is not required, as everyone must become (a different type of) buddha anyway:

[Lotus Chapter 25:] When the Buddha had spoken the "Universal Door Chapter," eighty-four thousand living beings in the assembly all brought forth the resolve for Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.

• Lotus Chapter 25: The Universal Door Of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, which is dedicated to Avalokitesvara, has no prophesy for him.
• Avalokitesvara is like these 84,000 who did not receive prophesy in the Lotus Sutra.
• Avalokiteśvara's prophesy is found in Karuṇā­puṇḍarīka Sūtra, however.
• The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote in Avalokiteśvara Empowerment and Long Life Offering:

The Buddha [possibly the Buddha Amitābha] prophesied that Avalokiteśvara would appear as the patron deity of Tibet and that his teachings would travel from north to north.

• Avalokiteśvara as a deity does not justify why the Heart Sutra lets him teach an arhat.
• Avalokiteśvara deity is also an avatar, as a concept based on Lank-avatar-a.

*How could a deity teach an arhat?

Avatar means the reincarnation of a deity.

[Heart (Thich):] “Listen Sariputra, all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness;

• the mark of Emptiness has three meanings:
  • Emptiness is Tathagata, the Un-born, the Universal Mind, buddha-nature, the reality.
  • Emptiness is māyā in terms of form is emptiness and the sameness between nirvana and the world of life and death (Lankavatara).
  • Emptiness is the self or self-nature (svabhāva) inside māyā.

5.2.11. Not the Sakyamuni's Buddhism: The Amitabha Sutra

The Amitabha Sutra - The Buddha of Infinite Life from Chapter 26, "Pure Mind, Compassionate Heart: Lessons from the Amitābha Sutra" (Venerable Wuling):

in the Pure Land, Amitabha Buddha has been teaching for ten kalpas, or eons, and is still teaching!

• Amitabha is not a Buddha who teaches the Four Noble Truths: Dukkha Sacca, Samudhaya Sacca, Nirodha Sacca, and Magga Sacca.
• For ten kalpas (ten Earth's lifetimes), Amitabha is probably teaching Lankavatara, Lotus, and other sutras.

even a lifespan of “an infinite number of immeasurable eons” will eventually end. When Amitabha’s lifespan ends, and he passes into final nirvana, Avalokitesvara will become the next Buddha in the Pure Land.

• How many are in the Pure Land?
  • Would all of them get the chance to become Buddhas? If not, why is it called Mahayana?
• To whom does the Buddha of the pure land teach, although no matter he teaches they would not become enlightened? But they all must become buddhas.

[Karuṇā­puṇḍarīka disagree with Amitaba Sutra, which] goes so far as to say that in comparison to him even famous bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteśvara are undeserving of the title mahāsattva (“great being”) because of their choice to eventually become buddhas in pure realms [...] The first prince, the crown prince Animiṣa, makes his aspiration, and the Buddha Ratnagarbha gives him the bodhisattva name Avalokiteśvara, who will be the Buddha Amitābha’s disciple. After Amitābha’s passing, he will be the Buddha Saman­taraśmya­bhyudgataśrīkūṭa­rāja in that realm. [The White Lotus of Compassion: Introduction]

Nirvana is emptiness (space). Human lifespan is short. Brahma lifespan is very long.

• If Amitābha is the Brahma, Avalokiteśvara is the new Brahma. However, Avalokiteśvara will outlive Amitābha, and Mahasthamaprapta, the successor of Avalokiteśvara, would outlive both of them.

When this old Brahma dies, a new Brahma is created by the Cosmic intelligence. Like this many Brahmas are created. But interestingly there is only One Vishnu and Shiva. This makes sense, because there is only one Awareness and One Consciousness, but Minds are many. [...] Brahma is the symbol of Mind and we do not honor (worship) any human being who just thinks thoughts. [Brahma is the Mind (Uni5 Sakthi Foundation)]

• Citta-matrata: if brahma is māyā's minds, Vishnu and/or Shiva must be the true mind.
• But why is brahma, the creator of māyā, only the minds?

Mystical realization of the god Brahma is said to be a state of awareness of the cosmic creative consciousness (the logos or demiurge of other systems) [...] therefore Brahma the creator, Vishnu the "pervader" (and hence the universal sustainer) and Shiva the dancing god of disruption [Brahma consciousness (UAI)]

• It seems the Hindus do not agree with each other.

Summary:

According to the Amitabha Sutra, the Sakyamuni's teachings would last 12000 years in this world (buddha-land). Whereas in the Amitābha's buddha-land, Amitābha would be teaching untill his nearly-eternal lifespan ends. His successor, Avalokiteśvara after outliving him, would live nearly forever.

Unlike Lankavatara and Lotus that allow large amount of bodhisattvas to become Buddhas, Amitabha allows only a single Buddha with the lifespan of near-eternity. With that pace, other buddhisattvas would never become Buddhas.

In terms of being nonarisen/nonarising/unborn/eternal, Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, Mahasthamaprapta and all those who came in the past and will come in the future are just one Buddha—the original Māyāvādi Tathagata.

[Heart (red):] All Buddhas are one Buddha.

Nonarisen:

[1.­120] The Blessed One responded, “Mañjuśrī, to see all phenomena as unborn because they are naturally nonarisen is the faculty of faith. [Sarva­dharmāpravṛtti­nirdeśa]

Nonarising:

[i.­13] i. When the JAA states that “nonarising” and “noncessation” are epithets of the Tathāgata, it shows that the Buddha is unproduced. ii. The nine examples explain what it means for the Tathāgata to be nonarising and noncessation (given in the Ratna­gotra­vibhāga as the reason for his being unproduced). [Sarva­buddha­viṣayāvatāra­jñānālokālaṃkāra]

After seeing the Buddha and hearing the Dharma, they will acquire the patient acceptance based on cognizance of nonarising of phenomena (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti). Moreover, they will never fall into the three unfortunate destinies of existence, and will surely attain Buddhahood in the future. [Three Saints of the Western Pure Land (two bodhisattvas)]

Pure-Land Mantrayana:

• The Heart Sutra was designed as a mantra to let the Mahayanists condemn the arhats countless times, and that serves the mantra's popularity.
• Britannica explains Pure Land Buddhism requires no attainment in this lifespan but recitation would suffice to become bodhisattvas in the Pure Land.

Hōnen believed that most men were, like himself, incapable of obtaining buddhahood on this earth through their own efforts (such as learning, good deeds, or meditation) but were dependent on Amida’s help. Hōnen stressed the recitation of nembutsu as the one act necessary to gain admittance to the Pure Land. [Pure Land Buddhism (Britannica)]

• Heart Sutra Mantra is designed to chant the downgrading of arhats.
• Is the Pure Land for the people who do not want to try?

An actual Sammasambuddha understands the individuals and recognises their capability and incapability. In accordance with their requirements, an actual Sammasambuddha teaches and helps them get to the other shore. The actual Sammasambuddha knows the best for them. Forcing them, regardless of their capability and incapability, to reach impossible buddhahood is outside the compassion of an actual Sammasambuddha.

• Avalokiteśvara is an unknown figure in the Tipitaka established by the Sakyamuni Buddha.

This is Zen:

When you can sit with your whole body and mind, and with the oneness of your mind and body under the control of the universal mind [Ālayavijñāna], you can easily attain this kind of right understanding. [The Ocean of Zen: A Practice Guide to Korean Sŏn Buddhism (Paul W. Lynch, JDPSN First Edition)]

“Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact we have no fear of death anymore, nor actual difficulty in our life… When you can sit with your whole body and mind, and with the oneness of your mind and body under the control of the universal mind [Ālayavijñāna], you can easily attain this kind of right understanding.” [Nirvana, the waterfall, by Shunryu Suzuki Rōshi, Page 141; The same Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1904 – 1971 CE) is quoted under Oneness by Tao Te Ching]

• Oneness is sameness: Ālayavijñāna, the original Māyāvādi Tathagata;

[Lanka Chapter 12:] [When] the Dharma are fully understood [...] their own Buddha-nature revealed as Tathagata. In a true sense there are four kinds of sameness relating to Buddha-nature:

• According to the Amitabha sutra, the bodhisattvas in the Pure Land would take near-eternity to fully understand Amitabha's Dharma, and then their own Buddha-nature [would be] revealed as Tathagata.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 20

5.2.12. THE SAKYAMUNI'S BUDDHISM

Said the Master, "This Losaka was himself the cause both of his getting little and of his getting Arahatship." [Jataka 41: Losaka-jātaka (Robert Chalmers 1895)]

A Sammasambuddha is one who attains the ability to know everything necessary to know, including the skill set to analyse and teach each individual according to his/her need.

In 623 B.C, Siddhattha Gotama was born. He achieved the supreme status of the Buddha at the age of 35. He left the luxious life as a prince in such of the truth and attained Nibbana in 543 B.C, at the age of 80. During His lifetime of 45 years, the Fully Enlighentened One, the Buddha, He incessantly went on tour teaching Sutta, Abhidhamma and Vinaya to all men and gods. During the 45 years of his lifetime, the Lord Buddha visited the northeastern part of India known as the Middle Region (Majjhimadesa). [Milindapanha (S.B.V.M.S.)]

• Buddha Gotama was a historical figure because He was born into the human race and became a Buddha in this world. He was born in Lumbini in 623 BC. His parents, King Sudhodana and Queen Maya, belonged to Sakya Clan. He became a Sammasambuddha by rediscovering the ancient Bodhi Path in the shade of the Bodhi Tree in 528 BC. He became famous as Sakyamuni, the sage of the Sakya Clan, which was a major Vedic civilization.

Dhammapada Verse 182: Erakapattanagaraja Vatthu

Verse 182: Hard to gain is birth as man; hard is the life of mortals; hard to get is the opportunity of hearing the Ariya Dhamma (Teaching of the Buddhas); hard it is for a Buddha to appear.

• The Sakyamuni spent 45 years establishing the Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana with the most virtuous and earnest intellects of the time in the Mijjima Desa. He liberated innumerable beings during these years. Buddhavacana is consistant because the words of all Sammasambuddha are consistant. The Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana is consistent because it comprises the words of the Sakyamuni alone.

The threefold Buddha-sasana is the pariyatti-sasana (the study of the scriptures), the patipatti-sasana (the practice of sila, samadhi and pañña: morality, concentration and insight) and the pativedha-sasana (the practice of the attainments of the paths and fruits). The study of the scriptures is the base for the practice of morality, concentration and insight. In the same way the practice of morality, concentration and insight is the cause for the attainment of the paths and fruits of awakening. Therefore, if we reject the study of the scriptures and the practice of morality, concentration and insight, we cannot attain pativedha which is the bliss of Nibbana. [THE BUDDHA’S BASIC TEACHINGS AND THEIR CORRECT PRACTICE (Sayagyi U Ba Khin)]

• the pativedha-sasana: pariyatti parivedha (attainment in learning) and patipatti pativedha (attainment in practice), both are essential to prolong the Buddha Sasana. Pativedha sasana is kept by the lineage of the arahants.

List of the twenty eight Buddhas

Buddha Gotama met twenty six Buddhas as a bodhisatta. He only missed one.

1. Taṇhaṃkara 2. Medhaṃkara 3. Saraṇaṃkara 4. Dipaṃkara 5. Koṇḍañña
2. Maṃgala 7. Sumana 8. Revata 9. Sobhita 10. Anomadassi
3. Paduma 12. Nārada 13. Padumuttara 14. Sumedha 15. Sujāta
4. Piyadassi 17. Atthadassi 18. Dhammadassi 19. Siddhattha 20. Tissa
5. Phussa 22. Vipassi23. Sikhi 24. Vessabhū 25. Kakusandha
6. Koṇāgamana 27. Kassapa Buddha 28. Gotama Buddha

The Threefold Refuge: Tisarana

A Buddhist who took refuge in something else loses the refuge in the Tisarana and is no longer a Buddhist. He must retake refuge in the Tisarana.

Arahant (Arahat):

Araham: A Sammasambuddha is the first arahat in every Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana.

[Araham Sutta:] An arahant is one who has really seen the arising, ending, etc., of the five grasping groups (upādānakkhandhā).

• Rejecting the arahants (arhats) in any form or manner means rejecting the past, the present and the future Sammasambuddhas. Those who rejected the arhats would not meet a future Sammasambuddha. According to the venerable Sunlun Sayadaw who was an arahant, some beings will reach liberation; some might, but some will not. Beings are either heading towards or away from liberation.
• Devadatta and Cinca Manavika are two good examples. The Sakyamuni Buddha prophesied that Devadatta would become a Paccekabuddha; however, did not say anything about Cinca Manavika. In the past lifetimes, their antagonistic role supported the bodhisatta to perfect the paramis.

Abhiññāṇa:

Through the practice of samatha vippasana, the determined individuals may become arahants and break through the wall of samsara to escape. In the process, an arahant may also develop abhiññāṇa.

Abhinnana (Abhiññāṇa) means super-knowledge, or the faculty of knowing pre-eminently beyond that of ordinary mankind. It is of two kinds, Samatha-abhinnana and Dhamma-abhinnana. Samatha-abhinnana means super-knowledge acquired through the carrying out of the exercises in Calm (Samatha).

[quote]

[Ledi Sayadaw:] The five Abhinnana (Psychic powers) (Pali Abhi=excelling; nana=wisdom) are:

1. Iddhividha, Creative power,
2. Dibbasota, Divine Ear;
3. Cittapariya-nana, Knowledge of others' thoughts,
4. Pubbenivasanussati; Knowledge of one's past existences; and
5. Dibbacakkhu, The Divine eye.

[end quote]

The Sakyamuni was a Vibhajjavadi: One who speaks analytically. So is an arahant.

[Sabba Sutta:] The Blessed One said, "What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. [1] Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range."

• The All: there are only six senses; that's all.
  • Sattas (beings) have six senses with different applications, such as bio sonar and the ampullae of Lorenzini.
  • body & tactile sensations: Sharks, rays, dolphins, etc. have special organ (the ampullae of Lorenzini) to touch/detect weak electrical fields.
  • We all can detect strong electrical fields with the sense of touch.
  • Static Generator | Mr. Bean Official

SANGHA: Pancavaggiya

When a Sammasambuddha appears, He will teach, but first, He needs highly intelligent individuals who can understand His teaching.

Hence, Sakyamuni taught His first sermon to the Pancavaggiya, five of the highest intellects from His kingdom, to turn the Dhamma Wheel and establish the Sangha.

The event occurred in Isipatana Deer Sentuary while both the moon and the sun were present.

Aññāta-Kondañña (Aññā-Kondañña) Thera became the second arahant after hearing the Buddha's Dhamma. Hearing also means understanding clearly: Yatha-bhuta-nana-dassana.

The Buddha was the first arahant who established the Buddha Sāsana, the Dhamma Sāsana and the Sangha Sāsana. These three are the same.

The Sakyamuni Buddha needs the Sangha as the keeper of the Dhamma and as the teacher of the laypeople. The Sangha, as the keeper of Buddha Vacana (Buddhavacana), has resisted corruption. Five hundred arahants participated in the First Buddhist Council (sangayana). The Arahants led all the Buddhist Councils to maintain the consistency of the Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana. Several arahants, including the son and daughter of Emperor Asoka, were sent away as the Buddhist Missionaries. The Buddha Sāsana was established in foreign lands. Buddha Sasana can last long only with the support of lay followers from all classes of society, who want to attain freedom from pains.

Svākhāto bhagavatā dhammo sandiṭṭhiko akāliko ehipassiko opanayiko paccattaṃ veditabbo viññūhī ti

Well proclaimed is the Law by the Blessed One, visible in this world, immediate, invites everybody to come and see, leads to the goal, is to be understood individually be the wise ones. [NTU Digital Library of Buddhist Studies]

• The Sakyamuni Buddha was the first arahant to rise from the muddy water:

[Dona Sutta (Thanissaro Bhikkhu):] "Just like a red, blue, or white lotus — born in the water, grown in the water, rising up above the water — stands unsmeared by the water, in the same way I — born in the world, grown in the world, having overcome the world — live unsmeared by the world. Remember me, brahman, as 'awakened.'

• Vibhajjavada teaches that arahants rise, like the fresh lotus above muddy water, from the abandonment of asava (taint; fermnentation).

Theravada scripture is clear about how the Great individuals, like Venerable Sariputta Thera, reached the eradication of asava, attained the nirodhasamappati and became arahants.

[SN 2.29 Susima Sutta: Susima:] The Venerable Sariputta, venerable sir, is wise, one of great wisdom, of wide wisdom, of joyous wisdom, of swift wisdom, of sharp wisdom, of penetrative wisdom. The Venerable Sariputta, venerable sir, has few wishes; he is content, secluded, aloof, energetic. The Venerable Sariputta, venerable sir, is one who gives advice, one who accepts advice, a reprover, one who censures evil. Indeed, venerable sir, who would not approve of the Venerable Sariputta, unless he were foolish, full of hatred, deluded, or mentally deranged?"

The Venerable Maha Kassapa Thera

[(4) MAHA KASSAPA MAHATHERA (a) Aspiration expressed in the past:] On the part of the Venerable Maha Kassapa Thera, no arrogance arose in him just by getting the Buddha's robe; he never thought: "Now I have obtained the robe previously used by the Exalted One: I have nothing to strive now for higher Paths and Fruitions." Instead, he made a vow to practise the thirteen austere (dhutanga) practices most willingly as taught by the Buddha. Because he put great efforts in developing the ascetic Dhamma, he remained only for seven days as a worldling and on the eighth day at early dawn attained Arahantship with the fourfold Analytical Knowledge (Patisambhida-magga nana).

• The Patisambhida-magga nana was rejected by the Sarvāstivādis. They were after material gain.

"Brother Pacceka Buddhas, King Nanda has invited you. Accept his invitation with pleasure!" The Noble Ones accepted the invitation with pleasure, washed their faces at the Anotatta lake, came on their air journey and descended at the city's northern gate.

• Pacceka Buddhas are araham (arahants),

"Etadaggam bhikkhave mama savakanam bhikkhunam dhutavadanam yadidam Mahakassapo," "Monks, among my disciples bhikkhus, who practise by themselves and who teach and exhort others to practise the excellent dhutanga practices which shake off moral impurities (kilesa), Maha Kassapa Thera is the best."

• Maha Kassapa Thera is the best in dhutanga practices.

The Savaka Bodhi

Three types of bodhi are the Sammasambuddhi, Paccekabuddhi, and Savakabuddhi.

Savaka-buddhas are the disciples of the Sammasambuddha, from whom they learned the Dhamma and witnessed the Dhamma within the framework of their own nama-rupa. As the result, they attained Nibbana.

[Savaka-buddha] might also lead others to enlightenment, but cannot teach the Dhamma in a time or world where it has been forgotten, because they depend upon a tradition that stretches back to a Sammasambuddha.

• They became savaka-bodhisattas because they admire other savakas.
• They were not that arrogant to aim for buddhahood, which is only possible extremely exceptional beings.
• Buddhahood is not for everyone. That is nature.

Three types of Savaka:

The aggasavakas are Buddhas two main disciples (Venerable Sariputtara and Venerable Moggalana).

• Every Sammasambuddha has two main disciples.

Mahasavaka means a great disciple of the Buddha. He is an Arahat, who excels in intelligence, spiritual powers and many other things. The Buddha had eighty Mahasavaka.

Arahants outside the Buddha's lifetime are pakati-savaka (pakatisavaka). They maintain Pativedha Sasana. Sasana means Dhamma-Vinaya (Doctrine and Discipline).

Sayadaw U Uttamasara's advice:

In order to be released from the Samsaric circle quickly, aim to attain the reward of Noble disciple-Pakati-Savaka. In this age, you can have a golden chance to become an Arahanta. Observe the fivefold precepts at least. Abstain from committing five kinds of evil deeds. If you are replete with the virtues of the fivefold precept, you will have strong will-power and firm confidence; you will automatically know by your own sense, "I can fulfil whatever I wish." Such a view is right. Believe it yourself. [SAMATHA AND VIPASSANA]

...The Buddha responded to all criticism by calmly and clearly explaining why he did what he did and where necessary correcting misunderstanding that gave rise to the criticism. He was always unflustered, polite and smiling in the face of criticism and he urged his disciples to be the same. [The Buddha and His Disciples: What Was The Buddha Like? (Ven. Dhammika):]

THE PATHS OF BODHISATTAS ACCORDING TO BUDDHA GOTAMA

The Abhinīhara

In order that the abhinīhara of a [Bodhisatta] becomes effective, he should fulfill eight conditions. What are they?
He must be born a human being,
he should be a male,
he should be spiritually sufficiently advanced and developed to become an arahant in that very birth when he makes a strong resolution,
he must be a recluse at the time of making the declaration to become the Buddha,
he should declare his resolve before a Buddha,
he should possess attainments like jhānas,
he should be prepared to make sacrifices,
he should even be ready to sacrifice his life
and, lastly, his resolution must be firm and unshakeable.
[Bodhisattva (Professor Angraj Chaudhary, Pariyatti)]

• Paticcasamuppada:
  • Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra;
  • Saṅkhāra-paccāya vinnānam;
  • Vinnāna-paccaya nama-rūpam;
• Samsara is saṅkhāra, the activities of reconstructing the nama-rūpa complex. (Part 5 explains saṅkhāra)

[AN 3.76 (Glossary of Pali terms):] "Thus kamma is the field, consciousness the seed, and craving the moisture. The consciousness of living beings hindered by ignorance & fettered by craving is established in/tuned to a refined property. Thus there is the production of renewed becoming in the future. This is how there is becoming." [Bhava Sutta: Becoming (1) (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

• Bodhi is the end of samsara (saṅkhāra).
• A bodhisatta (Bodhi-being) is one who is crossing the samsara toward Bodhi (awakeness or awakening). A bodhi being is trying to cut his or her own craving to end the mass of suffering.
• Due to avijja, the ordinary beings are flowing in the current of samsara.

Bodhisatta (Bodhi-Being)

(1) Noble Persons who have a strong wholesome desire to realise Samma-Sambodhi are called Samma- Sambodhisatta, "Future Perfect Buddhas,"
(2) Noble Persons who have a strong wholesome desire to realise Pacceka-Bodhi are called Pacceka-Bodhisatta, "Future Private Buddhas," and
(3) Noble Persons who have a strong wholesome desire to realise Savaka-Bodhi are called Savaka-Bodhisatta, "Future Disciples of a Buddha." [THE AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION ("The Great Chronicles of Buddhas") (MINGUN SAYADAW; Nibbana.com)]:

In Theravada, a Bodhisatta (bodhi-being) does not know who he/she is. He is instintively (by nature) pacing towards bodhi (awakening) based on his background determination for perfection (parami). He created this instinct (vasana/tendency) to swim across the ocean of samsara.

If a man desires for Sammasambodhi, he must already have developed this tendency before he meet a Sammasambbuddha to receive prediction (prophecy). He can be born in any life form, not smaller than a hummingbird, and have a lifespan that is not extremely long, as he cannot waste time. His parami (perfection) is gradually growig, as he fulfils it life after life. By collecting merit and perfection through countless lifetimes, like a bee would collect nectar to fill a big hive with honey, a Sammasambodhisatta matures in the ten paramis. He will achieve self-enlightenment and become a self-awaken Arahant, a Sammasambuddha. That is a very simple process, which is almost impossible to pass.

To understand that, the Sakyamuni explains His effort in Mahānipāta.

Bodhisatta Sumedha

Gotama Buddha was a young man named Sumedha, who was left behind alone with huge wealth. Considering his parents passed away without able to take their wealth with them, wisely He gave up the wealth and became a forest-dwelling ascetic. Soon, he was skilled in jhana. The ascetic Sumedha met Dipankara Buddha. He could attain Nibbana as an arahant in that very life, but he voluntarily chose to become a Sabaññu-Buddhā. Dipankara Buddha looked into the future and saw the future Buddha Gotama. He prophesised Sumeda ascetic of becoming a Sammasambuddha.

Chapter I: Buddha http://www.myanmarnet.net/nibbana/nubudhi2.htm

After the Bodhisatta had fulfilled all the Ten Paramis, up to the highest degree, he was, at long last, born as the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maha Maya Devi. When he came of age, he married his cousin, Yasodhara. On the day that a son, called Rahula was born to them, the Prince made a great renunciation and became a monk.

The Supreme Vow:

The Bodhisatta went to the Bodhi tree and placed the bundles of grass on the ground to make a seat for himself, facing the east. As he sat down to meditate, he made a vow: “Gladly would I let the flesh and blood in my body dry up, leaving just the skin, tendons, and bones, but if I have not attained the unexcelled full awakening, I will not get up from this seat.” [The Life and Truth of the Lord Buddha from Murals (BAM Journal)]

Sammasambddhas are rare. We are very fortunate to see a Buddha's Sasana.

The attainment of a Sammasambuddha is known as Sabaññu Nana (Sabbanutanana):

Sammasambodhi is the arahatta magga nana which is attained only by the Buddhas... The arahattamagga nana that had arisen to the Buddhas was known by themselves and rightly. Hence, it is called sammasambodhi. With this nana, arises simultaneously sabbanuta nana which knows all dhammas.

Attributes of a Sammasambuddha:

"Indeed, the Blessed One is worthy and rightly self-awakened, consummate in knowledge & conduct, well-gone, an expert with regard to the world, unexcelled as a trainer for those people fit to be tamed, the Teacher of divine & human beings, awakened, blessed." — Mahanama Sutta (Aṅguttara Nikāya 11.12)[10]

• Ignorant Sarvāstivādis, especially Mahādeva, did not see their Buddhas in these attributes.

[Brahmajāla Sutta:] "There are, bhikkhus, other dhammas, deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful and sublime, beyond the sphere of reasoning, subtle, comprehensible only to the wise, which the Tathāgata, having realized for himself with direct knowledge, propounds to others; and it is concerning these that those who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with reality would speak.

• Ignorant Sarvāstivādis thought they could become Sammasambuddhas, too.

5.2.13. Notes: Lanka (Red Pine):

146 Section VII. This section critiques the views regarding causation held by the Sarvastivadins and Vaishesikas, among others, who held that the effect exists in the cause or that it does not exist in the cause. T’ai-hsu and Yin-shun note how ridiculous such views regarding the existence or nonexistence of cause and effect can be. If the result does not exist in the cause, this would be like eating but never producing shit. But if the effect exists in the cause, this would be tantamount to shit being present in food. This section mercifully ends with the transcendence of all views of causation.

• Planting a seed to get a plant.
  • The seed has its own process. It sprouts, produces roots (to extract food from the soil) and leaves (to breathe in CO2 and breathe out oxygen and to cook food), and grows.
  • The act of planting is kamma. It is not responsible for the biological process of the seed. It is not responsible for the ripening of kamma, either.
  • More kamma can be added to the original kamma. Removing weed, watering and giving the fertiliser to the plant, etc, to make sure the plant will grow normally.
• Meeting a Sammasambuddha and seeding the commitment towards Bodhi can be compared with planting a seed to get a plant.
  • If the Sammasambuddha sees the potential, He will prophesise the becoming of a Sammasambuddha, where, when, His name, His clan's name, His parents' names, etc.
  • The prophesy is the Sammasambuddha's recognision of the becoming of a bodhisatta.

Heart Sutra . One of the shortest Buddhist texts, it contrasts the Prajnaparamita teaching of emptiness with the Sarvastivadin teaching of an inherent substance. There are several translations in Chinese and many more in English.

183 [nonanalytic cessation or] apratisamkhya-nirodha. This is one of the two types of cessation of thought recognized by the Sarvastivadins and one of the six uncreated dharmas of the Yogacarins [...] Hence, it is temporary

• Heart Sutra contrasts emptiness with the Sarvastivadin an inherent substance—if that is the case, why did the Yogacarins accept anything from the Sarvastivadins at all, let alone apratisamkhya-nirodha?
• Sarvastivada is the living Mahayanist ideology.

Lankavatara teaches the non-projection of dharmas, that there would be no dharmas to be empty or to be detached from if we did not project them as existing or not existing in the first place. The Buddha tells Mahamati, “Because the various projections of people’s minds appear before them as objects, they become attached to the existence of their projections.” So how do they get free of such attachments? The Buddha continues, “By becoming aware that projections are nothing but mind

• no dharmas to be empty or to be detached: so emptiness is detachment from dharmas.
• if we did not project them [...] projections are nothing but mind: them (dharmas) are mind (or projections)
  • if we did not project dharmas (projections or mind)
  • we are māyā
  • nothing but mind—mind is likely to be the true mind rather than māyā's mind (Ālayavijñāna)
  • Interpretation: Mind (dharmas or projections) needs not be empty/detached if we (māyā) do not project the mind.

Summary of 5.2.

Mahayanist (Sarvastivadi) Lankavatara Sutra presents the same Vedic concept of worship with a different approach, which we could consider the origination of Mahādeva's five theses downgrading the arhats:

"You Brahmin priests with your fancy fire sacrifices aren't the only ones who get people to heaven. We can do it without killing animals and wasting trees. So there." [The meaning of the mantra at the end of the Heart Sutra (Richard Hayes)]

The earlier Prajnaparamita is subtle with Nagarjuna's philosophy. Still obviously leaning towards Brahmanism in terms of brahman and maya, although these terms are not employed.

Citta-gocara (thought realm):

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 40] They then, in their great joy and rejoicing, went each to his own Buddha-field and approached the presence of the Buddha, the Lord who had arisen therein, saluted his feet, and they all raised their folded hands and paid homage to the Lord.

I think the following paragraph explains what's happening in the above paragraph.

The vast majority of living entities live in the spiritual world and are called akṣara — they are in the position of Brahman, pure spiritual existence. They are different from those who have been conditioned by the three modes of material nature. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) » Canto 4: The Creation of the Fourth Order » CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: ŚB 4.24.28 (Vedabase)]

But the main purpose of the sutra is to attack the original Buddhism.

[Heart (Red page 6)] prajna in place of jnana, or wisdom rather than knowledge

• Heart Sutra is the shorter version of Prajnaparamita.
• Although the two prajñāpāramitā-s reject jñāna, Lankavatara presents both prajna and jñāna as the Paramita of Wisdom (Prajna) and the Noble Wisdom (āryajñāna):

[Lanka Chapter 5:] The Paramita of Wisdom (Prajna) will no longer be concerned with pragmatic wisdom and erudition, but will reveal itself in its true perfectness of All-inclusive Truth which is Love.

Lankavatara Sutra replaces brahman with āryajñāna (or Emptiness). Maya is maya but with diviation. The goals are the same: Reunion with the source (brahman/Emptiness).

• Ākāśarūpa is emptiness or nirvana—reunion with emptiness (ākāśarūpa):

[Lotus Chapter 5:] ultimate Nirvana which is constantly still and extinct and which in the end returns to emptiness.

Link to the Summary 

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 21

Links: Heart (Thich); Heart (Red); Lanka LXXV (Red); Lanka Chapter; Lotus Chapter; The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha 

5.3.1. The Buddha:

[Dharmakāya:] In the Mahāyāna, the [Māyāvādi] Buddha became understood as having "three bodies", the trikāya

dharmakāya, "the reality body", the Buddha as the ultimate reality of emptiness, 

sambhogakāya, "the enjoyment body", the Buddha [as] a divine mystical being, as the form of the Buddha which taught the Mahāyāna sūtras.

nirmāṇakāya, "the transformation body", the Buddha in human form.

• the [Māyāvādi] Buddha or the original Māyāvādi Tathagata is the only reality.
• Citta-mātratā: Mind only, but with many aspects
• nirmāṇakāya (the Buddha in human form): the Buddha needs to rely on māyā (the physical body seen of the mind— imaginary, imagination, dream or mirage.)

Mind and body; the body, which hosts the mind, cannot be mental, so it must be physical. Mind cannot host mind, as it has no inside or outside. Buddhas, bodhisattvas and their communication and the places they reside are described as the Dharmakaya (the reality body), which is the physical forms and shapes (seen of the mind).

Seen-by-the-mind is imaginary or imagination of vijnana/Citta. Imaginary (māyā) is the external world, but no events occur outside the mind or the Buddha with trikāya (three bodies).

By "what is seen of the Mind-only" is meant this visible world including that which is generally known as mind. Our ordinary experience takes this world for something that has its "self-nature", i.e. existing by itself. But a higher intuition tells us that this is not so, that it is an illusion, and that what really exists is Mind, which being absolute knows no second. All that we see and hear and think of as objects of the vijnanas are what rise and disappear in and of the Mind-only [Introduction to the Lankavatara Sutra (D.T. Suzuki)]

• Not existing by itself but seen by the mind.
• vijnanas: consciousness, the Self, soul, self-nature, the Māyāvādi Buddha.

Dharmakāya: the first body of the Buddha

[Dharmakāya:] "the reality body", the [Māyāvādi] Buddha as the ultimate reality of emptiness, 

• the [original Māyāvādi] Buddha as the ultimate reality of emptiness: Akasa, void, nothingness, emptiness, the original Māyāvādi Buddha, the only true Buddha, oneness, sameness, the only reality, the Self, Śiva;

[Lanka LVI (Red):] 66 [...] The Buddha taught that all buddhas are one buddha

• one Buddha: There are countless Buddhas (māyā) as the embodiments of the mind—the Māyāvādi Buddha/Bhagavan/Tathagata/Emptiness/Ālayavijñāna/Tathāgatagarbha.

[Lanka LXXV (Red):] Mahamati said, “Bhagavan, are the tathagatas, the arhats, the fully enlightened ones created or not created? “[...] the tathagatas, the arhats, the fully enlightened ones are neither the result nor the cause. [...] Mahamati, if tathagatas were the result, they would be created and would be impermanent. And if they were impermanent, then every result would be a tathagata, which is something neither I nor any other buddha would want. But if they were not created, they would not attain anything, and their cultivation would be empty

• would be impermanent: They are impermanent. The original Māyāvādi Buddha is eternal.
• if they were not created, they would not attain anything: They were created by the Māyāvādi Buddha to attain something.

nirmāṇakāya (human form):

[Lanka Chapter 9:] what is meant by such transcendental body?... three kinds of such transcendental bodies [...] The second kind of transcendental personality is the kind assumed by Bodhisattvas and Tathagatas as bodies of transformation by which they demonstrate their original vows

• Original vows can be summed up as to serve the Buddha/Tathagata (to propagate Mahayana) and give up individualised will-control to let the buddha-nature revert to (reveal itself as) the Buddha.

Prajnaparamita

The Buddhas are identical in their essential body (dharmakāya), identified with the truth discovered and preached by them. They are enthroned in the paradises, surrounded by gods and saints whom they delight with their enjoyment bodies (saṃbhogakāya). They send down below representatives of themselves, emanated bodies (nirmāṇakāya) preaching the Dharma and converting beings. This salvific work is that of the truth that leads to the end of suffering, to detachment, to peace. [Prajna: Introduction to third volume (Gelongma)]

• the truth : the Emptiness, the Māyāvādi Buddha
• discovered : how do they discover the buddha-nature that reverts to (reveal itself as) the Buddha when the discriminating mind is got rid off?
• Prajnaparamita, Lankavatara and Lotus present the same oneness and sameness;
• But they do not agree a bodhisattva would discover the truth: [Lanka] bodhisattvas are enabled [or guided by Tathagatas] to demonstrate the Paramitas
• nor in sending representatives: [Lanka] Buddha's outgoing mission of emancipation—Buddhas themselves go
• leads to the end of suffering, to detachment, to peace: [Lanka] Tathagata has no nirvana;[Lotus] True Extinction; still and extinct; Space (emptiness) is the Original Being.

[Dharmakāya:] "the reality body", the [Māyāvādi] Buddha as the ultimate reality of emptiness, 

Space / Emptiness

The Indo-European creationist religions, including Mahayana, present Emptiness (space, self and soul) in identical fashions:

“akasa” [is] “ether”[or] “space.” [...] But according to the Laws of Manu, in the beginning this universe was in a state of sleep, and according to the Vedanta Sutras, ether is eternal and it was present even before the beginning of creation [...] The Rigveda declares that perhaps even God is unaware of the reality of the beginning of the universe [...] since [Allah]created everything, it follows that no entity shares eternity with the Creator. [The Beginning of Creation in Scriptures of Different Religions (The Review of Religions)]

• ether is eternal: in Sarvāstivāda, akasa (space/universe) is paramartha (truth/eternal) and has blue colour.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] this life-and-death world and Nirvana are not to be separated [because they share space.]

• Dharmakaya is Space (emptiness/nothingness) that comprises the external world (māyā) and the spiritual world (Citta-gocara/Maheśvara/nirvana).
• Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form.—Heart
• That is the mind as emptiness and space (akasa).
• The mind is emptiness, just as māyā is emptiness.

[Heart (Red):] in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, no perception, no memory and no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body and no mind

• in emptiness: in space (akasa) is in the true mind (our own mind)
• no form: in the space/mind there is no māyā.
• no mind: in the space/mind there is no mind.
• Denying the existence of form denies everything that happens to form. That resulted in rejecting all the five aggregates, including the mind.
• When they say there is no self, it means what does not exist does not have self.
• Yet they maintains the belief in self—attaditthi.
• Vijñaptimātra (mind only, emptiness) but the mind is eternal and exists in all three times: past, present and future.

The concept of an ultimate emptiness without characteristics does not yet answer the question as to why nothing really exists [Sunyata (universal-path.org)]

• why nothing really exists: [Heart (Red):] in emptiness, there is [no mind]

Emptiness is the ultimate in Mayayana (Māyāvāda).

This Sarvāstivādi faith is also attavada with no relationship to the anattavada of the Sakyamuni. Sarvāstivāda has done enough damage to the Buddha's Dhamma.

Dependent Origination is taught in many sutta’s and most significantly in Paticca-Samuppada-Vibhanga Sutta, [...] Ananda was the Buddha’s chief attendant during the last twenty-five years of the Buddha’s teaching career. Ananda was known to have a word-perfect memory. He was questioned on verifiable facts about the location of the discourse he was reciting, the subject being taught, and the person or people present when the discourse was presented. It was accepted that Ananda retained a true, accurate, and complete recollection of the Buddha’s teachings. [WHAT THE BUDDHA TAUGHT: THE SECOND BOOK OF THE PALI CANON, THESUTTA PITAKA (John Haspel)]

• Any belief or concept that does not fit in the paticcasamuppada is not a part of the Dhamma-Vinaya.

Lankavatara's Mahamati

[Lanka Chapter 7:] Then Mahamati asked the Blessed One, saying: Pray tell us, Blessed One, about the One Vehicle which the Blessed One has said characterizes the attainment of the inner self-realization of Noble Wisdom?

In the Lotus Sutra, Tathagata asks the questions, and Tathagata answers them all. But throughout the Lankavatara Sutra, Mahamati asks the questions, which present the topics for the Māyāvādi Tathagata to answer. In term of Oneness, Mahamati is Tathagata, too. He is Mahamati only because of individuation that makes the Buddha into all the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, etc.

[Lanka Chapter 12:] It is Noble Wisdom manifested as the principle of irradiancy and individuation.

• Noble Wisdom: buddha-nature, which will reveal itself as a Buddha inside every mortal;
  • Sakkayaditthi inside everyone is for a Vibhajjavadi to get rid of.
• Individuation: Through receiving transformation bodies and giving up individualized will-control, becoming a Buddha is to completely free of mental and physical function of a person.
  • That process makes the new Buddha the same and equal to other Buddhas.
  • Individuation allows them to be individuals.
• Citta-mātratā: mind only concept has no individuals.
  • Individuation creates individuals from the same mind (the original Māyāvādi Tathagata).
  • For example, when Mahamati's buddha-nature revealed itself as a Tathagata, he completely lost individualized will-control. Which makes him to no longer exists as an individual. He exists because of individuation.
• Individuation and nirmāṇakāya are likely the same thing.
• nirmāṇakāya (the Buddha in human form):
  • The Buddha is the mind.
  • A bodhisattva is the human form (māyā).

Individuation is all about becoming a unique individual with a sense of self. In psychology, this is a central part of development that allows people to gain a stable identity, self-awareness, and purpose. [What Is Individuation in Psychology? - Verywell Mind]

• Another definition:

Individuation refers to the process through which a person achieves a sense of individuality separate from the identities of others [Individuation in Therapy]

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 22

Nonduality (the mind) turns into duality (māyā).

Links: Heart (Thich); Heart (Red); Lanka LXXV (Red); Lanka Chapter; Lotus Chapter; The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha 

5.3.2. Lord of Lords

The lords are the imaginaries of the lord:

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Thus passing beyond the last stage of Bodhisattvahood, he becomes a Tathagata himself endowed with all the freedom of the Dharmakaya. The tenth stage belongs to the Tathagatas. Here the Bodhisattva will find himself seated upon a lotus-like throne in a splendid jewel-adorned palace and surrounded by Bodhisattvas of equal rank. Buddhas from all Buddha-lands will gather about him and with their pure and fragrant hands resting on his forehead will give him ordination and recognition as one of themselves. Then they will assign him a Buddha-land that he may posses and perfect as his own. The tenth stage is called the Great Truth Cloud (Dharmamegha), inconceivable, inscrutable. Only the Tathagatas can realize perfect Imagelessness and Oneness and Solitude.

• the Tathagatas are the results of the individuation (explained in Part 21). That is the Tathagatas of the māyāvadi Buddha (our own mind or Tathāgatagarbha).
• Dharmakaya is defined as reality body—absolute emptiness is reality.
• seated upon a lotus-like throne: both bodhisattva and the environment are form, as form is māyā. That is the scene of becoming a Buddha in Lankavatara. The event is not described as 'mind only' or absolute emptiness but as a material world (māyā). Bodhisattvas of equal rank and Buddhas from all Buddha-lands, who witness that event, are also forms (māyā).
• may posses and perfect as his own: A new Buddha is a new landlord or a ruling king.

Lankavatara admits that is not nirvana:

[Lanka Chapter 13:] In this perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom the Bodhisattva realizes that for the Buddhas there is no Nirvana.

Māyā or Seen-of-our-mind—Our own mind (Svacitta) is the lord of the lords

[Lanka PREFACE (Red):] sva–citta–dryshya–matra: “nothing but the perceptions of our own mind.” [...] whatever we see or think or feel is our own mind

• Perceptions—also thoughts:

Svacitta (स्वचित्त) “one’s own thoughts” [...] “How, son of good family, does the meditation (dhyāna) of the Bodhisattva become like open space? [Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā]

• open space (akasa) is emptiness/nothingness/void (sunyata)
• meditation (dhyāna) of open space is arupa jhana—the practice left behind by the bodhisatta on his way to Sammasambodhi.

These attainments (aruppa), are the base of boundless space, the base of boundless consciousness, the base of nothingness, and the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception [The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation (Henepola Gunaratana)]

• The immaterial world has no forms (māyā). It has no lotus-like throne and the individuals who can welcome the newcomers.
• The immaterial world is not dharmakaya (absolute emptiness) with the presence of forms (māyā).
• Māyāvādi emptiness also refers to sameness in forms and thoughts:

by the sameness of his own thoughts (svacitta-samatā) he enters into concentration on the universal sameness of the thoughts of all beings; [Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā]

• Sameness is the result of copying/cloning of the Sky Daddy (the original Māyāvādi Buddha).
• The official term of the clone is buddha-nature or the transcendental body:

[Lanka Chapter 9:] what is meant by such transcendental body?

Eternal Emptiness

[Microcosm–macrocosm analogy (wiki)] The microcosm–macrocosm analogy refers to a historical view which posited a structural similarity between the human being and the cosmos as a whole [...] One important corollary of this view is that the cosmos as a whole may be considered to be alive, and thus to have a mind or soul 

The Sarvāstivādi concepts of mind are unrelated to the Pali Canon. The Sarvāstivādi concept is the eternal mind exists all time, so the past, the present and the future have no difference.

The universe is all of space and time and their contents. (wiki)

That mind, as entire cosmos and all three times, is the original Sarvāstivādi Buddha:

Ālayavijñāna (universal mind)

Ālaya : basis; An abbreviation of Alaya vijanana. Alaya is a sort of eternal substance or matter, creative and containing all forms; when considered as a whole, it is non existent, or contains nothing; when considered phenomenal, it fills the universe...

• Ālayavijñāna not just fills infinite space but also exists in all three times:

Citta : mind; “because this mind (citta) is without birth (utpāda), without intrinsic nature (svabhāva) and without characteristics (lakṣaṇa) [...] no true birth, no true cessation. Not finding any defilement or purification in it...Mind (citta, manas) and consciousness (vijñāna) are synonymous...; thoughts—all dharmas are tranquil since they are free from thought, mind and consciousness (citta-manas-vijñāna-vigata)

• Mind (citta, manas) and consciousness (vijñāna) are synonymous.

universal mind alone is real.  This result is then used to explain why one must abandon seeking for anything; universal mind is realized by the cessation of all seeking and by leaving behind the analytic discriminations it uses and trusts.  This step is achieved in a flash of sudden awakening. [...] This universal mind alone is the Buddha and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient beings, but sentient beings are attached to particular forms and so seek for Buddhahood outside it. [“The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha,”: The Ultimate Reality Transcends What Can Be Expressed in Words (edited by Edwin A. Burtt, c 1955, p. 194-204)]

• the cessation of all seeking only but not the cessation of all sankharas (activities).
• This universal mind alone is the Buddha : Māyāvadi citta is eternal.
• there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient beings: sentient beings are māyā/imagination or Seen-of-our-mind—Our own mind (Svacitta), which is the lord of the lords. The intellects who engaged in the Sarvāstivādi concepts often forgot the application of māyā.

What does Christianity say about there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient beings?

Genes. 1, creavit dominus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem suam : God created man in his own image and likeness (google translate).

• Man might think God was them or God made them like him:
• And what did they do with the assumed God's powers?

Genesis 1:27 states that God made man “in his own image,”  meaning that the human race was granted a particular likeness to God. [...] When we ask how man bears God’s image, one historic approach is to cite man’s evident superiority to lesser beings. Some have identified the image in that man walks upright among the beasts. The problem is that God does not possess a body, since “God is spirit” (John 4:24). [Man as the Image of God (Richard Phillips)]

• God does not possess a body, as God is absolute emptiness (the original Māyāvādi Buddha).
• Another description of creation:

Ephesians 4:24 [...] he makes it according to his own image, tanquam ab ultima manu [—as if from the last hand (google translate)]. [...] but man ad similitudinem faciei, -- according to the likeness of his face, -- "in our image, after our likeness." It is true there is only Jesus Christ his Son, [Of the Creation 0F Man (Hugh Binning)]

• Christ was the son, so was Manu. Manu and Noah:

Manu had built a boat to carry his family and the seven sages to safety. [Why Do Noah And Manu Look Like The Same Characters In History? (Dr Qudsia Gani)]

The Self, the God and the Māyāvadi Buddha:

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra instructs us to purify our heart of the kleshas (mental and moral negativities) and to “enter this Self” of the Buddha – the Buddha-dhatu. Sokei-An indicates something similar when he says: “When your mind is purified, the outside ceases to exist and you enter the world of pure mind, of soul only. [The Nirvana Sutra Zen Master, Sokei-an] 

• The Indo-European creation myth is attavada (self/soul doctrine).
• the Buddha-dhatu is buddha-nature or buddha's self-nature/intrinsic nature (svabhāva)
• to “enter this Self” of the Buddha : you enter the world of pure mind, of soul only (citta-mātratā)

"there is the Self in all things": Buddha-nature, Buddha-svabhāva, Tathāgatagarbha, buddhadhātu, sugatagarbha, and buddhagarbha

Any phenomenon [dharma] that is true [satya], real [tattva], eternal [nitya], sovereign/ autonomous/ self-governing [aisvarya], and whose ground/ foundation is unchanging [asraya-aviparinama], is termed ’the Self’ [atman] [...] For the sake of beings, [Tathagata] says "there is the Self in all things" [page 32, The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Kosho Yamamoto)

• Self is intrinsic nature (svabhāva), not atman—different words, the same meanings and intentions, nevertheless:

[Lanka Chapter 13:] Others see the eternally of things in the conception of Nirvana as the absorption of the finite-soul in the supreme Atman;

• False Views: Lankavatara rejects the term atman because it is intrinsic nature or buddha-nature that reveals itself as Tathagata.
• the eternally of things in the conception of Nirvana : "things in nirvana are eternal" is materialistic and sassata-ditthi.
• However, Nirvana is not always defined as eternal and materialistic:

nirvana refers to a state of complete freedom, liberation and enlightenment, in total peace and bliss; the goal of Buddhism. [Nirvana (UIA)]

• Lotus agrees that nirvana as still and extinct.

[Lotus Chapter 2:] I and the ten-direction Buddhas Alone can understand these matters. This Dharma can't be demonstrated, The mark of language being still and extinct [...] Since the still and extinct mark of all Dharmas,

[Lotus Chapter 5:] Nirvana which is constantly still and extinct and which in the end returns to emptiness.

Oneness is not Nirvana but the Self (self-nature/svabhāva):

[Lanka Chapter 11:] [bodhisattva vow #8:] to attain perfect self-realization of the oneness of all the Buddhas and Tathagatas in self-nature, purpose and resources;

• Lankavatara's Compulsory Vows: The Bodhisattva utters his ten original vows—to honour and serve all Buddhas: thus, all Bodhisattvas and Buddhas are serving that one.

5.3.3. Bodhisattva in the Realm of self

[Lanka Chapter 13:] In the perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom that fallows the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva's individualized will-control, he no longer lives unto himself, but the life that he lives thereafter is the Tathagata's universalized life as manifested in its transformations.

• transformation death of individualized will-control: Māyā's death; the loss of individuality is the mark of becoming a Buddha in Noble Wisdom.

[Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā:] [the Bodhisattva] being united with the realm of the dharma [which is] the realm of self since it is originally pure; the realm without personality since it is the highest truth

• Pure means empty (emptiness), which does not have mind, memory, personality and body; yet the description of the realm is heaven-like and materialistic.

[Heart (Red):] in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, no perception, no memory and no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body and no mind

• The Buddha is emptiness with three types of body: dharmakāya, sambhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya.
• Memory is a part of sanna (perception). It is stored in Ālayavijñāna (storehouse-consciousness).
• Memory is wiped out completely right before Tathāgatagarbha reverts to a Buddha.
• That Buddha is inside the appearance/form (māyā).

Giving up individualized will-control (Sanna: instinct, personality, individuality, memory, etc.)

• The term self/soul has negative sense in Buddhism. To keep the Self, the word Self is replaced with intrinsic nature.
• All self-doctrines (attavada) link soul/self to the higher power.

It is strange that the Tathagata asks his imagination (māyā/seen-of-the-mind) to give up the individualized will-control (for total submission). When a bodhisattva (māyā) is no longer who he is, he (māyā) is a new Tathagata right away, as buddha-nature (self) in him (māyā) has reverted to Tathagata.

Individuation lets a bodhisattva, such as Avalokiteśvara, act as an individual. When Avalokiteśvara (māyā) is talking, the Tathagata (oneness inside of many) is talking.

BODHISATTVA: A Mayahanist seeking enlightenment to enlighten others; he is devoid of egoism and devoted to helping all living beings. [p285 CH' AN AND ZEN TEACHING (Lu,K'uan Yu '" / Charles Luk)]

• Mayahanist could be a word related to māyā (Māyāhana/Mahayana) or deliberate misspelling. Māyāhana could be the origin of Mahayana.

Sarvāstivāda attacked the Sakyamuni:

• Bodhisattvas are empty, but indestructable buddha-nature/self/soul is in everyone
• Downgraded arhathood
• Buddhas are arhats.
• All Buddhas are one Buddha (Maheśvara).
• The second Buddhas established Sarvāstivādi schools.
• Established the bodhisattva concept that directly challenges the arhats.

Sarvāstivāda claims arhats are imperfect, and its sutras say Buddhas are arhats. The māyāvadi Buddhas are perfect as theay are the embodiments of the original Māyāvādi Tathagata, who is presented with the concepts of Citta-mātratā (mind-only) by the second Buddhas.

[Karuṇā­puṇḍarīka] The “white lotus of compassion” in the title of this sūtra refers to Śākyamuni himself, emphasizing his superiority over all other buddhas, like a fragrant, healing white lotus among a bed of ordinary flowers. Śākyamuni chose to be reborn in an impure realm during a degenerate age, and therefore his compassion was greater than that of other buddhas.

• The Karuṇā­puṇḍarīka Sūtra portrays the Sakyamuni Buddha and the Buddha Amitābha as different types of Buddha, and the Sakyamuni Buddha is not counted among the Buddhas in the Buddha-lands.
• an impure realm : why is this earth impure? Mahayana and Maheśvara (pure land) came to exist as an ideology based on Mahadeva's five points.
• his superiority over all other buddhas: the same is said to Amitabha. Mahayana is obsessed with superiority—in a materialistic manner.

After Bodhisattva Dharmakara attained Buddhahood, his light permeates all worlds in the cosmos, exceeding the lights of all other Buddhas. His might, merits and virtue in delivering sentient beings are unrivaled among Buddhas. [The Deliverance of Amitabha Buddha (Master Jingzong)]

• exceeding the lights of all other Buddhas: That light (seen-of-the-mind) reaches beyond the locations of all Buddhas (seen-of-the-mind).
• obsession with superiority breaks rank with the notion of one sameness (all buddhas are one) and absolute emptiness.
• How did Amitābha become a Buddha? Through the ten stages.

All of these concepts are not applicable to the Sakyamuni Buddha.

From Buddha-Nature Comes the Sambhogakaya

Vairochana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi―are, in their essence, the five primordial awarenesses [buddha-nature] and duly appear in the form of the body of perfect enjoyment (Skt. sambhogakaya). [Understanding the Five Buddha Families (Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche)]

• Pure Land is Citta-gocara (Maheśvara); however, the Buddha Amitābha is only menifestation of the eternal Tathagata, who lives in one Buddha after another. Hence, when Avalokiteśvara becomes a Buddha, he, too, is the menifestation of the Eternal Buddha, the Noble Wisdom.

Avalokiteśvara will become Buddha when Amitābha Buddha passes away. He is not becoming a Buddha only because Amitābha Buddha, as the Eternal Buddha, is still alive, as the physical body of the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (i.e. Dharmakaya). This fundamental concept makes Pure Land Buddhism unique.

The Buddha-nature in them is the same, however. Buddha-nature is Dharmakaya-svabhāva, or the self-nature of the Tathagata (the Universal Mind).

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 23

Nonduality (the mind) turns into duality (māyā).

Links: Heart (Thich); Heart (Red); Lanka LXXV (Red); Lanka Chapter; Lotus Chapter; The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha 

5.3.4. Maheśvara (The Realm of Self)

[Lanka Chapter 1:] [Dharmakaya] is Mahesvara, the Radiant Land, the Pure Land [...] in which the Bodhisattva will find himself at-one-moment. Its rays of Noble Wisdom which is the self-nature of the Tathagatas [...] are transforming the triple world [...] what gradation can there be where perfect Imagelessness and Oneness prevail? And what is the reality of Noble Wisdom? It is the ineffable potency of the Dharmakaya; it has no bounds nor limits; it surpasses all the Buddha-lands, and pervades the Akanistha and the heavenly mansions of the Tushita.

• Dharmakaya is Maheśvara, producing rays (Noble Wisdom) that transforms the triple world, has no bounds nor limits, superior to the mansions of the Tushita

[Lanka Chapter 7:] First [aspect of Dharmakaya], as Citta-gocara, it is the world of spiritual experience and the abode of the Tathagatas on their outgoing mission of emancipation.

• Maheśvara is Citta-gocara (thoughts realm/Imagelessness).
• nirmāṇakāya (the Buddha in human form): bodhisattvas come in human forms

Vibhajjavadi Siva

A true follower of the Sakyamuni:

[Sivā (Siva):] (Cv.xciii. 9, 10). A devaputta, named Siva, is mentioned in the Samyutta (S.i.56) as visiting the Buddha and speaking several verses on the benefit of consorting only with the good.

Nānātitthiyavaggo

[SN 2.21 Siva sutta: Siva~]~ The deity Siva says one should associate only with the good, and this will lead to happiness. The Buddha adds that associating with the good leads to the end of suffering.

• Happiness is not the final goal.
• This Siva devaputta knows Mangala Sutta and admirable friendship (kalyanamitta).

[The Sammasambuddha to Ven. Ananda:] "Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life [as he will] pursue the noble eightfold path. [SN 45.2]

• This Siva devaputta shows no association with Maheśvara Śiva, nor he presents the intellectual, verbal and physical natures of Maheśvara Śiva.
• This Vibhajjavadi Siva has no association with Maheśvara.

Maheśvara Śiva

[maheśvara heaven] 摩醯首羅天 It is the second highest heaven in the Fourth Dhyāna. In the Maheśvara, the Great Self-Sufficiency Heaven, the chief god has eight arms and three eyes and rides a great white ox; as a result he thinks he is very independent.

• Maheśvara Śiva must be the original/eternal Tathagata in Lankavatara.

[devaputra maheśvara] A chief god who abides in the pure heavens. In Buddhism, Maheśvara is typically portrayed as mounted on a white bull, showing his close association with the Hindu god Śiva.

• Maheśvara Śiva of Mahayana and Maheśvara Śiva of Hinduism ride a bull.

4. the principles from Mahat to Viśeṣa, the deities Brahmā and others and whatever there is as effect are produced by it. [The Shiva Purana: Chapter 7 - The principle of Śiva (2) (J. L. Shastri)]

• Does that mean Śiva created Brahma?

[Sabbalokādhipatī Deva (wiki)] [Maheśvara:] the ruler of all three realms of samsara in Buddhist Mythology [...] Sabbalokādhipatī Devā in Pali literature. His main duty is to give spiritual knowledge. The Buddhist Maheshvara is ultimately derived from the Hindu deity known as Maheshvara.

• Is the ruler the creator, too?
• In the Cambodian Pali literature (Mahādibbamanta):

The language is corrupt and contains several unusual spellings, a few Sanskrit words and a large number of hybrid forms improvised for Sanskrit names unknown to ~ancient~ Pali literature [...] (the Canda and Suriya-paritta) form part of the canon (Saṃyutta nikāya, i, 50-51 [Mahādibbamanta From a Paritta Manuscript from Cambodia (Professor PADMANABH S.JAINI)]

Bull vs Vimana

[Nandi (Hinduism)] also known as Nandikeshvara or Nandideva, is the bull vahana (mount) of the Hindu god Shiva.

• Bulls were real. But why don't gods ride vimanas?

[Vaimānika Shāstra (wiki):] Pandit Subbaraya Shastry (1866–1940) [...] claimed [ that Vaimānika Śāstra] was psychically delivered to him by the ancient Hindu sage Bharadvaja.[1] [Based on that sastra, Anand J. Bodas and Ameya Jadhav claimed,] "In those days, aeroplanes were huge in size, and could move left, right, as well as backwards, unlike modern planes which only fly forward,"

• Some major Mahayanist sutras are believed to be psychically delivered by the Sakyamuni Buddha, although they took several centuries to develop. The claim is a huge amount of words could be psychically delivered in a very short time.
• Some major Mahayanist sutras are believed to be psychically delivered by the different Buddhas:

The origin of Pure Land thought [is unknown but believed to be] originated from the Buddha Sakyamuni primarily by means of revealed truth which transcended verbal expression by means of Samadhi [The Three Pure Land Sutras: A Study and Translation (Hisao Inagaki)]

• verbal expression by means of Samadhi: how could huge amounts of words be psychically delivered in very short time? In reality, the sutras took several centuries to develop. And the Mahayanist schools founders are not unknown.

History & Historical Fiction

Buddha said:

“Whoever sees Dependent Co-Arising, he sees Dhamma;
Whoever sees Dhamma, he sees Dependent Co-Arising.”
[Dependent Co-Arising Answers Most Arguments with Impeccable Logic: The Great Causes Discourse Maha-nidana Sutta]

• Paticcasamuppada is the law of life or the cycle of life (samsara). It is not related to the Māyāvādi citta-mātratā, etc.
• Pratītya­samutpāda­sūtra (Mahayana) is not related to the Pali Canon.

[dependent origination] is an expansion and refinement by Shakyamuni Buddha and later Buddhists of ideas previously found in Vedic knowledge and the Upanishads [Dependent [Origination: A Review and Exploration Toward Unification (Paola Di Maio, who assumes the Sakyamuni took the Dependent Origination from the Vedas)].

Mahayanist Pratītya­samutpāda­sūtra's claims:

When Upatiṣya asks Aśvajit to summarize the very essence of the Buddha’s teaching, Aśvajit answers him by reciting this verse [...] these same lines are taught to Avalokiteśvara by the Buddha himself.3 [...] in order to generate the merit of Brahmā, [...]4 [Introduction (84000)]

• The story begins with fact and goes on with historical fiction.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was in the Realm of the Thirty-Three Gods, seated on the throne of Indra. With him were great hearers such as the venerable Aśvajit; [...] Maitreya, noble Avalokiteśvara, and Vajrapāṇi, who were adorned with immeasurable precious qualities; as well as [...] the great Īśvara [...] Avalokiteśvara rose from his seat [The Translation (84000)]

• Māyāvādi emptiness does not follow Paticcasamuppada:

[Heart (Centre):] The Bodhisattva of Compassion, When he meditated deeply, Saw the emptiness of all five skandhas And sundered the bonds that caused him suffering.

• That is Māyāvādi emptiness (akasa)—citta-mātrata / Vijñaptimātra: “consciousness only”.
• A devaputta, who was the Buddha's mother (Mahamaya), was the central figure in the historical scene of the Buddha teaching the Abhidhamma. However, the Mahayanists excluded him from the audience and made the fictional figures Avalokiteśvara and Īśvara (Śiva) as the central figures.

[Īśvara] Śiva. A deity of the jungles, named Rudra in the Vedas, he rose to prominence in the Purāṇic literature at the beginning of the first millennium.

• Rudra was not the lord of the Maheśvara Heaven.

Rudra, (Sanskrit: “Howler”), relatively minor Vedic god and one of the names of Śiva, a major god of later Hinduism. Śiva is considered to have evolved from Rudra, and the two share a fierce, unpredictable, destructive nature [Britannica]

• a fierce, unpredictable, destructive nature does not fit the audience of the Sakyamuni Buddha.

Śiva never met the historical Buddha. A bull-riding minor Vedic god, who was promoted into the creator and provided with an eternal lifespan, would not go and sit in front of the historical Buddha.

• With his love of making everyone weep, he would never lend an ear to the Dhamma, let alone the entire Paticcasamuppada discourse.
• If they met, the Buddha would establish him in right-view.
• Even if he gained right-view, his followers would not accept that.
• Although Devadatta took refuge in Tisarana, his followers did not, but created their own religion.
• Early Mahayana was developed independently from the Dhamma of Gotama the Sammasambuddha:

This Third Turning of the Wheel of the Law was set in motion by Maitreyanatha and his two great followers, the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu, in the fourth century A. D. It was to provide the theoretical basis for most of the later developments in the Mahayana, including both Tantra and Zen. It arose as a way of compensating the imbalance of the negative extreme arrived at by the followers of Nagarjuna.'s Madhyamaka, the second Turning of the Wheel of the Law, which it largely superseded. [The Doctrine of 'Consciousness Only' (Harold Stewart) Journal of Shin Buddhism]

Many Mahayanists, who do not follow the historical Buddha (Siddhatta Gotama), do not like about Him (Buddhavagga ) and his biography (Buddha Apadāna), as they have nothing to do with the development of Mahayana:

Siddhatta Gotama's biography offends Buddhists. Un-Buddhist. He said Buddhists shouldn't follow a charismatic leader. The founder of Lin-Chi Zen Buddhism taught his students to avoid authoritarian persons. [BUDA: The Founder of Buddhism (Wilda Bird)]

• How do they compare Gotama the Buddha with their Sky Daddy Maheśvara Buddha?
• And their second buddhas?

He makes everyone weep

The development of Śiva concepts: Did they create Śiva for fear?

[The Concept Of Rudra Siva Through The Ages: RUDRA AND RUDRA-ŚIVA (Mahadev Chakravarti, page 1-16):]
(i) Concept of Rudra in the Vedic Literature Rudra is comparatively a minor, though physically attractive, atmospheric god in the Rgveda [...] as a result of fusion with a number of non-Aryan divinities, into the great and powerful god Rudra-Siva, the third deity of the Hindu triad. [...] The last stage of Vedic literature is represented by the Sutras [...] Rudra in the Rgveda represented the ruthlessness of nature [...] But side by side, the healing aspect of the deity is reflected in the ‘beneficent rains loosened by the storm’ which is a very important feature of Rudra’s character and without which he could hardly have been accepted as a god [...] “He is called Rudra because he makes everyone weep [...] Rudra is thus regarded with a kind of cringing fear [...] ‘Bhava’ is explained in various ways, sometimes as the ‘existent’ or ‘eternal’, sometimes as the creator’, the exact opposite of ‘sarva’, the ‘archer’ or ‘destroyer’ [...] Rudra is further elevated to a higher platform in the Atharvaveda [...] Though a destroyer he is not opposed to creation, rather he is recognised as the Lord and Law of all living things. [...] the second part of the Vedic literature, the Brahmanas [...] when '‘the old polytheism was in a condition of decline and the new faith which presents itself in Indian religious history as Saivism was gaining ground [...] Of the eight names Rudra, Sarva, Ugra and Asani are descriptive of his terrific aspect, the other four, Bhava, Pasupati, Mahadeva and Isana, indicating the pacific one. [...] Rudra, in the Satapatha Bralunana, receives oblations on a cross-road, for the cross-road is known to be his favourite haunt. What is injured in the sacrifice, belongs to him

• What is injured in the sacrifice, belongs to him: Devadatta thought the same when he shot down a bird. He was angry at Siddhatta, who kept the injured bird and saved it.
• when '‘the old polytheism was in a condition of decline [...] Saivism was gaining ground: History explains how society has been provided with multiple choice—to buy a faith.
• his terrific aspect, the other four, Bhava, Pasupati, Mahadeva and Isana, indicating the pacific one: Never too late to recognise the Mahayanist names, too:

Maheśvara Mara (his terrific aspect) - Maheśvara Buddha (the pacific one)—Śiva is the most important figure of Mayahana:

[Takasaki] says: - "When Buddhism developed itself into 'Mahayana' Buddhism, it could not but take the appearance of Monism as a result of Absolutization of the Buddha and approach the Upanishadic thinking in its philosophy [Heng-Ching Shih]

• Monotheism and Monism are attavada, the opposite of the Sakyamuni Buddha's Sasana.

[monism] a theory or doctrine that denies the existence of a distinction or duality in a particular sphere, such as that between matter and mind, or God and the world.

• Monism example: Mayayana presents Emptiness the God who rules the imaginary world.
• Citta-mātratā, Citta-gocara (Maheśvara), Ālayavijñāna, Tathāgatagarbha, etc. were developed from the Vedas:

[Hinduism] Siva's Akasha-aspect is named Bhairava. Vajra-bhairava is the first emanation of the [Mayayana] buddhist emptyness, which seems to be equivalent to the akasha of the trimurti.
* Already the Nasadiya Sukta of the Rigveda speaks of a non-nothingness as the beginning of creation.
* An emptiness in the Tapa-Loka is penetrated from the Hindu viewpoint by the Omkara-Shabda of the Ishvara, the basis of existence of the Trimurti.
* The Varaha Upanishade says in chapter 4.18: Like an empty pot in the Akasa (space), emptiness rules both inside and outside; [Sunyata (universal-path.org)]

• buddhist emptyness: but it is Sarvāstivādi sunyavada, Avalokiteśvara's emptiness, not Vibhajjavada. Calling it as Buddhist is misinforming.
• The Ishvara concept is not related to Vibhajjavada, either.
• Consider why the Vibhajjavadi Asoka purged these liars from the Sasana.
• A true Vibhajjavadi would never betray the Buddha.

[Shaivism] In Shivaism, emptiness emerges with the extinction of knowledge. In Vira - Shivaism, emptiness is seen as the true unity and identity of Siva (Linga) and soul (anga).Shaivism [...] The Shiva Sutra [...] the Svacchanda Tantra [...] teaches six gradual contemplations of emptiness up to Paramashiva, as Maya and sunyatisunya as Mahamaya, which runs here as far as Paramshiva. [...] [Sunyata (universal-path.org)]

• emptiness emerges with the extinction of knowledge:
• unity and identity:
• Maya and sunyatisunya as Mahamaya:

[Lanka Chapter 13:] self-realization of Noble Wisdom that fallows the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva's individualized will-control

[Heart (Red):] in emptiness there is [...] no perception, no memory [...] and no mind

• Paramashiva is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (Māheśvara Buddha).
• Maya is maya.
• sunyatisunya (absolute emptiness) is dharmakāya.
• The ultimate truth (paramartha) is emptiness (akasa, nothingness).

Dharmakāya "the reality body", the Buddha as the ultimate reality of emptiness

• The Buddha is Māheśvara.

Maheśvara originally was Śiva [who] was later absorbed into Buddhism [Centaurs on the silk road: recent discoveries of Hellenistic textiles in western China (Robert A. Jones, Page 35)]

Mahayana Designers and Promoters

Gūhasena was referred to as ‘excellent (Buddhist) follower’ (Parama-Upāsaka) [...] Initially, he had himself called Parama-Māheśvara. However, in his latest known charter, he or his clerks shifted to the title Parama-Upāsaka. But all his successors described him and themselves as an adherent of Śiva. Since the beginning of the 7th century, only those early kings were mentioned in genealogies of the later ones, who had considered themselves as Parama-Māheśvara [...] Even those kings who considered as Buddhists instead of bestowed villages and land predominantly on individual brāhmaṇas or large groups of vedic brāhmaṇas and secondarily to the other fields. [Impact of Vedic Culture on Society: Religious Epithets (Brahmanical and Buddhist) (Kaushik Acharya)]

• Sarvāstivādi sutras are very large. They needed a collective effort of many authors. Likely is some powerful individuals sponsored these works.

5.3.5. Mara the Buddha

Lankavatara presents Maheśvara as Citta-gocara. The following quote provides some details:

Shakyamuni is the founder of our Buddhism. [...] ''The king of kings is the Lord of the Sixth Heaven; The saint of saints is the great enlightened Buddha.'' [...] There are six heavens in the Desire Realm. [...] The highest heaven of the Desire Realm is the Sixth Heaven, which is the utmost marvelous heaven. The heaven of Mahesvara, whom we call ''Mara,'' is where the king Mara resides. Many of the ''heavens'' contain pure lands. The pure land in the heaven of Mahesvara is called the ''Supreme Palace of the Dharma Realm.'' [...] The heaven governed by Mahesvara Mara has an inner court and an outer court. The inner court is where Mahesvara Buddha resides. Mahesvara Mara dwells in the outer court. [...] There are residences for heavenly beings, residences for bodhisattvas, and residences for buddhas as well. [...] The Nichiren also gave the highest respect to the Mara of the Sixth Heaven. [...] ''Mara'' actually is a manifestation of ''Buddha,'' a transformation of Buddha. [True Buddha Dharma-character Treasury - Mahesvara Buddha (tbsn.org)]

• king of kings or the lord of lords (see 5.3.2.)
• Śiva the Buddha is Avalokiteśvara, Mahesvara Mara, etc.
• The Sky Daddy is the one talking in Lankavatara and other sutras.
• Shakyamuni is presented as an embodiment of the Sky Daddy, so are other Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
• ''Mara'' actually is a manifestation of ''Buddha,'' a transformation of Buddha: Maheśvara or the māyāvadi Buddha is a Mara.
• Mara who appears in the Pali Canon is Vassavatti Mara; see the end of part 11.

‘Nagarjuna’s Mahesvara:

Again Mandukya-karika says self in the sleep identifies with Ishvara or Turiya, the lord of the universe. This is the lord of all, knower of all; It is the inner ruler.[3]

[3]: K. Venkata Ramanan, ‘Nagarjuna’s Philosophy (As presented in the Maha-Prajnaparamita -shastra)’, Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan, Varanasi, 1971, p. 96
[Mahayana Buddhism and Early Advaita Vedanta (Study) (Asokan N.)]

• Ishvara as the Self is buddha-nature (Tathāgatagarbha) or the true mind (Ālayavijñāna)

Thus, there is no nirvana:

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] Our nature is ultimately pure and subject to neither rebirth nor nirvana. Thus, there are no beings to be liberated, and there is no nirvana to be attained. It is simply that all beings revert to their own nature

• Śiva, the māyāvadi Buddha, Mara, or sunyatisunya is not nirvana.

Ishvara: Śiva the God

Ishvara, in Hinduism, God understood as a person, in contrast to the impersonal transcendent brahman. The title is particularly favoured by devotees of the god Shiva; [Ishvara (Britannica)]

• Śiva and māyā are always together, as the immaterial realm in material state.

Mahākātyāyana (Mahākaccāna)

According to Ten Great Disciples of the Buddha: Mahakatyayana & Mahakasyapa (Mahayanist versions), Mahākātyāyana was a layperson, who sought the someone who could answer 8 questions. Luckily, he found the Sakyamuni. Two of these questions are:

1. Q: Who is the king of kings? A: The king of the kings is the sixth king (Maheśvara Mara).
2. Q: Who is the Holy One? A: The most Holy One is the [Maheśvara] Buddha.

• Upon hearing these answers, Mahākātyāyana became enlightened. However, Māyāvāda has no enlightenment, no nirvana, as there is nobody to enlighten.

Who is Mahākātyāyana (Mahākaccāna)?

the foremost of those who analyse in detail the meaning of what was stated (by me) in brief.

• The Mahayanists do not consider the actual biography of the Venerable Mahākaccāna Thera and the true Dhamma of the Sakyamuni. They use His Dhamma only to cover the true nature of Māyāvāda and make it presentable. Buddhism is like beautiful skin above the rotten fruit.
• Mahayanist has the right to present its dharma. However, it has no right to misappropriate the Buddha Dhamma and insult the Arahants.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 24

Vibhajjavada and Sarvāstivāda: Analysing the Heart Sutra from Theravadin Perspective—Part 24

5.3.6. The Practice

How to get to heaven without fire sacrifices

Om [is] the greatest of all the mantras [...] Thus, om mystically embodies the essence of the entire universe [...] Mantra, in Hinduism and Buddhism, a sacred utterance (syllable, word, or verse) that is considered to possess mystical or spiritual efficacy. [Britannica]

• Om in the Heart Sutra:

[Heart (Thich)] is a Great Mantra, the most illuminating mantra, the highest mantra, a mantra beyond compare

• Om, PARAGATE and mantra are also fundamental to worshipping the Sky Daddy (Śiva):

[Heart (Richard Hayes):] PARAGATE [...] means this: "You Brahmin priests with your fancy fire sacrifices aren't the only ones who get people to heaven. We can do it without killing animals and wasting trees. So there."

• Mahayana is for the worship of the Great Lord for material gain without fire sacrifice.

Mahesvara Buddha Sadhana (tbnews1)

Chant the Emptiness Mantra:
Om, si-ba-wa, su-da, sa-er-wa, da-er-ma, si-ba-wa, su-do-hang. (3 times)
11. Recite the Mahesvara Buddha Heart Mantra (108 times):
Om。mo-xi-shi-la-po-ye。bu-da。so-ha.
Dismissal: Clap twice, then cross hands and snap thumbs and middle fingers.

• That is part of a long procedure in praying to Māheśvara Buddha.
• Māheśvara Buddha and Māheśvara Mara are likely the same.
• Four different Maras were defeated:

[page 155] Heruka is one of the most popular deities of the Buddhist pantheon and a regular Tantra, the Heruka Tantra, is devoted to his worship. Heruka is worshipped singly as well as in yab-yum. When he is in yab-yum he is generally known as Hevajra and in this form he is popular in Tibet

[page 159] "Hevajra of the fourth class is sixteen-armed and bears on his crown the effigy of the Dhyani Buddha Aksobhya. He embraces his Sakti Nairatma. Instead of the corpse under his legs as aforesaid, he has four Maras under his four legs. The first is Skandha Mara in the form of Brahma of yellow colour, the second is Klesa Mara in the form of Visnu of blue colour, the third is Mrtyu Mara in the form of Mahesvara of white colour, and the fourth is Devaputra Mara in the form of Sakra of white colour. On them the four-legged god stands with two legs arranged in Ardhaparyanka and two others in Alldha.
[The Indian Buddhist Iconography (Bhattachacharyya, Benoytosh.)]

• These concepts are not found in the Pali Canon.

Zen, Shaivism and Hinduism: Vijñāna-bhairava-tantra—what is it?

[1st Meaning:] “the terror and joy of realizing oneness with the Soul.” 

Claim the power Of oneness with the Self [...] There is no mind. There is no ego. There is only the incandescent reality. [The Radiance Sutras: The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra (Lorin Roche)]

• That describes emptiness, which is dharmakāya in Mahayana: Citta-mātratā, Ālayavijñāna, Tathāgatagarbha.
• Bhairava is Śiva.

[2nd Meaning:] “The Scripture of the Bhairava [Śiva] who is Consciousness.”

[Bhairava] wanders around, disguised as a naked beggar, he eats and drinks out of a bowl made from a human cranium, and he is accompanied by a dog [...] an impure, outcast sort of creature that Bhairava befriends because he himself is a marginal, liminal figure who stands outside of the norms of society and challenges them in various ways with transgressive ideas and practices. But Bhairava in this text is understood to mean Consciousness: specifically, spacious, open, empty, pure awareness-presence. [Vijnana-bhairava-tantra: introduction and first two verses (hareesh.org)]

• Vijñāna is consciousness, self, soul in this context.

Two books identified by Hareesh:

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: a Zen monk agrees with the bible:

16. Not Far from Buddahood A university student while visiting Gasan asked him: 'Have you ever read the Christian Bible?' [...] The student continued reading: 'Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.' Gasan remarked: ‘That is excellent. Whoever said that is not far from Buddhahood.' [Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (Paul Reps)]

The Book of Secrets: an instruction on levitation, page 180:

You are infinitepower identified with a very finite body. Once you Realize your Self, then weightlessness becomes more and the weight of the body less. Then you can levitate: the body can go up [...] It is good if you can sit naked. Just sit naked on the ground, in the Buddha posture — siddhasan, because siddhasan is the best posture in which to be weightless. [The Book Of The Secrets (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)]

• That is probably how to get the transcendental body (astral-body). [Buddha is a common term used by the religions of India.]

[Lanka Chapter 9:] an astral-body, a "mind-vision-body" (manomayakaya) which the Bodhisattvas are able to assume, as being one of the fruits of self-realization of Noble Wisdom

Māyāvādi bodhisattvas vs Vibhajjavada arahants:

Bodhisattva of an immediate intelligence. These are the people who are out of hand motivated by a great compassion. For them being a bodhisattva is obvious in their life and they do not worry about their own awakening [...] Bodhisattva of a gradual intelligence. These have reached a state very close to the status of arhat after a long practice. At that time only they are ready to pronounce the vows of the bodhisattvas. [The bodhisattva in the Mahayana Buddhism (Dojo Zen de Genève)]

• a state very close to the status of arhat: a Māyāvādi arhat is not a Vabhajjavadi arahant who has perfectly abandoned all the kilesas. A tenth-stage bodhisattva is supposed to have abandoned all the Kleshas.
• do not worry about awakening: an unawaken person can share his imaginations (Kleshas)

How to get rid of Kleshas

The yellow Ratnasambhava transforms pride, the green father Amoghasiddhi jealousy and the red father Amitabha transforms passion. [FIVE DHYANI BUDDHAS (Gyalwae Rig.Nga)]

• So they believe these Buddhas could change kleshas (mental and moral negativities)
• Compare that with Kleshas and sunya of Shaivism:

verse 127 of the Vijnanabhairava: What is free from all carriers, whether from external existing such as glass or flowers, or internal existences such as joy, pain, or thought, which is free from all tattvas or constitutive principles, of traces of Kleshas, that is sunya. [Sunyata (universal-path.org)]

• Kleshas: pollution or contamination of consciousness [PDF File: What is Time?: Yogācāra-Buddhist Meditation on the Problem of the External World in the Treatise on the Perfection of Consciousness-only (Cheng weishi lun) (Jianjun LI)]
• tattvas:

Tattvas of purest subjectivity

Final two tattvas to purest form of subjectivity are Śakti tattva and Śiva tattva, the interdependent tattvas. The impression which comes in these two tattvas is only I, the pure I, the universal I. It is not the impression ‘this universe is my own expansion’ or ‘I am this whole universe,’ no, it is just I, pure I, universal I. [Cidgaganacandrika (study): Part 13 - Thirty-six Tattvas (elements) of Śaivism (S. Mahalakshmi)]

• The original Māyāvādi Tathagata has a similar message presented in Lankavatara.

Lotus: Kleshas in Buddhalands

Only when pollutions are present, purification is necessary.

[Lotus Chapter 8:] In order to purify the Buddhalands, he will be ever vigorous and diligent in teaching and transforming living beings. "He will gradually perfect the Bodhisattva Path, and after limitless Asankhyeya aeons he will in this land attain Anuttarasamyaksambodhi [...] This Buddha shall take great trichiliocosms as many as the sands in the Ganges river as his Buddhaland [...] There will be no evil paths and no women

• transforming living beings: Lankavatara tasks this duty to Buddhas only.
• no evil paths and no women: no female bodhisattvas and Buddhas; Lankavatara presents the same concept of sameness and oneness of Buddhas—i.e. all males.
  • Avalokiteśvara is portrays as a female bodhisattva, however.
• limitless Asankhyeya aeons: nearly forever—they don't like becoming Buddhas and enter nirvana, which is still and extinct.
• This Buddha shall take great trichiliocosms because the concept cannot afford everyone becoming a Buddha. The concept employs estremely long time as a strategy to prevent people from asking, why haven't all humans become Buddhas?

[trichiliocosms (Collins)] A concept found in the cosmology of Mahayana Buddhism in which the universe is said to be comprised of three thousand clusters of world-systems each of which consists of a thousand worlds. [Is it 3000 x 1000 = 3,000,000?]

• The Māyāvādi Buddhas are very busy.
• The Sakyamuni Buddha slept about 2 hours and dwelled in phala-sammapatti for some time. During other parts of the night, the devas in groups from thousands of cakkavalas visited Him. The students came to the Teacher regularly. The Sakyamuni Buddha visited the deva-loka and brahma-loka, too but only for special reasons. The Buddha visited the Bhaka Brahma to release him and other brahmas who admired him from eternalism. Another visit was to Tavatimsa to preach the Abhidhamma:

Abhidhamma in Tavatimsa

According to Buddhist chronicle the Tathagata or Buddha, the Enlightened One, went to the Tavatimsa Heaven to preach Abhidhamma (Higher Subtleties of the Dhamma) to His mother, who passed away seven days after His birth, had been reborn at the Tavatimsa as a Deva, called Santussita. The Buddha propounded Abhidhamma for the first time there in the presence of Santussita and other Devas. At the end of the Rain retreat (Vassa) - the last day of the Buddhist Lent, i.e. on the Full Moon - Day of Thadingyut, the Tathagata descended to earth (to human abode) at the city of Sankassa, about 2563 years ago. [...] [Venerable Aggamahapandita Narada Thera:] "When Sariputta, based on the methods given by the Buddha, preached Abhidhamma to his pupils, the Buddha not only stated that He had expounded the Abhidhamma in Tavatimsa but also narrated this to Sariputta to be left behind as evidence of having done so for the later generation. [THE ABHIDHAMMAPITAKA Vol. 1, No. 3, 1981 (M.M.Gyi)]

• Arguments against the Abhidhammas are invalid.

The red light

Compassion Flowing into the Self [...] As I penetrate the light, at Avalokitesvara’s heart, I see a hotly glowing red light, the red of his father Amitabha. On a lotus and moon throne, is a syllable. A single syllable, representing the essence of Avalokitesvara. This bija mantra is also glowing from Amitabha’s heart. It’s penetrating ruby light shoots out in gentle rays in all directions. Around this seed syllable I can see more letters. It is the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, each syllable of a different colour, representing the six realms. [Avalokitesvara compassion practices can “enhance treatment of anxiety, depression, trauma” say some scientists and clinicians. For the rest of us, his compassion brings us closer to bliss and wisdom. (Buddha Weekly)]

• Compassion Flowing into the Self: Compassion is māyā in Māyāvāda. The Self is absolute emptiness (sunyatisunya) who is using his trikāya (three bodies).
• The Self is fundamental to attavada.

The original, primordial void is composed of ”no-thing.” The ”one dot” represents the outward flow from the primordial buddha, and having flowed outward, it flows back again, then outward, then back once again. This continuous cycle of flowing outward and inward, inward and outward is the ”two grounds.” [True Buddha Dharma-character Treasury – Adharma Buddha (Adi-Buddha) (tbnews1)]

• the Primordial Buddha: also known as Adi-Buddha, the first ever Buddha.
• the Primordial Buddha was adopted into physics Big Bang theory and Singularity.
• The ”one dot”: Singularity.
• Religions are attavada with creation myths and the cosmo or emptiness.

5.3.7. Becoming A Māyāvādi Buddha of the Māyāvādi Buddha

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] It is simply that all beings revert to their own nature.’”

• Māyāvāda presents all beings as māyā, having no self (intrinsic nature) but buddha-nature in them, which reverts to the Māyāvādi Buddha; thus, there is no attainment.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 61):] And that emptiness [or space], that is neither produced nor stopped, is neither defiled nor purified, [...] no path and no development of the path; no attainment, and no reunion

• no reunion: no yoga in Yogachara

Yoga: to unite with the Universal Consciousness;

The word ‘Yoga’ is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘Yuj’, meaning ‘to join’ or ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite’. As per Yogic scriptures the practice of Yoga leads to the union of individual consciousness with that of the Universal Consciousness, indicating a perfect harmony between the mind and body, Man & Nature. [Yoga: Its Origin, History and Development Dr. Ishwar V. Basavaraddi].

Continues at 5.3.8.

Dharmakaya Key Points in Lankavatara:

• become a disciple (sravaka),
• take the bodhisattva vows and become a bodhisattva,
• give up wrong individuation (self) and submit to the original Māyāvādi Tagthagata (bodhisattva stages),
• Noble Wisdom: attains buddhahood upon reaching the tenth-stage after the bodhisattva has completely given up his personalized will-control
• life in buddha-land
• individuation stage: buddhas are many, but all buddhas are one sameness, which is individualised;

TEN STAGES Through NIRVANA

Māyā with the Self

The Path of Foolish Beings: Realizing the Pure Land (Mark Unno) compares the Shin path with the Sakyamuni's path:

Shinran makes a distinction between two key moments [...] the foolish being entrusts herself to Amida Buddha as her deepest reality, and the moment of death, when one enters the Pure Land, nirvana, emptiness. [...] The distinction between the two is roughly equivalent to the difference between [...] attainment of nirvana [...] and his entrance into parinirvana

• entrusts herself to Amida Buddha = nirvana
• the moment of death = parinirvana
• Lotus: Kleshas in Buddhalands (is explained above.)

[Lanka Chapter 13:] Nirvana is where the Bodhisattva stages are passed one after another... where the Tathagata stage is finally realized.

• Prajnaparamita presents ten stages with different descriptions.
• The Lotus Sutra does not present these stages

[Lanka Chapter 7:] As to the third; he must recognize and patiently accept the fact that his own mind and personality is also mind-constructed, that it is empty of substance, unborn and egoless. 

The transcendental body (mind-vision-body)

[Lanka Chapter 9:] in the work of achieving and perfecting; it comes with the eighth stage of Bodhisattvahood...By entering into these exalted Samadhis he attains a personality that transcends the conscious-mind... This transcendental body is ... is furnished with all the differences appertaining to the world of form but without their limitations; possessed of this "mind-vision-body" he is able to be present in all the assemblages in all the Buddha-lands.

• a personality that transcends the conscious-mind sounds like a supernatural power.
• The conscious-mind is either consciousness (buddha-svabhāva) or māyā's mind.
• a personality that transcends the conscious-mind: What does that mean? It's not a jhanic state. Thich Quang Duc demonstrated a perfect jhanic state, in which the mind becomes extremely focused and loses contact with the five senses. The mind can visit far distance but not leaving the physical body. One passes away when the body and mind do not occur together.
• the eighth stage: personality without one's consciousness sounds like being possessed by buddha-svabhāva (which is inside the bodhisattva all along)
• the tenth stage: buddha-svabhāva reveals itself as a Tathagata or reverts to his own nature (emptiness or the Māyāvādi Buddha).

[Lanka Chapter 9:] an astral-body, a "mind-vision-body" (manomayakaya) which the Bodhisattvas are able to assume, as being one of the fruits of self-realization of Noble Wisdom

• mind-vision-body is not the physical body (māyā) is seen of the mind—then what is it?
• It's not cittaja rupa.

[cittaja rupa is] kayavinatti [gesture] and vacivinatti [speech;] they are purely generated by citta alone. [Theravada glossary/Htoo Naing]

Towards Buddhahood

a personality that transcends the conscious-mind

a "mind-vision-body"

[Lanka Chapter 12:] His mind concentrated on the state of Buddhahood, he will become thoroughly conversant with the noble truth of self-realization; he will become perfect master of his own mind; he will be like a gem radiating many colors; he will be able to assume bodies of transformation; he will be able to enter into the minds of all to help them; and; finally, by gradually ascending the stages he will become established in the perfect Transcendental Intelligence of the Tathagatas.

• His mind: is it the conscious-mind?
• a gem radiating many colors is physical in Citta-gocara (thought realm).
• Up to this stage, māyā is treated as real and physical—against the notion of Citta-mātratā.

Towards buddhahood is towards Śiva (Maheśvara Buddha), the ruler of all three realms of samsara (wiki)

• The number of beings is finite in the Māyāvādi world concept.
• Māyāvādi bodhisattvas are tasked to persuade all beings to seek buddhahoood.
• Māyāvādi Buddhas are tasked with emancipation.
• Each Māyāvādi Buddha resides and teaches in his own trichiliocosms.
• A tenth-stage bodhisattva is techically a Māyāvādi Buddha.
• Avalokiteśvara, a tenth-stage bodhisattva, must wait his turn to become a Buddha, according to the Amitābha Sutra.
• They speak the non-dual language:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] ideas are indicated by looking steadily, in other gestures, in still others by a frown, by a movement of the eyes, by laughing, by yawning, by the clearing of the throat, or by trembling.

Lankavatara, Lotus and other sutras present two bodhisattva paths:

• Anyone can become a bodhisattva vs
• A savaka after passing the sixth-stage (as an arhat or a master) can become a bodhisattva if postponing/skipping nirvana.

Sarvāstivādi māyā is eternal if not escape from samsara:

• Māyā (imagination) is independent from the mind, so it does not know or seek buddhahood voluntarily.
• Sarvāstivādi māyā is not independent because inside it is Tathāgatagarbha (the true mind), which will reveal itself as Tathagata when māyā gets rid of māyā.

Samsara: svacitta-drsya-mātram

[Lanka Chapter 3:] the fundamental fact that the external world is nothing but a manifestation of mind... emptiness, no-birth, and no self-nature.

• The external world is māyā (imagination), as a manifestation of mind.

[Laṅkā (wiki):] what is seen as something external is nothing but one's own mind" (svacitta-drsya-mātram).[12]

• Mind sees itself (not imagination) as the external world.

Brahmanism and Mahayana share the mind system:

According to the Vedantic view, beyond this awareness is another, deeper awareness of Brahman as absolute consciousness [Brahma consciousness (UIA)]

• awareness of Brahman is similar to the true mind (Ālayavijñāna/Tathāgatagarbha).
• this awareness is māyā's mind.

True mind or Māyā's mind?

[Lanka Chapter 11:] The transition from mortal-body to Transcendental-body has nothing to do with mortal death, for the old body continues to function and the old mind serves the needs of the old body, but now it is free from the control of mortal mind

• nothing to do with mortal death: eternal—sassataditthi;
• the old mind is not mortal mind.
• Is mortal mind māyā's mind?
• How many types of bodies and minds are there?
• In explaining the Transcendental-body, Lankavatara points out how Ālayavijñāna (the old mind?) gets free from the old body and/or mortal-body (māyā), which is imaginary—seen of the mind itself.

[Lanka PREFACE (Red):] sva–citta–dryshya–matra: “nothing but the perceptions of our own mind.”urse, a tautology. A=A. But then what Buddhist teaching isn’t a tautology?

• our own mind: it must be the true mind (Ālayavijñāna); but is it the old mind or mortal mind?
• So what is one's own mind: Ālayavijñāna inside māyā or māyā's mind inside māyā?
• Is our own mind Ālayavijñāna?
• According to Lankavatara:
  • Ālayavijñāna (true mind) sees mirage as mirage. Seeing with the true mind means one is intelligible, communicable, normal, functioning properly.
  • Māyā's minds sees mirage as water. If one sees with māyā's mind, one does not see things correctly. A car would be seen as a cow. A cat would be seen as a possom. Seeing with māyā's mind means one is unintelligible, lunatic, crazy.
• our own mind must be Ālayavijñāna.
  • All of us are māyā.
  • But māyā's mind is not shared, so each of us has māyā's mind and the true mind (Ālayavijñāna). The latter is shared.

Svacitta-drsya-mātram: Ālayavijñāna

The meaning of 'seen of the mind itself' —

• the mind is solid, liquid, gas, heat, space and māyā, which perceives itself as Oneness (dharmakaya), otherness, etc.
• We are one; we are māyā.
• We are all of us, living and nonliving things.
• We are only imaginary see by our own mind (Ālayavijñāna).
• Māyā is real because māyā (the mind) sees so.
• You or I are real because our mind sees so.
• you and me are our own mind because it sees/discriminates so.

[Lanka Chapter 2:] [Tathagata] teaches the cessation of suffering that arises from the discriminations of the triple world.

• Tathagata of the triple world is the ruler of all three realms of samsara.
• the cessation of suffering is the cessation of a unit of māyā.
  • Māyā is all of us. But Māyā is not all of us when it comes to nirvana.

[Heart (Thich):] [Avalokiteśvara] destroy all wrong perceptions and realize Perfect Nirvana.

• Avalokiteśvara is māyā.
• Māyā is all wrong perceptions.
• Māyā is the external world.
• When Avalokiteśvara māyā destroys the all-wrong-perceptions māyā, the external-world māyā remains undestroyed.
• The cessation-of-suffering māyā is just a lie (our own mind), which is whatever we see or think or feel is our own mind

Perfect Nirvana, although there is no nirvana (not Nibbana)

[Lanka Chapter 13:] In this perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom the Bodhisattva realizes that for the Buddhas there is no Nirvana

• no Nirvana in space, in existence are only Maheśvara, Akanistha, Tushita and all three realms in physical nature.

nirvana refers to a state of complete freedom, liberation and enlightenment, in total peace and bliss; the goal of Buddhism. [Nirvana (UIA)]

• Nirvana: the cessation of suffering māyā or the bodhisattva's individualized will-control (Lanka)
• Māyāvadi nirvana [space] is our own mind (paramārtha):

[Mahāsaṃnipāta:] That which makes the space of objects (gocara), being a space without objects, that is the highest truth (paramārtha),

• Māyāvādi paramārtha is not related to Vibhajjavadi Paramattha.

PARAMATTHA (Venerable Pakoku Sayadaw) (Reddit post): The Sakyamuni taught that there are four Paramattha: Citta, cetasika, rupa, Nibbana (mind, mental concomitants, physics, cessation). Citta, cetasika and rupa suffer as they rise and fall. Nibbana is the relief from rising and suffering. The world is not Mind-only. There are four mahabhuta (fundamental elements): pathavi, tejo, apo, vayo (solid, heat, liquid, gas).

Paramārtha

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 61):] And that emptiness [or space], that is neither produced nor stopped, is neither defiled nor purified, [...] no path and no development of the path; no attainment, and no reunion

• That is probably how Avalokiteśvara became a tenth-stage bodhisattva.
• no reunion: all reunion must be changed to reversion.
• Māyā (Avalokiteśvara) is not reuniting with space (emptiness/our own mind).
  • Unreality (māyā) came out and separated from reality, but it's still in space (paramartha).
  • When unreality disappears in space, it's back to its origin—need no attainment, nor reunion.
• Māyā (the mortals) comes from Emptiness (our own mind or space) but is lost in the samsara.
• Inside māyā is the indestructible buddha-nature, which will reveal itself as the Tathagata.
  • That's why there is no renion but revealing by the Tathagata inside the mortals, which are our own mind.
• Everything is only our own mind, including our own mind.
• That is non-duality.
  • In ultimate sense, it is neither Nirvana nor samsara.
  • On the other hand, it is both in one space:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] Even Nirvana and Samsara's world of life and death are aspects of the same thing, for there is no Nirvana except where is Samsara, and Samsara except where is Nirvana.

Citta-mātratā:

• [Lanka] Samsara (māyā) and nirvana (Noble Wisdom) are the same space (Dharmakaya)
• [Prajnaparamita] emptiness is neither produced nor stopped
• [Lotus] [nirvana] in the end returns [reunite] to emptiness
• [Mahāsaṃnipāta:] space without objects is the highest truth (paramārtha)
• [Shin path] one enters the Pure Land, nirvana, emptiness.
• [Heart] Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

If there is no Mind, there is no Māyā

Māyā exists for the Māyāvādi buddha

• Lankavatara points out the mind itself is the problem:

[Lanka Chapter 6:] If there had been no Tathagata-womb and no Divine Mind then there would have been no rising and disappearance of the aggregates that make up personality and its external world,

• Māyā exists only because of two things:
  • Tathagata-womb (Tathāgatagarbha)
  • Divine Mind (Ālayavijñāna/original Māyāvādi Tathagata)
• Māyā (kleshas) rise in the mind/buddha.

[Lanka Chapter 8:] Those earnest disciples and masters who wish to fully understand all the aspects of the different stages of Bodhisattvahood by the aid of their right-knowledge must do so by becoming thoroughly conviced that objects of discrimination are only seen to be so by the mind and, thus, by keeping themselves away from all discriminations and false reasonings which are also of the mind itself, by ever seeking to see things truly (yathabhutam), and by planting roots of goodness in Buddha-lands that know no limits made by differentiations.

• only seen to be so by the mind and ... also of the mind itself: The mind (citta-mātratā) is reality) sees the imaginaries of the mind in the mind.
• Kleshas: everything acceptable and unacceptable is happening inside this mind (the Sky Daddy/buddha-svabhāva), which is shared among māyā: imaginary emptiness (svabhāva-sunya).
• The sutras would not explain:
  • why this perfect mind (the Māyāvādi Buddha) suffers from the imaginary kleshas, which has no self-nature,
  • and why the Māyāvādi buddha waits forever to end suffering.

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] It is simply that all beings revert to their own nature.’”

• How did their own nature (buddha-svabhāva) turn into māyā but also remain as Ālayavijñāna/buddha-svabhāva)?

All that we see and hear and think of as objects of the vijnanas are what rise and disappear in and of the Mind-only [Introduction to the Lankavatara Sutra (D.T. Suzuki)]

From emptiness, came the imagination, which is only the manifestation of mind.

• Unlike Brahmanism that presents Brahma as the creator of māyā, Sarvāstivādi Māyāvada does not explain:
  • how māyā came to be, and why it exists as countless individuals, and
  • why Tathāgatagarbha is inside māyā.
• Māyā: the imagination of māyā and the imagination of Śiva, the ruler of all three realms of samsara (wiki).

Why can't the mind stop imagining? Creationists complain about suffering without blaming the creator. Māyāvādis have no chance to complain, as Māyāvāda teaches them they do not exist as reality.