Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 25-38

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda: Analysing the Heart Sutra from Theravadin Perspective—Part 25-38

 Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 25

5.3.8. Yogācāra

Sarvāstivādi Māyāvada/Vijnanavada/Bodhisattvayāna

[Yoga is] the union of individual consciousness with that of the Universal Consciousness, indicating a perfect harmony between the mind and body, Man & Nature.

• the union of individual consciousness with that of the Universal Consciousness,
  • individual consciousness : māyā's mind
  • the Universal Consciousness : Ālayavijñāna/Tathāgatagarbha inside māyā

[Yogapedia: Yogachara argues that] reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist and that only the experience of what happens in the mind or consciousness exists [...] focuses on the practice of yoga as a path to liberation from the phenomenal world

• the phenomenal world : reality that does not exist
• liberation from the phenomenal world : liberation from the eality that does not exist;

If reality, perceived by humans, does not exist, then humans cannot perceive reality if it exists beause whenever humans perceive reality, it would become nonexistent. That concept is self-defeating because it also argues humans can perceive Yogachara, Mahayana, the sutras, the eternal Tathagata, bodhisattvas, emptiness, Tathāgatagarbha, citta-mātratā, nirvana, liberation, emancipation... duality and nonduality.

Yogachara cannot argue reality cannot be perceived while presenting its concepts as reality. Yogachara's goal is liberation from the phenomenal world that does not exist.

Natthika Ditthi

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

• All buddhas, all bodhisattvas and all other living and nonliving things are only the original/eternal/three-time Sarvāstivādi Buddha.
• The mind/Ālayavijñāna/Tathāgatagarbha is one.

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

• Even that mind is nonexistent: [Heart:] no body and no mind; [Roche:] There is no mind.
• Māyāvāda claims everything other than emptiness is false imagination. This concept has been in East Asia for over 2000 years. Why did the external world begin? How did māyā and the mind begin? How did they meet and how did the false imagination begin?

Natthika, (adj. -n.) (Sk. nāstika) one who professes the motto of “natthi, ” a sceptic, nihilist

• Oneness rejects otherness. Only me. You do not exist.

natthi : [na + atthi] no; not; not present.

• Examples:

natthi rāgasamo aggi — There is no fire like passion.
natthi dosasamo kali — There is no evil like hatred.
natthi khandhasamā dukkhā — There is no suffering like the Aggregates of existence.
natthi santiparaṃ sukhaṃ — There is no happiness higher than tranquility.
(Dhammapada 202)

• Reality: Fire, hatred, aggregates of existence and tranquility exist as paramattha (realities).
• Reality is emptiness means it does not exist. Nonexistence is reality (paramartha).
• That is nihilism.

2. Natthikavada: The school which upholds that all things do not exist (nihilism). [8 The Middle Teaching]

Natthika Ditthi: is the wrong view which denies both the Law of Causality and the Resultant effect. It emphasizes that all animate or inanimate things are causeless, and deeds good or evil will not bear any fruit and have no meaning and will amount to nothing. [The Doctrine of Paticcasamuppada: Chapter 13 - Sakkaya Ditthi (U Than Daing)]

• The statement reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist is the denial of kamma-vipaka; and thus, Sarvāstivāda belongs to natthikavada.

ii. The Doctrines of Non-doing and Doing

A: Examination of doctrine of non-doing (akiriyavada) = doctrine that moral distinctions are not real: no evil in bad actions, no merit in good actions (for full statement of view, see MN 76, pp. 620-21; at DN 2 ascribed to Purana Kassapa)

B: Examination of doctrine of doing (kiriyavada) = doctrine that moral distinctions are real: evil in bad actions, merit in good actions (Details as in the treatment of the nihilist and affirmationist views.) [Apannaka Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya No. 60) (BODHI MONASTERY)]

(1) all things exist (2) all things do not exist vs Paticcasamuppada:

The Middle Way in Buddhism does not accept any two extremes of the following four statements of the materialistic view: (1) The view that all things exist is one extreme materialistic view; (2) The view that all things do not exist is the second materialistic view; [...] Buddhism proclaims a balanced teaching that avoids these extremes. Thus:
With ignorance rooted in greed, hate and delusion, as condition there are volitional impulses [Avijja-paccaya Sankhara...] (S.II.77). [Traditions and Contemporary Challenges in Southeast Asia: Hindu and Buddhist (Warayuth Sriwarakuel, Manuel B. Dy, J. Haryatmoko, Nguyen Trong Chuan, Chhay Yiheang)]

The Magga Sacca

Many of the important truths of Buddhism are considered to lie between two extreme points of view: Extreme realism, which says that “everything exists” (sabbaṃ atthīti) is one extreme and extreme nihilism which asserts that nothing exists” (sabbaṃ natthīti) is the other extreme—the truth lies in the middle (S II 76). [Knowledge and Conduct Buddhist Contributions to Philosophy and Ethics (Prof. O. H. de A. Wijesekera Dr. K. N. Jayatilleke Prof. E. A. Burtt)]

• Void/emptiness as reality (paramartha) is the second extreme. that presents māyā (imaginary).
• The primordial Buddha who is everything is the first extreme.
• Sarvāstivāda takes these two extremes, although it claims it has taken the middle. It is incapable of taking the middle way. The Sarvāstivādis did not know the Magga Sacca.

Sarvāstivādi Ducks

reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist

the two truths (satyadvaya) proposed by Madhyamaka and the three natures (trisvabhāva) proposed by Yogācāra [...] are not necessarily mutually exclusive. [Madhyamaka and Yogacara Allies or Rivals? (Jay L. Garfield and Jan Westerhoff)]

• Duck 1: the two truths
• Duck 2: the three natures
• The two ducks: reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist
• Not the two ducks: What's The Difference Between Peking Duck And Cantonese Roast Duck?

Yogachara: humans cannot perceive reality

[Lanka Chapter 1:] their thought obsessed with ideas of birth, growth and destruction, not well understanding what is meant by existence and non-existence, and being impressed by erroneous discriminations and speculations since beginningless time, fall into the habit of grasping this and that and thereby becoming attached to them.

• When māyā (an individual) has overcome māyā (the perception of individuals/duality), the indestructible buddha-nature will reveal itself as Tathagata.
• Two ducks: That is not reality. Reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist

[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:

• That is the tenth stage of Nirvana
• Two ducks: That is not reality. Reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Thus passing beyond the last stage of Bodhisattvahood, he becomes a Tathagata himself

• But he is our own mind—the Oneness.
• Two ducks: That is not reality. Reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist

Each being possesses this storage consciousness, which thus becomes a kind of collective consciousness that orders human perceptions of the world, though this world does not exist. [Yogachara (Britannica)]

• this world [māyā] does not exist: There is nothing physical because it is our own mind (Space).
• Space we see is the inconceivable/indescribable Ultimate Reality.
• Two ducks: That is not reality. Reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist
• Space is Dukkha Sacca, one of the Four Noble Truths.

The Ultimate Reality or Absolute is indescribable in terms of empirical discourse. However it is not a mere bundle of negatives. It is very positive in itself [The problem of reality in Mahayana Buddhism (NORIHIKO TANAKA)]

• Not understanding much about the Māyāvadi Ultimate Reality seems to be normal in Vijnanavada/Sarvāstivādi Māyāvada.
• Illusion and reality are the two aspects of the same thing: the true mind (the original Māyāvādi Tathagata).
• Two ducks: That is not reality. Reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist

[Lanka PREFACE (Red):] sva–citta–dryshya–matra: “nothing but the perceptions of our own mind.”

• our own mind is Ālayavijñāna, not māyā's mind, as explained above.

All Hindu philosophies, however, not only the Vedantic, but Sankhya and [Mahayana] agree in rejecting the materialistic reading of the Universe and oppose to the well-tested certainties of Science certainties as well-tested of their own. [The Eternal in His Universe: IX. Spirit and Matter (The Incarnate Word)]

• Two ducks: That is not reality. Reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist
• rejecting the materialistic : natthikavada

5.3.9. What is seen of the mind itself?

[Lanka Chapter 1:] Mahamati, since the ignorant and simple-minded, not knowing that the world is only something seen of the mind itself

• Other than their own mind, what else also deceives these ignorant and simple-minded?
• Ālayavijñāna can see/imagine māyā to come and exist as the mass made of solid, liquid, gas and heat.
• That something is imaginary, but are we? Did the authors believe they were mere imaginary? Why does anyone accept he/she is mere something imaginary as reality?
• D.T. Suzuki explains:

By "what is seen of the Mind-only" is meant this visible world including that which is generally known as mind [...] 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]

• Our experience says we have feeling as being sentient. We may conclude we are not imagination.
• The eyes cannot see themselves, so our own mind has never seen our own eyes directly (but only in a mirror). Everything under the skin has never been seen either, but we know there are bones...
• And behind the world, in other streets, towns, cities and across the world...
• Sound is not seen. Smell is not seen. Taste is not seen, either.
• Absurd to believe imaginary (māyā, seen of the mind) has its own mind that can imagine.
• The mind has no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no nose to smell...
• So absurd to believe the mind has eyes to see, smell, touch, taste and hear.
• If the mind is not present, the eyes do not see, the ears do not hear, the nose does not smell...That is how body and mind are interdependent, which the māyāvadis did not understand, so they made a religion out of the 'mind only' theory.

[Lanka Chapter 7:] Self-Realization [...] The Blessed One replied: There are four things by the fulfilling of which an earnest disciple may gain self-realization of Noble Wisdom and become Bodhisattva-Mahasattva: First, he must have a clear understanding that all things are only manifestations of mind itself;

• The Blessed One of the Māyāvadis said they must accept they are their own imagination.
• But they can't believe it, and they cannot leave it.

[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.

• Getting rid of the discriminating mortal-mind is Nirvana: nirvana is when māyā is asleep.
• Māyā needs some sleep.
• When māyā sleeps, does the world of māyā still exist?
• Which mind sees during māyā's mind is inactive?

[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.

• Our nature is ultimately pure and there is no discrimination to get rid of.

Avalokiteśvara's Natthikavada

i.­3 the ones teaching emptiness (śūnyatā), the absence of distinguishing marks (ānimitta), and the absence of anything to long for (apraṇidhāna)‍ [Āryākṣaya­mati­nirdeśa­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra]

• Q: How does emptiness originally define itself without the act of māyā/discription/discrimination (Emptiness is Tathagata, Space, Dharmakaya, Paramartha, Ālayavijñāna, Tathāgatagarbha, language, writing, book, etc.)?
• A: (What might be the answer?)

[Heart (Red):] all dharmas are defined by emptiness
not birth or destruction, purity or defilement, completeness or deficiency [...] 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;

• and no discrimination.
• Q: What are the dharmas?
• A: emptiness, form, sensation, perception, memory, consciousness, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind;
• Q: no mind?
• A: No māyā's mind maybe. If No citta-mātratā, then no reality to perceive.
• Q: But don't we (as māyā with māyā's minds) suffer in samsara from birth-to-birth and death-to-death?
• A: Yes, we do, unfortunately.
  • Māyā (seen of the mind is imaginary, imagination) is samsara
  • Two ducks: reality, as perceived by humans, does not exist

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

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form

Avalokiteśvara presents form (five aggregates) as nonexistent, seen-of-the-mind. the perceptions of our own mind... Thus, there are no ear, no nose, no tongue...

[Heart (Thich) acknowledges suffering is reality:] “Just now you said that the nose doesn’t exist. But if the nose doesn’t exist then what’s hurting?”

• Vedana is cetasika (a reality).
• Thich realised something isn't right about the concept, but he could not let go of the concept and firmly clinged to it. He simply accepted 'emptiness is not empty'.
• He rejected the concept of imaginary, māyā, space the ultimate reality (paramartha).

[Heart (Dharmanet):] [Thich Nhat Hanh:] in India, a circle means totality, wholeness...So “form is emptiness, emptiness is form” is like wave is water, water is wave. “Form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form...

• form is emptiness—wave is water.
• Wave is water, anyway.
• Water and wave are form, imaginary, seen-of-the-mind.
• Form [māyā] does not differ from emptiness [true mind]. Space is alive, and its imagination is māyā.

So Thich Nhat Hanh explains another way:

[Heart (Thich):] Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, is a skillful means created temporarily by the Buddhas of the three times. Emptiness is not form, form is not emptiness Their nature is always pure and illuminating, neither caught in being nor in non-being [...] the Eminent Master Tue Trung seems to contradict the Heart Sutra [...] inviolable in the Prajñāpāramitā literature.

• Their nature is our own mind/Ālayavijñāna/Tathāgatagarbha.
• always pure : have no kleshas.
• created temporarily for whom? Only Sariputra and Avalokiteśvara are present in the Heart Sutra.
• Master Tue Trung seems to contradict the Heart Sutra:

The Mahayanists are free to differ and reject some concepts and sutras. They have reformist blood in them. Devadatta was the first reformist, who tried to reform the Dhamma and Vinaya.

• Emptiness is space, is alive, is our own mind, is the only reality, is the buddha-svabhāva, is the Self. is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (the primordial Buddha).
• Emptiness (sunyata) is the nonexistent of self-nature of form, māyā, imaginary.
• Emptiness is form, māyā, imaginary.

Tathāgatagarbha inside Embryos

Lankavatara presents Avalokiteśvara's concept (form is emptiness) as no birth, growth and destruction.

[Lanka Chapter 1:] their thought obsessed with ideas of birth, growth and destruction

• Embryos are very innocent, as they do not have knowledge, the active mind (Ālayavijñāna and Tathāgatagarbha) for attachment and discrimination.
• Adult humans might be obsessed with birth, growth or destruction.
  • Embryos and infents would not have a worldview like that.
  • If they are born in peaceful families and communities, they would be taught to be kind, respectful and supportive.
• Life begins with no such thought and false imagination but perfect stillness. Should we appreciate this?
• Embryos grow and begin to move. For that, should we blame our own mind?
• Low-intelligent species like hummingbirds and earthworms would never have such complex thought.
• We cannot know their minds; however, we could say beings inside the wombs and eggs are innocent, as they have not seen anyone or anything to discriminate.

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] It is simply that all beings revert to their own nature.’”

• Revert: to come or go back (as to a former condition, period, or subject) [merriam-webster]
• To revert back to Tathagata—was everyone a Buddha before?

[Lanka Chapter 1:] Mahamati, since the ignorant and simple-minded, not knowing that the world is only something seen of the mind itself, cling to the multitudiousness of external objects, cling to the notions of being and non-being, oneness and otherness, bothness and non-bothness, existence and non-existence, eternity and non-eternity, and think that they have a self-nature of their own, and all of which rises from the discriminations of the mind and is perpetuated by habit-energy, and from which they are given over to false imagination. 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.

Ālayavijñāna/vs/Tathāgatagarbha

At stake were a set of specific doctrinal issues as to whether and how the Yogācāra ālayavijñāna-vāsanā model could be reconciled with [1] buddha nature theory

• They accused the Buddha of teaching their theories:

i.­3 For the Yogācārins, the doctrine of imperishability was regarded as a very important aspect of the Buddha’s teachings

At the beginning of time, when was māyā born out of emptiness to witness itself as the external world and the ignorant and simple-minded who did not know they were only seen of the mind (Ālayavijñāna)?

• What came first: māyā the ignorant and simple-minded or māyā the external world?
• What came first inside the first embryo: Ālayavijñāna or Tathāgatagarbha?

At the beginning of time, Ālayavijñāna or Tathāgatagarbha inside the first embryos were not yet exposed to the external world and discrimination. The storehouses were never been filled. They were Buddhas or the tenth-stage bodhisattvas.

• imagined by animals who, made thirsty by the heat of the season. 
  • Thirst is not seen by the mind (Ālayavijñāna). Is it?
  • As thirst is not seen by the mind, how can it be with something seen by the mind?
  • As death is not seen by the mind, how can something seen by the mind die?

Āryākṣaya­mati­nirdeśa­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra:

1.­272 The mind cannot be known by the mind. The mind cannot be seen by the mind. It does not connect itself to a future mind. What is the mind? It is that by which one thinks, ‘I will awaken to incomparable perfect awakening. The mind of awakening, however, does not dwell together with the roots of virtue, the mind of the roots of virtue does not dwell together with the mind that dedicates, and the mind that dedicates does not dwell together with the mind of awakening.’ If the bodhisatvas do not become afraid, scared, or terrified when they reflect in this way, they are ones who continually consider the mind. [ (Jens Braarvig and David Welsh. 84000)]

• Is that mind [i.­3] the all-ground consciousness (ālayavijñāna)?
• Why wasn't it awaken on the day one of imagination/creation?

Diamond Sutra

All dharmas are without self, because they have no self-mastery [...] All dharmas cannot be obtained, because in searching for their mark, it cannot be found." That explains the principle and tendency of the emptiness of the nature [...] (p91) To have no dwelling is to have no attachment. No attachment is liberation [...] (p114) When one completely attains the sixteenth heart, Subsequent Wisdom Regarding the Way, that is certification to the first fruit of Arhatship. It is called a Way of Liberation, for at that point delusion is completely severed and liberation is obtained. [...] (p195) If a Bodhisattva says, “I am able to take living beings across to extinction," he has a mark of self. If he says “I can take others across," he has a mark of others. [...] (p202) If he has a self and relies on the word “I" so that he says “I take living beings across and liberate them," then he is not a Bodhisattva
[DIAMOND (Dhyana Master Hsüan Hua)]

• All dharmas cannot be obtained: that sounds like anattavada
• their mark: emptiness—it is nihilistic view (natthika ditthi)
• the emptiness of the nature: that is liberation or extinction in the Mahayanist term. Emptiness as liberation is more like extinction, which constitutes nihilism.
• If he says “I can take others across,": (1) He rejects others from becoming bodhisattvas. (2) Liberation does not need one's own effort. (3) Praying to be reborn in Pureland.
• If he has a self and relies on the word “I": Master Hsüan Hua did not consider using 'I' is not the same as believing in 'I'. Merely avoiding the word 'I' does not lead to liberation from 'I' as long as the belief is sustained.
• Arhatship. It is called a Way of Liberation: That is not the arhatship condemned by Mahayana but attained by the arahants.
• A Sammasambuddha is someone who takes the burden of showing the path to Nibbana saying, Let me show you the path! Come and see! Arahants are the people of integrity who take the burden of showing the path shown by the Sammasambuddhas, saying, come and see the four Paramatthas.
• How could a bodhisattva show emptiness, which can only be perceived? Space/emptiness around everyone and everything can only be perceived just as objects in the surroundings are perceived.
• Perception is not yatha-bhuta-nana-dassana (direct knowledge) experienced during observation—samatha-vipassana.
• Space is inside, too, among the cells. However, space inside is not something we can know directly. We can see, or perceive, but we cannot experience it for the development of vipassana insight.

There Are No Beings to Liberate "Subhuti, do not say that the Buddha has the idea, 'I will lead all sentient beings to Nirvana.' Do not think that way, Subhuti. Why? In truth there is not one single being for the Buddha to lead to Enlightenment. If the Buddha were to think there was, he would be caught in the idea of a self, a person, a living being, or a universal self. [DIAMOND (Alex Johnson, p20) Chapter 25.]

• That's just as Master Hsüan Hua said, "If he has a self and relies on the word “I" so that he says “I take living beings across and liberate them," then he is not a Bodhisattva ."
• The Māyāvādi Buddha does not lead to Nirvana.

not a single being is liberated

• If he has a self and relies on the word “I", he's a Buddha, an embodiment of the primordial Buddha, the original Māyāvādi Tathagata.

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] 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.’ And why not? Subhuti, a bodhisattva who creates the perception of a being cannot be called a ‘bodhisattva.’ Neither can someone who creates the perception of a life or even the perception of a soul be called a ‘bodhisattva.’ [...] ‘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.’” [...] Whoever is able to understand that form and nature are both empty and able to eliminate both existence and non-existence, and to forget both words and silence, sees that their own nature is pure [...] The Lotus Sutra says, “We only use expedient names to lead beings to enter the gate and see their own nature [...] “The Buddha was concerned that his disciples might become attached to the perception of forbearance and uselessly give up their body without the slightest benefit to their own nature or the nature of others [...] Yen-ping says, “Anyone who can uphold and recite this sutra will see that their own nature is like the sky, and they will at once realize that the nature of their karma is also empty.” [...] All words, teachings, and dharmas are without form or conditions and lead deluded people to see their own nature and to cultivate and realize supreme enlightenment.” [...] Ch’en Hsiung says, “The Fifth Patriarch once said, ‘If people are blind to their own nature, how can merit help?’ And the Sixth Patriarch added, ‘They spend endless ages at sea searching for pearls unaware of the seven jewels within themselves.’ These two buddhas were concerned that instead of cultivating themselves and realizing their own nature, people would take the path of seeking merit through the offering of jewels.”

• Māyā is able to understand that, but how?
• Māyā can become a bodhisattva by giving up māyā. But he is still seen of the mind. He might know what emptiness (paramartha) is but is not emptiness himself.

Sutras do not need to agree:

• Our nature : beings' nature does not exist; māyā is svabhāva-sunya—form is emptiness and 'seen of the mind' (imagination).
• Buddha-svabhāva is ultimately pure; but it's not our nature. And what is it doing inside imagination (māyā)?
• Finding the Buddha In You
• You have the Buddha in you
• Do you hear the Buddha inside you?
• How to Awaken Your Inner Buddha
• and subject to neither rebirth nor nirvana: Buddha inside māyā is not reborn.
• Imagination (māyā) cannot be reborn, either.
• Nihilism is hidden in plain sight.

[Lanka Chapter 5:] Getting rid of the discriminating mortal-mind is Nirvana.

• Why doesn't the buddha just leave māyā (imagination)? The buddha cannot just leave māyā because the buddha is trapped.
• 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.’”
• It is simply that all beings revert to their own nature:
• a bodhisattva who creates the perception of a being cannot be called a ‘bodhisattva’: If there are no beings, then there are no beings to be liberated. No liberation because beings don't exist in the Māyāvādi world. If a bodhisattva perceives himself as a being, he must be delusional. If he does not know his reality is māyā, he is not enlightened. However, what made him become a bodhisattva in the first place?

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 26

Māyā is not responsible for existence.

Links: Heart (Thich); Heart (Red); Lanka LXXV (Red); Lanka Chapter; Lotus Chapter;

5.3.10. Dharmakaya-Svabhāva: Absolute Emptiness in All Beings and of All Dharmas

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

• Dharmakaya or emptiness is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (primordial Buddha). The concept suggests there are two parts of Dharmakaya: Maheśvara (Mara/Buddha) and māyā (imagination).

[Lanka Chapter 3:]Thus Universal Mind becomes the storage and clearing house of all the accumulated products of mentation and action since beginningless time

• Q: Which of these two came first? A: Maheśvara (Mara/Buddha), obviously.

[three 'tathagatagarbha' texts] argue that the 'tathagatagarbha'/Buddha nature does not represent a substantial self ('atman') [but the] expression of 'sunyata' (emptiness) and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood

1/- 'Dharmakaya-svabhava': [Dhar-ma rin-chen:] the 'tathatagatagarbha' is essentially the same as 'sunyata', and also it has the 'sunyata' nature [svabhava-sunya?] which allows the mind to understand 'sunyata' [...] "all sentient beings are possessed of the 'tathagatagarbha'"
the three 'svabhavas' [of] 'tathagatagarbha': - from the perspective of the result level of the 'Tathagata', [...] the nature of the 'Tathagata' and [...] the cause of the 'Tathagata.'
first 'svabhava' [...] "There is no one among the groups of sentient beings in whose body the wisdom of the 'Tathagata' does not penetrate at all."
[...] the 'Dharmakaya' is explained as having two aspects: 1)- 'Dharma-dhatu', the perfectly pure realm of ultimate truth itself, in which "dharma" means "teaching" and "'dhatu'" means "cause". Therefore, the 'Dharmadhatu' refers to the supreme truth which is the cause of the teaching, and 2)- arya-dharma which means the teaching in its form as conventional truth. This conventional teaching is the nature outflow ('nisyanda') of wisdom.
2/- Tathata-svabhava':
3/- 'Gotra-svabhava' [This 'gotra-svabhava' means that the gotra (seed nature) of the 'Tathagata' exists in all sentient beings.] [the 'prakrtistha' gotra is the primary meaning of the 'tathagatagarbha', because it is identified with 'sunyata' and as such the primary "cause" of Buddhahood.]
[The Significance Of 'Tathagatagarbha' -- A Positive Expression Of 'Sunyata' (Heng-Ching Shih)]

• Dharmakaya-svabhava allows the mind (citta/vijñāna, Ālayavijñāna) to understand 'sunyata' (Dharmakaya).
• Māyāvādi mind is the primordial Buddha—Citta-mātratā (one mind only).
• There is no mind in ultimate emptiness, however.
• The Mahayanist mind concept is confusing because it has the concept of true mind and māyā's mind. The latter is the mind of the imaginary (the beings). See 5.3.12. the Māyāvādi mind-system, which is different from the teaching of the Sakyamuni Buddha.
• The Sakyamuni taught that the mind is just one, and it occurs once in a mind moment. But it can be in one of the various states (cetasika). The mind cannot reside in two states at a time; i.e. the present moment. The mind cannot exist in the past or the future, as they do not exist at the present moment. That is not a theory but based on observation.

[the all-ground consciousness/Ālayavijñāna:] The state of consciousness that is mere clarity and knowing, which does not veer off into an active sense cognition, and which is the support of habitual tendencies, is called the alayavijñana, the consciousness that is the universal ground

• Ālayavijñāna is defined as the all-ground consciousness, Universal Mind, and storehouse consciousness. All of them represent the aspects of alayavijñana concept. Its two aspects are in conflict, however: 1) does not veer off into an active sense cognition, 2) the support of habitual tendencies. Support must be active. Inactive support is ineffective, as the support is nonexistant. These two aspects cannot coexist as the same thing. Ālayavijñāna could be either of these two aspects, but cannot be both which negate each other.
• The state of consciousness that is mere clarity and knowing: That state of mind is uncommon but attainable by some and sustain it for some time, but not constantly from birth to death, like the concept suggests, because a person has different aspects life that require different states of mind. Consciousness/awareness needs an object (kasina) to dwell on. By focusing on an suitable object (kasina), consciousness can become still and dwell on that kasina object constantly for some time.
• Ālayavijñāna cannot exist constantly and continuously as a permanent/unchange mind or universal mind from the beginning to the end of time.

[Lanka Chapter 3:] Universal Mind (Alaya-vijnana) transcends all individuation and limits. Universal Mind is [...] subsisting unchanged and free from faults of impermanence

• Ālayavijñāna being eternal is an unprovable theoretical concept, which falls within sassata ditthi.
• We do not have many types of mind but one, which exists in a state a time. One cannot focus on two or more people speaking at the same time, for example. We can only deal with one a time because consciousness (mind) is only one.
• Dharmakaya-svabhava is 1) sunyata (the state of ultimately empty, the mind or the primordial Buddha), 2) noble-wisdom (ariya-jnana), 3) Gotra-svabhava or buddha-nature or seed-nature of the primordial buddha (sunyata). Reality (Dharmakaya/paramartha) is ultimately empty, however. That concept suggests we do not exist as reality but māyā (imaginary or seen of the mind).

Different scholars interpreted the significance and application of tathagatagarbha (the self-nature of Tathagata), which also means Ālayavijñāna (the true/Universal Mind). In the Lankavatara Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, the Tathagata is the one speaking and teaching about Himself. Tathata (Dharmakaya-svabhāva) and gotra (the lineage of Buddhas) represent the Tathagata.

Tathata: Ultimate nature of all things, as expressed in phenomena but inexpressible in language (Google).

Two parts of Dharmakaya (Lankavatara)

• 'Dharmakaya-svabhava' is defined with two parts of Dharmakaya: the spiritual and external worlds.
• [Shaivism] emptiness up to Paramashiva, as Maya and sunyatisunya [Sunyata (universal-path.org)]

Both parts are immaterial, although their descriptions suggest they are material worlds. Dharmakaya is the reality body or sunyata/emptiness, which is ultimately empty/real. Dharmakaya is one of the three bodies (trikāya) (explained in Part 21). The other two bodies are imaginary (which is external and material) based on Dharmakaya (immaterial).

Part 1: The Spiritual World of Maheśvara:

• Emptiness is Dharmakaya-svabhāva/Buddha-svabhāva (Buddha-nature).
• Ten stages towards Nirvana
• Non-duality/emptiness: neither being nor non-being...;
• The reality: the Universal Mind is connected to Buddha-nature in all the forms;
• Bodhisattvas get new bodies (transcendental bodies);
• Individualisation

Part 2: The external world of māyā or us, but the concept suggests we are immaterial (seen of the mind).

• Emptiness of self-nature; occupied by the Buddha-nature;
• The world of māyā (Illusions), Discrimination, Names and Forms, habit-energy...;
• Humans meet the Buddhas (bodhisattvas) and become Śrāvaka(s);
• Śrāvakayāna: arhats may enter Nirvana in Lankavatara, but Lotus rejects it.

5.3.11. Seven ASPECTS OF DHARMAKAYA/Emptiness

Lanka Chapter 12:

Lankavatara presents dharmakaya (emptiness) with seven aspects (Dharmakaya-svabhava).

[Tathagata is] the ultimate Principle of the Dharmakaya [...] the Truth-body, or the Truth-principle of ultimate Reality (Paramartha) [...] is manifested under seven aspects:

1st

First, as Citta-gocara [Maheśvara], it is the world of spiritual experience and the abode of the Tathagatas on their outgoing mission of emancipation. It is Noble Wisdom manifested as the principle of irradiancy and individuation.

2nd

Second, as Jnana, it is the mind-world and its principle of the intellection and consciousness.

3rd

Third as Dristi, it is the realm of dualism which is the physical world of birth and death wherein are manifested all the differentiation, desire, attachment and suffering.

• dualism: Duality and nonduality (non-duality) are names, too. The Spiritual World of Maheśvara and the external world of māyā: these two parts of Dharmakaya are duality, too, so they are not ultimate reality (sunyatisunya).

4th

Fourth, because of the greed, anger, infatuation, suffering and need of the physical world incident to discrimination and attachment, it reveals a world beyond the realm of dualism wherein it appears as the integrating principle of charity and sympathy.

• the physical world inside the mind
• Māyā the physical world is the opposite of emptiness.

5th

Fifth, in a realm still higher, which is the abode of the Bodhisattva stages, and is analogous to the mind-world, where the interests of hear transcend those of the mind, it appears as the principle of compassion and self-giving,

6th

Sixth, in the spiritual realm where the Bodhisattvas attain Buddhahood, it appears as the principle of perfect Love (Karuna). Here the last clinging to an ego-self is abandoned and the Bodhisattva enters into his realization of noble Wisdom [āryajñāna] which is the bliss of the Tathagata's perfect enjoyment of his inmost nature.

• inmost nature : Is it the heart of emptiness?

7th

Seventh as Prajna it is the active aspect of the Ultimate Principle wherein both the forth-going and the in-coming principles are alike implicit and potential, and wherein both Wisdom and Love are in perfect balance, harmony and the Oneness.

The Seven Aspects of Oneness (the original Māyāvādi Tathagata/Buddha)

These are the seven aspects of the ultimate Principle of the Dharmakaya [Tathagata], by reason of which all things are made manifest and perfected and then reintegrated, and 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.

• made manifest : the creating or imagining māyā to come to exist as seen of the mind.
• perfected : bodhisattva path is the only vehicle. Its description is similar to arhat's path, nevertheless. Buddha, arhat and bodhisattva are interchangeable. The application of Māhadeva's five theses is a different category.
• and then reintegrated : it sounds like reunion rather than revert (all beings revert to their own nature—DIAMOND).

5.3.12. Lanka Chapter 3: the mind-system & Creation

Māyā's mind does not exist outside the true mind:

The Blessed One replied: The sense-minds and their centralized discriminating-mind are related to the external world which is a manifestation of itself and is given over to perceiving, discriminating, and grasping its maya-like appearances

• sense-minds and discriminating-mind
• manifestation of itself: Does the external world of māyā create itself? [Shaivism] the manifested World, called MAYA;
• Individuation is creation.
• maya-like appearances: Is it imagination or real?
• māyā's mind appears within Ālayavijñāna, as the two are the same Dharmakaya/emptiness with two aspects: Maheśvara and māyā

māyā

[Lanka Chapter 3:] Universal Mind (Alaya-vijnana) transcends all individuation and limits. Universal Mind is [...] subsisting unchanged and free from faults of impermanence [...] is like a great ocean, its surface ruffled by waves and surges but its depths remaining forever unmoved. In itself it is devoid of personality and all that belongs to it, but by reason of the defilements upon its face it is like an actor a plays a variety of parts, among which a mutual functioning takes place and the mind-system arises. The principle of intellection becomes divided and mind, the functions of mind, the evil out-flowings of mind, take on individuation. The sevenfold gradation of mind appears: namely, intuitive self-realization, thinking-desiring-discriminating, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and all their interactions and reactions take their rise.
The discriminating-mind is the cause of the sense-minds and is their support and with them is kept functioning as it describes and becomes attached to a world of objects, and then, by means of its habit-energy, it defiles the face of Universal Mind. Thus Universal Mind becomes the storage and clearing house of all the accumulated products of mentation and action since beginningless time.
Between Universal Mind and the individual discriminating-mind is the intuitive-mind (manas) which is dependent upon Universal Mind for its cause and support and enters into relation with both. 

• since beginningless time: The concept does not oppose emptiness if it is lifeless and passive, and not the cause/source of imagination. However, emptiness is a living entity called Maheśvara (Mara/Buddha).
• Thus Universal Mind becomes the storage: Universal mind, which is Maheśvara (Mara/Buddha), keeps the record of every living thing. Becoming marks the beginning of the storage.
• the mind-system arises: Noble Wisdom changes from wisdom to delusion (māyā), and (all beings revert to their own nature—DIAMOND)—buddha-nature/emptiness. Ālayavijñāna transformed into māyā's mind (the discriminating-mind), and it will revert to its own nature.
• subsisting unchanged: How did Noble Wisdom change into delusion if it is unchangeable?
• free from faults of impermanence: Are the two parts of Dharmakaya (wisdom and delusion) everlasting?

[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. 

• That statement rejects māyā is permanent.
• Universal Mind (Alaya-vijnana) transcends all individuation but Noble Wisdom does not: Individuation is good when it is Noble Wisdom:

[Lanka Chapter 12:] The Blessed One replied: Objects are frequently known by different names [...] but different objects are not to be imagined because of the different names, nor are they without individuation. The same can be said of myself as I appear in this world of patience before ignorant people and where I am known by uncounted trillions of names. They address me by different names not realizing that they are all names of the one Tathagata. [...] [Dharmakaya:] First, as Citta-gocara [...] is Noble Wisdom manifested as the principle of irradiancy and individuation 

• individuation is imagination (imagined)
• nor are they without individuation: The creation of the two parts of the Dharmakaya/Emptiness.

BUDDHA-LANDS:

[Lanka Chapter 9:] the realm of consciousness

• consciousness is Dharmakaya/emptiness.
• Citta-gocara or Maheśvara the land of Maheśvara Mara and Maheśvara Buddha: The two aspects of Śiva.

Buddha-realms (Prajnaparamita)

this environment is called a pure land or buddha-realm. All buddhas have such realms, [...] It was taught that in this pure, enlightened reality, one could meet with awakened teachers, practice the dharma, and escape from the suffering round of samsaric rebirth [...] In Theravada Buddhism, the heavenly realm of Metteya Bodhisattva [What is a Buddha-Realm? (JEFF WILSON)]

• meet with awakened teachers: That's where the unenlightened go then. Theravada monks also mentioned about the dhamma assemblies in the deva worlds for the devas who seek
• realm of Metteya is Mahayanist origin, not from the Pali Canon.

Buddha-lands in Maheśvara are the first aspect of Dharmakaya.

• Emptiness (True Extinction) manifests as Noble Wisdom in bodhsattvas and Buddhas in Buddha-lands.

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Thus passing beyond the last stage of Bodhisattvahood, he becomes a Tathagata himself endowed with all the freedom of the Dharmakaya [...] 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

• seated upon a lotus-like throne: the enlightening moment of the Mahayanist bodhisattvas.
• The concept suggests a new Buddha gets 3 million buddha-lands and possibly eternal lifespan.
• How many second-in-line bodhisattvas become Buddhas in regular basis?
• Avalokiteśvara is waiting to become a buddha, for example.

[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 in which there is no substrate left behind, 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

• the Bodhisattva's mission of emancipation for all beings: The 1st aspect of Dharmakaya is Maheśvara is the abode of the Tathagatas on their outgoing mission of emancipation.
• Lankavatara tasks emancipation to Tathagatas and persuasion to bodhisattvas.

[Lotus Chapter 1:] The manifesting of the Buddha-lands, adorned with many jewels, and pure, as well as the vision of the Buddhas does not betoken small conditions.

• It is the mind-world with physical objects. Why are buddha-lands filled with luxury and duality if they are not essential for the Buddhas and bodhisattvas?

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

• Jnana is perfect-knowledge and the mind world; however, the Heart Sutra rejects it.

2nd Aspect: Jnana is the mind-world

[Lanka Chapter 12:] Second [aspect of Dharmakaya], as Jnana, it is the mind-world and its principle of the intellection and consciousness.

• Dharmakaya is Jnana a mind-world. Citta-gocara the manifestation of emptiness.

[Lanka Chapter 4:] Relative-knowledge belongs to the mind-world of the philosophers [...] Perfect-knowledge belongs to the world of the Bodhisattvas 

The mind-world of disciples

[Lanka Chapter 9:] Even in the worldly life the practice of these virtues will bring rewards of happiness and success. Much more in the mind-world of earnest disciples and masters

• Jnana is the revelation of Buddha-nature.

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

Lankavatara does not mention or require anuttarā samyak-saṃbodhi because of āryajñāna.

• Lankavatara presents āryajñāna in place of anuttarā samyak-saṃbodhi.

Lankavatara vs Heart

[Lanka preface (Red, p26, p52):] pratyatma gati: “personal/inner/self-realization,” or he qualifies the nature of such realization as sva–pratyatma arya–jnana: “the self–realization of buddha knowledge.” [...] buddha knowledge, or arya– jnana, is the goal of the practice taught in this sutra.

• The Vibhajjavadi Sammasambuddha relied on nana (jnana).
• liberation depended on such knowledge: Namarupa-pariccheda-nana is the first stage of insight attainable by a vipassana-yanika.

Even a Suddha vipassana yanika must also develop his concentration but he does not develop his concentration until the Jhana Samadhi level. The Samadhi which is approaching Jhana and is the highest of the Kamavacara Samadhi is called Upacara Samadhi. [LIGHT OF WISDOM (Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw U Acinna)]

• These are not imaginary, so everyone can try.

Possibly, anuttarā samyak-saṃbodhi was invented later, so the authors of Lankavatara (the 3rd century CE) did not know it.

• Lotus (100 B.C. - 200 A.D.) is older than Lankavatara (400 A.D.).
• Lotus presents anuttarā samyak-saṃbodhi, which might or might not be presented in the original Lotus and Prajnaparamita but only added later.
• Avalokiteśvara, who was not in the original Prajnaparamita, replaced Subhuti in the Heart Sutra.

[Heart (Dharmanet):] The members of the earliest Buddhist sects held that reality was a complex system of dharma that could be known and that liberation depended on such knowledge. It would appear that it was in reaction to this emphasis on jnana that the compilation of prajna texts occurred, focusing on wisdom as opposed to knowledge. The Prajnaparamita sutras, of which there are some forty, are thought to have been composed in India between 100 and 600 CE.

• the earliest Buddhist sects that produced Lankavatara
• The asdumed author of Prajnaparamita is Nagarjuna. But he did not live 500 years between 100 and 600 CE.
• Nagarjuna is a name of Śiva.

Nagarjuna [was] born into a Brahman family about 800 years after the Nirvana of Shakyamuni, i.e., 200 AD. He was the founder of Madhyamika (Middle Way) and Sunya (emptiness).

Madhyadhama the origin of Mādhyamaka:

The Madhyadhama (central channel) is also referred to as sunya or sunyatisunya (absolute emptiness) in Kashmiri Shivaism [...] Ksemaraja interpreted sunya in his commentary on the Svacchanda Tantra VI, 57, which in chapter IV.288-290 teaches six gradual contemplations of emptiness upt to Paramashiva, as Maya and sunyatisunya as Mahamaya, which runs here as far as Paramshiva. [Sunyata (universal-path.org)]

• Madhyadhama from Shivaism is translated into Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism").
• Maheśvara is Śiva, who is the ruler of Maheśvara with two parts: external Maheśvara Mara and internal Maheśvara Buddha.
• Avalokiteśvara, who was developed into a prominent deity in the latter Mahayanist cultures, represents Śiva.

The Heart from Śiva

The heart (mind, the location of the mind) concept of Brahmanism is a key aspect of early development of Sarvāstivādi sutras.

[Śaivism/Shaivism] “The Heart is the Ultimate (anuttara) which is both utterly transcendent to (visvottirna) and yet totally immanent in (visvamaya) all created things. It is the ultimate essence (sara). Thus, the Heart embodies the paradoxical nature of Siva and is therefore a place of astonishment (camatkara), sheer wonder (vismaya) and ineffable mystery. The Heart is the fullness and unboundedness of Siva (purnatva), the plenum of being that overflows continually into manifestation. At the same time, it is also an inconceivable emptiness (sunyatisunya). The Heart is the unbounded and universal Self (purnahanta). [Heart Practice – I (Phil Hine in tantra)]

Śaivism in Mahayana

[Tantra began in 1700–1100 BC.] The [Māyāvādi] Buddhists developed their own body of Tantras, which became the basis for Vajrayana [A Brief Introduction to Tantra in Saivism and Hinduism (Jayaram V)]

• They did not develop with the Sakyamuni's Dhamma but Śaivism.
• Śiva is presented as the original Māyāvādi Tathagata.
• They followed Śiva but called themselves Buddhists.
• If that is not deception, what is it?

3rd Aspect: Māyā does not Discriminate

[Māyā] "An illusion is something that isn't real. It may look real, but it's actually fake — just a crafty construction or fantasy."

Māyā the physical world of emptiness: The physical world of samsara as a part of Dharmakaya is the opposite of Dharmakaya/emptiness.

The 3rd aspect is interesting. It presents the notion of citta-mātratā (mind-only). In terms of the absolute reality emptiness (Dharmakaya), the mind is unreal, too. According to the Lankavatara mind-system, māyā must give up being māyā, to let the mind inside māyā revert to emptiness (buddhas). Emptiness as the original Māyāvādi Tathagata is the mind, which is the creator (the cause) of māyā who has no power of discrinimation, but the mind does:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] maya and variety of objects - are neither different nor not different [...] they are one thing [...] maya has no power of discrimination in itself

• In other words, māyā (imagination of the mind) is passive and innocent.
• The mind in māyā is Ālayavijñāna (the true mind or the original Māyāvādi Tathagata), which is the source of discriminations:

[Lanka Chapter 3:] They foster the notion that the birth of all things is derived from the concept of being and non-being, and fail to regard it as it truly is, as caused by attachments to the multitudiousness which arises from discriminations of the mind itself.

• The mind creates multitudiousness of māyā for itself to attach to.
• The concept of māyā's mind does not suggest it is independent from its creator.

Māyā (imagination) must give up kleshas (kilesa):

[Lanka Chapter 8:] 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,

• Māyā is objects of discrimination, seen to be so by the mind; discrimination is caused by the mind.
• Māyā is the victim of the mind.
• Māyā's mind is māyā. It's not real. It does not exist but in the mind. That is delusion, avijja.

Citta-mātratā—Māyā is objects caused by the mind, seen by the mind, and discriminated by the mind, so they (māyā) should keep themselves away from the mind.

[Lanka Chapter 3:] Thus Universal Mind becomes the storage and clearing house of all the accumulated products of mentation and action since beginningless time.

The past might be beginningless. But time does not matter for māyā (imagination). Time matters only for emptiness which alone is reality. Time matters for reality. Māyāvādi concept of reality treats māyā as reality by addressing māyā and blaming it for its experience, which is of the mind/emptiness itself. Yet Māyāvāda rejects such experience is real at all.

[Lanka Chapter 7:] the doctrine of Tathagatahood is to cause the ignorant and simple-minded to lay aside their fears as they listen to the teaching of egolessness and come to understand the state of non-discrimination and imagelessness.

• That is how bodhisattva path begins.
• Some tried to fit that path into the Noble EIghtfold Path, like mixing oil with water.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 27

Māyā is not responsible for Nirvana.

5.3.13. Stages of Nirvana

The Buddha Gotama never mentioned these ten stages of Nirvana.

[Lanka Chapter 6:] The transcendental personality that enters into the enjoyment of the Samadhis comes with the third, fourth and fifth stages as the mentations of the mind-system become quieted and waves of consciousness are no more stirred on the face of Universal Mind [...] this cessation of the mind's activities

• transcendental personality has no value; it's imaginary (māyā)
• waves of consciousness might be restlessness (Uddacca Kukkucca Nivarana). As the concept was not developed within the Dhamma, it does not mention cetasika.
• Why can māyā cause waves of consciousness?
• The mind itself is pure and perfect, according to its concept.
• However, that is attavada.

maya-upama-samadhi (the work of the mind)

[Lanka LVI (Red):] 150 The Sanskrit is maya-upama-samadhi. This is a samadhi in which one acquires an illusory body, hence the name.

Samadhi of the Illusory. The Sanskrit is mayaupama-samadhi. This is a samadhi in which one acquires an illusory body, hence the name. Then illusory body that accompanies this samadhi is one of the three projection bodies.

• illusory body is The transcendental personality that enters into the enjoyment of the Samadhis.
• But if māyā is bad, why does the mind create māyā to access the higher level to become the tenth-stage bodhisattva?
• A different translation which contradicts:

[The Lankavatara Sutra (Chapter 1)] 6-(1-33) Mahamati! The ultimate appearance of the wisdom of the Sagely Self-Realized One is the state of maya-upama-samadhi of Buddha in which all dharma and appearances are free of attachments.

• all dharma and appearances are māyā—Citta-mātratā (mind only) and the ultimate reality is Dharmakaya (absolute emptiness)
• free of attachments: free of māyā.
• all dharma and appearances are free of attachments: māyā is free of māyā.

maya-upama-samadhi is the mind creates māyā for the higher level, or the state of māyā that is free of māyā.

• Only two definitions are available (google). Maya-upama-samadhi is presented by Lamka-avatara (which means the avatar of Śiva descended into Lanka; see Part 19.)
• The sutra is the main scripture of Mahayanist schools: Bodhidharma's Zen/Chan, Yogachara and Vajrayana.

Dating from perhaps the 4th century, although parts of it may be earlier, it is the chief canonical exposition of Vijnanavada (“Doctrine of Consciousness”), or subjective idealism. It teaches, in other words, that the world is an illusory reflection of ultimate, undifferentiated mind and that this truth suddenly becomes an inner realization in concentrated meditation. [Lankavatara-sutra (Britannica)]

5th-6th Stages: Arhats

The arhats and the fully-enlightened Buddhas are arhats:

[Lanka Chapter 1:] In the days of old the Tathagatas of the past who were Arhats and fully-enlightened Ones came to the Castle of Lanka on Mount Malaya and discoursed on the Truth of Noble Wisdom 

Lankavatara places the Nirvana of the arhats at the sixth stage, which means everyone must become an arhat before becoming a bodhisattva:

[Lanka Chapter 10:] [Arhats] have reached the sixth and seventh stages [...] 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.

• pass into their Nirvana: the Nirvana of the arhats at the sixth stage.
• The Sarvāstivādis knew Samadhis but not vipassana-nana because those who decided to be outsiders would not want to know the true Dhamma. Mahādeva, who proposed the five theses against arhats, never understood the arahants from the Sakyamuni Sasana. However, his theses became the backbone of Sarvāstivāda (Mahayana).
• Sarvāstivādi nirvana is not related to Nibbana. The latter is the end of three types of clinging (asava).

[Lanka Chapter 7:] [The original Māyāvādi Tathagata speaking (some considered the Tathagata was Gautama Buddha)] I call this the One Vehicle [...] earnest disciples and masters have not fully destroyed the habit-energy [and] unable to accept the twofold egolessnesss and the inconceivable transformation death, that I preach the triple vehicle and not 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

• twofold egolessnesss: Total submission to the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (the primordial Buddha)—by accepting it, an arhat may become a bodhisattva.
• Total submission means the inconceivable transformation death at the 7th stage.
• Perhaps, only a Sarvāstivādi arhat may give up the bliss of the Samadhi to become a bodhisattva.
• Then everyone who claims to be a bodhisattva must have attained arhat level. However, do they even know who arhats are?

Arhat in Korean Zen tradition:

[Page 54] The Recluse (Toksong–in, in Korean) Toksong– in is not an historical person–age or a paradigm of isolation. He represents in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism what the arhat represents in the Theravada. The arhat is a holy person, perfect being, and a disciple of the Buddha Sakyamuni. Toksong–in is a timeless being, a reminder that one should not seek enlightenment outside of oneself, for, “alone and holy,” he is enlightened within. Mahayanists are wary of the illusion of the ego appropriating external self–definitions. Toksong–in urges us to seek the Buddha within, to realize that everything is inside of us and not external to us. [The Ocean of Zen: A Practice Guide to Korean Sŏn Buddhism Paul W. Lynch]

• enlightenment outside of oneself: If enlightenment exists outside, should it be ignored? The brain does not exist outside. Enlightenment does not occur without the brain. But do some people really believe enlightenment exists out there?
• Enlightenment (vijja) is the opposite of delusion (avijja). They are cetasika.
• Toksong–in urges us to seek the Buddha within: Toksong–in indeed is a Mahayanist.
• Mahayanists are wary of the illusion: If we were māyā (imagination/illusion) only existing in the mind, why do we worry about illusion?
• Once the mind stops imagining, why would not māyā disappear at once?
• The Korean Zen tradition does not know the actual arahants in the Sasanas of the Sammasambuddhas.

Hōnen did not find anyone capable of buddhahood, but did he find any arhat qualified to become a bodhisattva?

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)]

• Hōnen did not suggest Mahayanists should follow Lankavatara.

Lotus Chapter 25 does not meantion how Avalokiteśvara became an arhat.

Lotus (100 B.C. - 200 A.D.) rejects Lankavatara (400 A.D.) in allowing arhats returning to emptiness (nirvana):

[Lotus Chapter 7:] Your sufferings are ended [...] Three Vehicles But there is only the One Buddha Vehicle. The other two were spoken as a resting place.

• If Lotus does not have nirvana of the arhats, where did Lankavatara get it?

The 6th Stage: two lineages of disciples:

• "disciples of the lineage of the Arhats": the "Once-returning", " they will be able to pass the sixth stage"; Nirvana is possible at the sixth stage;
• "disciples known as Bodhisattvas": the "Never-returning", "who have reached the seventh stage."
• "disciples may be grouped" "into four classes"
  • disciples (sravaka)
  • masters (pratyekabuddha)
  • Arhats
  • Bodhisattvas
  • about "earnest disciples" in Chapters 7 - 11;

7th: Receiving "Transcendental Intelligence" after accepting twofold egolessnesss and the inconceivable transformation death

8th: At the eighth stage of no-recession, the transcental personality appears when bodhisattva gives up his individuality to travel to all Buddha-lands of Maheśvara Mara.

[Lanka Chapter 11:] This is called the Bodhisattva's Nirvana - the losing oneself in the bliss of perfect self-yielding. This is the seventh stage, the stage of Far-going. The eighth stage, is the stage of No-recession (Acala).

• Lankavatara asserts only bodhisattvas can arrive the stage of No-recession; Lotus contradicts that, however:

[Lotus Chapter 12:] attain the fruit of Arhatship...and arrive at irreversibility.

• Arhatship is the stage of irreversibility.
• Lankatara differs itself in arhat concept. It does not

[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

9th stage is unexplained.

10th:

[Lanka Chapter 6:] 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."

A bodhisattva becomes the Un-born, Emptiness, Suchness, Truth, Reality, Ultimate Principle, Nirvana, the Eternal; sameness, non-duality, un-dying, formless... A Bodhisatta is solitute and surrounded by Bodhisattvas. Now they are at the tenth stage. Why are they still recognised as bodhisattvas? How will they become Buddhas?

Bodhisattvas become Buddhas at the tenth stage. However, they postpone Buddhahood if they are the next-in-line bodhisattvas.

BODHIDHARMA

He was influenced by Lankavatara.

[Bodhidharma's Bloodstream Sermon:] Among Shakyamuni’s ten greatest disciples, Ananda was foremost in learning. But he didn’t know the Buddha. All he did was study and memorize. Arhats don’t know the Buddha [...] And the only reason I’ve come to China is to transmit the instantaneous teaching of the Mahayana This mind is the Buddha."

• Arhats don’t know the Buddha: But Buddhas, bodhisattvas and arhats are arhats.
• The bodhisattvas are arhats, who have totally submitted to the absolute emptiness, according to Lankavatara.
• This mind is the Buddha: Mahayanist sutras and personnel disacknowledge the difference between māyā's mind and the true mind (Ālayavijñāna) presented in Lankavatara, which does not demonstrate clarity.
• The illusional māyā's mind covers the enlightened mind or the Buddha in everyone (Ālayavijñāna).
• Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra (Heart) and Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra assert there is no attainment, as the enlightenment mind (Ālayavijñāna) is always enlightened and ever-present (as per the doctrine of three times—Sarvāstivāda).

[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.

• no wisdom (Heart) means no nirvana (Lankavatara and DIAMOND).
• Ālayavijñāna (this mind or the Buddha) is not something to be attained.
• no wisdom is an enigma, nevertheless. Prajñā in Prajnaparamita is wisdom, obviously. Prajñā (wisdom) is emptiness (Dharmakaya).
• Māyā is no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path;
• However, māyā is an essential part of Māyāvāda, as mind alone is impossible:

[Lanka Chapter 6:] But if Truth is not expressed in words and books, the scriptures which contains the meaning of Truth would disappear, 

• Expression is māyā; so are words, books and the scriptures.
• Māyā is inside sunyata (ākāśa), as buddha-svabhāva is inside māyā. Dharmakaya-svabhāva/Buddha-svabhāva is sunyata (ākāśa):

[Lanka Chapter 2:] 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 thing or Citta-mātratā (mind only): samsara, nirvana and Citta-gocara are inside the same space (total emptiness, total void).
• [Shaivism] Maya and sunyatisunya (total void).

Taoism presents a similar mind concept: the true mind (universal mind - Ālayavijñāna) as māyā's mind (human mind) with enhanced cognition...:

[Taoism:] The human mind that has successfully prepared itself for the universe is one with enhanced cognition, conversant with the law of the universe through sustained and consistent investigation of all things. It is therefore a universal mind that has transcended egoism, making it fit to enact moral codes of conduct for all people and things. [The Heavenly Way and the Human Way (Wang Keping)]

• Lao-Tzu could be counted as another second Buddha:

Many concepts taught by [Māyāvādi] Buddha and Lao-Tzu are comparable and complementary. [Dharma and the Tao (Lee Clarke)]

• They compared Taoism with Sarvāstivāda, which is the opposite of Vibhajjavada.

Bodhidharma's Breakthrough Sermon is also based on Lankavatara:

The Sutra of the Ten Stages says, “In the body of mortals is the indestructible buddha-nature. Like the sun, its light fills endless space. But once veiled by the dark clouds of the five shades, it’s like a light inside a jar hidden from view.”

• covered by darkness : That is from Lankavatara and similar ones.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] with no more accumulation of habit-energy the defilements on the face of the Universal Mind clear away, and the Bodhisattva attains self-realization of Noble Wisdom that is the heart's assurance of Nirvana.

• Our buddha-nature is awareness (mind): Bodhidharma must believe humans do not have own awareness (self-nature). Beings are māyā (illusion).

Thich Quang Duc

Thich Quang Duc had well developed jhanic skill. Jhana is attained by focusing on nimmita (the image of an object). By entering into jhanic state again and again, the skill of jhanic absorption is developed to temporarily separate consciousness from the six senses and dwell in jhanic state of equanimity. His jhanic absorption was immediate, which he used in the act of self-sacrifice, for the good and freedom of his society.

Lankavatara explains the possible mental state of Thich Quang Duc.

[Lanka Chapter 8:] What they think is extinction of mind, is really the non-fuctioning of the mind's external world to which they are no longer attached. That is, the goal if tranquilisation is to be reached not by supressing all mind activity but by getting rid of discriminations and attachments.

At his final moment, Thich Quang Duc confirmed he was a follower of Amitabha.

He chanted to Amitabha Buddha —  Nam mô A Di Đà Phật — and struck a match. [Thích [Quảng Duc: The Burning Monk (BARBARA O'BRIEN)]

Whoever he followed, his act follows a universal good.

The Sakyamuni told a story of a hare who jumped into fire to give his flesh to a hungry ascetic. Sasa Jataka, also The Hare's Self-Sacrifice (an old translation); The Hare on the Moon (with images of cultural artefacts).

‘When an offering is to be made, one who can bring the greatest benefit should be chosen as the recipient.' [The Great Chronicle of Buddhas: (1) First Pāramī: The Perfection of Generosity (dāna-pāramī) ( Ven. Mingun Sayadaw)]

An ascetic is a moral one who has renounced the worldly sensuality. Self-sacrifice is highly praised in Buddhism. It is not suicide, nor killing. It is giving, in the form of perfection (dana parami). Bodhisattas are required such actions so many times until they have perfected it.

Self is Consciousness, Love

[Bramanism:] You experience your Self, your consciousness, as love. [DHYANA, JNANA AND BHAKTI - LIVING THE LIFE OF A YOGI (Freddie Wyndham)]

• Self is love—self love is Sakkayaditthi.

All-inclusive Truth which is Love is buddha-nature:

[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

• All-inclusive Truth: Citta-mātratā—is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata, the 'All' (māyā inside ākāś), Dhammakaya:

[Lanka Chapter 12:] [Sixth] the principle of perfect Love (Karuna). [Seventh] Wisdom and Love are in perfect balance, harmony and the Oneness.

Arhats' nirvana:

[Lanka Chapter 4:] Arhats rise when the error of all discrimination is realized...Mind, thus emancipated, enters into perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom.

No Arhat's Nirvana—Lotus promotes Buddhahood:

[Lotus Chapter 2: Those] who do not further resolve to seek Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, are people of overweening pride. Why is this? It is impossible that any Bhikshu who had actually attained Arhatship should not believe this Dharma, except in the case when the Buddha has passed into extinction and no Buddha is in existence.

• The original Māyāvādi Tathagata opposes arhats entering the extinction (nirvana).

Attaining Anuttarasamyaksambodhi is essential for a bodhisattva to become Buddha, teach and enter extinction (Nirvana), which will be followed by His dharma. The Lotus Sutra rejects the eternal Tathagata but eternal lifespan:

[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.

• Eternal lifespan means postponing Nirvana (perfect eternal extinction).

[Nirvāṇa:] Extinction of existence; liberation from the suffering of material existence.

• That is Māyāvādi Nirvana.

5.3.14. NO NIRVANA FOR BUDDHAS

Purana Kassapa, Makkhali Gosala, Ajita Kesakambala, Pakkudha Kacayana, Nigantha Nataputta and Sanjaya Belatthaputta. [Six Heretical Teachers BPFE 102 - AA Six Contemporary Teachers During The Time Of The Buddha]

• The Samannaphala Sutta mentions six individuals based in Magada who thought they were Buddhas.
• Bodhidharma defines Buddha:

[Bloodstream Sermon:] "They teach nothing else if someone understands this teaching, even if he’s illiterate he’s a Buddha"

• That is an official definition of Buddha in Mahayana.

Sarvāstivāda is the opposite of Vibhajjavada:

Heart's 'Perfect Nirvana' is more like Lotus's 'Still Nirvana' or the tenth stage of Lankavatara. Either way, Avalokiteśvara must abandon the bodhisattva path at the end of the progression, attain Anuttarasamyaksambodhi and become a Buddha.

Lotus also allows a bodhisattva, who has not attained anuttarasamyaksambodhi, to teach an assembly and let them attain anuttarasamyaksambodhi and become Buddhas. Lotus also allows Devadatta a seer to teach a bodhisattva to become a Buddha. A seer is not a bodhisattva,

[Lotus Chapter 20:] "Great Strength, because at that time the four assemblies of Bhikshus, Bhikshunis, Upasakas, and Upasikas hatefully reviled me, ... they suffered great torment in the Avici Hell. Having received their punishment, they once again encountered Never-Slighting Bodhisattva, who taught and transformed them to anuttarasamyaksambodhi.

Nirvana is the emptiness of māyā's mind:

[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.

he no longer lives unto himself is nirvana:

[Lanka Chapter 13:] Nirvana of the Buddhas [...] there really are none [...] The Dharma which establishes the Truth of Noble Wisdom belongs to 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

• he no longer lives unto himself is why there is no nirvana—but there is perfect nirvana (Heart).
• He is fully reverted to the Tathagata-Gotra—Tathagata is back to Tathagatahood.

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] all beings revert to their own nature.’”

• His body changed three times.
• Now his mind is completely gone.
• Thus, he exists no more.
• Thus, he is māyā no more.

Oneness is the Nirvana of Tathagatas

Oneness: all bodhisattvas and Buddhas share the sameness of the Eternal Tathagata. They are individuals born with Buddha-nature, which reverts to the Eternal Tathagata.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] The Tathagata's Nirvana is where it is recognized that there is nothing but what is seen of the mind itself

• Don't we know that, too, now?

LOTUS' NIRVANAS:

[Lotus Chapter 7:] There is only the One Buddha Vehicle by which extinction can be attained.'

• 'Nirvana of their thoughts' appears once only. It could be the thoughts of Nirvana or the Nirvana that appears in their thoughts. The Sanksrit term might be helpful.

[Lanka Chapter 9:] Much more in the mind-world of earnest disciples and masters will their practice bring joys of emancipation, enlightenment and peace of mind, because the Paramitas are grounded on right-knowledge and lead to thoughts of Nirvana, even if the Nirvana of their thoughts is for themselves.

The Lotus Sutra asserts everyone must attain Buddhahood. It strongly rejects arhats' Nirvana. It considers arhats as bodhisattvas. It also explains why some become arhats. Not all bodhisattvas became arhats; Devadatta, for example.

• 'Still extinction' (gaining a small portion of Nirvana) — is similar to Lankavatara's "the Nirvana of the Bodhisattvas" "where the Bodhisattva stages are passed one after another."
• 'True extinction' (the Parinirvana of the Buddhas) — is similar to "the Nirvana of the Buddhas" of the Lankavatara Sutra.

Shariputra realizes It is not real eternal extinction

[Lotus Chapter 14:] [Shariputra:] The World Honored One knew my heart, Pulled out the deviant, taught me Nirvana. I rid myself of deviant views, Certified to the Dharma of emptiness, Then I said to myself That I'd arrived at extinction. But now at last I realize It is not real extinction, For when I become a Buddha, Complete with Thirty-two Marks, Revered by gods, humans, and Yaksha Hordes, Dragons, spirits, and others, Only then will I be able to say, "This is eternal extinction

• In that historical fiction, The Shayamuni is accused of lying to Shariputra—probably he is the only one.
• eternal extinction is annihilationism (uccedavada).

[Lotus Chapter 14:] "This is eternal extinction, without residue." ...Manjushri, after the Tathagata's Nirvana

• Some Tathagatas went to the eternal extinction, some did not:

My life span has been eternal

[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.

• Still Extinction of arhats and the eternal lifespan of Buddhahood (without real extinction) are the same.
• By not becoming Buddhas, Lotus prevents arhats from entering eternal extinction.
• By becoming Buddhas, some Buddhas who are arhats live the eternal lifespan.

Lanka vs Lotus

The Lotus Sutra seems to challenge the Lankavatara Sutra and its Eternal Tathagata and the concept of the Emptiness, the Non-duality, Buddha-nature and the loss of individuality. The Lotus Sutra promotes the individuality of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas without requiring them to give up individualized will-control (total submission).

The Lotus Sutra does not define 'True Extinction'. The Lankavatara Sutra rejects total annihilation but asserts:

[Lanka Chapter 13:] this life-and-death world and Nirvana are not to be separated...The death of a Buddha, the great Parinirvana, is neither destruction nor death, else would it be birth and continuation"

• If the great Parinirvana is true extinction (Lotus), it would be birth and continuation.
• Lankavatara: Lotus' true extinction is birth and continuation; however, eternal continuation without birth is the way.
• The Heart Sutra does not mention which Nirvana Avalokiteśvara realised, but it might be Prajnaparamita's nirvana.
• neither destruction nor death is eternalist Nirvana (sassatavada).

True extinction is annihilationist Nirvana (uccedavada). Returning to Emptiness is sassatavada (eternalism).

Nirvana needs Samsara

[Lanka Chapter 6:] If there had been no Tathagata-womb [Tathāgatagarbha] and no Divine Mind [Ālayavijñāna] then there would have been no rising and disappearance of the aggregates that make up personality and its external world,

• The external world is māyā.
• no rising of māyā will lead to no disappearance of māyā. Then Mahayana would be nonexistant.
• Māyā (the samsara) is created by Ālayavijñāna, which acts as self.

Māyā is only imagination (seen of the mind).

• Recently, nobody (māyā) has demonstrated the state of egolessnesss and the inconceivable transformation death, as it would lead to dysfunctionability.

Bodhisattva's Nirvana’

No wisdom can we get hold of, no highest perfection, No Bodhisattva, no thought of enlightenment either [...] he knows the essential original nature. [...] The transcendental nature of Bodhisattvas: Thus transcending the world, he eludes our apprehensions. ‘He goes to Nirvana,’ but no one can say where he went to. A fire’s extinguished, but where, do we ask, has it gone to? Likewise, how can we find him who has found the Rest of the Blessed? [The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha]

• The bodhisattva disappears; however, māyā cannot escape from nothing (emptiness):

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

5.3.15. Vibhajjavadi Nibbana

When Nibbana is written as nirvana in Sanskrit, it misses the point.

The official definition of Nibbana:

One who is dependent has wavering. One who is independent has no wavering. There being no wavering, there is calm. There being calm, there is no yearning. There being no yearning, there is no coming or going. There being no coming or going, there is no passing away or arising. There being no passing away or arising, there is neither a here nor a there nor a between-the-two. This, just this, is the end of stress. [Nibbana Sutta (The Sakyamuni Buddha)]

• The natural/neutral state is achieved when the rising process of Sankhara (the burdens of namarupa process) has ended, and vice versa.
• Thus, there is Nibbana relief from the Three Parinnas (Mahathera Ledi Sayadaw):

1. Vedayita-dukkha (Pain-feeling ill): bodily and mental pains
2. Bhayattha-dukkha (Fear producing ill): Bhaya-nana (knowledge of things as fearful), and of the Adinavanana (knowledge of things as dangerous)

(Explained in Part 4)

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 28

This part deals with nirvana presented in different sutras.

Although māyā is unreal, it is treated as real and personal with interaction because Māyāvada as a mere theory cannot ignore the actual reality... Māyāvada is the opposite of reality.

Lanka Chapter; Lotus Chapter; A House on Fire: Chapter 4 - Understanding The Lotus Sutra (Stephen L. Klick)

5.4.1. Avalokiteśvara reverted to the Primordial Buddha:

[Heart (Thich):] Avalokiteśvara while practicing deeply [...] discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty [...] and realize Perfect Nirvana

• The discovery of being empty of svabhāva let his buddha-svabhāva revert to Buddha [Diamond], return to emptiness [Lotus], a fire’s extinguished [Ratnaguna]. Also see Part 16: reunion [Brahmanism].

[Heart (Centre):] So, in emptiness, no form, No feeling [...]* Nor is there pain, or cause of pain, Or cease in pain, or noble path To lead from pain; Not even wisdom to attain! Attainment too is emptiness

• emptiness is akasa (space):

[Akasa] is immortal, indivisible, infinite and indestructible.

• emptiness is the primordial/original Māyāvādi Tathagata, not a Vibhajjavadi Buddha.
• emptiness is the conscious fundamental reality underneath the whole Universe—the Anuttara of anuttaram samyaksambodhim.
• emptiness is māyā and the original Māyāvādi Tathagata [Heart (Centre) and Lankavatara].
• Māyā is imagination. I.e. form, feeling, etc. are imaginary.
• Attainment too is emptiness, which probably means attainment is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata, who is not to be attained.
• In the Māyāvādi world, attainment is not essential.
• Perfect Nirvana:

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Only the Tathagatas can realize perfect Imagelessness and Oneness and Solitude.

• Lotus' perfect Nirvana is the true extinction.
• Avalokiteśvara realised Perfect Nirvana. However, he stays as a bodhisattva because he must wait nearly forever until the passing of Amitābha. That is how others must wait to revert to Buddhas in the Pure Land, where there are no women, as women cannot become bodhisattvas but may follow the Bodhisattvayāna without entering the Pure Land.

Avalokiteśvara's future name is

[g.­500 (8400)] Saman­taraśmya­bhyudgataśrīkūṭa­rāja

Anuttara is Śiva (sunyatisunya):

Anuttara is the ultimate principle in Kashmir Śaivism, and as such, it is the fundamental reality underneath the whole Universe. Among the multiple interpretations of Anuttara are: “supreme”, “above all” and “unsurpassed reality”. In the Sanskrit alphabet Anuttara[1] is associated to the first letter—“A”. As the ultimate principle, Anuttara is identified with Śiva, Śakti (as Śakti is identical to Śiva)[2], the supreme consciousness (cit), uncreated light (Prakāśa), supreme subject “aham” and atemporal vibration (spanda). This school is classified under the Anuttarāmnaya.

Kleśa is māyā with absolute zero influence on Annutara (perfect consciousness/reality):

In Part 27, a question was raised concerning maya-upama-samadhi: But if māyā is bad, why does the mind create māyā to access the higher level to become the tenth-stage bodhisattva?

Maya-upama-samadhi is presented by Lankavatara as a mental ability gained from samatha practices for the bodhisattvas (māyā) to create māyā (illusory body or transcendental personality) to go to the buddha-lands. Becoming a Māyāvādi Buddha is when his buddha-svabhāva reverts to the primordial Buddha [Diamond] in a "phantom city" [A House on Fire (Klick)], where retaining physical body (māyā) is essential.

Māyā is one but the imagination of the Self (mind) or buddha-svabhāva (buddha-nature), which is also one but real.

Then how many times must buddha-nature revert to the Māyāvādi Buddha to have fully reverted to the Māyāvādi Buddha? Why does it need to revert again to be another Māyāvādi Buddha?

If buddha-svabhāva in everyone has already reverted, it should remain that way for eternal, and the drama of the māyā world should have ended.

[The Self is explained in 5.4.4. (below); Part 10—The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra; Part 22: The Self, the God and the Māyāvadi Buddha; Part 23]

revert: - [biology] return to (a former or ancestral type); [law] (of property) return to (the original owner) by reversion

• Buddha-svabhāva reverts—it means a bodhisattva becomes an embodiment of the primordial Buddha. Avalokiteśvara reverted to the Māyāvādi Buddha means he became an embodiment of the Māyāvādi Buddha, who is always present in everyone and always pure and free of kleśa—Buddha inside us (see below).
• Kleśa has no influence on the Māyāvādi Buddha inside everyone. Kleśa as māyā/unreal is not a real problem.
• Master Wuzhu rightly pointed out the correct Brahmanist text:

[SECTION 4. (PDF page 93):] The two Brahmins said, “This is not quick. Defilements (kleśa) are none other than awakening (bodhi). This is quick.” Lord Yuan was deeply impressed, and thereupon realized that awakening and defilements are one and the same. [The Teachings of Master Wuzhu]

• awakening [nirvana] and defilements [kleśa] are one and the same: so one may fully enjoy kleśa and akusala-kamma as enlightenment. Does that explain Kleshas in Buddhalands of Maheśvara (Part 24)?
• Both Lankavatara and Heart are very frank about the essential role of māyā (the external world or samsara):

[Lanka Chapter 2:] 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.

Original Buddhism opposes kleśa (kilesa) and corruptions:

"But my sons, a bhikkhu should cut the strap of ill will and the thong of craving which are within you and which bind you." [Dhammapada Verse 398 Dve Brahmana Vatthu (Daw Mya Tin)]

• the thong of craving:

The erroneous views that deny moral and immoral deeds and their results or effects, and come under the names of Natthikaditthi, Ahetuka-ditthi, and Akiriya-ditthi, are like the wrong, misleadfing roads [leading to] the worlds of the Unfortunate [Manuals of Buddhism, Vipassana Dipani (abuddhistlibrary.com)]

In the dramatic Māyāvādi world or samsara, kleśa is significant. In order to have the world functioning, the worldlings must neutralise kleśa. The natural world is neither utopia nor dystopia but dramas and soap operas.

Kleśāvaraṇa (क्लेशावरण) aka Kleśa means the “obstruction of defilements”. jñeyāvaraṇa (ज्ञेयावरण) aka Jñeya means the “obstruction of what remains to be known.” They are the “two obstructions” (āvaraṇa) found in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 115), the work of Nāgārjuna.

• Accordingly, all buddhas attained Anuttarasamyaksambodhi and overcame the two afflictions: kleśāvaraṇa and jñeyāvaraṇa. Arhats overcame kleśāvaraṇa only; however, why must they attain jñeyāvaraṇa (omiscience)?

[Chapter 3 (PDF page 42):] In some contexts repentance practice was even thought to remove kleśa (defilements), which are deeply ingrained habitual afflictive patterns, what we might call addictions or compulsions. [The Teachings of Master Wuzhu]

Although māyā is unreal, it is treated as real and personal with interaction because Māyāvada as a mere theory cannot ignore the actual reality (paramattha) comprising citta, cetasika, rupa and Nibbana.

Māyāvada is the opposite of reality. Māyāvada treats reality as the imaginary and the imaginary as reality. In Māyāvada, kleśa is imaginary, and so are the worldlings, bodhisattvas and Buddhas, as the embodiment of emptiness/Dhammakaya/the sole reality.

The imaginary who knows emptiness is a Buddha:

[Bloodstream Sermon:] "They teach nothing else if someone understands this teaching, even if he’s illiterate he’s a Buddha"

• Avalokiteśvara became that type of Buddha after countless eons. However, he must wait to be crowned as the Buddha:

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]

• Avalokiteśvara must be the only (worthy) disciple of Amitābha.
• Here one should question that theory of existence, which has no relationship with the Sakyamuni Buddha.

The Sammasamboddhi comes with Sabbanuta-ńăna (the knowledge that comprises 1) understanding everything in existence, 2) the tendencies of the beings, and 3) skills for teaching analytically). Thus, the Sakyamuni understood the individuals and their needs. For example:

On meeting with Singala, the Buddha with his Sabbanuta Nana realized of course that the young man was ill-prepared to receive his Teaching [...]         In Singala Sutta, the Buddha adapted his Teaching in such a way that the young householder at once saw in the discourse lessons of direct practical application capable of immediate and fruitful use. [Comments on Salient Points in the Singala Sutta / singala.htm (myanmarnet.net)]

Gotama Buddha met 24 Sammasambuddhas and missed 3, along His journey to Sammasambodhi.

How many Buddhas did Amitābha meet?

[Lotus Chapter 9:] You shall make offerings to sixty-two million Buddhas, protecting and upholding their storehouses of Dharma. After that, you shall obtain Annuttarasamyaksambodhi.

• That is an example of Satire and Parody in a Sarvāstivādi sutra.
• Another example:

“Take hold of [...] my hands (hasta) and my feet (pāda) [asked the bodhisattva]. ” When the merchants took hold of him, he killed himself with his knife (śastra). [Part 5 - The Bodhisattva in the Mahāyāna system]

• That bodhisattva killed himself with his own knife without using any of his body parts (also in Part 9).

Annuttarasamyaksambodhi can be attained before or after becoming a Buddha.

[Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm over Critical Buddhism: [page 225] In Mahayana Buddhism one is required to achieve both the perfection of wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) as well as the other five perfections within this mundane world in order to fulfill the requirements for advancing toward Buddhahood. Without the endowment of altruistic virtue, supreme wisdom (Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi) cannot be realized.

• They followed Lankavatara but rejected the Noble Wisdom (āryajnāna).

[Heart (Centre):] in emptiness [...] Not even wisdom to attain! Attainment too is emptiness

• The āryajnāna party lost. The Prajñāpāramitā party won.

Anuttara means supreme, highest, incomparable, unsurpassed, or peerless. Samyak means right, correct, true, accurate, complete, or perfect, and sambodhi means enlightenment. [Soka Gakkai]

Became Buddhas before Attaining

[Lotus Chapter 16:] 'When young, I left the home-life and attained anuttarasamyaksambodhi.' In truth, however, I became a Buddha a long time before that.

Attained very easily

[Lotus Chapter 1:] There were eighty-thousand Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas, all irreversibly established in Anuttarasamyaksambodhi. All had obtained Dharani and the eloquence of delight in speech and turned the irreversible wheel of the Dharma.

• Another story:

[Lotus Chapter 7:] "Bhikshus, I will tell you, those disciples of the Buddha, the sixteen Shramaneras, have all now attained Anuttarasamyaksambodhi [Did they become Buddhas?], and in the lands of the ten directions, are presently speaking the Dharma. They have as their retinues limitless hundreds of thousands of millions of Bodhisattvas and Sound Hearers.

• When did they began receiving retinues—before or after attaining Anuttarasamyaksambodhi?

Attained very difficultly

[Lotus Chapter 7:] When this Buddha was seated on the Bodhimanda, having destroyed the troops of Mara, although he was on the point of attaining Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, still the Buddhadharmas did not appear before him. So it was for one minor aeon and then onwards to ten minor aeons that he sat in the lotus posture, body and mind unmoving, and yet the Buddhadharmas still did not appear before him.

• this Buddha (not bodhisattva?) became Buddha but hadn't attained Anuttarasamyaksambodhi
• the demon hordes: Mara's army.

Capable of going to the Other Shore

[Heart (Thich):] All Buddhas in the past, present and future by practicing the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore are all capable of attaining Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment.

• See Maheśvara Mara and Maheśvara Buddha in Part 23.

"O wicked Mara! The words 'param' and 'aparam' have nothing to do with you. 'Param' which means 'the other shore' can be reached only by the arahats who are free from moral defilements." [Dhammapada Verse 385 Mara Vatthu (Daw Mya Tin)]

The early teaching on Nirvana

[A House on Fire (Klick):] Chapter 7 also teaches that Nirvana is the state of mind where a being lives in this world system but does not suffer because they see things "just the way they are." The early teaching on Nirvana is described as a "phantom city," where students can rest along the path that leads to Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi

• the state of mind with physical māyā; not the state of liberation;
• Citta-matrata (mind only)
• The phantom city must be Lankavatara's Maheśvara (Citta-gocara), not Amitābha's Pure Land.
• not suffer - the path:

[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.

• Prajnaparamita rejects the existence of Suffering and the path.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 29

Lanka Chapter; Lotus Chapter; A House on Fire: Chapter 4 - Understanding The Lotus Sutra (Stephen L. Klick)

5.4.2. Dhamma the Teacher

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11) and Mahaparinibbana Sutta (DN 16) are two most important discourses to Vibhajjavada, just as Lankavatara and Lotus are to Sarvāstivāda.

[Mahaparinibbana Sutta] 'To some of you, Ānanda, it may occur thus: 'The words of the Teacher have ended, there is no longer a Teacher'. But this, Ānanda, should not, be so considered. That, Ānanda, which I have taught and made known to you as the Dhamma and the Vinaya, will be your Teacher after my passing away.

Heart seems to accept the Four Noble Truths, although they are not Bodhisattva Dharmas:

[Heart (Centre):] duhkhasamudayanirodhamarga [Duhkha-Samudaya-Nirodha-Marga].

The Sangha of the Sakyamuni

In the beginning, Buddhism was not hierarchical or rigidly structured. At its root was a self-governing body of individuals, each of whom was theoretically equal and focused on his or her own salvation while compassionately mindful of human beings. The sangha has its origins in a group of followers/disciples who renounced their previous worldly life to wander with The Buddha and learn by listening to his teachings. [...] The custom of spending the rainy season in one specific place in a study retreat (vassa) gradually led to the settling of the community. As soon as Buddhist monks began to form into groups, there was a need for rules to be developed (as set out in the Vinaya Pitaka) and also for some form of hierarchy to keep order, to enforce the rules, and to maintain religious continuity within the community. This hierarchy was, and continues to be, largely based on seniority. [Buddhism: A Supplemental Resource for Grade 12 World of Religions: A Canadian Perspective]

5.4.3. The Burning House of Māyāvāda

Lotus presents the Tathagata who tasked himself with emancipating māyā (beings) from māyā (samsara) and rejects māyā (beings) escaping from māyā (buddhahood). Māyā is what is seen by the mind or the imagination of the only reality (sunyatisunya). All Tathagatas are māyā (the embodiment of the original Māyāvādi Tathagata).

[Lotus Chapter 4:] [Subhuti, Mahakatyayana, Mahakashyapa, Mahamaudgalyayana said,] "The World Honored One has, from of old, been speaking the Dharma for a long time, sitting here all this time, our bodies tired, we have merely been mindful of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, taking no delight in the Bodhisattva-Dharmas

• Emptiness is Dharmakaya (the reality body) [Lankavatara]. Emptiness is nirvana [Lotus (as explained above).
• mindful of emptiness: Dwelling in samadhi towards nirvana is rejected by Lotus:

[Lotus Chapter 2:] those Bhikshus and Bhikshunis who claim to have attained Arhatship and to dwell in their final bodies before ultimate Nirvana, but who do not further resolve to seek Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, are people of overweening pride.

• The Lotus' Tathagata is very bitter about everyone who goes to Nirvana.
• Bodhisattva-Dharmas are also māyā in Māyāvāda/Mayayana, [The lists of Bodhisattva dharmas (wisdomlib.org)]

[The Māyāvadi Buddha said] one should utterly abandon [four bodhisattva dharmas, including] Third, one seeks one’s own happiness and is not mindful of other beings. Fourth, one seeks to attract and delights in having a retinue of followers and does not delight in renunciation. [Chapter 19 The Four-fold Dharmas, page 324]

• Third: don't seek own happiness;
• Why does the Māyāvadi Buddha reject own happiness that is delight in renunciation?
• as it seeks everyone to join Bodhisattvayāna:

[Lotus Chapter 4:] "What is the reason? The World Honored One has led us to escape the Three Realms and attain certification to Nirvana. Besides, we are now advanced in years and when the Buddha taught the Bodhisattvas of Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, we did not give rise to even a single thought of longing for it.

• attain certification to Nirvana is a phantom city.
• Lotus rejects longing for nirvana; however, Ratnaguna and Lankavatara present the Bodhisattvayāna ending in nirvana (Part 27: Bodhisattva's Nirvana):

[The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha:] The transcendental nature of Bodhisattvas: Thus transcending the world, he eludes our apprehensions. ‘He goes to Nirvana,’ but no one can say where he went to. A fire’s extinguished

• The junior bodhisattvas have no chance to become Buddhas because Amitābha and some senior bodhisattvas live nearly-eternal. However, they have no individualized will-control [Lankavatara] to do anything. In fact, all of these are Māyā.

[Heart (Wiki):] [Māyā has] no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom

• Nathikkaditthi

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] no beings to be liberated, and there is no nirvana to be attained.

They may escape by the great cart only

Although the Māyāvadi Tathagata wants all beings to escape from the burning house, he only allows them using the great cart (Mahayana).

[Lotus Chapter 3:] "Shariputra, just as that elder, seeing all his children safely escape the burning house to a place of fearlessness, and considering his own unlimited wealth, gives to all of his children a great cart.

• What happened to the Titanic passengers who were not allowed onto the lifeboats?
• Is Mahayana Titanic that has not sunk yet or the burning house that just keep burning?
• Lankavatara lets arhats leave the samsara with lifeboats.
• Buddhadharmas are given to get off the fearsome and dangerous path of the suffering; however, no Buddha would not come to teach the wise persons here.

[Lotus Chapter 5:] "I am the Thus Come One [...] Those who have not yet been crossed over, I cross over. Those who have not yet been liberated, I liberate. Those who have not yet been put at rest, I put at rest. Those who have not yet attained Nirvana, I cause to attain Nirvana.

• I cause to attain Nirvana: that statement supports small carts against the great cart (Bodhisattvayāna, Mayayana).

[Lotus Chapter 12:] Wisdom Accumulation Bodhisattva said [...] I proclaim the Great Vehicle teaching, Which liberates suffering living beings."

• The Tathagata only accepts true extinction via Bodhisattvayāna
• liberates without the outgoing mission of emancipation
• liberates: No beings to be liberated actually—

[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.

• Part 25: 5.3.9. What is seen of the mind itself?

Just know Dharmakaya and māyā

[Lotus Chapter 5:] I know things as they really are, both in the present and in the future. I am the all-knowing one, the all-seeing one, the one who knows the Way, the one who opens the Way, the one who proclaims the Way. The entire assembly of gods, humans and Asuras, all should come here to listen to the Dharma."

• That is the statement of the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (sunyata).

Amitābha expounding the Dharma right now

[Amitābha Sūtra (Kumarajiva 2)] At that time [Sakyamuni] Buddha said to the Elder Shariputra: "West of here, past a hundred billion Buddha-lands, there exists a world called "Ultimate Bliss". In this land there exists a Buddha called Amitābha, who is expounding the Dharma right now

• Amitābha only teaches in "Ultimate Bliss" and is only teaching the bodhisattvas, who might never become Buddhas.
• Amitābha is not coming to the earthly beings because there is no bodhisattva here.
• Avalokiteśvara, the next Buddha of "Ultimate Bliss", visited here a few times according to the sutras.

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

• Only Lankavatara presents outgoing mission of emancipation.
• About Māyāvadi avatar is explained in Part 16: Sarvāstivādi Lank-avatar-a: Avatar in Lanka.

5.4.4. Perfect Nirvana

[Lanka Chapter 12:] If he is said to be impermanent then he is connected with things that are created for they also are impermanent. For these reasons the Tathagatas are neither permanent nor impermanent [...] the Tathagatas may be said to be permanent [...] The Transcendental Intelligence attained intuitively by the Tathagatas by their self-realization of Noble Wisdom, is a realization of their own self-nature, -- in this sense the Tathagatas are permanent

• The original Māyāvādi Tathagata is permanent because he is disconnected from the impermanent māyā, although Buddha-svabhāva is inside māyā (every mortal being).
• However, Tathagata should be understood as neither permanent nor impermanent.
• the Tathagatas (the embodiments of the Tathagata) are permanent because their own self-nature (self the Buddha) is permanent as Oneness:

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

• Buddhas have their own self-nature (svabhāva) because their own self-nature has already reverted to Buddhas.
• Māyā (the external world) has no self-nature because its own self-nature has not yet reverted to Buddhas.
• However, that is the same their own self-nature in the Buddhas and māyā.

[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 Māyāvadi "Buddha inside us"

[MIND AND BODY:] ['shikishin funi'] could also be expressed as 'our bodies and our minds appear to be two different things, but at their source are one' [NINE CONSCIOUSNESSES:] 'The [Māyāvadi] Buddha wrote that one should become the master of one's mind rather than let one's mind master oneself.' This means that we can either be at the mercy of the constant chatter of our thoughts or we can train the mind to listen to the Buddha inside us [Principles (SGI-UK)]

• source: self and maya are the Māyāvadi Buddha

there is a “Buddha” inside every person, “a name for the most understanding and compassionate person it’s possible to be” (40). [...] Hanh says, you must listen and speak to that person with respect for the Buddha that resides (possibly very deep) inside them. [Thich Nhat Hanh: “Our Communication Is Our Continuation” - SNF Paideia Program at the University of Pennsylvania (upenn.edu)]

• Buddha is Our buddha-nature:

[Bodhidharma:] Our buddha-nature is awareness: to be aware and to make others aware. To realize awareness is liberation.

Not self but the Self

an "ego-soul" is something that has been imagined by a disturbed mind [...] On the contrary Buddha-nature is something indescribable [Buddha, Truth and Brotherhood; An Epitome of Many Buddhist Scriptures (hinduwebsite.com)]

• Oneness or the Buddha:

[Lanka Chapter 11:] to attain perfect self-realization of the oneness of all the Buddhas and Tathagatas in self-nature

• self-nature or the Self is Akasa (space):

[Akasa] is immortal, indivisible, infinite and indestructible. [Akasa, Ether or The Sky and The Fifth Element (hinduwebsite.com)]

Thou may not kill the Self

If You Meet The Buddha On The Road, Kill Him? (Lion’s Roar)

• In theory, thou (as māyā) cannot kill māyā, either.
• You can kill anything inside your mind by any means.
• You cannot kill something inside someone else' mind.
• But we are supposed to believe you and all others are seen of the mind (as māyā).
• Sarvāstivāda claims physical things are māyā (seen of the mind). [Part 25: 5.3.9.]
• We can see the same physical thing when we look at the same physical thing.
• But we need a supernormal-superordinary-supernatural power to see inside each other's mind.

eternally-abiding Reality: eternalism

[Lanka Chapter 12:] Again Mahamati, there has always been an eternally-abiding Reality. The "substance" of Truth (dharmadhatu) abides forever whether a Tathagata appears in the world or not. So does the Reason of all things (dharmata) eternally abide; so does Reality (paramartha) abide and keep its order. What has been realized by my myself and all other Tathagatas is this Reality (Dharmakaya), the eternally-abiding self-orderliness of Reality; the "suchness" (tathata) of all things; the realness of things (bhutata); Noble Wisdom which is Truth itself.

• paramartha (reality) is not māyā but emptiness/space, which is recognised as the fifth physical element (rupa).
• dharmadhatu, Dharmakaya and paramartha are the same emptiness (sunya). and an eternally-abiding Reality.
• whether a Tathagata appears in the world or not: This world, not Maheśvara, the abode of Maheśvara Mara and Maheśvara Buddha.

no attainment

• Heart mentions māyā as:

[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.

There is nothing to attain, not even Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, nor āryajnāna, in respect to māyā and Dharmakaya:

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 61):] And that emptiness [akasa], that is neither produced nor stopped, is neither defiled nor purified, [...] no path and no development of the path; no attainment, and no reunion

• Lotus does presents sunyatisunya (ākāśarūpa) as nirvana (still and extinct):

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

[Lanka Chapter 13:] The death of a Buddha, the great Parinirvana, is neither destruction nor death, else would it be birth and continuation. If it were destruction, it would be an effect-producing deed, which is not. Neither is it a vanishing nor an abandonment, neither is it attainment, nor is it of no attainment; neither is it of one significance nor of no significance, for there is no Nirvana for the Buddhas.

• Parinirvana: the term is found in both Lankavatara and Lotus. However, it isn't given the same meaning.
• Lotus: stillness;
• Lankavatara: no Nirvana for the Buddhas; Emptiness;
• Stillness means body and mind are still, not moving: (Google:) the absence of movement or sound.
• Nirvana is the attainment of an eternal life, true self, and Parinirvana is passing into stillness.

Buddhist term Parinibbāna was borrowed to present the arupa-jhana as Parinirvana of Māyāvāda:

[Lotus Chapter 23:] "Good man, the time of my Parinirvana has arrived. The time for my passing into stillness has arrived. You can arrange my couch, for tonight I shall enter Parinirvana."

• Stillness or concentration of mind

[Theravada] Jhana [N] refers to a “particular state of mind in which consciousness does focus on a single object or no object at all”. jhāna : [nt.] concentration of mind;

• Arupa jhana:

"infinite space," "infinite consciousness," and "there is nothing," leading to a fourth state of neither perception nor non-perception [The Wings to Awakening: An Antology from the Pali Canon: PART III E. RIGHT CONCENTRATION (Ven. Thanissaro, Bhikkhu)]

• infinite space or Boundless space and nothingness:

Beyond the four jhanas lies another fourfold set of higher meditative states which deepen still further the element of serenity. These attainments (aruppa) [...] Beyond the fine-material sphere lie the immaterial realms, which are four in number — the base of boundless space, the base of boundless consciousness, the base of nothingness [The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation (Henepola Gunaratana)]

• Jhana vs Dhyana:

[Mahayana Dhyāna:] When he is endowed with those four dharmas, son of good family, the meditation of the Bodhisattva becomes like open space” [Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā].
[Tibetan Dhyāna:] refers to one of six limbs of Yoga to be employed in Uttamasevā (excellent worship) [Guhyasamāja chapter 18]

• Parinirvana: Passing Into Stillness or returns to Emptiness (open space), as eternalism once hold by Bakabrahma.

A certain Brahmā thought that no recluse or brahmin could come to his world. To refute his views, the [Sakyamuni] Buddha went there and sat in the air above the Brahmā, flames radiating from his body. The Buddha was followed by Moggallāna, Mahākassapa, Mahākappina and Anuruddha.

The Brahmā was at first agitated by their presence, but later he was delighted on learning from Moggallāna, who was questioned by an attendant Brahmā, that there were many more disciples of the Buddha who could do as he and the others had done, and that they were holy men. S.i.144-6. See also Bakabrahma Sutta. [Aparáditthi Sutta (vipassana.info)]

• Jhana and Parinirvana are stillness.
• Parinibbana is not stillness.

Parinibbāna : [nt.] final release from transmigration; death after the last life-span of an arahant.

Nibbāna: "This, o monks, truly is the peace, this is the highest, namely the end of all formations, the forsaking of every substratum of rebirth, the fading away of craving, detachment, extinction, Nibbāna" (A. III, 32).

• Nibbana is cessation (Nirodha Sacca), not the stillness of something.

5.4.5. Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana

Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt (1893–1973)

[page 107] nothing is ever produced without cause and condition [...] nothing eternal. [But some] regard to the Akasa [as eternal] [...] some of the Hinayanists [consider] a being [as] uncaused and unconditioned [...] Nagarjuna, thus establishing that sunyata is neither nastitva nor abhava [and according to him] the Hinayanists [...] have misunderstood the sense of sunyata and do not understand that the Teacher delivered his teachings in two ways, viz. conventional and real [saṃvṛti-satya and paramārtha-satya.]
[page 125] the Paramartha [like] akasa (space) it is of uniform nature (lit. has one taste-ekarasa), pure, and changeless [i.e. akasa is eternal]. The Parinispanna-svabhava (absolute reality) is called paramartha because it is [...] the Absolute [...] absolutely changeless [...] or in other words they conform to the law of causation, the Pratityasamutpada of the Buddhists in general, and the Paratantra of the Yogacaras. [The Place of the Aryasatyas and Pratitya Sam Utpada in Hinayana and Mahayana; vol 6:2, 1930.01, pp. 101-127 (Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt)]

• sunyata — anatta; see Part 12: 5.1.12. Atta-Suññatā
• misunderstood sunyata: that is mutual. The Mahayanist scholar like Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt could not point that out.
• Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt presented the notion of nothing eternal with the things like akasa (space) that are absolutely changeless. Akasa itself might be changeless. However, what are the other changeless things? He believed changeless things conform to the law of causation—Avijja-paccaya Sankhara.
• In that text, he did not ask where these things come from or what caused them. The lack of such questions made him support ahetukavada.
• Ahetuka-ditthi is a wrong-view that comes from attavada.
• Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā presents the pure world without origination or extinction (the quote is below).
• sunyata is neither nastitva nor abhava: (translation:) Emptiness is neither nothingness nor non-existence.

[Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā explains abhava are] all living beings, [and] the parts of the personality, realms and fields of perception (skandhadhātu-āyatana) are as an illusion (māyā-upama)

• Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt learned about Vibhajjavada from the Sarvāstivādis. Without obtaining Vibhajjavada from the Vibhajjavadis, he presented a Mahayanist position in his book, without realising he was incorrect:

[page 130] What the Mahayanists endeavour to point out is that the: Hinayanists concern themselves with the realisation of the non-existence of a permanent entity like soul (Pudgcda-nairaimya) and not of the non-existence of anything whatsoever supposed to exist (Dharma-nairatmya). According to the Mahayanists, this realisation attained by the Hinayanists cannot lead them to the [attavadi] ultimate Reality; it carries them only some distance towards the Truth, and hence Nirvana in the real sense of the term cannot be said to be attained by them. [Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana (Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt)]

• the realisation of the non-existence of a permanent entity like soul is realising atta-sunna (atma-sunya) that indeed is a Vibhajjavadi approach. A Vibhajjavadi must abandon sakkayaditthi (attaditthi).
• Attavadi Nirvana is not Nibbana.

Nibbana because it is a departure (ni) from cord-like, (vana) craving [...] Thus, as fourfold the Tathagatas reveal the Ultimate Entities-consciousness mental states, matter, and Nibbana.

• the Ultimate Entities (paramattha): citta, cetasika, rupa, Nibbana. These are unconsidered with paramārtha-satya by Nagarjuna.

Akasadhatu is spaces or gaps between the particles and objects. It does not exist where the particles and objects exist. It is considered as a type of rupa, which is a paramattha. Space is impermanent, as particles and objects are not stationary. When they move, the spaces (or gaps) around them change. That is the impermanent nature of space. A gap can widen and shrink. When the gap is completely empty, there is no particle occupying it. Thus, the state of being empty is real and considered as a type of rupa (pseudo-element). The nature of reality (paramattha) does not change. Thus, rupa is always rupa, including the non-particle state of the pseudo-element (pariccheda rupa - one of the 28 rupas). Wave is made of (fine) particles that move together. Pseudo-element does not have the property of element; yet it is anatta.

Pariccheda-rupa is not influenced by any outside causes, so it does not interact.

The Venerable Narada Thera explains:

Akasa is space which in itself is nothingness [...] a non-entity (nijjiva), not as an existing element like the four Essentials [...] not an objective reality, as it is invariably associated with all material units that arise in four ways, [...] is produced by the same four causes such as Kamma, mind, seasonal changes. and food. Simultaneous with the arising and perishing of the conditioned rupas, akasa rupa also arises and perishes. See Compendium p. 226. [...] As space demarcates, and characteristic marks just indicate, the wise state that they are not parts of material groups. [Akasadhatu (Ven. Narada Thera)]

Dhātuvibhangasutta/ “Discourse on the Analysis of the Elements” (Anattavada)

Whatever is space, spacious, is internal, referable to an individual and derived therefrom, such as the auditory and nasal orifices, the door of the mouth and that by which one swallows what is munched, drunk, eaten and tasted, and where this remains, and where it passes out (of the body) lower down, or whatever other thing is space, spacious, is internal, referable to an individual and derived therefrom, this, monk, is called the internal element of space. Whatever is an internal element of space and whatever is an external element of space, just these are the element of space. By means of perfect intuitive wisdom this should be seen as it really is thus: This is not mine, this am I not, this is not myself. Having seen this thus as it really is by means of perfect intuitive wisdom, he disregards the element of space, he cleanses his mind of the element of space. [The Buddhist Teaching on Physical Phenomena (Nina van Gorkom)]

Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt supported the Ahetukavadis:

Makkhali Gosala was an 'Ajivaka' (ascetic sect). He held the view that there was no cause or condition either for the defilement of beings or for the purification of beings. The world and beings are formed without causes or conditions, spontaneously by intrinsic nature. Everything happens according to pre-determined fate. When beings exhaust their continuity of births and deaths, misery ends. He too denied Kamma and result. He was an 'Ahetukavadi (acausalist or fatalist). [Guide to the study of Theravada Buddhism: SIX HERETICAL TEACHERS (Colombo YMBA Sri Lanka)]

Pariccheda:

Theravada: Pariccheda means measure; limit; boundary; division a chapter (in a book).

• That means gap or space.

Mahayana: Pariccheda means “cessation”—Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā:

G: ‘Son of good family, you can see such pure world in all dharmas’ [if we] distinguish the past and future of all dharmas by means of insight and knowledge’

R: ‘How do you distinguish the past and future of all dharmas?’
G: ‘Where there is no cessation (pariccheda) or eternity [...] there is no origination or extinction

R: ‘What is this place without origination or extinction?’
G: ‘It cannot be verbally expressed’ [...] ‘Because the dharma is incalculable and ineffable’”.

• pure world in all dharmas that are incalculable and ineffable
• this place—Where there is no cessation or eternity, no origination or extinction—cannot be verbally expressed

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 30

• The original Tathagata means the original Māyāvādi Tathagata

5.4.6. Cessation Nirodha

The Dhamma, the ultimate reality of things, has no owner and this realisation of Truth is the fulfillment of our life. [Beyond Being and Non-Being (Bikkhu Amaro)]

• The dhamma is the natural sets of laws that govern the rise and fall in nature.
• The dhamma is not the entirety of emptiness.
• Cula-suññata Sutta: fully in a dwelling of emptiness:

not attending to the perception of human being, [wilderness, earth, the dimension of the infinitude of space, the dimension of nothingness, the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception] — attends to the singleness based on the theme-less concentration of awareness. His mind takes pleasure, finds satisfaction, settles, & indulges in its theme-less concentration of awareness. "He discerns that 'This theme-less concentration of awareness is fabricated & mentally fashioned.' And he discerns that 'Whatever is fabricated & mentally fashioned is inconstant & subject to cessation.' For him — thus knowing, thus seeing — the mind is released from the effluent of sensuality, the effluent of becoming, the effluent of ignorance. With release, there is the knowledge, 'Released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.' [Cula-suññata Sutta (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

• Suñña Sutta: the empty of atta (atta sunna/sunnata).
• Emptiness is a dhamma, not the creator.

Cessation Pariccheda (Emptiness)

[Heart (Thich):] all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness; their true nature is the nature of no Birth no Death, no Being no Non-being, no Defilement no Purity, no Increasing no Decreasing.

• Everything is a part of Emptiness/Dharmakaya (the Māyāvadi Buddha). their true nature is māyā.
• Emptiness: Reality
• Māyā bears the mark of Emptiness.
• Attavada that is.

Māyāvada (non-dualiism) sees reality as māyā—the imagination of Emptiness (mind). Imagination exists because it is seen of the mind.

Examples of non-duality: A journey with no start and end; Space with no left and right; An object with no front and back; Dhammakaya is boundless emptiness.

Non-dualiism regards duallity as māyā (imagination/illusion) and rejects two sides, two parts, two ends, and anything that exists as a pair. Māyāvada regards anything other than emptiness as māyā.

The Māyāvadi non-dualist sutras present Nirvana (heaven) and the external world as the same thing, not a pair—nirvana is the external world of māyā. However, they do not consider duality (māyā) and non-duality (emptiness) as the same thing. They suggest duality as unreal and non-duality as real. Thus, they present the reality as the original Buddha,

• Emptiness as cessation vs Nirvana is samsara

[Lanka Chapter 2:] 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. [LankaChapter 2]

• Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā (Pariccheda): cessation is this place without origination or extinction
• Heart Sutra: perfect nirvana
• Lotus: true extinction is the nirvana of the Tathagatas.
• Lankavatara: imaginations/illusions, and no nirvana is Maheśvara/Citta-gocara.
• DIAMOND: no beings and no nirvana.
• The Ah Mantra:

[the Dharmakāya/emptiness/cessation] is neither being nor non-being, nor both, nor neither, being beyond such dualities [The Ah Mantra - Awakened Zen (zenawakened.com)]

• Cessation/the original Tathagata is a living thing but:

[Lanka Chapter 6:] The Tathagata is not a non-entity nor is he to be conceived as other things ... "The Mind-appearing One" (Manomayakaya) which his Essence-body

• Manomayakaya: the body/kaya created by Manomayā-iddhi.

Manomayā or Manomayā-iddhi refers to “creation of a physical body (the double of oneself)” and [...] Ṛddyabhijñā

• Compare with Nirmāṇakāya (the “transformation body”), one of the three kayas (trikāya).

Nirmāṇakāya (निर्माणकाय).—Śiva has a body called Nirmāṇakāya at the time of his avatāra. “Śiva has an avatāraśarīra called Nirmāṇakāya with śuddhasattva as the principal aspect” (Kannaḍa Nighaṇṭu, vol. 5, p. 4696).

The Māyāvadi Buddhas are different:

it is enough to hear [dharmadhātujakāya Buddha's] name to find salvation; [...] in accordance with their karmic cause and conditions, some beings, even though they are dwelling with [nirmāṇakāya] Buddha, fall into hell*.* [Buddha, Buḍḍha, Buddhā: 41 definitions]

• Those who have received salvation, including bodhisattvas, dwell in buddha-lands.
• Who might be some beings dwelling with [nirmāṇakāya] Buddha in buddha-lands?

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Gradually the Bodhisattva will realize his Tathagata-nature and the possession of all its powers and psychic faculties, self-mastery, loving compassion, and skillful means, and by means of them will enter into all the Buddha-lands.

• Tathagata-nature: Buddha-nature (Buddha-svabhāva)

Lotus's Curse

[Lotus Chapter 3:] If there be those who don't believe, And who slander this Sutra, They thereby sever all Worldly Buddha seeds [...] If there be those who slander A Sutra such as this one [...] They suffer this offense retribution, Because they have severed their Buddha seeds. They may become camels...

• The doubters and slanderers sever all Worldly Buddha seeds. The Lotus Sutra does not claim Buddha seed (Buddha-nature) is in everyone, nor eternal.

Māyāvadi Cessation

[Lanka Chapter 2:] the external world is nothing but a manifestation of mind... emptiness, no-birth, and no self-nature.

• emptiness is Nirvana and Samsara—cessation (Pariccheda) is a place.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] for the Buddhas there is no Nirvana.

• Ahetukavadi emptiness:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] False-imagination teaches that because all things are bound up with causes and conditions of habit-energy that has been accumulating since beginningless time by not recognizing that the external world is of mind itself, all things are comprehensible under the aspects of individuality and generality. By reason of clinging to these false-imaginations there is multitudinousness of appearances which are imagined to be real but which are only imaginary.

• By reason of clinging: why doesn't that mind (the original mind) stop seeing what is seen of the mind itself?

What's the difference between māyā in nirvana and māyā in the human world?

• multitudinousness of appearances are māyā in the human world
• Excluding objects such as thrones, Oneness is māyā in Maheśvara.
• the external world is of mind itself: the external world does not exist on its own
• all things are comprehensible for the Tathagata, that's true. But a bodhisattva cannot explain all dharmas:

[Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā:] G: ‘It cannot be verbally expressed’ [...] ‘Because the dharma is incalculable and ineffable’”.

• False-imagination teaches [...] causes and conditions: Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt did not see the Ahetukavadi approach rejected by Vibhajjavāda, so he wrote:

[page 107] nothing is ever produced without cause and condition [...] nothing eternal. [But] some of the Hinayanists [consider] a being [as] uncaused and unconditioned [...] [...Pratitya Sam Utpada in Hinayana and Mahayana]

• Ahetukavadi (acausalist or fatalist)

[Lanka Chapter 13:] The Tathagata's Nirvana is where it is recognized that there is nothing but what is seen of the mind itself...

• Nirvana is where the residents of Maheśvara realised māyā as the imagination of the Mind.
• Nirvana is not where the earthlings realised māyā that way.
• Nirvana is not attained by earthlings who have realised māyā.
• However, māyā can become Buddha without Anuttara...:

Who is a Buddha**?**

[Bloodstream Sermon:] The one who knows his nature [Buddha-nature] is a Buddha

• Does this Buddha occur here without passing the bodhisattva stages to sit on a lotus throne?

[Lanka Chapter 6:] When the twofold passions are destroyed [what] remains is the self-nature [buddha-svabhāva] of the Tathagatas. 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

• the disciples and masters realized the Perfect-knowledge (āryajñāna).

The embodiments

Tathagata only is real and surrounded by māyā the external world lived by beings (seen of the mind) that embody Buddha-nature (reality). Buddha-nature will revert to Tathagata only if a being (seen of the mind) escape from his/her false-imagination. The Heart Sutra demonstrates that concept.

[Heart (Thich):] This Body itself is Emptiness and Emptiness itself is this Body. The same is true of Feelings, Perceptions, Mental Formations, and Consciousness.

• Emptiness: Dharmakaya,
• Emptiness itself is this body, Feelings, Perceptions, Mental Formations, and Consciousness.
• Māyā is form (This body, Feelings, Perceptions, Mental Formations, and Consciousness.)
• Emptiness is both nirvana and samsara, Buddha and māyā, enlightenment and Kleshas.

[Heart (Wiki):] In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are empty

That seems to be a disagreement between two translations.

Form is empty of self-nature (svabhāva) and form embodies buddha-nature are common knowledge.

[Heart (Thich):] the True Wisdom that has the power to put an end to all kinds of suffering

• all kinds of suffering are māyā that happen to māyā.

5.4.7. Lanka Chapter 2: Agency-Cause

Sarvāstivāda's causation/agency-cause is explained in Lanka chapter 2-7.

[Lanka Chapter 2:] Causation may be divided into six elements: indifferent-cause, dependance-cause, possibility-cause, agency-cause, objective-cause, manifesting-cause.

• agency-cause is the first mover or causal agent

[causal agent] any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results

• Here we are dealing with emptiness as a being:

In very general terms, an agent is a being with the capacity to act, and ‘agency’ denotes the exercise or manifestation of this capacity. [(Agency (Stanford)]

• Emptiness is the Un-born.

[Lanka Chapter 6:] Then Mahamati said to the Blessed One: ...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? The Divine Atman as taught by them is also claimed to be eternal, inscrutable, unchanging, imperishable. It there, or is there not a difference?

• The Un-born is the unborn lord Śiva.

57-58. On seeing the unborn lord Śiva, a mass of refulgence, the consort of Umā, the omniscent, the creator of everything, famous as Nīlalohita, straight in front of me I saluted him with great devotion and was highly delighted. I told the lord “Please create various subjects.” [The Shiva Purana: The manifestation of Rudra [Chapter 15] (J. L. Shastri)]

• The Un-born has no cause, but it is the cause:

non-difference is a proclamation of the reality of the non-dual substratum underlying all experiences [Mahayana Buddhism and Early Advaita Vedanta (Study): Chapter 5 (Asokan N.)]

• the reality...: anuttara

Anuttara is the fundamental reality underneath the whole Universe.

The infinite universe (Ananta Cakavala)

• How The World Came To An End [Part 2] (Ashin Janakabhivamsa)
• The multi-verse (innumerable cakkavalas) is the vibhajjavādi model. Each cakkavala has its own 31 planes of existence. When a cakavala system is destroyed by cosmic fire, flood or storm, the beings who have not attained the required level of jhana are destroyed, too. They are reborn according to their kamma in another cakkavala. There are also the vacant cakkavalas not occupied by beings.

Emptiness/Dharmakaya (the Māyāvadi Buddha) is the uncaused being.

• Māyā (imagination) is caused. but it is not real.
• Māyā exists in sunyatta (the paramartha).

[Lanka Chapter 2:] The Blessed One replied: There are two factors of causation by reason of which all things come into seeming existence: external and internal factors. The external factors are a lump of clay, a stick, a wheel, a thread, water, a worker, and his labor, the combination of all which produces a jar

• Māyāvada or Citta-matrata: the jar is māyā, and so are clay, a stick, a wheel, a thread, water, a worker, and his labor.
• a worker, and his labor can be understood as Agency-cause: the Creator, the Universal Mind, the Emptiness.

[Lanka Chapter 6:] All such notions as causation, succession, atoms, primary elements, that make up personality, personal soul, Supreme Spirit, Sovereign God, Creator, are all figments of the imagination and manifestations of mind. No, Mahamati, the Tathagata's doctrine of the Womb of Tathagatahood is not the same as the philosopher's Atman.

• The original Tathagata is the imaginator.
• Tathāgatagarbha (buddha-svabhāva) replaces Atman.

Tathāgatagarbha [is] an innate buddhahood possessed by all sentient beings that is either developed or revealed when one attains enlightenment. Has the Sense of the seed or essence of enlightenment. It is more imprecisely interpreted as the “buddha-nature” [Buddhadhātu]

The Māyāvadi Atman

[Breakthrough Sermon (Bodhidharma):] Our buddha-nature [buddha-svabhāva/buddha self-nature] is awareness: to be aware and to make others aware. To realize awareness is liberation [...] The Sutra of the Ten Stages [Lankavatara] says, “In the body of mortals is the indestructible buddha-nature.

• Tathāgatagarbha is the fundamental of the mind system:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] the whole mind-system also arises from the mind itself

• The mind is the Un-born, the Māyāvadi primordial Buddha,

[Lanka Chapter 7:] he must recognize and be convinced that all things are to be regarded as forms seen in a vision and a dream, empty of substance. un-born and without self-nature; that all things exist only by reason of a complicated network of causation which owes its rise to the discrimination and attachment and which eventuates in the rise of the mind-system and its belongings and evolvements.

• a complicated network of causation: Very complicated imagination (māyā)
• Agency-cause: While in a vision and a dream, the Agency-cause is creating māyā for everybody, the bodhisattvas defy māyā and try to unify with the Universal Mind.
• The Sakyamuni Buddha teaches that Kamma is intention, which drives the cycle of paticcasamuppada: the law of life.

5.4.8. The Vibhajjavādi Buddha's Teachings

Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt might have noticed the agency-cause, so he wrote:

[page 107] nothing is ever produced without cause and condition [...] nothing eternal. [But] some of the Hinayanists [consider] a being [as] uncaused and unconditioned [...] [...Pratitya Sam Utpada in Hinayana and Mahayana]

• uncaused and unconditioned is the creator God, who does not exist in Paticcasamuppada process, which Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt did not know.
• Māyāvada,, which comprises Ahetukavada and Sassatavada, presents the Dharmakaya as a living entity that imagines.
• nothing eternal except the original Tathagata who is eternal, indestructible, and the agency-cause.

Paticcasamuppada (or the law of life) explains the rising and binding of the three impermanent realities (citta, cetasika, rupa), which are conventionally known as a being.

Avoiding these two extremes [Oneness and Manyness], the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle: From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications. [Lokayatika Sutta: The Cosmologist (accesstoinsight.org)]

• Oneness is the original Tathagata (primordial Buddha). The notions of Oneness and Manyness are based in avijja/moha (darkness: not knowing reality).
• Avijja-paccaya Sankhara: Avijja (unmindfulness) gives birth to sankhara (verbal, mental and physical activities). Rebirth originates in pamada (unmindfulness):

II. (1) The Story of Samavati Verse 21. Mindfulness is the way to the Deathless (Nibbana); unmindfulness is the way to Death. Those who are mindful do not die; those who are not mindful are as if already dead.

• Pali: Appamado amatapadam pamado maccuno padam appamatta na miyanti ye pamatta yatha mata.
• Rebirth follows death, as death follows birth and aging. That cyclic existence is samsara.
• The cycle of Paticcasamuppada goes very fast, at the speed of mind.
• Avijja is an akusala cetasika. It is not alive, but it must be stopped.

The reverse order of Paticcasamuppada:

"Now from the remainderless fading & cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications. [Lokayatika Sutta: The Cosmologist (accesstoinsight.org)]

• Nibbana (dukkhanirodha) is the cessation of the rising of avijja that causes Sankhara (the rising and binding of the three realities). That is the destruction of the paticcasamuppada cycle (samsara), so it can no long spin again from avijjja to avijja, round and round.

nirodha in the teaching of Dependent Origination (as also in dukkhanirodha, the third of the Four Noble Truths) means the non-arising, or non-existence, of something because the cause of its arising is done away with. For example, the phrase "when avijja is nirodha, sankhara are also nirodha," which is usually taken to mean "with the cessation of ignorance, volitional impulses cease," in fact means "when there is no ignorance, or no arising of ignorance, or when there is no longer any problem with ignorance, there are no volitional impulses, volitional impulses do not arise, or there is no longer any problem with volitional impulses." [Ven. Prayudh Payutto (Ven. Phra Brahmagunabhorn)- Dependent Origination : The Buddhist Law of Conditionality (dhammatalks.net): Appendix: A problem with "nirodha" (Ven. Prayudh Payutto)]

• Scholars like Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt should take time to read the actual teachings of the Vibhajjavādi Buddha.

Lankavatara's Paticcasamuppada from Brahmanism

There is an old story from India about the God, Brahma, who was alone. Nothing existed but Brahma, and he was completely bored. Brahma decided to play a game, but there was no one to play the game with. So he created a beautiful goddess, Māyā*, just for the purpose of having fun.* [Maya and Brahman (Cynthia O'Neill)]

• Brahman Created Māyā Out of Boredom

[the Tathagata-garbha] does not exist within ordinary beings in its fully developed state […] There was among the Indian Buddhist writers a fear that [Tathagata-garbha] could have been mistaken for just another name for the Hindu Brahman. [Tathagata-garbha – Buddha-Nature (Nick Bea)]

• If not Brahman, must be Atman:

In 1989, [Tathāgatagarbha] was severely criticized by some Japanese scholars, namely, Shiro Matsumoto and Noriaki Hakamaya, for being contradictory to the Buddha's teaching of non-self (anātman) and accused of being a non-Buddhist theory in disguise. [Affirmation in Negation: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in the Light of the Bodhisattva Practices, Chen, Shu-hui Jennifer]

Māyā must be very careful:

[Lotus Chapter 2:] The Buddha seed arises from conditions; Thus they speak of the One Vehicle.

• The Lotus Sutra does not claim Buddha seed (Buddha-nature) is in everyone, nor eternal, but may be cut off or removed:

[Lotus Chapter 3:] If there be those who don't believe, And who slander this Sutra, They thereby sever all Worldly Buddha seeds

• emancipation is blocked by names and forms (māyā):

[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.

name and form in the Dharma language:

[Verse 1.4.7:] This (universe) was then undifferentiated. It differentiated only into name and form*—it was called such and such, and was of such and such form. So to this day it is differentiated only into* name and form*—it is called such and such, and is of such and such form* [Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: Section IV - The Creation and Its Cause]

Nama, Rupa and Brahma in the Dhamma language

Name and form are pannatti or sammuti. They are perceived truths (perceived realities or conventional realities). However, one should correctly identify the four paramatthas (realities). Paramattha Sacca and Sammuti Sacca are also explained in Part 10 and Part 14.

paññatti : [f.] designation; name; concept; idea; a regulation.

• Some Theravadins mistook nama as name (paññatti) and rupa as form (sankhara).
• According to the Sakyamuni Buddha, the nama are citta and ctasika, and the rupa is the fundamental elements.

Arahants rise from the destruction of āsavā

It was preached at Jetavana, and describes how the cankers (āsavā) can be destroyed. Extirpation of the āsavas comes only to those who know and see things as they really are. āsavas can be got rid of in many ways: by scrutiny, restraint, use, endurance, avoidance, removal and culture. M.i.6ff. [Sabbāsava Sutta (Dictionary of Pali Proper Names)]

Brahma, Arhats and Bodhisattvas are not free of asava

• Brahma who created Māyā was not free from the canker of sense-desire (kāmāsava), of (desiring eternal) existence (bhavāsava), of (wrong) views (ditthāsava), and of ignorance (avijjāsava).
• That Brahma is not free from kāma-taṇhā (craving for sensual pleasures), bhava-taṇhā (craving for existence), and vibhava-taṇhā (craving for non-existence).
• These arhats and bodhisattvas followed that Brahma and did not develop from the Buddha's Dhamma.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 31

"Sabbe sankhara anicca" ti yada pannaya passati atha nibbindati dukkhe esa maggo visuddhiya—Verses 277

• The original Tathagata means the original Māyāvādi Tathagata

5.4.9. Anicca Vata Sankhara

 "Impermanent, alas, are all formations!"

• Sarvāstivāda as a parasitic plant has overwhelmed the Bodhi Tree.

The Māyāvādi Buddha's doctrine: body, mind, and spirit (Self)

[The Nirvana Sutra (Dr. Tony Page):] “You, monks, should not thus cultivate the perception (samjna) of impermanence, suffering and non-Self [...] In every situation, constantly meditate upon [bhavana] the perception [samjna] of the Self, the perception of the Eternal, Bliss, and the Pure

• Māyāvāda: anicca, dukkha and anatta are not true reality.
• Sarvāstivādis could not accept the Vibhajjavādi Buddha's Dhamma because their nirvana is different.

The Great-Nirvana: Achieving True Self (A different version of the Lotus Sutra):

[ Lotus Chapter 4 (Dharmaraksa):] The 4th Section of Chapter 4: Awarding the Bodhisattvas the distinctive marks of future Buddhahood

• 'true self' is Buddha-nature

[Heart (Thich):] Avalokiteśvara ... discovered ... all of the five Skandhas are equally empty [of one's own self-nature]

• Avalokiteśvara realised buddha-nature in him perfectly revealed itself as Tathagata

[Lanka Chapter 6:] 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

• That is not the state of nirvana, which does not exist, although they have Nirvana Sutra, a sutra named after nirvana:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] 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.

• That is explained philosophically: Nirvana is non-being in Māyāvāda, as māyā (illusion/imagination) is the phenomena of the unreal and nonexistent. Māyā is not more real than the existence of imagination.

In nirvāṇa all phenomena are lost; we say that the phenomena cease to exist in nirvāṇa, but like the illusory snake in the rope they never existed^[4] [...] Phenomena sometimes appear to be produced and sometimes to be destroyed, but they cannot be determined as existent or non-existent. nirvāṇa is merely the cessation of the seeming phenomenal flow (prapañcapravṛtti). It cannot therefore be designated either as positive or as negative for these conceptions belong to phenomena [...] In this state there is nothing which is known, and even the knowledge that the phenomena have ceased to appear is not found. Even the Buddha himself is a phenomenon, a mirage or a dream, and so are all his teachings^[5]. [The Mādhyamika or the Śūnyavāda school.—Nihilism [Part 12] (Surendranath Dasgupta)]

• Māyāvāda cannot argue for the existence of nirvana, which exists not more than the phenomenon of māyā,
• Even the Buddha himself : That shares the common Māyāvādi concept:

Māyāvāda: body, mind, soul and spirit

Māyāvāda (मायावाद) refers to “doctrine of illusion. This theory, advocated by the impersonalist followers of Śaṅkarācārya, holds that Bhagavān’s form, this material world and the individual existence of the living entities are māyā, or false. [...]
Māyāvāda (मायावाद) refers to:—Proponents of a philosophy that posits that qualities such as personhood, form and name are an illusion, or Māyā, imposed on the Absolute Truth, who is in reality changeless and formless, or impersonal. The foremost advocate of this philosophy, also known as Adaitavāda, was Śrīpād Śaṅkarācharya, an incarnation of Śrī Śiva. [Mayavada, Māyāvāda, Maya-vada: 9 definitions (wisdomlib.org)]

• Absolute Truth, who is in reality changeless and formless: The true reality presented in the Nirvana Sutra, who is the primordial Buddha, the Self.
• Thus, nirvana is eternal true reality, ultimate reality or the Self:

[Nirvana] is not annihilation, but an eternal, joyous state of which buddhas are embodiments of true reality. [...] What is considered one of the more radical teachings of the Nirvana Sutra is the existence of a true self. [...] traditional Buddhist teachings a personal self or personality does not exist [...] The Nirvana Sutra by contrast identifies the existence of a genuine self with one’s Buddha-nature. [...] The Nirvana Sutra is an exemplar of this new understanding of basic Buddhist beliefs and what it means to be a Buddhist. [The Nirvana Sutra (Minnesota Zen Meditation Center)]

• As Sarvāstivādis think Nibbana is annihilation (ucchedaditthi), which is one extreme, they take the other extreme (sassataditthi), which they call 'the middle way' (Madhyamaka).
• new understanding: self (atta) is the old understanding (attavada) which was brought into Buddhism (anattavada).
• Buddha-nature contains a genuine self.

Our Essential Wholeness includes body, mind, soul and spirit. [...] The bridge between spirit and body is soul. [...] It is soul that awakens to its true spiritual nature [...] Mahayana Buddhism refers to these three aspects as dharmakaya as the Absolute; the unified and unmanifested essence of the universe. Sambhogakaya (soul) is what is in the process of realising enlightenment through spiritual practice. In Eastern traditions, it is what reincarnates for lifetime to lifetime. Body, Mind, Soul and Spirit (Eric Lyleson – Essential Wholeness)]

• traditional Buddhist teachings: the Mahaparinibbana Sutta.

Maha-parinibbana Sutta

The Vibhajjavādi Buddha's doctrine:

61. And the Blessed One spoke, saying: "In whatsoever Dhamma and Discipline, Subhadda, there is not found the Noble Eightfold Path, neither is there found a true ascetic of the first, second, third, or fourth degree of saintliness. But in whatsoever Dhamma and Discipline there is found the Noble Eightfold Path, there is found a true ascetic of the first, second, third, and fourth degrees of saintliness. [Maha-parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha (Sister Vajira & Francis Story)]

• Another translation:

and the Blessed One said, "In any doctrine & discipline where the noble eightfold path is not found, no contemplative of the first... second... third... fourth order [stream-winner, once-returner, non-returner, or arahant] is found [...] The noble eightfold path is found in this doctrine & discipline [Dhamma-Vinaya], and right here there are contemplatives of the first... second... third... fourth order. Other teachings are empty of knowledgeable contemplatives. And if the monks dwell rightly, this world will not be empty of arahants." [Maha-parinibbana Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Total Unbinding (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

• The Vibhajjavādi Buddha guaranteed that there are no arahants in the Māyāvādi Buddha's doctrine.

Majjhimā-Paṭipadā

Middle Way, in Buddhism, complement of general and specific ethical practices and philosophical views that are said to facilitate enlightenment by avoiding the extremes of self-gratification on one hand and self-mortification on the other.

 the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, is said to have taken a “middle way” or “middle path” between the extremes of self-satisfaction and self-denial.

The Buddha’s middle path also extended to the contrasting Buddhist doctrines of eternalism—the idea that there is a self that persists forever—and nihilism—the idea that the self is destroyed at or before death. The Buddha reconciled these ideas with a middle path that questions whether such a self exists at all. [Golden mean | Definition, Aristotle, Maimonides, Buddhism, Confucianism, & Facts | Britannica]

• The middle way does not take the two extremes of views: Ucchedaditthi and Sassataditthi:

[Dhammapada Verse 294:] Having killed mother (i.e., Craving), father (i.e., Conceit), and the two kings (i.e., Eternity-belief and Annihilation-belief), and having destroyed the kingdom (i.e., the sense bases and sense objects) together with its revenue officer (i.e., attachment), the brahmana (i.e., the arahat) goes free from dukkha.

• They did not take these from the Vibhajjavādi Buddha.

Madhyamaka's Madhyamā-pratipat presents two different extremes:

a middle path (madhyamā pratipad) that avoids the two extremes of eternalism—the doctrine that all things exist because of an eternal essence—and annihilationism—the doctrine that things have essences while they exist but that these essences are annihilated just when the things themselves go out of existence. [Madhyamaka (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) (Richard Hayes)]

• That is the reaction of Madhyamaka to Nibbana as annihilationist approach.
• Madhyamaka's middle way in the Heart Sutra:

"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)]

Kashmir Shaivism

In Kashmir Shaivism, madhya can refer to Supreme Consciousness, the self or the heart. Here madhya can also be used interchangeably with sushumna nadi, the pathway through which kundalini energy rises. Meditations in this tradition may be described as “pathways to madhya.” [...] In Kashmir Shaivism, madhya can refer to Supreme Consciousness, the self or the heart. Here madhya can also be used interchangeably with sushumna nadi, the pathway through which kundalini energy rises. Meditations in this tradition may be described as “pathways to madhya.” [What is Madhya? (Yogapedia)]

• kundalini in Mahayana:

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)]

• Also see Part 16

5.4.10. Yoga of Śiva

Where does yoga come from? Yoga is the means to achieve the highest in some Mahayanist traditions. Yoga originates in the ancient Rishis (sages) of the Upanishads.

Anuttara (अनुत्तर) or Anuttarayoga refers to the “highest (yoga)” and represents one of the divisions of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism, according to [Mahayanist] teachings followed by the Newah in Nepal, Kathmandu Valley (whose roots can be traced to the Licchavi period, 300-879 CE).

• Non-dual Tantra (Unsurpassed Yoga tantra) synthesises and briefs the Mahayanist concepts of spiritual development and put them into a unified whole, which can be compared with Shaivism—Śiva Yoga.
• The founder of yoga Śiva is a busy god.
• Part 25: yoga in Yogachara
• Part 9: 4.5. Highest Knowledge: the Guhjasamaja Tantra: Asaṅga is the Teacher of all Bodhisattvas and Tathagatas, he indeed is the Blessed One, Mahavajradhara, Lord of all Buddha-wisdoms.

The Guhyasamāja Tantra is ascribed by tradition to the sage Asaṅga [...] The first of 18 chapters presents the text’s mandala (literally, “circle”), a visual image [which shows] Akṣobhya, the Imperturbable Buddha [surrounded by] Vairocana, the Illuminator Buddha, in the east; Amitābha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, who dwells in the Western Paradise, the Pure Land; and the celestial Buddhas, Amoghasiddhi in the north and Ratnasambhava in the south. Other chapters present sexual and horrific symbolism, spiritual techniques, the nature of enlightened consciousness, and other central Tantric concerns. [Vajrayana | Tantric Rituals, Mantras & Mudras | Britannica]

• Akṣobhya, the Imperturbable Buddha is probably who they should follow instead of Amitābha.

Locanā is the consort or prajñā of Akṣobhya [visiblemantra.org]

• Akshobhya and the Magical City
• The evolution of the gods (God) depends on how people want to worship them.

Tantra of Śiva

"Nirvana is the State of Which Buddhas are embodiments of true reality." [...] in contrast to many other Mahayana sutras, the highest goal in the sutra is not the bodhisattva ideal in which one renounces nirvana to save all beings first before entering nirvana oneself. One is urged instead to attain nirvana for oneself first, for one will be best placed to lead others to it (though one should still work to free all beings along the way, too). [The Nirvana Sutra (Minnesota Zen Meditation Center)]

• These concepts do not differ Lankavatara and Lotus.
• The concept of true reality:

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)

• The Self is the Un-born, eternal, no beginning, no end, the original Tathagata who is in everyone:

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

• The Un-born: the imagined conscious fundamental reality underneath the whole Universe—it is described as neither being nor non-being—Emptiness.
• The ulrimate Nirvana returns to Emptiness, achieving true self, unifying with the reality.
• Buddha-nature is never born, nor created: energy is neither created nor destroyed.
• What makes Avalokiteśvara different from other bodhisattvas is he is next in line.

[A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms (mahajana.net):] The thirty-three forms in which Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin) is said to have presented himself, from that of a Buddha to that of a woman or a rakṣas. Cf. Lotus Sūtra

Pāṇḍaravāsinī, the great white-robed one, a form of Guanyin all in white, with white lotus, throne, etc., 

Pāṇḍaravāsinī, the white-robed form of Guanyin on a white lotus.

• The Diamond Sutra lets bodhisattvas enter nirvana before they become Buddhas.

small ego [of māyā] surrenders before this Great Ego

“In deep samadhi [meditation], when our mind ceases to exist, our mind is switched to the Great Universe. Its rhythm is not coarse, like our usual thinking, but this state of nothingness is not dead; it is living. Then, for the first time, the individual ego makes contact with the Great Ego of the Universe, and the small ego surrenders before this Great Ego.” (Zen Pivots, p. 111). [Zen Master, Sokei-an]

• Samadhi: Zen (dhjana) without vipassana
• mind ceases to exist: Citta does not ceases to exist, as it returns or recurs. Citta, cetasika and rupa are always together.
• the Great Ego of the Universe: Space (emptiness) is the first being with the great ego.
• Zen Master, Sokei-an does not claim he visited the Buddha-lands. according to Lankavatara:

[Lanka Chapter 7:] you will attain self-realization of Noble Wisdom and be able to enter into all the Buddha-lands and assemblies.

• Would Zen Master, Sokei-an agree with Dhyana Master Hsüan Hua?

If he has a self and relies on the word “I" so that he says “I take living beings across and liberate them," then he is not a Bodhisattva
[DIAMOND (Dhyana Master Hsüan Hua)]

Theories vs Realities

They are dealing with theories, not the real (empirical/experiential) common experience like vipassana-nana. They would do anything to realize this body is not your own—

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra instructs us to purify our heart of the kleshas (mental and moral negativities) and to “enter this Self” of the [Māyāvādi] Buddha – the Buddha-dhatu. [...] “When your mind is purified, the outside ceases to exist and you enter the world of pure mind, of soul only. Your footsteps draw near to the great cosmic mind, and you enter. Do not be afraid. You will not lose your physical body, but will return and look at your physical body and realize this body is not your own. When you experience this in meditation, it is the first step of realization in [Māyāvādi] Buddhism.” (The Zen Eye, “Meditaiton”, p. 57). [The Nirvana Sutra (Zen Master, Sokei-an)]

• These are from the Lankavatra Sutra
• Self” of the Buddha – Buddha-dhatu: buddha-nature (buddha-svabhāva)
• the great cosmic mind: the one mind/Universal Mind (Ālayavijñāna), the Tathagata, Emptiness.
• the world of pure mind, of soul only: Citta-gocara, Maheśvara—See Siddhaloka - Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia

[Vaishnavism] Siddhi (सिद्धि).—Mystic perfections usually acquired by yoga practice and natural to residents of Siddhaloka [Siddhi: 43 definitions (wisdomlib.org)]

• That is not arupa-bhava (Four States Of Formlessness)
• this body is not your own: that's agreeable; however, the body is not māyā either.

Psychedelic Use in Zen

[After having] his first LSD dose. “I experienced myself as a Buddha sitting in Full Lotus,” [...] “I never meditated, I’d never really heard of or studied [Buddhism].” [Zen and Psychedelics Documentary Follows Monks on Mushrooms (Greg Gilman)]

• LSD can make you feel like a Psychedelic Buddha.

A new paper published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that using psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, and ayahuasca can promote positive and long-term personality changes — for instance, becoming less quarrelsome or critical with others and becoming less upsettable and anxious. But there are downsides as well. [New Research Explores How Psychedelics Can Change One’s Personality (Mark Travers)]

• That is how to be a Psychedelic Buddha.

5.4.11. Spirit Worship

Taking the klesha as the enlightenment

• Emptiness is both nirvana and samsara, Buddha and māyā, enlightenment and Kleshas (see Part 24).

Vajrayogini: female Buddha

• After lowering the level of enlightenment, they got Yoginis as buddhas.

Vajrayogini “is the original and prototypical female Buddha of the Tantric pantheon [Tara, the Saviour, and Vajrayogini the Sarvabuddhadakini: how are they different, and how are they the one? The importance of Female Buddhas: Wisdom personified - Buddha Weekly: Buddhist Practices, Mindfulness, Meditation]

• yogini background:

The origin of the Yoginis has been recorded to be in small, rural villages, believed to be the Guardian Goddesses (Grama Devatas), of the isolated villages dotted throughout ancient India. They are mentioned in the Skanda Purana variously as yoginis, dakinis, shaktis or bhairavis. [...] The term dakini is still retained in the Buddhist tradition which refers to sorceress, witch or even ghoul. [...] In Yogini worship, the Tantrik symbol is a chakra with 64 spokes in a wheel. Each spoke represents a Yogini form of the Devi. In the Buddhist Kalachakra tantric system, the navel chakra or the Wheel of Emanation, the 64 channels are the 64 goddesses of the Speech Mandala. [...] Om Kali Nitya Siddhamata Swaha! [The 64 Yoginis – Awakening The Divine Feminine (sujatanandy.com)]

• dakini: see Enlightened Feminine in Buddhism — the Wisdom of the Dakinis (buddhaweekly.com)
• Grama Devatas:

Grāmadevatā (ग्रामदेवता).— Agricultural land, rain and epidemics which affect them as well as their cattle—these are the main concern of the villagers. Indians, from very ancient days, used to believe that each of the above has its own presiding devatās. Such devatās are the grāmadevatās. Devī [...] the chief grāmadevatā of South India [...] Durgā and Kālī [...] is worshipped in sixtyfour different forms or aspects. [...] In Kerala Devī is called Bhagavatī [...] (See full article at Story of Grāmadevatā from the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani) [Gramadevata, Grāmadevatā, Grama-devata: 9 definitions (wisdomlib.org)]

• Bhagavatī means a female buddha. The enlightenment path of a Yogini as a Bhagavatī must be yoga.

Furthermore, Tārā is also referred to throughout the TMK as the Bhagavatī, signifying her status as a Buddha in female form. [Background on Tārā - The Wisdom Experience]

Lāmās also reveals the true identity of Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

[Shaivism] Yoginī (योगिनी) refers to one of the twenty-four names of the Lāmās [Yogini, Yoginī: 15 definitions (wisdomlib.org)]

[Tibetan Buddhism] Lāmā (लामा) refers to one of the four Ḍākinī Goddesses [...] According to this authority they [viz., Lāmā] are all alike in appearance holding identical symbols [...] Lama (bla-ma), Tib., lit., “none above”; in Tibetan Buddhism a religious master, or guru, venerated by his or her students, since he or she is an authen­tic embodiment of the Buddhist teachings. [Lama, Lāmā: 11 definitions (wisdomlib.org)]

• Duality: Lāmās are both females and males.

Siddha Yoga

• Siddhas are the people of Tantric Yoga religions:

[Page 6] Most tantric scriptures are practice oriented texts associated with specific deities. Tantric meditation and ritual often involve complex visualizations of these deities [...] [Page 7] A mainstay of tantric literature is the siddha, a sorcerer-like yogi who achieves extraordinary powers such as flight or psychic abilities through religious practice. Unlike the introverted monk quietly seeking liberation behind monastery walls, the siddha expresses spiritual attainment in the world. In their biographies, tantric siddhas often commit outrageous acts of apparently reckless violence, consumption of intoxicants, or sexual conduct. In one famous legend, the guru Häòipä of the Näth siddha lineage is said to have broken a five-year fast by consuming enormous quantities of hemp, Strychnos nux-vomica (Kucila, the “strychnine tree”), and datura. [...] Datura is associated with several Hindu and Buddhist deities. Vämana Puräna, a pre-modern devotional text dedicated to Vishnu (date unknown), tells that datura sprouted from the chest of the god Śiva. [...] [Page 8] [M]any of the siddha scriptures discuss ointments and drugs [...] Sometimes termed the “crazy datura” (unmattadhattura) or “Śiva’s datura,” it was generally employed as a narcotic paste or as wood in a fire ceremony and could be easily absorbed through the skin or the lungs. [...] [Page 9] cannabis use was a widespread part of the influential Näth siddha lineage. [...] in the Buddhist Tärä Tantra, cannabis is “essential to ecstasy”.9 In that tantra, Buddha says that drinking wine without having consumed cannabis “cannot produce real ecstasy”.32 In this context “ecstasy” is a technical term describing the experience of bliss caused by particular yogic achievements, and an important step in becoming enlightened. [Psychoactive Plants in Tantric Buddhism: Cannabis and Datura Use in Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism (R. C. Parker and Lux) Erowid Extracts — Number 14 / June 2008]

• Näth siddha lineage or Nath sampradaya (Nath lineage/tradition):

[page 158] the yoga or tradition (Sampradaya) of the Naths [...] believed to have been founded by Matsyendranath (probably c.C8th-10th CE) [...] A Nath or Nath sadhu has hence come to mean a particular kind of advanced yogi belonging to the Nath school or its tradition ( sampradaya ). The terms natha (lord, protector), siddha (perfected one) and mahasiddha (great perfected one, liberated being) are used interchangeably throughout a number of associated Hindu and Buddhist schools of tantrism and yoga. Matsyendranath is revered by both Hindus and Tibetan Buddhists (also known as tantric or esoteric Buddhism) as one of the eighty-four siddhas or mahasiddhas [...]

[page 159] Shiva or Adinatha (first lord) is regarded as the first yogi, he who taught yoga to humanity, and is regarded as the founder of Nath yoga.

[page 387] the siddlias being perfected and liberated beings who achieved that status through the practice of particular forms of yoga; a yogic school that relies on awakening of the kundalinl shakti [A Treasury of Mystic Terms: PART III SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE & PRACTICE – VOLUME 16 (John Davidson)]

• perfected and liberated beings would be good to be seen.

5. Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyamiI
undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness. [The Five Precepts: pañca-sila (accesstoinsight.org)]

• One should avoid taking the psychedelic substances for enlightenment, like sura (alcoholic drinks), to avoid being pamada (heedless, unthinking, etc.).

5. No intoxicants means mainly not drinking alcohol, but it also involves not taking any stimulus or anything that causes one to lose conscience or conduct immoral behaviour. For example, Marijuana, opium, amphetamine, sniffing glue, morphine, etc. must not be taken. [Five Precepts | Nan Tien Temple]

Morality and Being Harmless

Whether one accepts duality as reality or not, one must respect his/her parents, teachers, and follow the moral wholesome path, which goes the opposite direction of the immoral unwholesome path.

As we do not experience sufferings as illusions, we must accept social functionality, take the responsibility of our actions and be not harmful.

• Also make peace with oneself.

5.4.12. Non-dual Attavada

The real self of the original Tathagata and the unreal self of māyā

Oneness, manyness, otherness and Sakkayaditthi

• One and others are mere designations as perceived with self (sakkayaditthi).
• Mind and matters are sankhara (construct), not māyā or duality.
• Sabbe sankhara anicca (dukkha, anatta).
• Anicca and dukkha are real. Anatta is also true reality.
• The cessation of sankhara is Nibbana, which is true reality.
• Avijjaya tveva asesa viraga- nirodha, sankhara-nirodho; sankhara-nirodha vinnana-nirodho; consciousness is not eternal.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] the Nirmana-Buddha symbolizes the principles of differentiation and integration by reason of which all component things are distributed, all complexities simplified, all thoughts analyzed; at the same time it symbolizes the harmonizing, unifying power of sympathy and compassion; it removes all obstacles, it harmonizes all differences, it brings into perfect Oneness the discordant many

• Non-duality (Oneness) needs duality, as the Māyāvādi Buddhas must appreciate their Buddha-lands.

[Lanka Chapter 2: When they communicate in non-dual langage] 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.

• When they speak of āryajñāna, anuttarasamyaksambodhi, still extinction's Dharma..., they do not communicate that way, do they?

[Lotus Chapter 1:] There are Bodhisattvas who speak of still extinction's Dharma with various instructions teaching living beings without number. Seen are Bodhisattvas who contemplate all Dharmas' nature as lacking the mark of duality, like empty space

• The Māyāvādi Buddha needs māyā, or it would not exist in the first place.
• After giving up duality and dwelling in non-duality (the Great Vehicle), they have to go back to duality.
• Bodhisattvas (the māyā with no self-nature) are teaching the still extinction's Dharma to the māyā with no self-nature.
• still extinction: As the Great Ego is eternal, the Māyāvādi nirvana is not the annihilation of the Great Ego (buddha-nature). The annihilation of māyā does not happen, either. Māyā exists just as the Great Ego is eternal.
• duality concerns the Pairs, including the Buddha-Buddha-consort, real-unreal, right-wrong, moral-immoral, good-bad, wet-dry, cold-hot...
• the mark of duality is the pair of male Buddha and female Buddha.
• Samsara and nirvana are the aspects of Dharmakaya. —Lankavatara
• Empty space is non-duality.

Māyāvāda: anicca, dukkha and anatta are not true reality. Nirvana is not real, either.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] [Buddha-nature in everyone is why] for the Buddhas there is no Nirvana.

• Buddha-nature is the original Buddha in everyone (māyā)

[Heart (Thich):] Avalokiteśvara [...] realize Perfect Nirvana.

• Realising anuttara (non-dual tantra - gnyis med rgyud) as perfect Nirvana.
• Realising āryajñāna:

[Lanka Chapter 4:] For this reason, Mahamati, you and other Bodhisattvas-Mahasattvas should cast off all discriminations leading to the notions of birth, abiding, and destruction, of oneness and otherness, of bothness and not-bothness, of being and non-being and thus getting free of the bondage of habit-energy become able to attain reality realizable within yourselves of Noble Wisdom.

• Oneness, in the sense of unified and uniformed Buddhas and bodhisattvas, is the Tathagata.
• Oneness: the Singularity of the Big Bang: Physics is agnostic: "Physics is agnostic" in philosophy.

Discrimination and Erroneous Reasoning — gone beyond error

[Lotus Chapter 2:] Deeply attached to illusory Dharms, They cling to them firmly and cannot let them go. Arrogant, they brag of their loftiness; They are flatterers, their hearts insincere. Throughout ten billion aeons, They never hear the Buddha's name, Nor do they hear the proper Dharma. Such people are difficult to save.

• illusory Dharms (dharma) appears only once in the Lotus Sutra, making it odd and unfitting.
• The causer:

1. No thing anywhere is ever born from itself, from something else, from both or without a cause.[Mūlamadhyamakakārikā: Investigation of Conditions [Chapter 1] (wisdomlib.org)]

• The māyā: the illusive

4. There is no activity which has conditions. There is no activity which does not have conditions. There are no conditions which do not have activity, and none which do have activity. [Mūlamadhyamakakārikā: Investigation of Conditions [Chapter 1] (wisdomlib.org)]

The innocent māyā (does not need Nirvana):

[Lanka Chapter 2:] Error in itself has no faults; faults are due to the confused discriminations fondly cherished by the ignorant concerning ego-soul and its mind. The wise have nothing to do either with maya or error.

• error has no faults: the causer's fault actually.

[Lanka Chapter 4:] Arhats rise when the error of all discrimination is realized...Mind, thus emancipated, enters into perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom.

• Arhats rise: it is the buddha-nature which rises.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 32

Analytical Knowledge (Paṭisambhidā-ñāṇa) allows the Vibhajjavādi arahants to reason and teach in detail analytically.

Links: Heart (Thich); Heart (Red); Lanka LXXV (Red); Lanka Chapter; Lotus Chapter;

• The original Tathagata means the original Māyāvādi Tathagata

5.4.13. The Four Noble Truths

[Heart (The Buddhist Centre):] When he meditated deeply, Saw the emptiness of all five skandhas And sundered the bonds that caused him suffering.

• Heart accepts Duhkha-Samudaya-Nirodha-Marga and also denies them because māyā bears the mark of emptiness.

[Heart (The Buddhist Centre): So, in emptiness, no form, No feeling, thought, or choice, Nor is there consciousness. No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;

• Māyā (prakriti): Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

[Heart (Thich):] discovered ... all of the five Skandhas are equally empty

• Avalokiteśvara discovered the emptiness of self-nature (svabhāva) of māyā.

All dharmas are not really there, their essential original nature is empty. To comprehend that is the practice of wisdom, perfection supreme. [The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha (abuddhistlibrary.com)]

• All dharmas: all the things in nature
• Self must be discovered, too:

[Lanka Chapter 3:] the self-nature of Tathagatahood is Noble Wisdom

• Lankavatara requires a bodhisattva no discovery of anything. Neither does The Lotus Sutra. A Buddha will guide him to attain the ten-stage of Tathagatahood. However, emptiness is also māyā, as in emptiness, thee is no wisdom, and māyā (illusions) does not need training for Arhatship:

[Aṣtasāhasrikā (Conze, page 18):] Wherein Bodhisattvas Train [...] And the Nirvana obtained by the wise and the learned-- Mere illusions, mere dreams--so has the Tathagata taught us. [...] Arhats free from defilements and taints, and rid of their doubts; [...] Coursing thus, the wise and learned Bodhisattva, Trains not for Arhatship, nor on the level of Pratyekabuddhas. [Aṣtasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra]

• Aṣtasāhasrikā simply agrees with Heart:

[Heart (wiki):] So, in emptiness [...] “There is no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment.

• no wisdom but Noble Wisdom

[Lanka Chapter 13:] clinging to these foolish notions, there is no awakening, and they consider Nirvana to consist in the fact that there is no awakening.

• Nirvana and samsara are aspects of emptiness.
• Thus, Aṣtasāhasrikā points out the Nirvana [is] Mere illusions and rejects Arhatship.

[Aṣtasāhasrikā (Conze, page 18):] In the Buddha-dharma alone he trains for the sake of all-knowledge. No training is his training, and no one is trained in this training. Increase or decrease of forms is not the aim of this training, Nor does he set out to acquire various dharmas. All-knowledge alone he can hope to acquire by this training. To that he goes forth when he trains in their training, and delights in its virtues.

• Is Aṣtasāhasrikā's training different from Lankavatara's ten-stage training?
• Part 31 explores the training aspects briefly.
• Dhjanic experience stated in Lankavatara is the gradual loss of will-control:

[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.

• universalized life is Oneness: all Buddhas are one Buddha [Lanka (Red)].

After he has completely given up his will-control, he reaches the tenth stage and becomes Oneness with the Tathagata.

[Lanka Chapter 5:] Universal Mind (Alaya-vijnana) transcends all individuation and limits.

• That is the Oneness, not the bhavanga citta (semi-conscious mind).

Bhavanga denotes mind in its semi-conscious or subconscious state, for example, as in a deep sleep. That without which one cannot subsist or exist. This state of mind, called bhavanga citta, also called vithimutta, is contrasted with vithicita when the objects have set vibration in the stream of being (bhavanga-sota) [The Buddhist psychological ethics of Theravada Buddhism (Ven Ashin Vilasagga, Ph.D Research Scholar)].

Aṣtasāhasrikā and Ratnaguna repeat the same concept:

The basic teachings
No wisdom can we get hold of, no highest perfection,
No Bodhisattva, no thought of enlightenment either.
When told of this, if not bewildered and in no way anxious,
A Bodhisattva courses in the Well-Gone’s wisdom.
[...] The transcendental nature of Bodhisattvas
Thus transcending the world, he eludes our apprehensions. ‘He goes to Nirvana,’ but no one can say where he went to. A fire’s extinguished, but where, do we ask, has it gone to? Likewise, how can we find him who has found the Rest of the Blessed? [...] [The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha (abuddhistlibrary.com)]

• The transcendental nature of Bodhisattvas is also presented in Lankavatara.
• The Bodhisattvas' disappearance in Nirvana might be spiritual rather than physical.
• See Part 31: Theories vs Realities
• No wisdom...: māyā (prakriti)

Maya as Primal Matter: “The seed of consciousness enters the womb of matter for the generation of the universe.” “Gradually, maya comes to mean the lower prakriti, since purusha is said to be the seed which the Lord casts into the womb of prakriti for the generation of the universe.” [Radhakrishnan’s Six Meanings of Maya Other Than Illusion (handout) (Instructor, Robert Faught. page 4)]

• maya comes to mean the lower prakriti...

That is the true identity of Mayayana.

[Lanka Chapter 1:] Thou dost not vanish into Nirvana, nor does Nirvana abide in thee, for Nirvana transcends all duality of knowing and known, of being and non-being

• Aṣtasāhasrikā: ‘He goes [vanishes] to Nirvana,’ but no one can say where he went to.
• Lankavatara: "Thou dost not vanish into Nirvana" but "He becomes a Tathagata himself ... seated upon a lotus-like throne."

[Lotus Chapter 1:] They accordingly practiced the Great Way, And in succession, became Buddhas, Transmitting prophecies in turn.

• Some Māyāvādi Buddhas are eternal—how do they have next in line?
• Ratnaguna practically let the bodhisattvas enter True Extinction (not annihilation of self)

Aṣtasāhasrikā and Ratnaguna skip Buddhahood and let the bodhisattvas disappear in Nirvana/True extinction of Lotus. They do not present a bodhisattva becoming a Māyāvādi Buddha.

The Bodhisattva’s past, his future and his present must elude us, Time’s three dimensions nowhere touch him. Quite pure is he, free form conditions, unimpeded. That is his practice of wisdom, highest perfection. [...] All dharmas are not really there, their essential original nature is empty,
[The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha (abuddhistlibrary.com)]

• All dharmas are seen of the mind, so their essential original nature is empty.
• These sutras agree with Lankavatara and Prajanaparamita.

When realised all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, a Bhikshu's Lifespan increased:

[Lotus Chapter 20:] this Bhikshu's life was coming to an end [...] He immediately obtained the purity of the eye and the purity of the ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, as mentioned above [...] his life span was further increased by two million kotis of nayutas of years. He extensively spoke the Dharma Flower Sutra for others.

• Only one Bhikshu, or is he an example?
• his life span was further increased for bhava-tanha of the author(s). He may not enter Nirvana the True Extinction (not the annihilation of self).

Types of the supreme nirvana

kaivalya, in the Samkhya school of Hinduism, a state of liberation (moksha: literally, “release”) that the consciousness of an individual (purusha: “self” or “soul”) achieves by realizing that it is separate from matter (prakriti). The Samkhya school posits a dualistic cosmology. Both prakriti and purusha are eternal and of distinct natures. While prakriti is always changing, purusha is constant. [Kaivalya | Moksha, Liberation & Enlightenment (Britannica)]

• liberation of purusha: By seeing the emptiness of all five skandhas, Avalokiteśvara sundered the bonds that caused him suffering.
• purusha: Ālayavijñāna, Buddha-nature
• prakriti: māyā
• liberation of purusha: 1. Nirvana of pure, clear self nature

According to Nirvana, Nirvāṇa, Nirvaṇa, Nir-vana: 27 definitions (wisdomlib.org),

There are four kinds of Nirvana:
1. Nirvana of pure, clear self nature
2. Nirvana with residue
3. Nirvana without residue
4. Nirvana of no dwelling

• How do these nirvanas match the nirvanas presented in Heart, Lankavatara, Lotus, etc.?

Nirvana is a Sanskrit word which is originally translated as "perfect stillness".

• How is perfect stillness also liberation?

It has many other meanings, such as liberation, eternal bliss, tranquil extinction, extinction of individual existence, unconditioned, no rebirth, calm joy, etc. It is usually described as transmigration to "extinction", but the meaning given to "extinction" varies.

• extinction of individual existence must be Liberation from existence
• That is annihilationist approach (Natthikaditthi)

The erroneous views that deny moral and immoral deeds and their results or effects, and come under the names of Natthikaditthi, Ahetuka-ditthi, and Akiriya-ditthi, are like the wrong, misleading roads. The worlds of the Unfortunate which are the abodes of the tortured, of Animals, Petas, and Asuras, are like the towns of the demons [Manuals of Buddhism, Vipassana Dipani (abuddhistlibrary.com)]

• Jhanic stillness does not eradicate sakkayaditthi.

[Lotus Chapter 17:] "Further, after the passing into stillness of the Thus Come One

• Attavadi Jhanic stillness does not reach Nibbana.
• The perfect stillness is not the cessation of perception and feeling (sannavedayita nirodha):

nirodha-samāpatti — 'attainment of extinction' (S. XIV, 11), also called saññā-vedayita-nirodha, 'extinction of feeling and perception', is the temporary suspension of all consciousness and mental activity, following immediately upon the semi-conscious state called 'sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception' (s. jhāna, 8). The absolutely necessary pre-conditions to its attainment are said to be perfect mastery of all the 8 absorptions (jhāna), as well as the previous attainment of Anāgāmī or Arahantship (s. ariya-puggala). [nirodha (palikanon.com)]

Still Extinction, True Extinction & Eternal Life

• The Still Extinction of bodhisattvas, the True Extinction of Buddhas, and the eternal Tathagata.
• The end is not Nirvana but Emptiness: fundamental reality underneath the whole Universe:

[Lotus Chapter 2:] I set forth expedients for them, Speak of the way to suffering's end, And demonstrate Nirvana. Although I speak of Nirvana, It is not true extinction.

The emptiness of all Dharmas:

• Lotus chapter 5 argues that emptiness is the nihilistic and eternalist natural state. However, it also recognises Emptiness as the ultimate to which all beings return after reaching nirvana. That emptiness is the emptiness of all Dharmas:

[Lotus Chapter 10:] The Thus Come One's throne is the emptiness of all Dharmas...The Thus Come One's throne is the emptiness of all Dharmas.

• That is also the emptiness of the Great Vehicle (Māyā).
• Māyā does not exist for real.

Self-Control as Nirvana and Eternal life

[Lotus Chapter 9:] At that time, the twelve hundred Arhats whose minds had attained self-control had this thought, "We all rejoice, having attained what we never had before.

True Extinction

[Lotus Chapter 22:] Parinirvana has arrived. The time for my passing into stillness has arrived [...] I also entrust to you the worlds of the seven treasures throughout the three thousand great thousand world systems, with their jeweled trees, jeweled terraces, and gods-in-waiting [...] Seeing the Buddha pass into stillness, the Bodhisattva was sorely grieved and longed for the Buddha.

• Only one Bodhisattva

Eternal Life

[Lotus Chapter 20:] the Buddha King of Awesome Sound had a life span of eons equal in number to the grains of sand in forty myriads of kotis of nayutas of Ganges Rivers.

• But all Buddhas are (the embodiments of) one Buddha.

Appamāda – Dwelling in Satipatthana

"Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation." [Life of Buddha: Buddha's Final Words of Advice (Part 2) (buddhanet.net)]

The Sakyamuni Buddha's final Dhamma advice for His followers is appamāda (be diligently dwelling in satipatthana) towards own salvation. He was not the creator God who decides who shall be free, so He left His final words.

The Sakyamuni Buddha was a human being, rose above the swamp (the world of sensuality) like a lotus free of mud (kilesas), clean and natural.

Tathagata means the natural being at the natural state, as He has ended the sankhara (kamma-vipaka) and no longer seek for anything.

MEDITATING WITH CARE

In the writings of the 8th century Indian Buddhist poet, philosopher, and moralist writer Shantideva, the afflictions—which is how I’m translating the kilesas, the defilements, the negative states of mind—are compared to bands of thieves who roam around us, waiting for an opportunity, he says, to invade the house of our mind and steal its treasures. He compares mindfulness to a guardian at the gateway of the senses that is continually alert to the potential incursions of attachment, aversion, greed, jealousy, whatever, that are—and feel like—things that are waiting to kind of invade us. This image helps point out that appamāda, this kind of careful, conscious awareness, is the very opposite of that loss of attention that allows us to be forgetful, carried away, or lost. [The Buddha’s Last Word: Care - Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (buddhistinquiry.org)]

Bliss of the Samadhis, or Clinging to Existence (Bhava-tanha):

[Lanka Chapter 11:] The tenth stage [...] Maheśvara, the Radiant Land, the Pure Land, the Land of Far-distances; surrounding and surpassing the lesser worlds of form and desire (karmadathu)

• Maheśvara is eternal bliss because there is no nirvana, but there is māyā.

THICH NHAT HANH: Maybe it’s because suffering is not enough. I think Theravada Buddhism stresses too much on that aspect, suffering, and Mahayana stresses a little bit more on the other aspect, the wonderful nature of life [...] You know that in both the Theravada and Mahayana the joy is something that you begin with while practicing. [Suffering Is Not Enough: An Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh | Barbara Gates, Wes Nisker]

5.4.14. The True Samatha-Vipassana

• Avijjaya tveva asesa viraga- nirodha, sankhara-nirodho: One destroys avijja with Samatha-vipassana.
• Swimming Against the Current: swim without drowning.

It is extremely important to realize Dukkha Sacca clearly among living beings, because, as the Buddha says, he who sees dukkha sees also the arising of dukkha, sees also the cessation of dukkha, and sees also the path leading to the cessation of dukkha. [...] to be united to the disliked is suffering (apiyehi sampayogo-dukkho), to be separated from the liked is suffering (piyehi vippayogo-dukkho), not to get what one desires is suffering (yampiccham nalabhati tampi-dukkham). [STUDY ON THE NOBLE TRUTH OF SUFFERING (DUKKHA SACCĀ) issN: 2249-894X]

• Dukkha develops in vedana (feeling).
• Vedana-satipatthana is to observe dukkha in vedana.
• Begin with Kayagatasati.
• While being aware of bodily feelings, uncomfortable feeling will arise.
• The meditator automatically moves to vedana-satipattha.
• As dealing with bodily dukkha, mental factors will emerge.
• Then one may observe these mental factors as citta-satipatthana.
• Yoniso manasikara is dhamma-satipatthana.

Investigation of Dhamma is one of the key factors, the development of which can lead us to liberation from all suffering. [Investigation for Insight (Susan Elbaum Jootla)]

• Yatha bhuta nana dassana is panna that destroys avijja all the way.

[The Buddha replied to a Celestial Brahma:] O celestial Brahma, I agree with your comment that one should strive to eradicate the craving with the same urgency of a person in critical condition with a spear pierced in his heart or with his hair on fire. But I want to improve your statement and simile by correcting the order of the urgency and importance. I proclaim that first and foremost, one should strive to eradicate the Sakkaya-Ditthi with the same urgency and importance of a person in critical condition of life and death [...] Sakkaya-Ditthi means the personality belief on five aggregates (corporeality, feeling, perception, mental formations or consciousness) as I, he, man, woman, soul or self. It is the conceptional delusion without any truth in the ultimate sense. ["Approach to Nibbana" Nayaka Myittha Sayadaw, VEN. U VASAVA]

• I proclaim that first and foremost, one should strive to eradicate the Sakkaya-Ditthi:
• Understanding nama and rupa (Namarupa-pariccheda-Nana) is the very first step to get rid of sakkaya-ditthi.

Part 4: 2.6.4. Maha-Rahulovada Sutta: The Greater Exhortation to Rahula

In the the Buddha gives a method of focusing on the four mahabhutas.

"Rahula, any form whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every form is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.'" [Maha-Rahulovada Sutta]

• This solid is not mine, not my own, not what I am.
• This liquid...
• This gas...
• This heat...
• Part 12: Atta-Suñña (Atta-Suññatā)
• Atta-Suññatā is not the nirvana here and now:

8. Having thus pointed out the lack of attainment of special qualities of one who delights in company, he said: I do not see, Ānanda, etc., in order to point out how this flaw arises. Here, one material form is a physical body. In him who delights … therein: in him who delights through greed for that material form; will not cause … to arise: that would not cause these things to arise in him who delights in that material form: “I do not see any such material form.” And then they arise, too, as they did in Sañjaya owing to the changed state of Sāriputta and Moggallāna, called their coming to the discipleship of Him of the Ten Powers [see Vinaya Mahā Vagga]; as they did in Nātha-puta owing to the changed state of the householder UPali [see MN 71]; and as they did in the rich man in the “Piyajātika Sutta” [see MN 87]. [The “Mahā-Suññatā Sutta” (Majjhima Nikāya No. 122) (The Great Atthakatha Masters and Translators)]

5.4.15. Micchaditthi nibbana

THE LEDI DHAMMA ON NIBBANA by MAHA THERA LEDI SAYADAW, AGGAMAHA PANDITA, D. LFTT.

Vittharakanda Seven kinds of Nibbana

The nibbana which is thought out and grasped by the wrongview-holders (micchaditthi) from outside the Buddha Sasana is called micchaditthi nibbana. That micchaditthi nibbana comes in the pali terms - "panca dittha dhamma nibbana vada", and in the terms of mulapariyaya sutta, "nibbanam nibbanato sanjanati," etc.

Piya Tan explains these 5 wrong nibbana briefly in Brahma,jala Sutta: Doctrines of Nirvana Here and Now (dittha,dhamma,nibbāna,vāda): grounds 58-62:

93 (3.19) There are, bhikshus, some recluses and brahmins who hold the doctrine of the supreme nirvana here and now. They proclaim the supreme nirvana here and now for existing beings, on 5 grounds.

• The Sakyamuni rejected the anuttara, the supreme nirvana (perfect nirvana).

The supreme nirvana: Anuttarasamyaksambodhi

[Lotus Chapter 16:] They say that Shakyamuni Buddha, having left the palace of the Shakyan clan and having gone to a place not far from the city of Gaya to sit in the Bodhimanda, has now attained anuttarasamyaksambodhi. "However, good men, I actually realized Buddhahood limitless, boundless, hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of eons ago [...] "Thus since I realized Buddhahood in the very remote past, my life span has been limitless asamkhyeyas of eons, eternal and never extinguished. Good men, the life span I realized when formerly practicing the Bodhisattva path has not yet been exhausted and is twice that of the above number [...] I speak of the Buddha's life span as limitless [...]

• They gave the Shakyamuni Buddha anuttarasamyaksambodhi with an eternal lifespan because they believe all Buddhas are one Buddha.
• For them the Sakyamuni Buddha is mere individualised māyā.

Dittha Dhamma Nibbana Vada (Nirvana Here and Now)

Caught in the net of Dittha, and drifting in the current of Ditthi (Mahasi Sayadaw)

This resultant effect clearly reveals their failure to reach the zone of freedom from miseries for having been caught and entangled in the net of Dittha. Thus, for being drifted in the current of ditthi, 'they are suffering the miseries of samsara without a break. 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.

Dittha Dhamma Nibbana Vada : the Doctrines of Nirvana Here and Now

Sammuti nibbana

Whatever recluses or brahmins there may be who proclaim the supreme nirvana here and now for existing beings, they do so on these 5 grounds [—sense-pleasures and the four jhanas], or on any one of them. There is none beyond this. [Brahma,jala Sutta: Doctrines of Nirvana Here and Now (dittha,dhamma,nibbāna,vāda): grounds 58-62, Piya Tan]

• Beyond these five is Nibbana, which these doctrines cannot reach.
• Their followers cannot comprehend Nibbana.
• The Doctrines of Nirvana Here and Now was rejected by the Sakyamuni Buddha because they are mere jhanic states, which are temporary attainments rather than the escape from samsara.
• To reject that the Sakyamuni Buddha even travelled to the brahmabhumi.

NIRVANA HERE AND NOW

[Heart (Shippensburg University):] The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and so with no delusions, they feel no fear, and have Nirvana here and now. All the Buddhas, past, present, and future, rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and live in full enlightenment.

• have Nirvana here and now: what is it?
• The Lotus Sutra's Chapter 25 does not confirm Avalokiteśvara realised nirvana. Avalokiteśvara became different later.

Chinese Dharmapada: Thich Nhat Hanh suggested to look into the Nirvana Chapter of the Chinese Dharmapada. One of his students, Sister Annabel Laity, explains:

Whether it is the Pali Dhammapada or the Chinese Dharmapada, all the verses were originally spoken by the Buddha in the language the Buddha spoke. They were then translated into Pali, Sanskrit, or other Indian dialects and then into Chinese. The Buddha’s teachings on nirvana can be found scattered in many different places in the Chinese, the Pali, and the Sanskrit canons of Buddhism. Then they were gathered into one place by certain Buddhist scholars and made into the Nirvana Chapter of the Dharmapada. Here we have a succinct summary of the Buddhist teachings on nirvana. [...] [...] Nirvana is right here and now, you can realize it for yourself [Nirvana is our daily business (Parallax Press)]

In another article she explains:

There are no complete translations of the Chinese Dharmapada in English. The Chinese Dharmapada is more difficult to translate since it is extremely concise and the Chinese language of the third century CE is so different [...] Nirvana is right here and now, you can realize it for yourself [Enjoying the Ultimate (Plum Village)]

• The Chinese Dharmapada compiled from various sources (written in many languages) cannot be translated into English by translating the original sources, which are probably no longer available. However, they are confident that Nirvana is right here and now, and anybody can realize it at any time.

I am buddha-nature and Nirvana here and now

[Thich Nhat Hanh:] The Buddha taught [that nirvana] can be realized right here and now [...] If we are able to free ourselves from our afflictions [and] wrong views [...] we can be in touch with nirvana in the present moment [...] I see that this body - made of the four elements - is not really me, and I am not limited by this body. I am the whole of the river of life, of blood ancestors and spiritual ancestors, that has been continuously flowing for thousands of years and flows on for thousands of years into the future. I am one with my ancestors and my descendants. I am life manifesting in countless different forms. I am one with all people and all species, whether they are peaceful and joyful or suffering and afraid. At this very moment I am present everywhere in this world. I have been present in the past and will be there in the future. [...]. Eighty or ninety years is not my lifespan. My life span, like that of a leaf or of a buddha, is immeasurable. I am able to go beyond the idea that I am a body separate from all other manifestations of life, in time and in space. [Nirvana here and now (Washington Mindfulness Community (mindfulnessdc.org)]

• Thich Nhat Hanh: I am buddha-nature.
• Interbeings because they share Buddha-nature.

Interbeings and Nirvana Here and Now

[Interbeing (Wiki)] underscores the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all elements of existence.

• That explains all dharmas

All dharmas are not really there, their essential original nature is empty. To comprehend that is the practice of wisdom, perfection supreme. [The Ratnaguna-samcayagatha (abuddhistlibrary.com)]

• How is this interconnectivity related to Nirvana (here and now)?

[Lotus Chapter 10:] The Thus Come One's throne is the emptiness of all Dharmas...The Thus Come One's throne is the emptiness of all Dharmas.

• Emptiness could be the power behind the throne.

[The throne represents] the power of the dignitary who sits on it and sometimes conferring that power. [...] in monarchies the office of the ruler is often referred to as The Throne [Throne | History, Symbolism & Types of Furniture (Britannica)]

• That is the throne of the universe or the ruler of the universe.
• Who brought the creationism into Buddhism?
• Lankavatara says:

Good and bad, suffering and happiness, ill-being and well-being—these are not separate entities. Each has to base itself on the other to manifest. That is the teaching of interbeing [...] Four Noble Truths, but according to the spirit of interbeing, these four truths are not separate from each other either. That is the correct way to study the Four Noble Truths [...] Nirvana is the extinction, the absence of all these notions, includ­ing being and nonbeing. [Interbeing, the Four Noble Truths, and Right View (Thich):]

• Four Noble Truths, but...
• the spirit of interbeing is the universe, the ruler/mover of the universe.
• The Vibhajjavāda does not teach that because the Vibhajjavādi Buddha was not a Sarvāstivādi who believes in the spirit of interbeing.
• Nirvana is the extinction of māyā (prakriti) which does not extinct.
• Nirvana is the extinction of nonbeing: how does nonexistent become nonexistent once again?
• the extinction of being and nonbeing—that belief amounts to Ucchedaditthi and Natthikaditthi.

if and when one holds the wrong view that nothing comes to be after the death of a being [i.e. nonbeing or extinction of being] it amounts to Uccheda Ditthi. [Sakkayaditthi & How It Arises [Chapter 14] (U Than Daing)]

• Another quote:

Ditthupadana means the attachment to the view which rejects future life and kamma. Hence, ucchedaditthi which insists on annihilation after death is a kind of ditthupadana. [Attachment To Belief [Chapter 16] (Venerable Mahasi Sayada)]

• Nibbana exists. One cannot say someone who has entered Nibbana exist or does not exist (being or nonbeing).
• Extinction is annihilation, although one may argue it is not the annihilation of soul (buddha or buddha-nature).

[Thich Nhat Hanh:] If we look at things in this way, discrimination, hatred, and anger can be transformed. It’s very important. This is called Right View, insight. Modern science is trying to discover this nature of interbeing.

• Four Noble Truths, but... accepting the spirit of interbeing (the creator) is the path.

5.4.16. Mahādevā Echo Chamber

In epistemic bubbles, other voices are not heard; in echo chambers, other voices are actively undermined. [Why it’s as hard to escape an echo chamber as it is to flee a cult | Aeon Essays (C Thi Nguyen)]

• The followers of Sarvāstivāda had more than 2000 years to learn the facts.
• They know the facts; however, they dwell in the Mahādevā Echo Chamber.

[Arhat (HandWiki):] A range of views on the attainment of arhats existed in the early Buddhist schools. The Sarvāstivāda, Kāśyapīya, Mahāsāṃghika, Ekavyāvahārika, Lokottaravāda, Bahuśrutīya, Prajñaptivāda and Caitika schools all regarded arhats as being imperfect in their attainments compared to buddhas.

• Sammmasambuddhas are Araham
• Arahants are the people of integrity because:
• They do no evil in front and behind people.
• They know Right-View, advocate for Right-View, and practice Right-View.
• They are the keepers of the Dhamma-Vinaya by means of Pariyatti Saddhamma, Patipatti Saddhamma, and Pativeda Saddhamma.

It's called pativeda—realization of Nibbāna, the ending of dukkha. [...] These are called pariyatti, patipatti and pativeda. As pariññā; ñāta pariññā, tīraṇa pariññā and pahāna pariññā. As knowledge (ñāṇa); sacca ñāṇa, kicca ñāṇa and kata ñāṇa. These are the duties which have to fulfill them.
[Mogok’s Dependant Origination — Dhamma Centre (Rev H Pannavamsa)]

• Ignorant people are not enlightened ones.
• They will not enlighten as long as they fill themselves with tanhas.
• Arahants do not dream towards the objects that are subject of defilements (kleshas).
• The teachings of Vibhajjavādi Buddhas are presented in Dhammapada Verse 183:

183. Every evil never doing and in wholesomeness increasing and one’s heart well-purifying: this is the Buddha’s Teaching. [The Story of the Question Raised by Venerable Ānanda [Verse 183-185] (wisdomlib.org) (Ven. Weagoda Sarada Maha Thero)]

• The sameness of klesha and enlightenment is the teachings of Māyāvādi Buddhas.

THIS FINAL PERFECT STILLNESS IS NAMED NIRVANA
'Sound-hearers' dream of the one-sided emptiness which is the one-sided truth of nirvana with residue. The gods have a dream of peace and happiness, in which they enjoy an especially peaceful, free and easy, superior and wonderful happiness. People dream of seeking fame and profit. [...]
Genuine and equal: This is that of the Bodhisattva.
Genuine: This is the enlightenment of those of the two vehicles. Those who are genuinely enlightened are not the same as common people, because the latter are unenlightened. [...]

Although Bodhisattvas attain the genuine and equal, they have not yet attained the supreme. Genuine and equal is genuine and equivalent to that of the Buddha. [...]
Only the Buddha is supreme. [...]
Mantras are the heart seals of all Buddhas. They are the secret language of all Buddhas which can be known only from Buddha to Buddha. [...] So when you recite the mantra they are all dependable. [THE PRAJNA PARAMITA HEART SUTRA (Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua)]

• soundhearers: Arhats

The Vibhajjavādi Meditation is not a mainstream practice among the Mahayanists.

The [Vibhajjavādi] Buddha also taught meditation as the basis of action (karma-sthana), [...] According to Prof. Junjiro Takakusu in The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, to understand Tathagata meditation, one must study the history of the meditative teaching of the Buddha. When we speak of the Tathagata meditation, we presuppose the rise of patriarchal meditation by the advent of Bodhidharma in China in 520 A.D. In Tathagata meditation, the Buddha first taught the Threefold Basis of Learning (trisiksa): Higher Discipline (adhi-sila), Higher meditation (adhi-citta), and Higher Wisdom (adhi-prajna). [...] The object of meditation with the Buddha seems to have been to attain first, tranquility of mind, and then activity of insight. This idea is common to both Hinayana and Mahayana.  [Như Thực Nguyên Lý (Vietnamese-English Buddhist Dictionary)]

• At the same time, one may follow two paths (the spirit of interbeing and the Eightfold Noble Path).
• However, one cannot arrive the ends of both paths.
• The Vibhajjavādi Buddha and His Dhamma are not a part of the Sarvāstivāda Buddhas and their Dharmas.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 33

• The original Tathagata means the original Māyāvādi Tathagata

Nibbana is santisukha. Brahman-nature Nirvana and Buddha-nature Nirvana: This final perfect stillness is named nirvana (Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua). This final perfect stillness is named nirvana in Hinduism, too. To exist, stillness requires something that remains still. Stillness exists when nama or rupa is still. That is a phenomenon of sankhata-dhamma (conditioned thing). The stillness of desire in citta/mind is nirvana, as citta/mind is Brahman, which is originally pure.

Hinduism perceives the whole creation and its cosmic activity as the work of three fundamental forces symbolized by three gods, which constitutes the Hindu Trinity or ‘Trimurti’: Brahma – the creator, Vishnu – the sustainer, and Shiva – the destroyer. [Who is Lord Brahma: The God of Creation (sanskritimagazine.com)]

• The mind (Brahma) is affected by desire, klesha or māyā created by Brahma. In Sarvāstivāda, māyā is caused by the original Māyāvādi Buddha.

Mahādeva in Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra:

THIS FINAL PERFECT STILLNESS IS NAMED NIRVANA
'Sound-hearers' dream of the one-sided emptiness which is the one-sided truth of nirvana with residue. The gods have a dream of peace and happiness, in which they enjoy an especially peaceful, free and easy, superior and wonderful happiness. People dream of seeking fame and profit. [...] Genuine and equal: This is that of the Bodhisattva. Genuine: This is the enlightenment of those of the two vehicles. Those who are genuinely enlightened are not the same as common people, because the latter are unenlightened.  [THE PRAJNA PARAMITA HEART SUTRA (Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua)]

• soundhearers: Arhats
• With the meditation methods they use, they would only get that type of arhats.

Links: Heart (Thich); Heart (Red); Heart (Dharmanet); Lanka LXXV (Red); Lanka Chapter; Lotus Chapter;

—Part 1;

5.4.17. Stillness: the goal of the dhjanic traditions

A desire arises in the mind. It is gratified. Another desire arises. In the interval between two desires, there is perfect stillness of mind [the nature of Brahman]. The mind is free from Sankalpas and love and hate during this interval. There is perfect peace during the interval or Sandhi between two Vrittis of the mind. When the mind is concentrated on Brahman (Supreme Self), it becomes one with Brahman like camphor with the flame or salt with water or water with milk. Mind melts in Brahman. Mind becomes of the nature of Brahman. Then there is no duality. The meditator becomes Brahman. This is the state of Kaivalya.
[Hinduism (the divine life society)]

• the nature of Brahman: Nirvana is the stillness of the mind as the nature of Brahman.
• After a mind moment of brahman-nature, desires arise again.
• A gap between two desires is a theory.
• the nature of Brahman: Brahman-nature
• The nature of Buddha: Buddha-nature (Dharmakāya-svabhāva)

[Lotus Chapter 17:] "Further, after the passing into stillness of the Thus Come One

• Perfect Stillness or Oneness of the Tathagatas the God

Oneness with God: God-realisation means self-discovery in the highest sense of the term—the conscious realisation of your oneness with God. [God-Realisation (Sri Chinmoy Centre)]

• Māyāvādi God: (see Part 13)

[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 Mahayanist (Sarvāstivādi) can get the original jhana meditation techniques from the Hindu traditions.

Brahman-nature Nirvana and Buddha-nature Nirvana

Brahman (Ryke) is also not restricted to the usual dimensional perspectives of being, and thus enlightenment, moksha, yoga, samadhi, nirvana, etc. do not merely mean to know Brahman, but to realise one's 'brahman-hood', to actually realise that one is and always was of Brahman nature. [Brahman (worldpossible.org)]

• Brahman in that text can be replaced with Buddha to get Sarvāstivāda.

[Dharmakaya] is also not restricted to the usual dimensional perspectives of being, and thus enlightenment, moksha, yoga, samadhi, nirvana, [āryajñāna], etc. do not merely mean to know [Buddha-nature], but to realise one's '[buddha]-hood', to actually realise that one is and always was of [Buddha] nature.

• 5.1.6. What Is the Āryajñāna—Part 11
• Sarvāstivāda in the Heart Sutra:

"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)]

Sarvāstivādi Perfect Stillness

Hsüan Ch’e said, “My teacher speaks of the wonderful, clear, perfect stillness, the suchness of the substance and function, the fundamental emptiness of the five skandhas, and the non-existence of the six organs. There is neither emerging nor entering, neither concentration nor confusion. The nature of Dhyana is non-dwelling and is beyond the act of dwelling in Dhyana stillness. The nature of Dhyana is unproduced and beyond the production of the thought of Dhyana. The mind is like empty space and is without the measure of empty space.”

• perfect stillness
• The nature of Dhyana is unproduced or unborn—the Un-born, the Brahma
• Compare that with the skill of the Vibhajjavādi Buddha:

9. And the Blessed One entered the first jhana. Rising from the first jhana, he entered the second jhana [...]

11. Then the Blessed One, rising from the cessation of perception and feeling, entered the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. [...] Rising from the first jhana, he entered the second jhana. Rising from the second jhana, he entered the third jhana. Rising from the third jhana, he entered the fourth jhana. And, rising from the fourth jhana, the Blessed One immediately passed away.  [Maha-parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha (Sister Vajira & Francis Story)]

• That is how the Vibhajjavādi Buddha showed His jhanic skill for the last time.

[Hsüan Ch’e:] Simply let your mind be like empty space without being attached to the idea of emptiness and the correct function of the self-nature will no longer be obstructed. Have no thought, whether in motion or stillness; forget any feeling of being common or holy, put an end to both subject and object. The nature and mark will be ‘thus, thus,’ and at no time will you be out of the state of concentration.”

• self-nature: awareness (Buddha/Brahma)

Brahma jnana is knowledge of God or of the spiritual Self. [...] This knowledge, or brahma jnana, is the point in the yogi's spiritual journey when the atman (individual self or soul) is one with the paramatman (higher Self or spiritual Self), Brahman or God. [What is Brahma Jnana? (Yogapedia)]

• atman: Ālayavijñāna
• paramatman: the only reality, the Self, Śiva;

[Vaishnavism (Vaishava dharma):] Paramātman (परमात्मन्, “supreme soul”).—The realization of the nature of ultimate reality may again be of a twofold nature: abstract, i.e., as Brahman, and concrete,

[Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy):] In the paramātman there is both the Śiva-aspect and the śakti- aspect.

[Purana and Itihasa (epic history):] Paramātman (परमात्मन्) or Paramātmā refers to the “[greatest] supreme soul”, and represents an epithet of Śiva used in Sandhyā’s eulogy of Śiva, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.2.6.

[Jainism:] In Jainism, each ātman or individual self is a potential Paramātman or God,
[Paramatman, Paramatma, Paramātman, Paramātmā, Parama-atman: 29 definitions (wisdomlib.org)]

• paramatman of Jainism is the closest to Oneness and buddha-nature (self):
• By reverting to Buddha (paramatman/Dharmakaya-svabhāva)), buddha-nature (self/) escapes the discriminatory māyā (imagination or seen of the mind).

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] all beings revert to their own nature.’” [...] All words, teachings, and dharmas are without form or conditions and lead deluded people to see their own nature and to cultivate and realize supreme enlightenment.” [Discussed in Parts 25, 26 and 28]

• their own nature is buddha-nature (buddha-svabhāva)
• Oneness:

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

Make Me One with Everything

He demonstrates how the ancient Tibetan practice of lojong (“heart/mind training”) can be applied to everyday life through many practices, such as focused meditations on others and tantra-inspired sex, that encourage intentional connection with others. [Make Me One with Everything: [Māyāvādi] Buddhist Meditations to Awaken from the Illusion of Separation (Lama Surya Das)]

• They do not need the Buddha Dhamma in Māyāvādi Buddhism, as they can make one for themselves with everything, including Śiva, Brahman, individual self and the ancient Tibetan practice.
• intentional connection with others: Is it about the interbeings?

After a brief chuckle at the monks joke the vendor hands him his hot dog with everything and says 'That'll be $4 please'. The [Māyāvādi] monk hands over a $10 bill and waits whilst the vendor just stares back at him.... Awkwardly the monk ask's 'What about my change'?.

'Ah' replies the hot dog vendor, 'Change must come from within'.
[Buddhist Jokes - 60 Hilarious Buddhist Jokes (upjoke.com)]

• intentional connection with others, the interbeings or 'Change that comes from within'?

But I cannot tell you, because you are not a monk.
[A man is driving late at night when his car breaks down in front of a remote [Māyāvādi] Buddhist monastery: Buddhist Jokes - 60 Hilarious Buddhist Jokes (upjoke.com)]

• Are there monastic secrets laypeople may not know, although they are related to enlightenment?

[Lanka Chapter 6:] But if Truth is not expressed in words and books, the scriptures which contains the meaning of Truth would disappear, 

• Aṣtasāhasrikā may be right about the Nirvana in which the bodhisattvas would disappear without trace.

The world has the right to know the truth. Truths should be available to everyone.

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

Sammasambuddha

What does a Vibhajjavādi Buddha teach?

• Ayoniso-manasikara

As he attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of [self-related] view arises in him [...] This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is not freed from birth, aging, & death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. He is not freed, I tell you, from [dukkha] [Unwise attention: ayoniso manasikāra | Evaṃ me sutaṃ (Rémy – buddha-vacana.org)]

Araham: Arahant

Araham Sutta - An arahant is one who has really seen the arising, ending, etc., of the five grasping groups (upadanakkhandha). S.iii.161.

• The first arahant was the Buddha Gotama.
  • He gave us the Dhamma-Viaya Sasana
  • He established the Sangha wih many of its members were arahants, not bodhisattvas.

Sugata Buddha: a Fully-Enlightened Arhat

[Lanka Chapter 1:] Then said Mahamati the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva: O blessed One, Sugata, Arhat and Fully-Enlightened One, pray tell us about the realization of Noble Wisdom

• Mahādeva may not downgrade the Sugata Buddha as a soundhearer because he was a Vishnu’s Avatar.

the Bhagavata Purana includes Buddha but provides details that align more closely with Sugata Buddha rather than the historical Gautama Buddha. [Gautama Buddha or Sugata Buddha? Clarifying Vishnu's Avatars (Pardeep Patel – invedas.com)]

A Sammasambuddha is a self-awakened one.

Because the samyaksambuddha does not rely on a teacher or a tradition, he discovers the path to achieving the state of being fully awakened. [What is Samyaksambuddha? - Definition from Yogapedia]

• What is the path a Sammasambuddha discovers? The Noble Eightfold Path.

Do Sarvāstivādi bodhisattvas discover the Eightfold Noble Path, too? No.

[Heart (Thich):] [Avalokiteśvara] discovered ... all of the five Skandhas are equally empty

• That is all he discovered; however, he became a tenth-stage bodhisattva (i.e. a Māyāvādi Buddha).
• What does a Māyāvādi Buddha teach?
• Is it difficult to explain Citta-mātratā? [Including Part 16, many parts have discussed Citta-mātratā.]

5.4.19. Citta-Mātratā (Cittamātra)

Terms: Part 13 Sarvāstivādi Māyāvāda

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 (mind only) presents mind/awareness/consciousness as soul.
• The indestructible buddha-nature in everyone is awareness.
• The small ego (māyā's mind) must submit to the super ego (true mind).
• the Supreme Soul is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata.

Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. [Cittamātra (Tsadra Foundation)]

• we interact with each other, and we are mentally created representations of us.
• mentally created are the objects including eyes, ears, tongue, nose, etc. We see with eyes, not mind. We hear with ears, not mind. We smell with nose, not mind. We taste with tongue, not mind. We feel with touch, not sight.
• appearing as those objects are smell, etc. However, sight cannot hear, smell, taste and think. Appearance is not everything (six senses – Sabba Sutta is discussed in Part 3 and Part 20).
• predetermined by our own karmic conditioning, which is stored in the ālayavijñāna. As the different individuals have different past kusala-akusala kamma, their karmic conditionings are different. Yet we have shared instinct, shared emotions, share experiences, shared cultures, shared languages, etc.
• That is why we understand things the same way.
• Mind cannot see objects directly but through the eyes. We hear with ears, touch with skin, taste with tongue, smell with nose and think with mind.
• Seeing is perceiving, not creating nor imagining the objects to appear the ways one desires them to be. Otherwise, one would not see anything undesirable.
• Perception is not creation. The mind does not make things appear with the four fundamental elements. Every single thing has solid, liquid, gas and heat, inside and outside.
• Things exist whether one can see them or not. You exist whether I know you or not.

In Cula-Saccaka Sutta: The Shorter Discourse to Saccaka, the Buddha asked Saccaka, "What do you think, Aggivessana? When you say, 'Form is my self,' do you wield power over that form: 'May my form be thus, may my form not be thus'?"

• If one cannot change or create one's own nama and rupa, one cannot change or create others nama and rupa.
• We are not in constant creation or simulation because of mutual perception (mutually perceiving).

predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna:

• No, predetermined by species—bija niyama. Cittamātra cannot be a rejection of species.
• If everyone perceives differently, e.g. red as green, then beauty cannot be perceived.
• Necessary is all os us must perceive the same—male as male, female as female, dog as dog, red as red, and so on.
• karmic conditioning to work on perception, we must assume karmic conditioning is the same in every individual life form regardless of species and the actions of the individuals.
• Ohtherwise, they must perceive the same things the same way regardless of karmic conditioning.

In upholding cittamātra, Mahayana cannot accept things are natural and have natural conditions and properties.

There are five niyama: THE NIYAMA-DIPANI The Manual of Cosmic Order – posted in .

• Cittamātra: the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects—if that is true:
• When the temperature is low, it is cold—cittamātra must reject natural changes, which have nothing to do with the minds.
• When the ground is solid one can stand on it—cittamātra must reject that natural solidity and everything else, too.
• Then solidity, liquidity, gas and heat must be created by the mind, too.

The cittamātra concept rejects the four Paramatthas.

• Cittamātra: this is a different concept of mind with ability to create its environment.
• The citta of the cittamātra is not the citta in the Pali literature.

Cittamātra Background:

the four-volume version of the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra [...] contains the original teachings on the cittamātra. [Buddha-nature (as Depicted in the Lankavatara-sutra): Introduction to the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra (Nguyen Dac Sy)]

• Lankavatara was written down over centuries just like the other primary Mahayanist sutras. It was the work of multiple authors. The sutras are the records of the ideologies of their authors, including Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu, who appeared in different times. However, they carry the primordial concerns of Sarvāstivāda, especially Mahādeva's Five Theses attacking the Theras.
• Buddhāvataṃsaka on the arhats—see Part 2

[Nagarjuna:] The eye is empty (śūnya): in it there is no ‘me’ (ātman) or ‘mine’ (ātmīya), and there is no dharma ‘eye’. It is the same for the ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. [Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra (Gelongma)].

• Initially, Nāgārjuna rejected Self (ātman). That rejection appears in Lankavatara. However, Lankavatara presents Dharmakaya-Svabhāva—emptiness is not ātman, Nevertheless, the Mahayanists understood what it actually is, and they openly proclaimed self, the Self, etc. Nature became to mean self, as it is used with self: self-nature.
• Nāgārjuna is discussed in Part 11, Part 12, Part 18, Part 23, Part 26 and Part 29. Keywords: Nāgārjuna,  Madhyamika and Advaita.

By the third century A.D., Nagarjuna had composed his famous Sastras on the Madhyamika doctrine interpreting the Agama and Abhidharma on the basis of the Mahayana sutras of the Sunyata school. At about the same time, Mahayana scriptures tending towards ‘eternal-reality’ idealism, such as the Srimaladeve-Simhanada Sutra and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, had begun to be found, followed by sutras such as the Lankavatara Sutra. Along with this development, the Asters and Yogacaryas of the Sravastivada school accepted the "mind-only" aspect of the Mahayana school. [The Position of the Chinese Tripitaka in World Buddhism (Buddha Net)]

• Nāgārjuna did not reference the Sakyamuni Buddha because Sarvāstivāda was never a part of the Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana.
• Lankavatara and other Sarvāstivādi scripture are the works of the outsiders.
• Nagarjuna is a name of Śiva; so is Maheśvara.

Cittamātra, Tathagatababha and ālayavijñāna:

• Things (all dharmas) are mentally created illusions—their essential original nature is empty.
• Illusions are mentally created. For example:
• The wind blows
• A cat purrs.
• A dog barks.
• Earthquake occurs sometimes and building fall down.
• The sun is warm, and sunlight is bright.
• Wars left the ruins behind.
• Depending on one's own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna (karmic storehouse), how does one individual perceive things differently from other individuals?
• Why do we all feel the wind blows, hear a cat's purrs and a dog's barks...?
• Why can we all stand on the ground if the ground is unreal but created by the mind according to an imaginary person's karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna?
• The concept alleges everyone is an illusion, an imaginary, but able to experience because of the mind, which too is illusion. Here, illusion is experiencing illusion.

5.4.20. Avalokiteśvara Buddha:

Avalokiteśvara became a Buddha (tenth-stage bodhisattva) after discovering all of the five Skandhas are equally empty. That is Prajna wisdom, not Noble Wisdom (āryajñāna), nor an attainment.

[Heart (Centre):] All things are by nature void They are not born or destroyed Nor are they stained or pure [...] Attainment too is emptiness. [...] So know that the Bodhisattva Holding to nothing whatever, But dwelling in Prajna wisdom, Is freed of delusive hindrance, Rid of the fear bred by it, And reaches clearest Nirvana.

• That clearest nirvana is supposed to be perfect stillness and has nothing to do with anattavada and losing sakkayaditthi.

Thich Nhat Hanh's translation replaced reach with realise—Perfect Stillness.

• Nirvana: Perfect Stillness or holding to nothing whatever
• Lankavatara presents the final stage of nirvana, by which Avalokiteśvara, as a tenth-stage bodhisattva, should be seated on a lotus throne in Maheśvara (which is discussed in Part 23):

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Thus passing beyond the last stage of Bodhisattvahood, he becomes a Tathagata himself ... seated upon a lotus-like throne in a splendid jewel-adorned palace and surrounded by Bodhisattvas of equal rank.

• 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 (Part 18).
• Maheśvara is the mind world with forms or physical appearances.

[Heart (Centre):] Form is no other than emptiness, Emptiness no other than form. Form is only emptiness, Emptiness only form.

• Form is māyā (an aspect of emptiness).
• Lankavatara's Seven Kinds of Emptiness is discussed in Part 12.
• Māyā is the emptiness of dharmas

For the disciples of the Mahāyāna ‘Greater Vehicle’ who are of keen faculties (tīkṣnendriya), the emptiness of dharmas is taught, and immediately they know that saṃsāra is eternally empty (nityaśūnya) and the same as nirvāṇa. [Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra (Gelongma)]

That is Māyāvādi Nirvana and Māyāvādi Buddhahood.

The term Śūnyatā or śūnya has played an important role in the context of prajñāpāramitā. The Aṣtạsāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā used the term gaṃbhirā (Deep) as the synoym of Śūnyatā. There are other several term used as synoym of gambhirā or Śūnyatā. These are ānimitta (signless), apraṇihita(wishless), anutpāda(unproduced) ajāti (un birth) etc. The Aṣtạsāhasrikāprajn͂āpāramitā text also says that ‘rūpaṃhi subhūte gaṃbhirām ’rupa is Śūnya and similarly vedanā (Feeling)Samjñā (perception) and saṃskāras are also deep. In this context [the second] Buddha told Subhuti (great disciples of Buddha) that ‘Sarvadharmāṇāmśūnyatā’.

In the stage of prajñāpāramitā all kinds of ego consciousness, feeling, experiences do vanished. So it is also a kind of Śūnya stage. [Reflection on Mādhyamika Philosophy and Japanese Buddhism (Namramita Bhuiya, Kishore Bharati Bhagini Nivedita College, India)]

• Śūnyatā or śūnya: ānimitta (signless), apraṇihita(wishless), anutpāda(unproduced) ajāti (un birth)
• Lankavatara: Imagelessness is sunyata; but Oneness (the Unborn) is sunyata as the Self, the original Māyāvādi Tathagata. Sunyata is the original Buddha. Space/akasa is the only conscious being—citta-matrata/Dharmakaya-svabhāva.

Māyāvādi bodhisattva-hood towards (understanding) emptiness: The concept Attainment too is emptiness rejects the words like attain, attainment, achieve, achievement, understand, etc.

• Māyā is not supposed to attain anything.
• And emptiness is not supposed to be attained or understood by illusions.
• However, bodhisattvas must attain Imagelessness, Oneness and overcome the evils of passion, hatred and enslaving karma:

[Lanka Chapter 9:] spiritual ideals (Paramitas) by reason of which the Bodhisattva will be able to enter more deeply into the abode of imagelessness and be able to experience the higher Samadhis and gradually to pass through the higher stages of Bodhisattvahood...

• the sustaining power imparted by the Tathagatas: A bodhisattva has nothing to discover, as Lankavatara provides a Buddha to guide him, so does the two Pure Land sutras:

noble Ananda, only the power of a tathagata could move you to question the Tathagata in this way, thus benefitting bodhisattva mahasattvas. Such questions make manifest who can be teachers of all the world.

• Ananda had a thoughtful question because the Tathagata caused/inspired him, as the Tathagata is the only reality (citta-matrata). Ananda was mere māyā.
• Enlightenment is not attained but provided by the Tathagata
• Could the Tathagata move other individuals, too, such as Avalokiteśvara?

The Vibhajjavadi Buddha answer to the question of Venerable Ananda:

183. Every evil never doing and in wholesomeness increasing and one’s heart well-purifying: this is the Buddha’s Teaching. [The Story of the Question Raised by Venerable Ānanda [Verse 183-185] (wisdomlib.org) (Ven. Weagoda Sarada Maha Thero)]

Māyā dwells in wisdom which is not attained

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

• Avalokiteśvara became a Buddha, and from Citta-gocara he took the duty of emancipation.
• A bodhisattva (māyā) may persuade the beings (māyā) to accept Mahayana's path.

Mahāyāna, Māyāyāna, Māyāvāda, Mayahana

Mahāyāna Buddhism is based on several sutras and prajñāpāramitā is one of the most important sūtras of Mahāyāna. Sutras are mainly dialogue between [the second Buddhas] and other disciples. Astasahasrika prajnaparamita is like this kind of sutra. [Reflection on Mādhyamika Philosophy and Japanese Buddhism (Namramita Bhuiya, Kishore Bharati Bhagini Nivedita College, India)]

• These are the teachings of the second Buddhas, although sometimes attributed to the Vibhajjavadi Buddha in their historical fiction.

Shariputra, Subhuti and Avalokiteśvara

• In Prajñāpāramitā, Nagarjuna presents the conversations between the Venerable Shariputra, the Māyāvādi Tathagata and Subhuti.
• Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra replaces the Tathagata and Subhuti with Avalokiteśvara.

[Heart (wiki):] “Śāriputra, therefore, since bodhisattvas have no attainment, they rely upon and dwell in the perfection of wisdom Because their minds have no veils, they have no fear. Having utterly gone beyond error, they reach the culmination of nirvāṇa.

• Māyā (illusions/imaginations) cannot attain wisdom but can dwell in wisdom.
• Māyā does not become a Buddha, but buddha-nature reverts to Buddha.

[DIAMOND (Red Pine):] all beings revert to their own nature.’”

5.4.21. Avalokiteśvara in Sutras and Cultures

How did Avalokiteśvara suddenly became significant in the Heart Sutra?

• Subhuti in Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra was not Avalokiteśvara, who plays no role there. However, Avalokiteśvara became the protagonist in Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra.
• Amitābha Sūtra, too, does not mention Avalokiteśvara. However, Amitābha Buddha had a conversation with Venerable Shāriputra.

[Who is Avalokiteshvara? (Enlightenment Thangka):] In Hinduism, his name itself reflects the nature of Lord Shiva. In fact, many believe that the lord Shiva himself is Avalokiteshvara. As the Hindu philosophy views the almighty/Shiva as omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, nothing is devoid of Avalokiteshvara either [...] He is highly revered in several religious cultures including Hinduism

• That concept of Shiva (Siva) is Maheśvara the main concept of Lankavatara.

[Lotus Chapter 25:] "If a person who upholds the name of Guanshiyin Bodhisattva enters a great fire, the fire will not burn him, all because of this Bodliisattva's awesome spiritual power [...] 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.

• Avalokiteśvara is Guanshiyin Bodhisattva makes the chapter 25 unrelated to the original Lotus.
• Guanshiyin is of the Chinese tradition, which is not a part of the original Lotus.

Avalokiteśvara in the Lotus Sūtra, Chun-fang Yu, Rutgers University lecture:

[Lecture 2:] While most of the other bodhisattvas either preach the Sūtra or protect those who do, Avalokiteśvara alone does not share this feature [...] On the other hand, Avalokiteśvara is unabashedly the central focus of Chapter 25. He occupies the place which is reserved for the scripture in other chapters. He attracts the attention to himself. He is a deity in his/her own right.

• Because Avalokiteśvara is a name of Śiva.

[Lecture 4:] Although the feminine forms of Avalokiteśvara in Chapter 25 provide a theological basis for seeing this bodhisattva as a "Goddess of Mercy", the actual development of this cult in China and East Asia can serve as a powerful example of how indigenous cultures interpret and transform Buddhism. The story of Princess Miao-shan transposes the celestial bodhisattva to a specific locale in China by furnishing her with an identity and a life history. Other myths and images of feminine Kuan-yin, such as the Wife of Mr. Ma and the White-robed Kuan-yin further continued this process of indigenization.

• The cultic transformation or evolution of religion is based on faith, not truth.

any type of Buddha

Bodhisattva delivering us from every danger; Chapter 25 Lotus Sutra (Buddha Weekly): “The Lotus Sutra describes Avalokiteśvara as a bodhisattva who can take the form of any type of god [and] any type of Buddha [Pacifier of War and Strife, Avalokiteshvara Guanyin Chenrezig — Bodhisattva delivering us from every danger; Chapter 25 Lotus Sutra - Buddha Weekly: Buddhist Practices, Mindfulness, Meditation]

• the form of any type of god: such is Māyāvāda.
• any type of Buddha: Only the original Tathagata can do that in the form of these three:

[Lanka Chapter 12:] Dharmata-Buddha, Nishyanda-Buddha and Nirmana-Buddha;

• But not these:

three types of Buddha: Samyaksam Buddha (often simply referred to as “Buddha”), Pratyeka Buddha, and Sravaka Buddha [Buddhism Guide]

The Māyāvādi/Māyāyānist Buddha can be anyone.

Notes from Karandavyuha Sutra: Introduction (Mithun Howladar):

• Avalokiteśvara is prominent in Karandavyuha Sutra, although he is absent in the early Sūtras, including the Sukhāvatīvyūha (the Display of the Pure Land).
• Avalokiteśvara is the only bodhisattva with the power to creat “The sun and moon from his eyes, Maheśvara from his brow, Brahmā from his shoulders, Nārāyaṇa from his heart, Sarasvatī from his teeth, the winds from his mouth, the earth from his feet and the sky from his stomach.” We would have another set of these things if another bodhisattva had the same creation power.
• That creationism is similar to Hinduism. It separates Avalokiteśvara from the rest of Mahayana traditions, unless he is the original Tathagata, the impersonation of the one mind/Universal Mind (Ālayavijñāna), the Emptiness...
• Avalokiteśvara was recorded in the Lotus Sutra without his creation. Mahayanists must believe the moon and the sun did not exist before.
• Seemingly, the Mahayanists gave everthing they could imagine to a new creator Avalokiteśvara.
• (Ārya kāraṇḍa vyūha nāma mahāyāna sūtra - PDF download)

[Introduction]: This sūtra also records Avalokiteśvara’s transformation into the principal figure of the Buddhist pantheon, greater than all other buddhas, let alone bodhisattvas. In this sūtra, Avalokiteśvara is a resident of Sukhavātī and acts as a messenger and gift bearer for Amitābha, even though he is also described as superior to all buddhas and therefore paradoxically has both a subservient and dominant status.

• Śiva is their God, so he is also described as superior to all Māyāyānist buddhas.

Om mani padme hum

The Karandavyuha Sutra [is a] 4th century Sutra extols the virtues and powers of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and records his transformation into the principal figure of the Buddhist pantheon. The Karandavyuha Sutra is also noted for introducing the mantra “Om mani padme hum” into the Sutra tradition. [Karandavyuha Sutra (Mithun Howladar)]

• Sarvāstivādis were very busy composing a new religion based on the Vibhajjavadi figures and the Pali literature. However, they did not try to hide their true religion.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 34

The Bodhisatta Deva departing Tusita:

When Bodhisatta, Deva Setaketu, entered Nandavana Garden , the accompanying retinue of male and female deities addressed him: “On your demise from this abode of devas, may you proceed to a good abode, the destination of being accomplished in meritorious deeds!” [The story of Setaketu Deva, the future Buddha]

5.4.22. Māyāvādi Buddhahood

Buddhahood: Acts of a Buddha in Mahayana

According to some sutras, upon reaching Buddhahood, Buddhas perform the following acts [These acts are only found on the Wiki with a reference: Berzin, Alexander. "The Twelve Deeds of a Buddha". studybuddhism.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2023-06-25. Different lists are here: Buddhahood.]:

[Quote]

The Mahayana tradition generally follows the list of "Twelve Great Buddha Acts" (Skt. dvadaśabuddhakārya). These are:[29][30]

1. A [Māyāvādi] Buddha must descend from Tushita heaven and transfer his throne to the next future Buddha.
2. [...] enter his mothers womb.
3. [...] be born (generally accompanied by miracles).
4. [...] master numerous arts and skills in his youth.
5. [...] live in the palace and enjoy his life with his wife.
6. [...] make a great departure from his palace and become a renunciant (sramana).
7. [...] practice asceticism.
8. [...] sit under a buddha tree (like the bodhi tree) on a bodhimanda (place of awakening)
9. [...] defeat the demonic forces of Mara.
10. [...] attain and manifest full awakening.
11. [...] give his first sermon, and thus turn the wheel of the Dharma.
12. [...] die and pass into Nirvana, demonstrating liberation and impermanence.

[Unquote]

• Anuttarasamyaksambodhi is limited to "live in the palace and enjoy his life with his wife"
• Neither he nor his wife can avoid "the afflictive obstructions (kleśāvaraṇa)", including affection, sensual pleasure, pride, various scenarios of family life and constant needs for more.
• A Buddha must vs a bodhisatta instinctively does
• Mahayana replaces a bodhisatta with a Māyāvādi Buddha for some reasons.
• Amitābha and Avalokiteśvara do not "live in the palace and enjoy his life with his wife".
• A Māyāvādi Buddha with his wife (Images)
• There are no women in Pure Land (Maheśvara), according to Lotus.

[Lotus Chapter 8:] There will be no evil paths and no women [Part 24]

Maheśvara vs Tushita:

A [Māyāvādi] Buddha must descend from Tushita heaven

• Lankavatara presents Maheśvara where the tenth-stage bodhisattvas reside.
• Maheśvara is the mind-only world (citta-matrata):

[Nirvāṇa (Vaishnavism):] Extinction of existence; liberation from the suffering of material existence. [Nirvāṇa (Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā):] “extinction” [...] (16) Even though living beings nowhere and never exist, as does not extinct (nirvāṇa), even though there is nothing for living beings to achieve since they are originally pure (ādiviśuddhi), the Buddha still awakens koṭis of living beings, having himself become awakened to the understanding that living beings have the character of an illusion (māyā) [Nirvana, Nirvāṇa, Nirvaṇa, Nir-vana: 27 definitions (wisdomlib.org)]

• The physical appearance of Maheśvara (the mind-only Nirvāna) pervades the Akanistha and the Tushita.

[SECTION 4. (PDF page 93):] Lord Yuan was deeply impressed, and thereupon realized that awakening and defilements are one and the same. [The Teachings of Master Wuzhu]

• That concept is very pleasing for everyone who enjoy sensual pleasures. However, women are not allowed in Nirvāna, so...

[Lanka Chapter 13:] for the Buddhas there is no Nirvana

• That answers why Māyāvādi Tathagatas might "live in the palace and enjoy his life with his wife".

[Lanka Chapter 11:] The tenth stage is called the Great Truth Cloud (Dharmamegha), inconceivable, inscrutable. Only the Tathagatas can realize perfect Imagelessness and Oneness and Solitude [sunyata]. It is Maheśvara, the Radiant Land, the Pure Land, the Land of Far-distances; surrounding and surpassing the lesser worlds of form and desire (karmadathu), in which the the Bodhisattva will find himself at-one-moment. Its rays of Noble Wisdom which is the self-nature of the Tathagatas, many-colored, entrancing, auspicious, are transforming the triple world as other worlds have been transformed in the past, and still other worlds will be transformed in the future. But in the Perfect Oneness of Noble Wisdom there is no gradation nor succession nor effort. The tenth stage is the first, the first is the eighth, the eighth is the fifth, the fifth the seventh: 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.

• Maheśvara (the mind-only Nirvāna) is the Perfect Oneness of Noble Wisdom, Imagelessness, Oneness, Noble Wisdom...
• Sunyatisunya: the Perfect Oneness of Noble Wisdom, Imagelessness, Oneness (perfect Imagelessness and Oneness)
• no bounds nor limits is akasa (space) surrounding and surpassing the lesser worlds of form and desire (karmadathu)
• Akasa, the citta-matrata world, is the Dharmakaya (Māyāvādi Nirvāna)
• the self-nature: buddha-nature that reveals itself as the [Māyāvādi] Tathagata

[Lanka Chapter 12:] their own Buddha-nature revealed as Tathagata [See reveal in Part 16, Part 18]

• the self-nature of the Tathagatas: The Self, dharmakāya-svabhāva, Buddhadhatu, Tathagatagabha
• The transformation of the Buddha-nature: the process in becoming a Māyāvādi Buddha
• Lankavatara does not explain how buddha-nature transforms the three worlds, which haven't been transformed.
• In the mind-only world systems, māyā is created by the mind.
• How is illusion made? How did illusions (lifeform and world systems) come into existence?
• Is making illusions the act of creation or transformation?
• maya-upama-samadhi (Part 27) is responsible for physicality (form) in Nirvāna.
• Citta-matrata means māyā has no role in existence.

Five Onenesses: Five primordial (original) Māyāvādi Tathagatas

Amitabha is one of the five primordial or dhyani buddhas [Who is Amitabha Buddha? | Buddhism A–Z (lionsroar.com)]

• How did a bodhisattva become a primordial buddha?
• Five buddha families
• The Five Buddha-Families and Five Dhyani Buddhas (Study Buddhism)

Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra Full By Nagarjuna, Lankavatara and Lotus do not know these five families. They do not know Amitabha, either. However, another link presents a contradictory claim:

Amitābhā (अमिताभ) is the name of the Buddha of the Sukhāvatī universe according to the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter XV).

• We should leave that to the experts.
• Lankavatara presents 10 stages towards Tathagata-hood.
• A new Buddha (the tenth-stage bodhisattva) is given a land to manage.

[Lanka chapter 11] Then they will assign him a Buddha-land that he may possess and perfect as his own.

• The residents are Buddhas and the tenth-stage bodhisattvas.
• It is unclear who gets and who does not.
• Lankavatara does not clarify whether every Buddha/bodhisattva gets a buddha-land.
• Avalokiteśvara is next in line in Sukhāvastī. That implies he does not have his own buddha-land.

Assuming Amitābhā received a buddha-land:

• Sukhāvastī is probably the name given by Amitābhā to his buddha-land.

Evam me sutam

Manifesting the Land of Bliss

(1) Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was staying at the Vulture Peak at Rajagriha. [PurelandSutras.pdf (amidashu.org)]

• Thus have I heard (Evam me sutam) appears as the beginning of a sutta reported by the Venerable Ananda Mahathera to the First Buddhist Council (Sangayana). It was attended by 500 maha-theras, all arahants, led by the Venerable Mahakassapa Mahathera, also known as the father of the Theravadi Sangha. The council reaffirmed the Tipitaka (the Buddha Vacana) as the Pali Canon of the Theravada School.
• Neither small nor large Pure Land Sutra is a part of the Pali Canon.
• The Buddha's teachings do not contradict with the Buddha's teachings, which were reported to the First Council by the Venerable Ananda Mahathera.
• The Pali Canon does not contain contradicting concepts because the Sakyamuni Buddha was one, not many authors who wrote down their thoughts in different centuries. We could safely conclude that the latter authors of the sutras did not clearly comprehend the earlier sutras.
• The Pali Canon does not include the teachings of the second Buddhas.
• The Buddha and His Teachings - Ven. Narada (urbandharma.org) (download)

[Evam me sutam] Ekam samayam bhagava Baranasiyam viharati Isipatane migadaye tatra kho bhagava pancavaggiye bhikkhu amantesi …

[Thus Have I Heard] Once the Blessed One was staying in the Deer Park at Isipatana, near Varanasi. There he addressed the bhikkhus of the Group of Five thus …

All the suttas begin with a brief description of the place where the sermon was delivered. [Thus Have I Heard [Chapter 2] (Sucitto Bhikkhu; wisdomlib.org)]

• Pure Land Sutra does not explain where, when and to whom the Venerable Ananda Mahathera reported it.
• Mahathera (Maha Thera): Theravada

"Great elder." An honorific title automatically conferred upon a bhikkhu of at least twenty years standing.

The Larger Pureland Sutra Sukhavativyuha: Manifesting the Land of Bliss:

[7.] [The Buddha asked Ananda:] "did you discern this yourself, with knowledge arising from your own reflection?" [...]
12. Furthermore, noble Ananda, only the power of a tathagata could move you to question the Tathagata in this way, thus benefitting bodhisattva mahasattvas. [The Pure Land Sutras (TwoPurelandSutras.pdf (amidashu.org))]

• You are māyā (illusion/the imagination) with self/awareness of your own. You are not able to move yourself intellectually. Thus, only the power of a tathagata could move you to question the Tathagata in this way.
• A Tathagata is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata—All Buddhas are one Buddha.
• only the power of a tathagata could move you seems to be contradicted by You yourself will know:

20. “Then the Buddha Lokeshvararaja said to the shramana Dharmakara, ‘You yourself will know how to follow the practice and adorn a Pure Land’

According to the Pure Land, Sakyamuni confirmed the whereabouts of Amitābha/Pure Land:

39. [Buddha:] “Ananda, this tathagata [Dharmakara] is indeed fully realised and has not passed away. He dwells in the western regions of the universe away from here beyond a vast number of Buddha-fields. His Pure Land is called Peace and Bliss and he is called Amitabha, ‘measureless light’.”

• The sutra needs the Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha, to confirm the existence of Amitābha
• His Pure Land: He's not here for his devoutees who believe he is real.

Amitābha Sūtra

Mural of Amitābha in Goleng Temple. | Mandala Collections - Images (virginia.edu)

At that time the Buddha told the Elder Shāriputra, “Passing from here through hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands to the West, there is a world called Ultimate Bliss. In this land a Buddha called Amitābha right now teaches the Dharma [...] “Moreover, Shāriputra, that Buddha has measureless, limitless sound-hearer disciples, all Arhats, their number incalculable; thus also is the assembly of Bodhisattvas. [Amitābha Sūtra (Kumarajiva1)]

• The Sakyamuni Buddha informed Shāriputra the whereabouts of Amitābha Buddha. However, there is no other way to know about him.
• expounding the Dharma right now: Why is not he teaching here, too? He is not the second Buddhas who authored some sutras, including the Amitābha and Pure Land Sutras.

primordial buddha

Amitabha (Sanskrit, “Limitless Light”) is one of the five primordial or dhyani buddhas of Mahayana Buddhism.  Also called Amida or Amitayus (“Limitless Life”) [Who is Amitabha Buddha? | Buddhism A–Z (lionsroar.com)]

• If his light is limitless, it could reach us. Should we be able to see it?
• How did a bodhisattva become a primordial Buddha?

2. Then the Buddha addressed Shariputra, the elder, and said, 'Beyond a hundred thousand kotis of Buddha-lands westwards from here, there is a world named Sukhavati. [Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra (Nishu Utsuki)]

• Sukhavativyuha confirms the whereabouts of Sukhāvastī.
• However, people are not so sure, although they are sure Amitābha Buddha and Sukhavati are real.

Where is Amitābha's pure Land?

“There are two theories concerning the location of Amitābha Buddha's pure Land of Sukhāvastī. One places it within the three realms, and the other places it outside them. The reason for this division of opinion lies in the fact that classical cosmology did not speak of buddha-lands. All agree, however, that Sukhāvatī is "ten myriads of a hundred millions of buddha-lands to the west of Sahā," an expression found in the Chinese translations of the Smaller and Larger Sukhāvatī-vyūha sūtras.” [Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins (Akira Sadakata)]

• The whereabouts of Amitābha Buddha is uncertain because Amitābha himself never explained that.
• The second Buddhas did not make it clear, either.

Amitabha welcoming the souls

Amitabha descends from his celestial realm in order to receive the soul of a devotee and transport it to the Western Pure Land [Welcoming Descent of Amitâbha Buddha (Amida Nyorai) (Harvard Art Museums)]

• A painting with the same theme:

the Buddha Amitabha descending from his Pure Land to welcome the soul of a recently deceased individual into his paradisiacal abode. [Buddha Amitabha Descending from His Pure Land | China | Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)]

• That theme must be very popular among the believers.

Six realms in Mahayana

The six realms of rebirth include three good realms: Deva (heavenly, god), Asura (demigod), and Manusya (human); and three evil realms: Tiryak (animals), Preta (ghosts), and Naraka (hellish). [Rebirth (Buddhism) (Wikipedia)]

• Pure Lands are the Nirvāna with no physical forms (arupa world) as discussed above.

Daimuryojukyo - the Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra does not directly mention the whereabouts of Sukhavati. However, it instructs how to abandon the Sakyamuni for Amitābha:

[Hisao Inagaki] Ananda stood up, rearranged his robes, assumed the correct posture, faced westward, and, demonstrating his sincere reverence, joined his palms together, prostrated himself on the ground and worshipped Amitayus. Then he said [278a] to the Buddha Shakyamuni, "World-Honored One, I wish to see that Buddha, his Land of Peace and Bliss, and its hosts of bodhisattvas and shravakas."

• That is a wishing thought of the sutra's authors.

As soon as he [the Venerable Ananda Mahathera] had said this, Amitayus emitted a great light, which illuminated all the Buddha-lands. The Encircling Adamantine Mountains, Mount Sumeru, together with large and small mountains, and everything else shone with the same (golden) color.

• That must be the only report on Amitābha's light.

Mount Sumeru is known to many religions, including Vibhajjavada. Their cosmologies do not know the fictional Sukhāvastī.

The Weltmodell centered on the cosmic mountain called Sumeru (or simply Meru, as su- is a prefix meaning “good”, “great”, “beautiful”) is a pan-Indian cosmic model that is not limited to Buddhism but also common in Brahmanism, Jainism, and Hinduism. [Transmission of the “World”: Sumeru Cosmology as Seen in Central Asian Buddhist Paintings Around 500 AD (Satomi Hiyama)]

Religions cannot confirm the whereabouts of their Gods.

• For the same reason, we cannot confirm the whereabouts of Amitābha Buddha and Sukhāvastī.
• Vibhajjavadis cannot confirm the whereabouts of Mount Meru, either. However, it is not the most essential part of Vibhajjavada.
• Understanding the historical Sakyamuni Buddha does not require special faith.

Avalokiteśvara the creator

Māyāvādi (Māyāyānist) Creationism

“The sun and moon are said to be born from the Bodhisattva's eyes, Maheśvara from his brow, Brahmā from his shoulders, Nārāyaṇa from his heart, Sarasvatī from his teeth, the winds from his mouth, the earth from his feet and the sky from his stomach.” [Karandavyuha Sutra (Mithun Howladar)]

• This bodhisattva creates like a God; Māyāvādi God: (see Part 13)
• So, there are hells, hungry spirits and animals
• However, he is next in line in Sukhāvastī.

The Forty-eight Vows of
[7] (1) If, when I attain Buddhahood, there should be in my land a hell, a realm of hungry spirits or a realm of animals, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

Juseige - Verses Confirming the Vows7. When merits and virtues are perfected, My majestic light shall radiate in the ten quarters, Outshining the sun and the moon And surpassing the brilliance of the heavens. [Buddha Speaks Infinite Life Sutra (the Tripitaka Master Samghavarman)]

A few questions here:

• Why is a buddha-land be filled with a hell, a realm of hungry spirits or a realm of animals but not Sukhāvastī?
• How did a bodhisattva get rid of hell, etc. from his future buddha-land?
• Why does not every bodhisattva get his buddha-land free of hell, etc.?
• Why does not every bodhisattva get a buddha-land?
• For example, to get a buddha-land and become a buddha, Avalokiteśvara must wait until the passing of Amitābha.

Buddhaland world system

A Buddhaland is a world realm [comprising a Mount Sumeru, a sun, a moon,] the four great continents—Uttarakuru in the north, Apara-godaniya in the east, Purva-videha in the west, and Jambudvipa in the south [...] came to Shakyamuni Buddha’s Bodhimanda. Upon arriving there he and his retinue made obeisance and in the northern direction transformationally created lotus flower treasury lion seats and sat in full lotus. [The Names of the Thus Come Ones Chapter Seven]

• A Buddhaland is a world realm: According to that concept, we are living in the Shakyamuni Buddha's Buddhaland comprising a hell, a realm of hungry spirits or a realm of animals.
• Avalokiteśvara created the sun, the moon, etc. in his Buddhaland that does not exist, as he is next in line in Sukhāvastī.
• Jambudvipa: Jambudipa (Theravada):

Buddhas (and Cakkavattis) are born only in Jambudipa (BuA.48; MA.ii.917).

5.4.22. Life forms according to the Sakyamuni Buddha

The five primordial buddhas and their bodhisattvas are not the true lifeforms known to a Sammasambuddha.

[Quote]

Upapattibhava is of nine kinds

1. kammabhava means the nama rupas of living beings in the sensual world. In other words, kammabhava refers to existences in the hell and the worlds of devas, mankind, animals and petas.
2. rupabhava - the khandhas of brahmas with rupas.
3. arupabhava - namakhandhas of brahmas with no rupas.
4. sannibhava - nama rupas of beings with gross perceptions, that is beings in 29 abodes other than asanni nevasanni abodes.
5. asanaribhava - nama rupa of asanni brahmas.
6. Nevasanninasanni - namakhandhas of higher brahmas.
7. ekavokarabhava - the bhava with only rupakkhandha.
8. catuvokarabhava - the bhava with four namakhandhas.
9. pancavokarabhava - of bhava with five nama rupakkhandhas

In short, upapattibhava means the nama rupas of the new existence that results from kamma. It comprises the vinnana, nama rupa, salayatana, phassa and vedana.

[End quote]

Anattavada: Upddanakkhandha

Pali Commentaries Atthakatha - English Translations Collection: The Great Atthakatha Masters and Translators

[page 61-62] 02 MN 001 Mulapariyaya Sutta Commentary, Discourse on Root of existence - Bhikkhu Bodhi

4. THE SECTION ON BEINGS, ETC. HE PERCEIVES BEINGS AS BEINGS (bhute bhiitato safijanati).
Therein, the word "being'" (bhuta) is found in the following senses: the five aggregates (khandhapancaka), non-humans (amanussa), elements (di.ii.tu), existing (vijjamiina), the cank.erless saint (khitii'isava), living beings (satta), trees (rukkha), etc.
[...]
Or resolving his mind on the acquisition of what he has not obtained, he thinks: " 0, that I may be reborn in the company of great wealthy Khattiyas," etc.1 Thus too he conceives beings through the con ceiving of craving. When, depending on his excellence or deficiency in relation to other beings, he ranks himself as superior to others, or as inferior, or as equal, he conceives beings through the conceiving of conceit. —

[page 656] 05.02 Dhammapada, Treasury of Truth - Weragoda Sarada Thero

khandhdsamddukkha natthi : no pain like physical being. [...] ( upddanakkhandha ) [...] which appear to the ignorant man as his ego, or personality [...] What is called individual existence is, in reality, nothing but a mere process of those mental and physical phenomena, a process that since time immemorial has been going on, and that also after death will still continue for unthinkably long periods of time. These five groups, however, neither singly nor collectively constitute any self-dependent real ego-entity, or personality (atta), nor is there to be found any such entity apart from them. Hence the belief in such an ego-entity or personality, as real in the ultimate sense, proves a mere illusion.
[Pali Commentaries Atthakatha - English Translations Collection: The Great Atthakatha Masters and Translators]

• 5.3.3. Bodhisattva in the Realm of self (Part 22)
• Anattavadi Theravada and Attavadi Mahayana do not teach the same path.

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

• Buddha-nature is un-born, but it reveals itself as Tathagata.
• The Un-born means neither being nor non-being—the eternal immaterial existence.
• The non-being being is a form of vibhava-tanha.
• Buddha-nature is attavada, craving for eternal existence: bhava-tanha.

The Emptiness of the World:

The man with craving as his companion has been flowing in the stream of repeated existences from time immemorial. He comes into being, experiences various types of miseries, dies again and again, and does not put an end to this unbroken process of becoming. [Ignorance And Conditioning Consciousness (Buddha Dharma Education Association)]

5.4.23. ATTAINMENT UNSUPPORTED

[Lanka Chapter 7:] In order to discard some easily discriminations and erroneous reasonings, the Bodhisattva should retire by himself to a quiet, secluded place where he may reflect within himself without relying on anyone else, and there let him exert himself to make successive advances advances along the stages; this solitude is the characteristic feature of the inner attainment of self-realization of Noble Wisdom.

• The main sutras do not provide the methodology to reach the goal: the end of discrimination and erroneous reasoning.

Bloodstream Sermon gives three main points:

• A Buddha is an idle person
• Arhats don’t know the Buddha
• And the only reason I’ve come to China is to transmit the instantaneous teaching of the Mahayana This mind is the Buddha."

These types of buddhas, arhats and bodhisattvas are from the outside of the Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana.

Parinirvāna for the Honourary Masters:

[Lotus Chapter 22:] "Good man, the time of my Parinirvana has arrived. The time for my passing into stillness has arrived..."

1. The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua's Parinirvana
2. The Parinirvana of Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche in 2009

• The word Parinirvāna is utilised to honour these masters.
• To attain Parinirvāna, they must abandon the bodhisattva ideal.
• Dhjana can lead to citta visuddhi and sila visuddhi but never put anyone on Arahattamagga.

Nirvāna

Different sutras suggest different concepts of Nirvāna. These sutras do not share a central unified concept and terms. That causes misunderstanding Nirvāna.

• Nirvāna as Perfect Stillness
• Nirvāna as Oneness or Reverting to Buddha
• Nirvāna as Returning to Emptiness/Void/Dharmakaya

All these meanings are from the outside of the Sakyamuni Buddha's Sasana. Different authors, who "read, recite, copy and speak about non-Buddhist texts (Vincent Eltschinger)", wrote the sutras out of inspirations and accused the Buddha of teaching them.

Tathāgatagarbha inside Illusions

• They do not have their own self because they are mere illusions (māyā).
• They do have buddha-self because they are mere illusions (māyā).
• Illusion (māyā) is all sorts of form (physicality or the four mahabhuta: solid, liquid, gas, heat).

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form:

• The ultimate truth, Dharmakaya, is emptiness.
• Form is illusion or emptiness (sunyata).
• The Tathagata and Nirvāna are also emptiness.
• So, in emptiness, there is nothing, not even emptiness is in emptiness.
• Even emptiness is empty— Nāgārjuna.

Oil and Water: Some intellects try to support Nāgārjuna by bringing him into the Four Noble Truth:

The Third Noble Truth: there is an end to suffering. Because even emptiness is empty, because relativity and conditionedness themselves are not absolute, suffering is not ultimate. While the mundane nature of the conditioned is conditionedness, yet in its ultimate nature, the conditioned is itself the undivided, unconditioned reality. While the ultimate reality is beyond the distinctions that hold in the world of the determinate, yet the ultimate reality is not wholly separate from the determinate, but is the real nature of the determinate itself. It is because we already are identical to the unconditioned reality that we can recognize this truth and become liberated from the imagination that we are otherwise, and thereby end our suffering. [The Meaning of Sunyata in Nagarjuna's Philosophy (Thomas J McFarlane – integralscience.org)]

• That is not Nirodha Sacca
• That is Māyāvādi (Māyāyānist) Creationism as discussed above.
• suffering is not ultimate: Dukkha Sacca is the ultimate nature of okasa-loka, satta-loka and sankhara-loka.
• Nāgārjuna did not teach or support the Four Noble Truths in Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra, as explained by the Sakyamuni Buddha.
• Duality and non-duality are mere perceptual.

The Fourth Noble Truth: [...] The Middle Way is the non-exclusive way that destroys the ignorance of clinging to the relative as absolute. Through the method of criticism, extreme views are shown to lead to contradictions which reveal the truth of sunyata with regard to all things. Ultimately, even sunyata or relativity itself is denied as absolute, revealing the unutterable unconditioned reality which is the ultimate nature of ourselves and all things. [Thomas J McFarlane]

• That is not the Eightfold Noble Path but the Madhyamika path. Majjhimapatipada/Majjhimā-Paṭipadā and Madhyamika are two different names. They are so for some reasons, which the scholars should recognise.
• Lankavatara and other main sutras reject the Four Noble Truths:

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

• Lankavatara rejects the Four Noble Truths.

Non-duality is neither being nor non-being, neither real nor fake, neither enlightened nor ignorant, neither up nor down, neither moral nor immoral, neither solitude nor myriad, neither dead nor alive...

• Form is illusion without self-nature (svabhāva).
• A being is a special illusion with Tathāgatagarbha inside.

Emptiness of the Great Vehicle

[Lanka Chapter 3:] By emptiness of no-work is meant that the aggregate of elements that makes up personality and its external world is Nirvāna itself.

• its external world is māyā.
• That is Nirvāna here and now.

[Lanka Chapter 2:] Words are an artificial creation; there are Buddha-lands where there are no words. 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.

• Here in this world, the buddha-land of the Buddha Shakyamuni, people must use words.

Tathagata (the sunyatisunya) is actively engaged in the affairs of māyā and the natural phenomena. That is how the Mind imagines and does not stop. Everything is the imagination of the Mind:

[Lotus Chapter 12:] All of them had perfected the Bodhisattva practices and were discussing among themselves the Six Paramitas. Those who had been Sound Hearers were in empty space expounding upon the practices of Sound Hearers. All of them were now cultivating the principle of emptiness of the Great Vehicle

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 35

5.5.1. Mantrayāna: no-Enlightenment

[Heart (Uni):] Body is nothing more than emptiness [...] So, in emptiness, there is no body, [...] There is no attainment of wisdom, and no wisdom to attain. The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom [...] the mantra that removes all suffering.

• Body is emptiness
• Bodhisattvas are body; thus, are emptiness.
• That is the mantra, the Perfection of Wisdom.
• Bodhisattvas (Emptiness) rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, i.e. knowing there is no attainment of wisdom in emptiness/body/bodhisattvas.
• no attainment of wisdom in bodhisattvas.
• Māyā (body) is empty; thus, no wisdom is in māyā (emptiness).

[Heart (Uni):] So, in emptiness, there is no body, [...] There is no attainment of wisdom, and no wisdom to attain.

• Body is emptiness, and a Bodhisattva is body.
• There is no body in emptiness.
• There is no attainment of wisdom in emptiness.
• There is no wisdom to attain in emptiness.
• The body/emptiness/Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, which is not in emptiness.
• That is the mantra that removes all suffering.
• Note: Body (sunyata) is māyā. Māyāyāna means māyā as the vehicle to arrain wisdom, which is not in emptiness.
• Well-played words are these—the words of the eternal Tathagata with a part of his exists is to emancipate māyā from māyā (the physical world), who is the Oneness and the Many, the Emptiness (wisdom/Dharmakaya) of emptiness (body/bodhisattvas), the Great Lord of Mahesvara and its Buddha-lands, the nonduality and duality.
• Why is he not a straight talker?

emptiness is fullness [See the Universe in a Sunflower (Thich Nhat Hanh)]

Aryavalokitesvaro

the Bodhisattva who is the personification of the ideal, sunyata. [Mahayana Buddhism and Early Advaita Vedanta (Study): Chapter 4.16 - Reality according to Madhyamika and Advaita (Summary) (Asokan N.)]

• personification or embodiment
• Buddha-nature (the small self) that is embodied in māyā (sunya/emptiness) reverted to the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (emptiness/the Great Self).
• Emptiness reverted to emptiness.

the merit of Brahmā:

these same lines are taught to Avalokiteśvara by the Buddha himself.3 [...] in order to generate the merit of Brahmā [...]4 [Introduction (84000)]

5.5.2. Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta

The Venerable Sāriputta Mahathera answered the inquiry of some almsmen concerning right ideas:

[pages 34-35] After expressing their satisfaction and gratitude to Sariputta, those Almsmen put to him the further question whether there was yet another way by which the disciple became right in his ideas.

Yes, answered Sariputta. —When he understands ill, its origin, its cessation, and the course which leads desires to its cessation. Now what are these? —ill is birth, decay, sickness, and death; sorrow, wailing, depression of body and mind; also not getting what one together with, in brief, the fivefold attach ments to existence. That is what ill is. Now, first, what is the origin of ill? —This denotes every craving that leads to rebirth, that has to do with delight and passion, delighting now in this object and now in that, —namely, cravings for pleasures of sense, for continuing existence, or [49] for annihilation. Next, what is the cessation of ill? —This denotes the absolute and passionless cessation of the self-same cravings, their abandonment and renunciation, deliverance from them, and aversion for them. Lastly, what is the course that leads to the cessation of ill? —It is precisely the Noble Eightfold Path [FURTHER DIALOGUES OF THE BUDDHA (LORD CHALMERS, 1926)]

• ill: Dukkha Sacca
• its origin: Samudhaya Sacca
• cessation: Nirodha Sacca
• the course: Magga Sacca
• Existence is the Four Noble Truths. Existence as emptiness, sunna, or Śūnya belongs to attavada (the beliefs in soul, atta).
• A right-idea is understanding the right teacher, as it is essential for a Truth-seeker.
• Right-idea is the reflection of reality.

yonisomanasikāra : [m.] proper consideration.

The beginning of the Path

To know the difference between yoniso and ayoniso is the beginning of the practice; the rest is to see that ayoniso does not occur. [Wise Attention (Sayadaw U Jagara - buddhistinquiry.org)]

• Wrong-idea rises from imagination—Unwise attention: ayoniso manasikāra

sammādiṭṭhi : [f.] right belief.

Understanding Paticcamuppada is right idea.

• The Noble Eightfold Path begins with sammādiṭṭhi (Right-View/Idea) and ends with Sammasamadhi (Righ-Equanimity).
• Samatha (stillness) is similar to samadhi, which can lead to jhana or vipassana. The samatha of a random path is not the samatha of the Eightfold Noble Path. View (ditthi), the objects of focus, purpose and methodology make them different.

Sambuddhe Gāthā

I pay homage with my head to the 512,028 Buddhas.

I pay devoted homage to their Dhamma & Saṅgha.

Through the power of this homage,

having demolished all misfortunes,

may countless dangers be destroyed without trace.

I pay homage with my head to the 1,024,055 Buddhas.

 pay devoted homage to their Dhamma & Saṅgha.

Through the power of this homage,

having demolished all misfortunes,

may countless dangers be destroyed without trace.

I pay homage with my head to the 2,048,109 Buddhas.

I pay devoted homage to their Dhamma & Saṅgha.

Through the power of this homage,

having demolished all misfortunes,

may countless dangers be destroyed without trace.

• countless dangers destroyed without trace means the true protection deathless Nibbana, which all the Theravada chants are aimed for. The Sambuddhe Verses and Later Theravādin Buddhology - Peter Skilling_text.pdf (archive.org)
• Paritta is small protection.

Paritta: Small/Temporary Protection

paritta : [adj.] 1. small; insignificant; little; 2. protection; protective charm.

Paritta is the words of truth spoken by the Buddha. The devotees chant Paritta (small/temporary protection) verses to establish their devotion to the Buddha and truthfulness (the goal) and for protection based on truth and goodwill. Paritta verses are not mantra. Although they are chanted for protection, the chanter is chanting (telling or uttering) the truth and goodwill. Many paritta verses are some examples set by the bodhisatta in his effort to reach Buddhahood.

Examples:

Mora Parittaṃ: The Peacock’s Protection is one of the 11 Paritta verses.

The Great Being was born as a peacock, fulfilling the necessary requirements for obtaining Enlightenment, and having arranged protection for himself by means of this protective discourse. Although the hunters tried for a long time, they were not able to capture him. This was prescribed by the Buddha as an excellent [Paritta]. Let us recite this protective discourse.

Vaṭṭa Parittaṃ: The Quail’s Protection is to wrough an act of truth:

By the power of this discourse, the forest-fire passed over the Great Being (the Bodhisatta) who was born as a quail, fulfilling the necessary requisites for enlightenment...

Gāthā: A gāthā is a verse or a poem (kabya), which does not serve as mantra. The Buddha spoke in gāthā when He should recognise a significant event.

• For example, Upāsaka Sutta: The Lay Follower: "on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed".
• Another example:

Dhammapada Verses 73 and 74: Cittagahapati Vatthu: Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 73: The foolish bhikkhu desires praise for qualities he does not have, precedence among bhikkhus, authority in the monasteries, and veneration from those unrelated to him.

The Heart Sutra can be a gatha by removing om and swaha:

[Heart (Thich):] the Master summoned him back in order to recite to him the following gatha:

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,
is a skillful means created temporarily by the Buddhas of the three times.
Emptiness is not form, form is not emptiness
Their nature is always pure and illuminating, neither caught in being nor in non-being.

• the Buddhas are just one sameness of the Trikaya.

No part of the Theravada Tipitaka is written in mantra. The Pitaka is written in gāthā. Reciting a gāthā does not have the purpose of reciting mantras. Theravadins recite the Buddha's words as His students. They do not surrender to the Sakyamunit Buddha as if He was a God.

Anussati (recollection) is not mantra-chanting but the meditation practice by means of recollecting the virtues of the Tisarana and other individuals.

recollection of the Buddha, recollection of the Dhamma, recollection of the Sangha, recollection of virtue, recollection of generosity, recollection of the devas, and recollection of stilling. [A Meditator's Tools: A Study Guide on the Ten Recollections (Thanissaro Bhikkhu – accesstoinsight.org)]

Dhammadāna

dhammadana is the noblest among practices of gift, as it lies in offering the knowledge of the dhamma to sentient beings. [Dhamma-dana: 3 definitions (wisdomlib.org)]

• Dhammadāna is the noblest because one shares reality/truth with others.

By giving Dhamma service in a course, you are fulfilling the teaching of the Buddha which is not just to help yourself to get liberated but also to help others to get liberated. [Importance of Dhamma Dana (Vipassana Research Institute)]

• Sharing assumption is not very noble, however.
• Sharing wrong view is dangerous for oneself and others.

5.5.3. Mantra or Charm

Rite and ritual are ditthupadana.

Practicing rite and ritual can push a Theravadin away from the path.

The Buddhas do not teach the Dhamma to be used as mantra for material success. Theravadins should accumulate kusala (merit). They can accumulate kusala kamma in dana, sila, bhavana, being kind and actions of kindness and volunteering. They should keep five precepts for sila. They can choose a kammathana for bhavana.

a Vinaya rule forbids monks engaging in the Brahminical practice of chanting mantras for material gain [Mantra in Buddhism (wiki)]

• That rule is here:

9) He practices wrong modes of livelihood [if he is] c) Practicing worldly arts, e.g., medicine, fortune telling, astrology, exorcism, reciting charms, casting spells, performing ceremonies to counteract the influence of the stars, determining propitious sites, setting auspicious dates (for weddings, etc.), interpreting oracles, auguries, or dreams [...] A bhikkhu banished for indulging in any of these activities is duty-bound to undergo the observances [...] so that the Community will revoke the banishment transaction [...] Sanghadisesas are classified as heavy offenses (garukapatti)
[The Buddhist Monastic Code, Volumes I & II: Saṅghādisesa 13 (Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu – dhammatalks.org)]

• Mantras are charms that must be avoided by the bhikkhus who want to be well-trained.

Heart Sutra Mantra

[Heart (Centre):] om namo bhagavatyai aryaprajnaparamitayai aryavalokitesvaro bodhisattvo [...] Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha

Believers chant it for (material) success:

6. Talisman of Talismans: [...] For success, Hokiichi chanted the sutra over one hundred times a day, until he had recited it one million times. According to his journal, he had chanted the Heart Sutra 1.9 million times by 1819... [Heart Sutra: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classic of Mahayana Buddhism (Kazuaki Tanahashi)]

• Everyone can chant a mantra for success. This practice began in an ancient time.

The Gayatri mantra, when recited a thousand times, is considered to be of the highest merit. [Gayatri Mantra and its ritual (Shree Swaminarayan Temple Bhuj)]

Chanting religious text for success is found in many cultures across Asia, including Mahayanist and Theravada countries. Some, but not all, got what they wanted after chanting. It is impossible to determine whether chanting is the reason for their success.

Mantrayāna

• Mahayana created words with suffix yana: mantrayāna, śrāvakayāna, bodhisattvayāna, Māyāyāna, Mahayana, etc.
• Māyāyāna is Māyāvāda.
• The Pali Tipitaka has words with suffixes like vada (doctrine) and ditthi (view/idea).

The follower of the mantrayāna, also known as the Vajrayāna, may practise the pāramitās and even the ethics and meditation of the śrāvakayāna but what really propels him or her along his or her chosen path is the fact that he or she practises with the help of mantras. [...] Thus, between the path of mantra and the bodhisattva path there is a correlation similar to that between the stages of the śrāvakayāna and the number of lives remaining to the practitioner, except that for the arhant who attains Nirvāṇa there are no further lives. One therefore sees that, from a certain point of view, the mantrayāna path parallels the śrāvakayāna. At the same time, there is an important difference, and that difference gives rise to a difficulty. The goal of the mantrayāna is Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. This is also the goal of the bodhisattvayāna, but the mantrin achieves it much more quickly than the bodhisattva, which is probably one of the reasons for the popularity of this path.
[A Word on the Mantrayāna (Urgyen Sangharakshita)]

• mantrin (mantri):  sage, i.e. the "person who thinks and says" in that language, cf. Mantra [wiki];
• the “person who chants a mantra” [wisdomlib.org];
• the mantrayāna path parallels the śrāvakayāna: There are many paths. The Noble Eightfold Path leads to Nibbana.

śrāvakayāna is a Mahayanist concept and practice. A true savaka of a Sammasambuddha listens to the Buddha Vacana and developing the Essential Right Ideas.

The Essential Right Ideas

One day, the Buddha saw in his vision that a poor man would attain Sotapatti Fruition at the village of Alavi. So he went to that village, which was thirty yojanas away from Savatthi [...] The man was tired and hungry, so the Buddha directed the donors to offer food to him. Only when the man had been fed, the Buddha gave a discourse, expounding the Dhamma step by step and finally leading to the Four Noble Truths. [Dhammapada Verse 203 Eka Upasaka Vatthu (Daw Mya Tin)]

• Nama-rupa (lifeform): body and mind are interdependent. The mind depends on the wellness of the body. The comfort of body supports the comfort of mind. The comforted mind is calm. The Sakyamuni Buddha did not say the body and mind are emptiness.
• The Venerable Ananda Mahathera once said:

Duve hetu duve paccaya savakassa sammaditthiya uppadaya [Full text of "Khuddaka Nikaya" (archive.org)]

• Translation: sāvaka: [m.] a hearer; a disciple.

There are two causes, two conditions, for the arising of a hearer's right view [Ven Nyanamoli]

Svaha and Paragate

[Heart (Thich):] Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha

• The mantra concept was originated in the Vedas. Another religion must find something special about that concept to adopt it.

PARAGATE means gone to the further shore and is a stock Sanskrit expression used by Jains and Buddhists to refer to arahants. More loosely translated, it 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." [The mantra at the end of the Heart Sutra (Richard Hayes)]

• Heart mantra replaces fire sacrifice.

Yogapedia (summary:) Gate means gone. Bodhi means enlightenment. Swaha is the wife of Agni (the fire God). Her name is chanted while a burnt offering or an oblation is made. That instruction of self-offering comes from Chenrezig (Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion).

• A bit of background:

[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]

• The purpose of Heart mantra: By chanting swaha, one may give oneself (one's self) as an oblation to Avalokitesvara (from maheśvara heaven discussed in Part 23).
• Which Māyāvādi Buddhas are not the Buddha of Compassion?

As human beings we always have the potential to improve ourselves, remembering that the Buddha did not achieve enlightenment through prayer but through following the path. As the ‘Heart Sutra’ says, ‘all the Buddhas who perfectly reside in the three times [...] bodhi svaha - be founded in enlightenment - indicates laying the foundation of complete enlightenment.
“The Buddha was long ago an ordinary being who worked to attain Buddhahood by cultivating the subtle mind of clear light or Buddha nature.” [Second Day of Teachings at Vidyaloke (Dalai Lama)]

• The goal of Buddhahood in mantrayāna, bodhisattvayāna, or māyāyāna is to revert to Oneness, the original Māyāvādi Tathagata.

[Svaha] can be an embodiment of the divine that exists within us, and it can be a source of unity with the higher power. [THE MYSTICAL MEANING OF SVAHA (Japa Mala Beads)]

• Buddha-nature embodied in māyā reverts to Buddha [DIAMOND (Red)].
• bodhi svaha: Enlightenment or becoming a Buddha means the completion of the offering/surrendering/reverting buddha-nature to the original Māyāvādi Tathagata.

9: Return to the Source: From the realization of Emptiness emerges the realization that the amazing flow of life always continues on in its own perfection. Seasons come and go. Cherry trees bloom in the spring. Birds sing and the rivers flow. Stars are born and others explode into cosmic dust. Emptiness is Fullness, Fullness is Emptiness. Bodhi svaha! [The Ten Oxherding Pictures (Arthur Kilmurray)]

• the source is the creator—the universal truth underneath the whole universe.
• Māyā (body/form) is empty, not full. It's merely seen of the mind (imagination).

Emptiness is Fullness, Fullness is Emptiness

• Thich Nhat Hanh agrees with that.

[Heart (Uni):] Body is nothing more than emptiness, emptiness is nothing more than body. The body is exactly empty, and emptiness is exactly body.

• Thich Nhat Hanh does not agree body is empty:

[Heart (Thich):] "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form" is a skillful means created temporarily by the Buddhas of the three times. Emptiness is not form, form is not emptiness.

• Form is emptiness means form has Buddha-svabhāva, although it does not have its own svabhāva.
• Thus, form is not emptiness. Form is full:

At first, we think emptiness is the opposite of fullness, but emptiness is fullness. You are empty of a separate self, but you are full of the cosmos. So “emptiness” is an expression that we could say is equivalent to “God.” God is the ultimate, and emptiness is the ultimate [See the Universe in a Sunflower (Thich Nhat Hanh)]

• empty of a separate self because you all share the sameness of buddha-nature.

Sunyatisunya—Even the emptiness is empty

Nagarjuna's notion of Even the emptiness is empty is great but in practice, it is unapplicable. Even someone like Thich Nhat Hanh could not do that. The sutras simply ignore Dharmakaya by presenting various types of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, deities and others.

Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya are identical to māyā but more prominent than Dharmakaya.

• Form is not emptiness, in terms of Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya.
• Sunyatisunya or Dharmakaya is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata, the God of Mahayana in Lankavatara.

[Heart (Thich):] to put an end to all kinds of suffering. Therefore let us proclaim a mantra to praise

Mantra

The Sakyamuni Buddha left Om and Swaha behind to seek deathless (amata). He found it in Anapanasati. He did not make up the yanas after that. The Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana is enough for us.

"Om" is considered to be a primordial sound in Hinduism and is often used as a sacred syllable or mantra. It represents the ultimate reality, consciousness, and the entire universe. On the other hand "Swaha" is often used as an offering to the gods in Hinduism. It is believed to signify surrender of one’s self to the divine. The use of "Swaha" at the end of a mantra is meant to indicate the completion of the offering or total sacrifice.

Therefore, the combination of "Om" and "Swaha" at the beginning and end of a mantra is believed to enhance the effectiveness of the mantra by invoking the power of the great universe and surrendering oneself to the divinity. [Why Every Mantra Starts With an Om and Ends With a Swaha? (Askganesha.com)]

• Lankavatara presents the concept that the seventh and eighth stage bodhisattvas surrender themselves (their will-control) to the original Māyāvādi Tathagata so that they can become Oneness with him.
• At the tenth stage, the bodhisattvas have completed the surrendering process and become Tathagatas themselves. However, according to Lotus, it takes nearly forever. Even someone like Avalokiteśvara could only become second in line, despite he generated

the merit of Brahmā [Introduction (84000)]

• The major sutras do not provide the means to achieve perfect stillness, nor the means to surrender oneself to the divine. Mantra chanting starting with om and ending with swaha is an easy practice, which needs not much explanation.
• For māyā (imagination), surrendering to the divinity should not be difficult.

5.5.4. Oneness of the Ultimate Essence

[Lanka Chapter 7:] In a true sense there are four kinds of sameness relating to Buddha-nature: there is sameness of letters, sameness of words, sameness of meaning, and sameness of Essence [...] In the Ultimate Essence which is Dharmakaya, all the Buddhas of the past, present and future, are of one sameness.

• sameness of letters and sameness of words do not mean Buddhas and bodhisattvas do not have different names, etc. Yet all the differences are māyā or imagination and should not be seen as discrimination.
• Forms, names, and all the differences of Māyāvādi Buddhas and bodhisattvas are unreal.
• For example, Chenrezig (Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion) has no essence other than emptiness/Dharmakaya, the Ultimate Essence.
• That is why Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya are more prominent but identical to māyā (imagination).

[Lanka Chapter 11:] Only the Tathagatas can realize perfect Imagelessness and Oneness and Solitude.

• These Tathagatas are Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya who can realize the essence or the original Māyāvādi Tathagata who is the perfect Imagelessness and Oneness and Solitude.
• These Tathagatas as Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya are all sign of individuation.
• Oneness is with no signs of individuation, nor beginning, nor succession, nor ending:

[Lanka Chapter 12:] all things are made manifest and perfected and then reintegrated, and 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... other names for Noble-Wisdom.

• These Tathagatas as Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya are Oneness, in terms of the completion of the bodhisattva stages in which they gave up individualised will-control:

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

• 'The Bodhisattva realizes that...'; upon becoming a Tathagata, he is no longer a bodhisattva.
• An ordinary bodhisattva still has individualised will-control. He is still selfish. However, behaving just like these amateur bodhisattvas, the Great Self, the Māyāvādi Taghagata who is managing Māyāyāna is very compassionate.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] [All bodhisattvas must transform into the] perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom [and become Buddhas.]

Chenrezig is both Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and the Buddha of Compassion

• A tenth-stage bodhisattva is a Buddha/Tathagata, but he is not yet a Buddha only because he is next in line in Sukhavati.
• They did not give him a buddha-land but made him next in line to Amitabha.
• They are the residents of Citta-gocara where buddha-lands are located. Lankavatara does not present the Earth as a buddha-land, which is given to the Sakyamuni Buddha by some scriptural authors.

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

• The Earth is where emancipation takes place. The Tathagatas reside in various buddha-lands in Citta-gocara. The Earth is not a buddha-land.

The Lotus Sutra does not present a similar concept.

5.5.5. Citta-gocara—Everlasting life in the liberated state

• Jainism's everlasting life in the liberated state is Lankavatara's Citta-gocara.

I bow down to those who have reached omniscience in the flesh and teach the road to everlasting life in the liberated state. [Jain worship: THE DAILY PRAYER]

• The Tathagata in the Lotus Sutra is one of those...

[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.

Sarvāstivāda: What does all three times exist mean?

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

• nor is he subject to causation: was not created, given birth to (neither born nor disappearing). That is the God—the three times of Sarvāstivāda.

The Sarvāstivāda held 'the existence of all dharmas in the past, present and future, the 'three times'. [Sarvāstivāda (wisdomlib.org)]

• Someone, who is the 'all dharma', exists in all three times: past, present, and future—not just at the present and the future. Sarvāstivāda is briefly discussed in Part 10.

[Heart (Thich):] Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, is a skillful means created temporarily by the Buddhas of the three times.

• the Buddhas of the three times is just one. They embody the original Māyāvādi Tathagata as the programmer. In terms of sameness, these buddhas are similar to robots with the same Artificial Intelligence installed.

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

• Buddha-nature is the Un-born.
• Buddha-nature is always embodied inside māyā which may become bodhisattvas and buddhas. However, buddha-nature is just one.
• Dharmakaya is just one. Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya may be infinite in number.
• Un-born means it does not become the born māyā.

The Unborn concept is presented in a film as spirit possession:

The dybbuk seeks to use her death as a gateway to physical existence. [The Unborn (2009 film) (wiki)]

• Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya are the physical existence of the Buddhas in the Citta-gocara.

Anuttarasamyaksambodhi

[Lotus Chapter 9:] Therefore, I have already realized Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, and Ananda protects and upholds my Dharma

• Anuttara is Śiva (sunyatisunya/Dharmakaya); a quote in Part 28.
• The Tathagata with an infinite lifespan has to rely on someone for protection and upholding His Dharma is out of character.
• Buddha Gotama left us His Dhamma as our Teacher because we need it, not because He needed us to protect and uphold it.

“Strive on untiringly.” Appamada dhamma is a selfless striving or effort to try to be continuously in the moment with presence of mindfulness. It is the path to selfless love and wisdom, the path of freedom.[Mahaparinabbana Sutta: Strive on Untiringly (Steven Smith - Inquiring Mind)]

• The Dhamma was left to us so that we would know the path and walk on it:

[page 37] Craving (tanhá) is the mighty stream of desire that flows through all existence, from the lowest microbes up to those sublime spheres free from coarse materiality. Craving is threefold: craving for sensuality, for continued existence, and for annihilation or destructionThe Roots of Good and Evil [page 111]Thus, through an unfathomable past, the macrocosm of nature and the microcosm of mind have continued their contest between attraction and repulsion, greed and hatred; and unless stopped by voluntary effort and insight, they will so continue for aeons to come. This cosmic conflict of opposing energies, unsolvable on its own level, is one aspect of dukkha (unsatisfactoriness): the ill of restless, senseless movement as felt by a sensitive being. [The Vision of Dhamma: Buddhist Writings of Nyanaponika Thera]

• Buddha Gotama was not an attavadi with desires for all dharma and an eternal life because He knew the pain of the five aggregates—Yatha-bhuta-Nana-dassana.

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 36

5.5.6. Maheśvara Buddha the Paramātmā

Maheśvara Buddha controls all things via awareness (buddha-nature) and Tathāgatagarbha:

Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13) [...]
The Maheśvara is Kṛṣṇa, Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is in His Paramātmā feature, is situated in every body. [...]
I can take care of my body. I am the owner of this body. But Kṛṣṇa is the owner of all bodies. [...]
We are ātmā, and He is Paramātmā. We are īśvara; He is Parameśvara [...]
We are Brahman, He is Para-brahman.
[Mahesvara means (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – Vaniquotes)]

• in every body:

[Heart (Uni):] Body is nothing more than emptiness

• Rupam is translated as body (form) in Mahayanist context.

[Heart (Centre):] rupam sunyata sunyataiva rupam rupan na prthak sunyata

• Body or form, it is only māyā with the embodiment of buddha-seed, which must gradually grow in the soil.
• Not the seed but the soil is responsible for the seed's growth into full-blown buddhahood.
• Not the soil but the seed which is respected and expected to revert to the Buddha.
• Unknown is how the buddha-seed got into the soil a long-long time ago.
• It has been so long, but the original Māyāvādi Tathagata is older than that as he completely exists in the past, present and future: all three times.

[page 170] The Lord is self-revealing. Like the sun (aditya varëam), He reveals Himself and others. He is not touched by mäyä (tamasaù parastät). He is situated above mäyä. The maker of mäyä is beyond mäyä. He who remembers such a person at every moment attains that supreme person.
[page 169] a person, becoming like the Lord,¹²³ just as an insect remembering a bee becomes a bee, attains Him alone.¹²⁴ [Gita Bhusana Bhagavad-gita Commentary (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)]

• māyā means imagination.
• We are ātmā or small ego (Buddha-nature):

the small ego surrenders before this Great Ego.” [The Nirvana Sutra (Zen Master, Sokei-an)]

• Paramātmā (Para-brahman) is the Great Ego the original Māyāvādi Tathagata (Oneness).
• Maheśvara Kṛṣṇa (Krishna) and Maheśvara Siva (Shiva) share the same attributes.
• Maheśvara Buddha and Maheśvara Mara—See Part 23.
• Dharmakaya (Sunyatisunya), Sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya are the same thing.
• The Trikaya is not exactly the Trimurti, which includes Brahma - the Creator, Vishnu - the Preserver, and Shiva - the Destroyer. However, the lines of thought are identical.
• Dharmakaya to Brahman or Siva (Sunyatisunya)
• M Buddha to M Kṛṣṇa
• M Mara to M Siva
• Māyā to māyā
• Māyāyāna to Māyāvāda

Some stories from Hinduism

"Sometimes the Viṣṇu mantra is called Viṣṇu-jvara, and the Śiva mantra is called Śiva-jvara. We find in the śāstras that sometimes the Śiva-jvara and Viṣṇu-jvara are employed in the fights between the demons and the demigods" [SB Canto 6 (Srimad-Bhagavatam)]

After Lord Kṛṣṇa had thoroughly defeated the ghosts and hobgoblins fighting under Lord Śiva, the Śiva-jvara weapon — [Jvarasura] a personification of fever with three heads and three legs [...] after the Lord had promised him freedom from fear, the Śiva-jvara bowed down to Him and departed. [CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE: Lord Kṛṣṇa Fights with Bāṇāsura (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)]

• Although Bāṇāsura is the Śiva-jvarar, he is ātmā. Kṛṣṇa (Krishna) and Siva (Shiva) are Paramātmā (Supreme Self), which controls every ātmā (self).

3. Then Nandin, a gaṇa of Śiva, spoke to the grief-stricken Daitya Bāṇa whose limbs were smeared with blood and who repented repeatedly. [The Shiva Purana: Chapter 56 - Bāṇāsura attains the position of Śiva’s Gaṇa]

• Lord Kṛṣṇa could correct Bāṇāsura's mind from agression to non-agression, from violence to non-violence, from pride to submission, from fear to joy by using the power of Parameśvara (His Paramātmā feature situated in Bāṇāsura). Instead, Lord Kṛṣṇa utilised an external force.

The Paramatma feature, the Supreme Soul, is actually the witness of all activities of the living being, and only by His direction can the living being remember or forget what he might have done in the past...No one is independent of Him, and everyone is engaged in His service in different ways. [Vaniquotes]

• The Paramatma feature allows Lord Kṛṣṇa and/or Lord Shiva to correct everyone's mind from dull to sharp, from ignorant to enlightened, from wild to tamed, from arrogant to respectful.
• Lord Kṛṣṇa and/or Lord Shiva could use the Paramatma feature of memory to make every Śiva-jvarar remember good and forget bad memory.
• Lord Kṛṣṇa could subdue Bāṇāsura spiritually rather than using violence.
• The Paramatma feature of memory may erase the past or future. Shouldn't the believers pray for remembering only the good memory?
• Sarvāstivāda's three-times concept is all dharmas (physical and abstract) exist in all three times, and the past and the future are not just memory but reality; thus, the past memory cannot be erased, and the future is predetermined.

The battles led by lord Shiva were beyond conventional war, including spiritual and philosophical aspects. Since he is being considered as the eternal significance of cosmic balance, there is a strong belief that his power has no replacement and no one can defeat him completely. This aspect and belief is the reason why Lord Shiva has a large proportion of devotees. [Who can defeat lord Shiva- Learn more to Worship Him (Idol kart)]

• no one can defeat him completely: Bhasmasura (wiki), who was born out of Shiva's ashes, became more powerful than Siva; however, he was defeated by the enchantress Mohin:

[bhasmaasura or] Brahmasura was an asura or demon who was granted the power to burn up and immediately turn into ashes (bhasm) anyone whose head he touched with his hand. the asura was tricked by the Lord Vishnu's only female avatar, the enchantress Mohini, to turn himself into ashes [Rekhta Dictionary]

• The creator always wins:

Vishnu appears as Mohini to save Lord Shiva from the demon Brahmasura. The name Mohiniyattam may have been coined after Lord Vishnu but the main theme of the dance is love and devotion to God, with usually Vishnu or Krishna being the hero. [Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions of South Asia: Dance Forms of Kerala: Symbols of Traditional Culture (Jayaprabha Ravindran, page 125)]

The Attavadi Buddha

[Lanka Chapter 3:] It is better to cherish the notion of an ego-substance than to entertain the notion of emptiness derived from the view of being and non-being...

• There is ego-substance (self). There is no duality (māyā is not reality).
• being and non-being: Duality
• ego-substance: Attavada (belief in soul entity) and Attavadupadana (clinging To Belief in Soul)
• Sarvastivada's true nature (Paramartha) is Dharmakaya or the Māyāvādi Tathagata, who resides in Mahesvara (Citta-gocara), Buddha-lands, jnana (mind-world), Dristi (the realm of dualism), a world beyond the realm of dualism, the abode of the Bodhisattva stages, Buddhahood: the bliss of the Tathagata's perfect enjoyment of his inmost nature, and Prajna: the Oneness.
• Part 26 discusses the SEVEN ASPECTS OF DHARMAKAYA.

The attributes and meanings of the original Māyāvādi Tathagata:

• One who is an eternal divine.
• One who clings to egoism.
• One who has no reason to leave the physical world (emptiness).
• One who is a hybrid Tathagata (a construct derived from different religions).

[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

• Mortal one became immortal by means of spirit possession.
• Even the Mara devaputta was unable to possess Gotama the Buddha.

The young Brahmin Vasettha said: 'This is the only straight path, this is the direct path, the path of salvation that leads one who follows it to union with Brahma, as is taught by the Brahmin Pokkharasati!' [TEVIJJA SUTTA (DN 13)]

• Union and reunion became revert and reveal because the second Buddhas changed them.

[Bodhidharma, 41:] the only reason I’ve come to China is to transmit the instantaneous teaching of the Mahayana This mind is the Buddha [Bloodstream Sermon]

• The second Buddhas are the better Buddhas because they knew nothing about the Dhamma of Gotama Buddha. "the second Buddha" - Google Search
• So, the duty to mix the dharmas with the Dhamma was left to their followers.

5.5.7. The Vibhajjavādi Tathāgata

Tathāgata (meanings):

1. One who has truly gone [Theravada].
   1. Gone or risen from the swampy water, the world of kilesa.
2. He preaches the natures of the Dharmas (dharmalakṣaṇa) in the way (tathā) that he has understood (gata) them [Mahayana].
   1. This meaning does not fit the original Māyāvādi Tathagata or a Māyāvādi Tathagata.
3. In the way that the previous Buddhas have gone by the path of safety (yogakṣema-mārga), thus (tathā) the actual Buddha is going (gata) and will not go on to new existences (punarbhāva)

Itivuttaka (This Was Said by the Buddha)

109 the Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened.

The venerable one (bhagavā) is like this: fully achieved salvation (arahaṃ), fully rightly awakened to the truth by himself (sammā-saṃbuddha), perfected in knowledge and conduct (vijjā-caraṇa-saṃpanna), well completed the path of rebirths (sugata), is a knower of the worlds (loka-vidū), an unsurpassable guide of the tamable among men (anuttara purisa-damma-sārathi), teacher of gods and men (satthā deva-manussānaṃ), a Buddha (buddha), a venerable one (bhagavā).
[3. Buddhanussati Alois Payer 1944 (Translated from German by Google Chrome)]

The Great Chronicle of Buddhas Ven. Mingun Sayadaw gives the details for Buddha's 9 attributes:

[Arahaṃ means] the Buddha who has destroyed by the supramundane path (lokuttarā-magga), all the defilements (kilesas), numbering fifteen hundred, without leaving a trace. Defilements may be compared to one’s enemies that always work against one’s interest and welfare. The defilements were present in the mind-body continuum of the Buddha-to-be; they are termed as ari (enemies).

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 37

Analysing the Heart Sutra from Theravadin Perspective

6.1. The Buddha's First Sermon

Bhikkhunam pancavagginam
Isipatananamake
Migadaye dhammavaram
yan tam nibbanapapakam
Sahampatinamakena
Mahabrahmena racito
catusacca pakasanto
lokanatho adesayi
nanditam sabbadevehi
sabbasampattisadhakam
sabbalokahitatthaya
Dhammacakkacakkam bhanamahe
[page 23; Journal : Pali Text Society]

• Loosely translated with additional information:

At the humble request of the noble Sahampati Brahma the Lord Buddha kindly consented to preach the Dhammackkapavattana Sutta for the realisation of Nibbana to the five ascetics, namely Kondanna, Vappa, Bhaddiya, Mahanama and Assaji at the Isipatana Deer Park of Benares. Let all of us, therefore, join together and recite this sacred dhamma for the welfare of the mundane and supramundane worlds, delighting all the deities. [DHAMMACAKKAPAVATTANA SUTTA (Ashin Sumana's The Light of Buddha Dhamma)]

• lokanatho (or) the Lord Buddha: A Sammasambuddha is the Lord of the World or the Lord of the three Worlds (human, deva and brahma) because He teaches the Dhamma that protects the beings from falling.

nātha : [m.] protection; protector.

• The word is well-known in the Buddhist cultures:

"Pujavisesam saha paccayehi
Yasma ayam arahati lokanatho,
Atthamrupam arahanti loke
Tasma jino arahati namametam."

("Inasmuch as the Lord of the World deserves the best of offerings together with all requisites, therefore, truly the conqueror is worthy of the name Araham" - Godakumbura translation)
[The history of offerings (Somapala Arandara; Online edition of Daily News)]

• lokanatho (lokanatha) is a popular word in different religions. Their meanings are not related to the Vibhajjavadi Buddha.

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: The true teaching of the Sakyamuni Buddha is profound, brief and clear.

Furthermore, bhikkhus, this is the dukkha·samudaya ariya·sacca: this taṇhā leading to rebirth, connected with desire and enjoyment, finding delight here or there, that is to say: kāma-taṇhā, bhava-taṇhā and vibhava-taṇhā.

• There are avijja and tanha working together. Other than that, a being is not found.

Let us not forget the lay followers.

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)]

• Soon after awakening, the Sammasambuddha was approached by the merchants from Ukkalapa (Myanmar) led by Tapussa and Bhallika, who were the first humans fortunate enough to donate alms.
• The Buddha flew to Lower Burma or sent a Nimitta Buddha (Part 38).
• Brahman Dona and his family also became important part, which helps us understand the Sakyamuni Buddha and His Dhamma.

Dona Sutta:

Dona the brahman followed the Buddha's footprint and met Him. The brahman asked:

"When asked, 'Are you a deva?' you answer, 'No, brahman, I am not a deva.' When asked, 'Are you a gandhabba?' you answer, 'No, brahman, I am not a gandhabba.' When asked, 'Are you a yakkha?' you answer, 'No, brahman, I am not a yakkha.' When asked, 'Are you a human being?' you answer, 'No, brahman, I am not a human being.' Then what sort of being are you?"

The Buddha answered who He is:

"The fermentations by which I would go
to a deva-state,
or become a gandhabba in the sky,
or go to a yakkha-state & human-state:
Those have been destroyed by me,
ruined, their stems removed.
Like a blue lotus, rising up,
unsmeared by water,
unsmeared am I by the world,
and so, brahman,
I'm awake."
[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]

• He is not eternal, nor related to Māyāvādi creationism (imaginationism).

Ete te bhikkhave ubho ante anupagamma, majjhimā paṭipadā
Not having approached either of these two extremes, monks, the middle practice

Tathāgatena abhisambuddhā, cakkhukaraṇī, ñāṇakaraṇī,
was awakened to by the Realised One, which produces vision, produces knowledge,

[Dhammacakkappavattanasuttam (ancient-buddhist-texts.net)]

These lay followers, including the Brahma Sahampati, and the brahman Dona refute the attavadis who reject His anattavada—A House on Fire: Chapter 4 (Stephen L. Klick)

Bhikkhuni Origin

“Most Exalted Buddha... I humbly pray for favour of granting your permission for the womenfolk to receive ordination as bhikkhunīs within the frame-work of Dhamma-Vinaya sāsana.” —Venerable Ananda [The Great Chronicle of Buddhas: Part 2 - Ordination of Women (becoming a bhikkhunī) (Ven. Mingun Sayadaw)]

• Women joining the Buddhist Sangha came only later.
• Women also roamed the region as seekers or ascetics. Some joined the bhikkhuni order.
• The Story of Theri Kundalakesi is an example.
• She is recognised in Tamil literature. My Views: Kundalakesi-Tamil Epic [jaishreesblog.blogspot.com], Lesson - 5 : A01115 KUNDALAKESI AND VALAYAAPATHI [tamilvu.org/courses/degree].

[Lotus Chapter 8:] There will be no evil paths and no women [Part 24]

• Being a woman is not evil, as man and woman are mere designations for the groups of the five aggregates.
• The mind that clings to evil (akusala) is our problem.
• Our solution is to abandon wrong-view.

THE DHAMMA-VINAYA SĀSANA

[Mahaparinibbana Sutta] 'To some of you, Ānanda, it may occur thus: 'The words of the Teacher have ended, there is no longer a Teacher'. But this, Ānanda, should not, be so considered. That, Ānanda, which I have taught and made known to you as the Dhamma and the Vinaya, will be your Teacher after my passing away.

• The Venerable Ananda Mahathera played a leading role in establishing the Sangha Sasana (Theravada/Vibhajjavada) that is tasked with keeping the Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana.
• The Dhamma as Tipitakas was first compiled by the Venerable Ananda. The Buddha let him hear every discourse, and he memorised every word of the Buddha. In the First Buddhist Council, he recited the Dhamma from his memory. With the approval of the other arahants, the council reaffirmed the Tipitaka.
• The same tradition was practiced in the next five Buddhist Councils.

The Dhamma and the Sangha were established together in Isipatana deer sanctuary.

Five brahman sages became Pancavaggiya. They were some of the highest-level intellects in the Sakyan society at the time. They chose ascetism with intent to support Prince Siddhatta and hear his teachings. When the prince was still a toddler, four of these sages saw him as a future Cakkavatti. However, brahman Kondanna was convinced that the prince would definitely become a Sammasambuddha. Brahman Kondanna asked others to follow him and wait for the prince in the jungle. As they waited for years, their wish was only fulfilled in Isipatana. He became Venerable Kondanna Mahathera the first arahant after hearing Buddha Dhamma.

Those brahmans, including Dona and his wife, were experts in reading the marks of a great person. They got the knowledge from the Maha Brahma. The brahmas and devas knew when and where the bodhisatta would attain Sammasambodhi. Thus, they announced the news (kolahala) among the humans.

• Kolahala: 1) Kappa-kolāhala - warning about the end of the world, 2) Cakkavatti-kolāhala - the appearance of a Cakkavatti, 3) Buddha-kolāhala - the appearance of a Sammasambuddha, 4) Maṅgala-kolāhala - the appearance of Mangala (Sutta), 5) Moneyya-kolāhala - the appearance of moneyya asceticism. [The Great Chronicle of Buddhas: Part 1 - Five Kolāhalas (Ven. Mingun Sayadaw)

Rule of law

The Sakyamuni Buddha explains that there is the king above a wheel-turning monarch, and it is the Dhamma (the laws). A universal monarch does not rule by the sword like an absolute monarch but by the principle of 'no one is above the law' as a lokanatha [AN 3.14: Wheel-Turning (Bhikkhu Bodhi)]

• Cakkavatti: a Wheel-turning Monarch is a lokanatha, a guardian of the world, who turns the flying wheel that can carry all his military might.
• A Sammasambuddha is a lokanatha who turns the Dhamma Wheel (Dhammacakka) that carries the Ariyas to the other shore.
• The Dhamma is the guardian of the world.
• The Dhamma can show the other shore to the worldlings with the eyes to see.

The Greatest Mangala (Blessing)

The Arahats who are under attack by Lokadham are not petrified in mind, but as they have been clear of all the defilements and are not afraid of the dangers and disasters, they accept the onslaught with great equanimity. That is the best or noblest of the mangalas (blessings). ('putrified' in the original translation into English.)       Of course, all mangalas are the best, as they are all blessings. But this particular mangala is of the highest order because this is the one fully possessed by Arahats. [Lokadhamma (Mahasi Sayadaw)]

• Blessing: a beneficial thing for which one is grateful [Oxford Dictionary]
• The arahants are unshakable, as they have completely abandoned kilesa (klesha) or the causes of dukkha (pain and fear of pain).

How attavadis get rid of klesha

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra instructs us to purify our heart of the kleshas (mental and moral negativities) and to “enter this Self” of the [Māyāvādi] Buddha – the Buddha-dhatu [...] you enter the world of pure mind, of soul only. [The Nirvana Sutra Zen Master, Sokei-an]  

• another way: Part 24: 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)]

• Māyāvādi Buddhas take care of the kleshas.

Dhamma-Vinaya for the Vibhajjavadi Sangha to get rid of kilesa

Dhamma-Vinaya was the Buddha’s own name for the religion he founded.
Dhamma—the truth—is what he discovered and pointed out as advice for all who want to gain release from suffering.
Vinaya—discipline—is what he formulated as rules, ideals, and standards of behavior for those of his followers who go forth from home life to take up the quest for release in greater earnestness... Dhamma and Vinaya function together. In theory they may be separate, but in the person who practices them they merge as qualities developed in the mind and character. [Dhamma-Vinaya Thanissaro Bhikkhu]

cakka : [nt.] a wheel; circle; disc; cycle; command.

• The Dhamma is the words of a Sammasambuddha.
• The first sermon is Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dhamma.
• When the Wheel of Dhamma begins to spin, a Sammasambuddha introduces the Four Noble Truths to the world as the foundations of the future teachings.
• The Vinaya are the 227 rules of pātimokkha that support getting rid of kilesa.
• The Sangha is not an elite group but a community of dedicated individuals who live the Buddhist monastic life with the sole purpose: to swim to the other shore. Lay supporters get a chance for doing good merit whenever they get the chance to see a real Sangha member.
• Whoever joining the Sangha must understand that point.

The Sammasambuddha's Intentions for His Sasana

Verse 197: Indeed we live very happily, not hating anyone among those who hate; among men who hate we live without hating anyone.

Verse 198: Indeed we live very happily, in good health among the ailing; among men who are ailing we live in good health.

Verse 199: Indeed we live very happily, not striving (for sensual pleasures) among these who strive (for them); among those who strive (for them) we live without striving.
[Chapter XV: Happiness (Sukhavagga): Verse 197 to 199: XV (1) The Story of the Pacification of the Relatives of the Buddha (Daw Mya Tin)]

The Dhamma-Vinaya is Anattavada and Anatta Sasana. After hearing the Anattalakhana Sutta, the Pancavaggi became arahants. That was the establishment of the Sangha by the Sakyamuni Buddha.

Everyone who has certain qualities can become arahant by listening to the Sakyamuni Buddha's words or by training according to samatha-vipassana. Such attainment is impossible without these qualities. Some cannot even understand the Sakyamuni Buddha's words. One can be either samatha-yanika or vipassana-yanika. Nibbāna (relief from pain and fear of pain) is the same for everyone.

Aññāta-Kondañña (Aññā-Kondañña) Thera was the first to become an arahant. Understanding anatta is Arahattamagga (the path) that leads to Arahattaphala (the fruition), which comes with the analytical knowledge (patisambhida-magga-nana)—for example,

Because [Venerable Maha Kassapa Thera] 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). [(4) MAHA KASSAPA MAHATHERA (a) Aspiration expressed in the past (Mingun Sayadaw)]

Ascetic Dhamma (the 13 dhutanga) supports the attainment of arahantship. The Venerable Nagasena Mahathera explains:

even so, O king, it is he, the Noble Disciple who, in former births, has undertaken and practiced, followed and carried out, observed, framed his conduct according to, and fulfilled, these thirteen ascetical means of purification (Dhutanga), realizes all the Path and Fruition (of Deliverance) and all subtle and blissful ‘Attainments of Absorption’ (samapatti) become closely affiliated to, and associated with, such a Noble Disciple. [MILINDAPANHA: dhutarigapanha, 280]

• All arahants practiced the means of purification.

Buddha Sasana as 'Anatta Sasana' is probably only known among Burmese Buddhists. However, Anatta Sasana distinguishes the Buddha's Dhamma from attavadi religions and beliefs.

For the sake of beings, [Māyāvādi Tathagata] says "there is the Self in all things" [The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Kosho Yamamoto, page 32)

Anattavada recognises all the five aggregates are ownerless. The four realities (paramattha) cannot be owned. Reality cannot be governed. That is why attavada is not in line with reality. Attavada is nothing more than a wish to wield power over the changes, aging, pain and death, and thus are eternalist, too.

Although we want to be forever young, healthy, rich and live with loved ones, we know we cannot stop nature. Atta (self/soul) is one's desire, which goes against reality. One resists to accept reality. One rejects change because one sees the body and mind as holistic or self rather than pain (dukkha).

Our eyes can see beauty and ugliness in the photos of dead people because the mind is attracted to mental and physical objects, and its habit is to opine or judge (mano sankhara). Perceiving (opining and judging) leads to clinging to a wrong view (ditthupadana) and clinging to self-view (atta-vādupādāna or attupadana). Atta-vādupādāna means not perceiving anicca (change/death) and dukkha (pain and fear of pain) but perceiving things as if they have essence (unchanging nature): I, you, she, he, it, etc.

Anatta concerns lifeform. Nature has no essence, nor self-nature, nor buddha-svabhāva. Anything that resembles self (owner or being) is a mere imagination based on avijja (overlooking the five aggregates and the element particles). Life exists. Lifeforms or species exist. Individuals exist. However, they are only superficial designations and the collective terms for the five aggregates.

The Yamaka Sutta

Yamaka Thera believed a being (not as atta) exists and is extinct upon entering Nibbana. That belief falls into attavada. However one tries to avoid attavada, one's belief can fall into attavada. Wrong-view (micchāditthi). That problem was dealt by some bhikkhus and the Venerable Sariputta Mahathera. The key point is—as not a being is found right now, a being could not be annihilated in Nibbana. A being (self) is seen by untrained eyes. The five aggregates are seen by the trained eyes.

“Well, in just the same manner, friend Yamaka, the putujjana or the undisciplined, ignorant person, is both too dense to see and recognize the Noble Ones, as well as untrained and undisciplined in their Dhamma, for he is someone who, due to his untamed and crude personality, is unable to recognize the Superior Person even if he were to see them up close, nor is he skilled and educated in their Teachings.

“And why is that?

1. “It is because he continues to regard form as inherent to being or having a ‘self,’ or identifies a ‘self’ to be possessing some kind of substantial form, or form to be inseparable from a ‘self,’ or that there is a substantial ‘self’ in form. [Yamaka Sutta (Candana Bhikkhu)]

• form (rūpa), feelings (vedanā), memories (saññā), habitual drives (saṅkhārā), and sense awareness or consciousness (viññāna) should be understood as anicca, dukkha, anatta.
• As the anicca (change/death) is unstoppable, the five aggregates are not me, not mine, not a being but dukkha. The five aggregates having anicca and dukkha are anatta.
• Even some learned Buddhists tend to get the wrong sense of atta/anatta.
• This Yamaka Thera is an example.

The self in life forms, humans and all other things are mere theories.

Self/atta has the sense of eternalist view (sassataditthi) – see Sammaditthi Dipani. The Manual of Right Views (Mahathera Ledi Sayadaw). Belief in a being as the Self or of the Self is a wrong-view (miccaditthi) in the Anatta Sasana. The observable fact is nature is changing (anicca), aging (jara), dying (marana) and suffering (dukkha).

Dukkha is pain and fear of pain. As we are suffering from a form of pain, we cannot be completely brave. Having courage, we can deal with the enemies. Without knowing the true enemies, our courage is in vain.

The Sakyamuni Buddha shows us avijjā (pamada) and the five aggregates and gives us the right strategy to escape from them.

After the enemies are identified, one tends not to see them as enemies but still likes them as usual.

Appamāda

Handa dāni, bhikkhave, āmantayāmi vo, vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā.
"You should accomplish all your duties without allowing mindfulness to lapse!"
"Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!" [Maha-parinibbana Sutta: How the Blessed One Passed into Nibbana (Sister Vajira & Francis Story)]

• appamādena sampādethā is the purpose of the Dhamma-Vinaya and represents the four Noble Truths. It identifies avijjā, which causes lobha and dosa to arise, dukkha to arise, and Nibbāna (relief) hidden from sight.
• Avijja means pamada (heedlessness) causing the ignorance of reality,
• Nibbāna is the goal reachable by apammada (satipatthana).
• Thus, the Sakyamuni Buddha declares:

Appamado amatapadam; pamado maccuno padam; appamatta na miyanti; ye pamatta yatha mata.
Verse 21: Mindfulness is the way to the Deathless (Nibbāna); unmindfulness is the way to Death. Those who are mindful do not die; those who are not mindful are as if already dead.
[Dhammapada Verses 21]

The Buddha's final exhortation is not different from His first sermon. As long as the Sangha remains as the keepers of the Sasana, the Wheel of Dhamma will keep carrying the Ariyas to the other shore and show those with the eyes to see it.

Paramattha: Saṅkhāra Asaṅkhata

saṅkhata : [pp. of saṅkharoti] conditioned; prepared; produced by a cause.
dhātu : [f.] an element; natural condition;
dhamma : [m.] doctrine; nature; truth; the Norm; morality; good conduct.

• Pain occurs as physical, mental or both. In the minds of the oridinary, physical pain causes mental pain. Absolute comfort (Nibbāna) exists as the absence of pain and fear of pain. In the minds of the arahants, the physical pain is avoided by the mind.
• Nibbāna is the reality free of the nāma-rūpa aggregates (the other three conditioned realities of dukkha).

Asankhata dhatu (the element which is the opposite of sankhata nama and rūpa);

• Paramatthas are these four ultimate realities.

1. Often nāma is translated as 'name' because everything has a name as if it represents everything. One may forget a name but not the mind, as it occurs naturally.
2. Nāma only represents citta and cetāsika (vedanā, sañña, saṅkhāra and viññāṇa).
3. Vedanā (feeling) is nāma. Sañña (perception/memory) is nāma; so is saṅkhāra, and so is viññāṇa.
4. Nāma/mental and rūpa/physical are interdependent and function as a holistic whole.
5. Rūpa is the four mahabhuta: solid, liquid, gas and heat that are common in lifeform and non-lifeform, visible and invisible objects. E.g. a rock has solid, liquid, gas and heat—so do a dog, a fish and a plant.

[Paramattha means the ultimate matter, which is] the real essence, being constant, steadfast and unchangeable [Abhidhamma in Daily Life: Chapter One: Paramattha (Ashin Janakabhivamsa Mahathera)]:

• Each ultimate is a type of element particles that cannot be made from the others.
• Solidity cannot be made from liquid, gas or heat. These three can become solid for a short time because solidity is a reality.
• Solid (particles or an object) is heated when heat is added to it. However, solid remains as solid and heat as heat. When mixed with water, neither solid nor liquid is changed.
• Strong wind can make solid into dust in the air and liquid into vapour in the air. When wind is mixed with heat, they can make thunder and lightning.
• Rūpa cannot be made from citta or cetasika.
• Citta/Consciousness (mind) cannot be constructed with rūpa.
• Citta occurs at a sense door when there is contact between citta and a sense object (rūpa and cetāsika). (See above: Paticcasamuppada and its end)

Life

All nonliving things are rūpa (physical) and constructs (saṅkhāra) with no minds.

Plants are lifeforms without minds (citta and cetāsika), even though they act like being conscious or intelligent.

All the biological living cells are made of rūpa and rupa jivita (vitality of matter), including their systems, functions and behaviours.

Plants can react to the seasons, chemicals in the air and water, wounds and diseases. They can reproduce, start from seed and protect themselves by many means, including symbiosis and other relationships. Yet all the plants are rūpa.

Jivitindriya

Just as cittas (consciousness) have vital force citta jivita (a cetasika called Jivtindriya), so also rūpa has material jivita (vital force). This vital force is not found in the rupa forms caused by citta*, climate and nutrition, because it is the rupa caused by kamma only. All living beings continue to survive because of* Nama jivata (vitality of consciousness) and rupa jivita (vitality of matter). These two are the prime factors of survival. Without these, a being dies. Jivita keeps the body living and fresh. The absence of jivita in the rupa of a corpse makes it rot and decay. Juvita rupa is distributed evenly all over the body. [Janakabhivamsa (page 160)]

• the rupa forms caused by citta are cittajarupa and nimitta (explained below).
• Life comes from life, not from the primordial soup. It does not occur outside living things.
• How life on Earth began was presented in Part 5: The Effect of Anusaya Kilesās.

Living Being

• The three saṅkhata dhatu-s as lifeform are known as the aggregates of clinging: Nāma (mental aggregates) and Rūpa (physical aggregates).

A living thing being made of both nāma and rūpa is capable of volition (kamma) and rebirth. Some brahmas do not have rūpa or nāma; however, they have the potential due to anusaya-kilesa (Part 8 and Part 9) (ten kilesa: Part 4), and they have both when they pass away and are reborn into other species. [Part 6: saṅkhāra.] Causality is the ruler of the conditioned element/nature.

Body Only Brahma

As human beings they discover the faults of citta (mind) and sañña (memory). They see that all forms of greed arises because of citta, they also see that life would be so peaceful had there been no citta. While concentrating on the fault of consciousness, "Citta is loathsome. Citta is loathsome", they develop a kammatthana called sannaviraga bhāvanā - disgust for sañña. [Janakabhivamsa (page 179)]

• Avijja causes them to lose consciousness. They miss the opportunity to hear the Buddha Dhamma.

Mind Only Brahma

If one strives for a happy and long existence by means of the rūpa jhāna and arūpa jhāna by practising tranquillity meditation, one may attain the rūpa brahmā and arūpa brahmā realms where one may live happily for many world-cycles. However, a time comes when the merits of jhāna are exhausted. Then one faces the possibility of descending once again into miserable lower existences, as for instance, the experience of the young sow mentioned in the chapter on the origin of suffering. [A Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma (Mahāsi Sayādaw)]

• Avijja causes them to lose all sense organs. They, too, miss the opportunity to attain Nibbāna.
• After spending the credit of good kamma, they have to face the effect of bad kamma.

One gets to do good deeds only in a favourable existence with favourable conditions.

• The Story of Puṇṇā the Slave Girl
• Another slave girl Punnā: Anathapindika promised to free her from slavery if she could stop the Buddha from leaving. She followed the Buddha and explained that a slave like her did not have freedom to follow the Buddha...; however, if the Buddha go back to Savatthi, she would escape from slavery and follow her ambitions. After hearing her request,

the Buddha blessed her and returned to Jetavana monastery. The news spread and the merchant set Punna free and adopted her as his daughter. [A Discourse on Paticcasamuppada (Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw)]

• That story highlights the Buddha's approach to society and culture. He was not a reformist, nor interested in politics ever since He left His kingdom. His only purpose for Dhamma-Vinaya is to show the escape from the samsara.

A living thing is governed by the law of kamma according to his/her volitions (kamma/saṅkhāra):

“There are these three sankhara – kaya sankhara (body volition), vaci sankhara (speech volition), citta sankhara (mind volition).” [Conditioned Arising of Suffering (~Ven. Dhammavuddho Mahathera~)]

Paticcasamuppada (the law/cycle of life) as explained by the Venerable Nagasena Mahathera:

Then the Elder drew a circle on the ground and asked the king: “Is there any end to this circle?” [Milindapanha: purimakotipanha]

• Other than avijjā, the first point of the cycle is invisible, as it cannot be found.
• Avijjā-paccaya saṅkhāra (Part 6)

Samsara (Rebirth Cycle)

• Paticcasamuppada is samsara.

The world of beings is not to be mistaken as samsara. The continuous coming into existence of (citta) and (cetasika) mind and mental factors together with (rupa) matter in succession is called samsara in the ultimate sense [sam = in succession; sara = appearing.] [Janakabhivamsa (page 160)]

• The world of beings is the Satta loka, which coexists with Okāsa loka and Saṅkhāra loka; see (Part 5 and Part 9: anusaya.
• Satta loka has rebirth cycle (samsara) concerning citta and cetasika.
• Okāsa loka has natural cycles (samsara) of rūpa.
• Saṅkhāra loka has the birth, decay and death of the rūpa element particles.

“Without, cognizable beginning is this Samsāra. The earliest point of beings who, obstructed by ignorance and fettered by craving, wander and fare on, is not to be perceived.” —The Buddha [The Buddha and His Teachings: Chapter22 What is the Origin of Life? (Narada Thera)]

Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda—Part 38

Paticcasamuppada (Unified law of Being) and its end

The Blessed One said: "And what is the origination of the world?
Dependent on the eye & forms there arises eye-consciousness.
The meeting of the three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. This is the origination of the world [...]
Dependent on the ear & sounds there arises ear-consciousness [...]
Dependent on the nose & aromas there arises nose-consciousness [...]
Dependent on the tongue & flavors there arises tongue-consciousness [...]
Dependent on the body & tactile sensations there arises body-consciousness [...]
Dependent on the intellect & mental qualities there arises intellect-consciousness [...]
From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. Now, from the remainderless cessation & fading away of that very craving comes the cessation of clinging/sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth.
[Loka Sutta: The World (accesstoinsight.org) (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)]

• Loka is the world comprising the six senses. This fact is also mentioned in Sabba Sutta (discussed in Part 3 and Part 20).
• Mind is a sense door or the receptive organ for the mental objects, including thought, idea, imagination, etc. that do not exist as physical objects.

Rise and Fall

Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta presents the existence comprising two natural phenomena:

• Asaṅkhata dhamma/dhatu is Nibbāna completely free/absent of saṅkhata/dukkha dhamma.
• Saṅkhata/dukkha dhamma/dhatu is the phenomena of nāma and rūpa, as the rise of dukkha and the fall of dukkha.

Bodily and mental painful feeling are called intrinsic suffering because of their individual essence, their name and painfulness. Bodily and mental pleasant feeling are called suffering in change because they are a cause for the arising of pain when they change. Feeling of equanimity and the remaining formations of the three planes are called suffering due to formation because, they are oppressed by rise and fall. [Essentials of Buddhism (Ven. Pategama Gnanarama Ph.D, page 31)]

• The problem is dukkha rises again after every fall:

Rebirth consciousness is invariably coupled with feeling (vedana), perception (sanna), contact (phassa), volition (cetana), mental advertance (manasikara) and other elements of mind relating to the objects of death bed visions of a person. [A Discourse on Paticcasamuppada: Vinnana And Nama-rūpa [Chapter 1] (Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw)]

Existence comprises the birth/rise and death/fall of dukkha (not a being). The five aggregate, which are referred as a being, do not suffer from the lack of rise and fall. Other than these five aggregates, a living thing does not exist. What does not exist does not experience rise and fall; and thus, does not suffer. One who believes a being exists (sakkayaditthi) does not end dukkha.

[Mittā Kālā:] “Contemplating as they really are The rise and fall of aggregates
I rose up with mind free (of taints)
Completed is the Buddha-word.
[The Buddhist Path to Enlightenment (study):
2.1. Right Understanding (Dr Kala Acharya)]

The Sakyamauni Buddha sums up the three saṅkhata dhatus (the five aggregates) are in the rise-fall process.

This nature of awareness of objects is called mind or consciousness. Here awareness does not mean comprehension by knowledge or wisdom. It means ability to take in objects through sense organs [eyes, ears, etc]. [Ashin Janakabhivamsa]

• Citta and cetāsika exist as the paticcamuppada process.
• Saṅkhāra is a construct/formation (Part 5).
• Saṅkhāra as kamma is volition caused by avijja (ignorance): Avijja-paccaya sankhara; sankhara-paccaya vinnanam [...]
• Avijja-paccaya sankhara is back to Avijja-paccaya sankhara to complete the paticcamuppada cycle.
• Saṅkhāra (wrong-thought) is repeated due to avijjā.
• Avijja-paccaya sankhara: Avijjā is the reason for Saṅkhāra (wrong-view, wrong-thought, wrong-idea, wrong-belief, wrong-conviction) that leads to wrong-action (akusala-kamma) that results in wrong consequence (wrong-experience).
• The law of saṅkhata: sabbe sankhara anicca, sabbe sankhara dukkha, sabbe sankhara anatta.

[Anatta-Lakkhana Sutta] "Bhikkhus, sankhara (kamma-activities) are not [atta]. If kamma-activities be [atta], then these kamma-activities would not be subject to disease, and one should be able to say, 'Let my saṅkhara be thus, let my sankhara be not thus' [the Editors of "The Light of the Dhamma" 1960].

• Atta represents how one perceives (with sakkayaditthi) the five aggregates as oneself, I am, my body, my mind, my leg, my cat, my car, my home, my wife, etc.
• Atta represents the sense of ownership over the five aggregates.
• Atta is translated as self (with the sense of ownership).

6.2. What is self?

A person's self is the essential part of their nature which makes them different from everyone and everything else. [Collins]

• How much of a person is self (the essential) and how much is not?
• Self (sakkayaditthi) is in the rise-fall process.
• The sense of self is absent during asleep...
• The sense of self comes to exist as opinion (saṅkhāra) on the five aggregates.

Self is not a “thing” like other things we encounter in the world, therefore the use of the definitive article “the” is inappropriate to refer to it; what is referred to, in fact, is a dynamic human process, the nature of which is very hard to conceptualize. Self is not a natural entity, no one is born with a self, a sense of self needs to develop, and whatever that self is, it varies in different contexts, also in the different contexts that are the different phases of the individual life. How could any psychologist have access to that self? [...] the human being, by using the personal pronoun “I,” is able to locate himself as distinct from the world of objects and even from himself [...] the self not only a product of the past but also an interpretation of the past. [Religion and Self: Notions from a Cultural Psychological Perspective (Jacob A. Belzen)]

• The concept of self (sakkayaditthi) is discrimination (I am vs you are), identification (I, you, me, she, it, they, we, woman, man, cat, dog, etc.), dangerous and avijjā (the driver of paticcasamuppada).
• When one serves the self, one serves oneself, actually.
• For self, one would do anything.

It is by one’s own self that evil is done. It is one’s own actions that defiles a person. If a person does not commit evil action, one is purified. A person is cleansed entirely by one’s own self. One cannot purify another. Purity and impurity both depend on one’s own self. [Treasury of Truth (Dhammapada) Chapter 12, Self (buddhanet.net)]

• Could all of us avoid self-serving and become anattavadis?

Verse 129: All are afraid of the stick, all fear death. Putting oneself in another's place, one should not beat or kill others. [The Dhammapada: Verses 129]

• Sila, samadhi, panna: the Sakyamuni Buddha advises us to see the five aggregates and to stop identifying individually.
• However, He does not mean to disregard the realties, the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, the teacher, the parents, etc.
• His advice is to tame the mind, to see realities and to focus on them.
• Focusing on realities is the Magga Sacca.

The Rise and Fall of element particles

An element is the simplest form of a substance. Generally, it cannot be simplified or broken down further into smaller particles. [Difference between Elements and Atoms in Tabular Form (BYJU'S)]

Solid, liquid, gas and heat exist as element particles (rūpa-calāpa) that rise and fall and rise again and fall again. Thus, in a blink, the amount of rūpa-calāpa that can occur is fifty-thousand millions: 5,000*10,000,000=50,000,000,000. They live shorter than the shortest flash of light.

Drop Tower Sonoluminescence [is probably the shortest] flash of light that is a microsecond long [Sound Into Light | UCLA Putterman Research Group]

Rūpa-calāpa (RC) is compared with Drop Tower Sonoluminescence (DTS)

• = 1 DTS per 1 μs
• = 50000000000/160 μs (say a blink = 160 μs)
• = 312500000/1 μs (312500000 RC a per 1 μs)
• = Thus, when 1 DTS appears, 312500000 RC have appeared.

The Rise and Fall of Consciousness

Because people have no practical knowledge in vipassana meditation, they are generally not in a position to know the real state of the mind. This naturally leads them to the wrong view of holding mind to be "person," "self," "living entity."[...] They hold that there exists a living entity or self which grows up from childhood to adulthood. In reality [...] there does exist a continuous process of elements of mind which occur singly, one at a time, in succession. The practice of contemplation is therefore being carried out with the aim of discovering the true nature of this mind-body complex. [Satipatthana Vipassana (Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw)]

• elements of mind or the citta element particle (of each group of aggregates known as a being) occurs once a time. That citta element particle occurs only at the very present moment, not in the past or the future.
• The present moment is the same to all of us (as countless groups of the five aggregates). Only this present moment is real to everyone and everything.
• Now is the very present moment, and logically it is shorter than one mind moment (the lifespan of a citta element particle).
• In a blink (a snap of fingers) or 160 μs:

*More than one lakh crore [100,000*10,000,000=1,000,000,000,000] of [citta element particles] can appear and vanish within one snap of fingers. [Ashin Janakabhivamsa]

• = 100000000000/160 μs (1 trillion per a blink)
• = 625,000,000/1 μs (625 million per 1 μs) of citta element particles

"Mind can travel afar, it wanders alone. It has no material form and it generally originates in the cardiac cavity (hadaya)," according to the Dhammapada Pali. It will be explained in detail as expounded therein. [Ashin Janakabhivamsa]

• Mind being in the cardiac cavity is a point of debate.

Durangamam ekacaram — The mind wanders far and moves about alone: it is non-material; [Dhammapada: Verse 37]

• Mahasi Sayadaw does not interpret guhasayam as the heart chamber.
• guhasayam can be the rib chamber (the thoracic cavity) rather than hadayavatthu.

hadayavatthu : [nt.] the substance of the heart.

• Hadaya Vatthu is not cannonical, as Shwe Zan Aung pointed out:

'heart as physical base' of mental life. The heart, according to the commentaries as well as to the general Buddhist tradition, forms the physical base (vatthu) of consciousness. In the canonical texts, however, even in the Abhidhamma Pitaka, no such base is ever localized, a fact which seems to have first been discovered by Shwe Zan Aung (Compendium of Philosophy, pp. 277ff.). In the Patth. we find repeatedly only the passage: "That material thing based on which mind-element and mind-consciousness element function" (yam  rūpam nissāya manodhātu ca manoviññānadhātu ca vattanti, tam rūpam) [Hadaya Vatthu / Hadaya-vatthu]

• When the heart is replaced, the mind remains in the same location without the original heart because the mind will always exist with a living body.
• Mind is local, not located centrally. It exists at the focus point or sense. Thus, the Sakyamuni Buddha points out the sense-doors as where consciousness occurs (see above: Paticcasamuppada and its end).

Mind dwelling inside the heart originates in Mahayana and the Vedas

heart-basis. The heart is considered as the physical support of all citta-s other than the two sets of fivefold sense consciousness which take their respective sensitivities as their bases. The hṛdaya-vastu is described as the seat of thought and feeling -- the basis of mind. It is the seat of the divine intuition and of the Buddha-nature [Hadaya Vathu: Heart Base for Consciousness]

• Buddha-nature to the Divine Creator (Ishvara):

Beyond the heart chakra is the spiritual heart (Hridaya), the core level of our being, the inner center of who we are in eternity, The Hridaya is the ultimate origin for the mind, speech and prana behind our every birth. and the seat of our reincarnating being (Jivatman) that links us to the Divine Creator (Ishvara) and the Supreme Self (Paramatman). Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi explains this clear in his profound teachings on Non-duality and Self-realization.

The Hridaya contains a deeper level of thinking and knowing than the mind, rooted in direct perception and unmediated experience, connected to wisdom that arises from the silent mind. In this regard, the Hridaya has an inner power of seeing (Drishti), hearing (Shruti) and realizing.

The spiritual heart holds and rules over all the chakras of the subtle body and is the root power behind the causal body as well. In the causal body, we hold our karmic patterns that hold us in the outer world of Maya [Understanding the Heart with a Vedic Vision (Vamadeva Shastri)]

• Non-duality and Self-realization are the concepts shared by Mahayana.
• our reincarnating being and the causal body are the “store consciousness” (ālayavijñāna)
• Maya is the common belief shared among the Vedas religions, including Mahayana.

Ālayavijñāna fills infinite space and exists in all three times (the past, present, and future); thus, it is unborn. Part 22:

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)'

• without birth or the Un-born is the original Māyāvādi Tathagata, according to Lankavatara.
• That is the Māyāvādi concept of citta, and it has nothing in common with the Buddha Dhamma.

Astral Travel

• A goal of the Māyāvādi meditation practices is astral travel by freeing the mind (buddha-nature) from the body or māyā.
• A Mahayanist bodhisattva is mere māyā and does not become a Buddha because buddha-nature does.

[Lanka Chapter 12:] their own Buddha-nature revealed as [Māyāvādi] Tathagata

This is not an attempt to explain OBE:

OBE (out of body experience) or NDE (near death experience) is a strange enigmatic occurrence. Some people during cardiac arrest came out of his/her body and floated in the air and able to see the objects below clearly. Some were able to travel far distances and see the landscape. They returned into their bodies safely and told their experiences when they woke up. If they did not return, they would pass away.

Some said they found themselves inside a tunnel with bright light at the other end, which was the only opening they noticed. They did not know how they got into the tunnel and what behind them, as they only noticed the end of tunnel in front of them.

(30) Many OBEs and NDEs involve rising through a tunnel toward a bright light. What has been reported to be on the sides of the tunnel? Are they blank? Solid? Windows into other worlds? - Quora

Astral travel is a type of OBE. This is mentioned in Lankavatara as the ability of the bodhisattvas to travel to the buddha-lands of Mahesvāra (Citta-gocara).

Theravadi perspective on Astral Travel

The mind does not move physically away like a man walking. But as it can take in an object at a distance far away from where you are, it seems as if it has gone there [Ashin Janakabhivamsa (page 160)]

• The mind travels far away without leaving the body. However, it needs the five sense organs because one cannot see without the eyes, hear without the ears, smell without the nose... Also, one must be conscious for activity.

The Five Pasada Rupa (Sensitive Parts of the Five Organs)
1/ Cakkhupadasa (Sensitive Part of Eye)
2/ Sotapasada (Sensitive Part of Ear)
3/ Ghanapasada (Sensitive Part of Nose)
4/ Jivhapasada (Sensitive Part of Tongue)
5/ Kayapasada (Organ of Touch)
[Janakabhivamsa (page 155)]

• The mind is formless, obscure and paranormal. Its supernatural abilities are telepathy, distant viewing, etc.
• How do two minds meet and see each other during OBE or NDE? The question is rhetoric, not critical.

Dibba Cakkhu is the extraordinary or divine vision to see the far away locations. This ability is obtained by the ascetics with higher jhana and by some arahants.

• Maybe a mind sees the mind-created bodies (cittajarupa or nimitta).

Nimitta is about natural and artificial sign, image, appearance, form, vision, and similar terms.

Animitta means no-sign or signless.

'Sign of (previous) kamma' (kamma-nimitta) and 'sign of (the future) destiny' (gati-nimitta); these arise as mental objects of the last karmic consciousness before death (maranāsanna-kamma; s. karma, III, 3). [Pāli Dictionary]

• Gati-nimitta (afterlife sign/vision) is NDE or remote viewing (RV).
• A dying person can see afterlife. If afterlife is in a womb, he will see red colour of blood, etc. Seeing the flames is a sign of hell.

'sabbanimittānaṃ amanasikārā'，it refers to the 6 sense-objects; [Pāli Dictionary]

• sabbanimittā: Sabba Sutta explains all things in existence fit into the six senses.

Yasmiṃ ānanda, samaye tathāgato sabbanimittānaṃ amanasikārā ekaccānaṃ vedanānaṃ nirodhā animittaṃ cetosamādhiṃ upasampajja viharati, phāsutaro ānanda, tasmiṃ samaye tathāgatassa kāyo hoti.

Ānanda whenever the Tathāgata is gathered together - not attending to any outward forms, feelings cease; he enters into and abides in a collected repose of mind, thus gathered together, Ānanda, the body of the Tathāgata is comfortable.” [The Buddha on pain management (ancientbuddhism)]

• sabbanimittānaṃ - gathered together
• vedanānaṃ nirodhā - feelings cease
• animittaṃ cetosamādhiṃ - attending to not outward forms

In Pts．M．II，in a repetitive series of terms，nimitta appears together with uppādo （origin of existence），pavattaṃ （continuity of existence），and may then be rendered by 'condition of existence'

• uppādo : arising, origin of existence or birth:

Buddhānaṃ uppādo sukho The arising of the Buddhas is joyful. [The Story of Many Monks [Verse 194]: Explanatory Translation (Ven. Weagoda Sarada Maha Thero)]

Cittaja rūpa:

Nāma/mental and rūpa/physical are interdependent and function as a holistic whole.

Mind and emotions influence the body to produce certain effects as cittaja rūpa.

The rūpa (body) has to follow the will of the mind. Citta commands the body to sit, sleep, stand or move. When the will to move arises, cittaja rūpa pervades the entire body...When one is in happy mood, the cittaja rupas are cheerful. When in amiable conversation, one's facial expression is that of gaiety. When one is despair the rūpa becomes correspondingly downcast. When a quarrelsome conversation the facial expression portrays wrath. [Janakabhivamsa (page 162)]

• It is likely related to OBE and astral projection.
• The form created by the mind is unreal and does not change by itself.
• The notion of māyā in Māyāvāda is similar to cittaja rūpa.
• The Sakyamuni Buddha used this type of projection many a time. That way He appeared at distant locations.
• The audiences who see the Nimitta Buddha would believe they see the real Buddha, for example:

The Occasion of the Great Assembly (Mahāsamaya)

Nimitta Buddha is the Buddha's created image or projection that can communicate and interact with the audience independently. A Sammasambuddha can create many Nimitta Buddhas at different locations at the same time. Some arahants could do similarly.

Perceiving there was not another Buddha like Himself, the Buddha considered that: “These devas and Brahmās would not get a penetrative insight into the Dhamma if I were to ask a question and then provide the answer myself. Only if another Buddha raised the question and I gave the answer to it, would it be a wonderful feat and the devas and Brahmās would get a penetrative insight of the Teaching. I would have to create an image of my true likeness*.” For this purpose, the Buddha entered into the fourth rupāvacara (kiriya) jhāna which formed the foundation for development of supernatural power (abhiññā). Then arising from the jhāna, He made the resolution, through exercise of ‘Mahākiriya Ñānasampyutta Adhiṭṭhan* javana’ thought-process, that a Buddha of complete likeness of Him, in all respects [...]
At the sight of the created Buddha (known as Nimitta Buddha), the devas and Brahmās expressed their views saying [...]“Friends, that is not a great Brahmā, but, in fact, it is another Buddha coming to us. [Nimitta Buddha (Ven. Mingun Sayadaw)]

• After His sasana (religion) disappeared in human realm, all the relics of the Sakyamuni Buddha will gather into a Nimitta Buddha to expound the Dhamma for the last time to the devas and brahmas.
• In a legend, Mara Devaputta created a Nimitta Buddha to show Venerable Uppagutta (Shin Upagote, Shin Upagutta, Upagupta, Uppakut),

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE RELICS

the Buddha relics from ten thousand world system will first assemble at the Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka at Anuradhapura where Devas and Brahmas from the ten thousand world system will gather to pay their last reverence to the Gotama Relics. The event will be participated by Devas and Brahams led by Sakka, the king of all Devas, for a duration of seven days. The island of Sri Lanka will lit up with brilliance of radiance and miracles of the Buddha Relics will appear with radiance.

After the celebration, the assembled relics will then be carried to Buddha Gaya where He attained enlightenment for total destruction to mark the end of Gotama Sasana.

Whoever are fortunate enough to be reborn in the Deva world will be able to participate in the Miracle Buddha Relic’s celebration and will attain Nibbana. Those who aspire to see the Metteyya Buddha must wait through another world cycle when a new kingdom named as Ketumati appear in India. [THE DURATION OF GOTAMA SASANA (DISPENSATION) (Laws of the Nature)]

Mahayana presents Rūpanimitta concept.

Jhana does not remove sakkayaditthi

The Buddha says, 'Ukkhitta punnatejena, kamarupa gatimgata bhavaggantampi sampatta, puna gacchanti duggatim'... because of Samatha [Dhyana] or meritorious deeds one may attain Kamaloka Rupaloka and Arupaloka but he is bound to come down to Duggati again (woeful plane of existence) because of Sakkaya Ditthi [agency] which is inherent in him. [The Doctrine of Paticcasamuppada: Chapter 13 - Sakkaya Ditthi (U Than Daing)]

• Jhana (Dhyana) does not cut the tie to woeful realms, so he is bound to come down to Duggati again.

The Highest Level of Dhyana in Mahayana:

[Lanka Chapter 7:] This is the pure Dhyana of the Tathágatas. When all lesser things and ideas are transcended and forgotten, and there remains only a perfect state of imageless-ness where Tathágata and Tathata are merged into perfect Oneness, then the Buddhas will come together from all their Buddha-lands and with shining hands resting on his forehead will welcome a new Tathágata.

Nirodha-samāpatti is not jhana, although there are similarities. Kilesa present in jhana is the main difference.

Ānanda whenever the Tathāgata is gathered together - not attending to any outward forms, feelings cease; he enters into and abides in a collected repose of mind, thus gathered together, Ānanda, the body of the Tathāgata is comfortable.” [The Buddha on pain management (ancientbuddhism)]

• Araham (an arahant) is one who has destroyed the anusaya-kilesas and attained arahattaphala.
• Samatha-yanikas may also attain the saññā-vedayita-nirodha (nirodha-samāpatti).

Mahayanist sutras provide two opposing concepts of klesha:

[verse 127 of the Vijnanabhairava:] free from all tattvas or constitutive principles, of traces of Kleshas, that is sunya. [Sunyata (universal-path.org)]

• Sunya and klesha are the same:

[SECTION 4. (PDF page 93):] Defilements (kleśa) are none other than awakening (bodhi). [The Teachings of Master Wuzhu]