The Relationship Between Rūpakāya and Dharmakāya

The relationship between the form-body and the Dharmakaya: The form-body is produced and sustained by the Dharmakaya; the form-body cannot exist apart from the Dharmakaya. When the Dharmakaya is present, the form-body has life span, warmth, and conscious mind. When the Dharmakaya is absent, it becomes a corpse, a piece of wood. For the Dharmakaya to manifest and function, it must rely on the form-body's five aggregates to operate. Apart from the form-body's five aggregates, the Dharmakaya cannot be manifested; nor can the Dharmakaya be found apart from the form-body's five aggregates. However, the Dharmakaya can still exist independently, meaning its existence does not depend on external conditions and it can exist alone.

When the Dharmakaya exists alone, it is like when an Arhat enters the state of Nirvana without residue, having extinguished all five aggregates, including the mental faculty, leaving only the Tathagatagarbha (the Dharmakaya) to exist by itself. At this point, even the Buddha cannot find the Arhat, because without the Arhat's five aggregates, there is simply no such person as the Arhat. The Buddha also cannot locate the Arhat's Tathagatagarbha Dharmakaya, because the Dharmakaya is formless and without characteristics, making it impossible to locate. Therefore, to seek the Tathagatagarbha, one must look within the activities and functioning of the five aggregates; within the conditioned, impermanent phenomena, seek the unconditioned, permanent Dharmakaya—the Tathagatagarbha. Within the actions of body, speech, and mind, seek the Tathagatagarbha. This is the direction of Chan (Zen) practice.

The Dharmakaya is permanent. Within the six dust realms (objects of the senses), it is without perception or awareness. Yet, within phenomena beyond the six dust realms, it still possesses perception and awareness. It knows the karmic seeds and karmic conditions of sentient beings. When conditions are ripe, based on the karmic seeds of sentient beings, it manifests the five-aggregate bodies of sentient beings. For karma creating a human, it forms a human body within the embryo; for karma creating a male, it forms a male body; for karma creating a female, it forms a female body; for karma creating an incomplete form-body, it forms a body with incomplete sense faculties; for karma creating an animal, it forms an animal body; for karma creating a heavenly being, there is no intermediate state (bardo), no need for rebirth, and it directly forms a heavenly body. It does not randomly create the five-aggregate bodies or living environments of sentient beings; all are entirely in accordance with the karmic seeds of sentient beings.

The Dharmakaya possesses awareness. It perceives what the seven consciousnesses intend to do, and then it transmits the seeds of the seven consciousnesses, enabling the seven consciousnesses to operate. Simultaneously, it cooperates with the operation of the seven consciousnesses to accomplish the functions of the five aggregates. The scope of its knowledge is extremely vast. For example, when two people meet and do not recognize each other, it can transmit karmic seeds, causing one or both to perceive the karmic connection between them, feeling either affection or aversion. When the form-body of a sentient being matures in the mother's womb, it perceives this and then blows the karmic wind, causing the fetus to be born. When a sentient being's life span is about to end, it also knows; it knows when it should depart from the body of the dying person.

The Dharmakaya possesses all these and many other types of awareness. Therefore, the substance of the Dharmakaya is truly existent, yet sentient beings cannot perceive it with their eyes or ears; they can only perceive it with the eye of wisdom. Without wisdom, it is impossible to seek it or realize it. This Dharmakaya is not a thing of the mundane world; it has no characteristics of the six dust realms (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, mental objects). But it is a supramundane dharma. Since it is a dharma, it has the function and effect of a dharma; having function and effect means it is not utterly devoid of anything. It has its own mode of existence; it is not the mode of existence of the three realms. Although this is difficult to comprehend, it can only be explained this far; it is difficult to explain it any further. That which is not a thing is truly difficult for people to understand and perceive!