Why Can One Not See the Tathāgata by Means of the Physical Marks of a Body?

The Buddha replied: The bodily form of which the Tathāgata speaks is not bodily form; (it is merely called bodily form). Whether it is the bodily form of sentient beings or the bodily form of the Tathāgata, neither is real, neither is unborn and unceasing, neither is forever unchanging; they are merely provisionally named "bodily form." Therefore bodily form can neither represent sentient beings nor represent the Tathāgata. If one takes bodily form to be sentient beings and bodily form to be the Tathāgata, then when the bodily form perishes, the sentient being vanishes, and the Tathāgata also disappears. But the Tathāgata is eternal and unchanging, never ceasing.

The Tathāgata is also the Buddha's nature of suchness (tathatā), the true mind-essence of permanence, bliss, self, and purity. He is without marks, without the characteristics of a physical body, without bodily form. Therefore, to take bodily form as the Tathāgata is a great misunderstanding; in this way one cannot see the Tathāgata. To see the Tathāgata, one must, through bodily form, perceive the nature of suchness and see the true formless essence. The formless is real; the formed is false—provisionally named for the sake of the false appearance, provisionally called "bodily form." So how does this bodily form come to appear? It is the retributive body of the thirty-two marks and eighty minor marks, brought about by the wisdom, merit, and virtue accumulated through the Buddha's cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, manifested by the Buddha's true suchness and undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). It is an arising-and-ceasing essence that comes from nonexistence into existence; therefore it is false and illusory—it is not the Tathāgata, not the true Buddha.

Then how can one see the Tathāgata, see the true Buddha? The Buddha gave a four-line verse as the answer: All marks are false and illusory; if one sees that all marks are no-marks, then one sees the Tathāgata. The answer is the result; the process of arriving at the answer is Chan investigation and inquiry. The prerequisite is the full possession of precepts, samādhi, and wisdom, the perfection of the bodhisattva's six pāramitās, and, even more, the complete possession of the Hīnayāna's thirty-seven aids to enlightenment—because if the Hīnayāna cannot realize it, the Mahāyāna certainly cannot realize it either.

"All marks" refers to all marks whatsoever: the mark of self, the mark of a person, the mark of sentient beings, the mark of a life span, the marks of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), the marks of phenomena, the marks of objects, the marks of mind, the marks of dharmas—without exception, all are no-marks, all are false and illusory, not truly existent; they are produced and conjured forth by the vajra mind (Vajracitta); they are false appearances. If one wishes to see the Tathāgata, to see the vajra prajñā mind of true reality, one must, through Chan investigation, inquire into the essence of all these marks: what exactly are they? Why do all these marks exist? Why do they arise and cease? When the investigation is thorough and one realizes the vajra prajñā mind, one will know that all these marks are empty and without self-nature, that none of them is the mark of the essence itself—that there is no mark of substance, no mark of the essence—and that they are all functions of the vajra mind.

It is like the wind blowing and the tree swaying: the tree itself cannot move; the phenomenon of swaying is not a phenomenon of the tree itself but the force of the wind's action. Thus, when the mark of the wind's blowing appears and the wind is realized, the mark of the tree's swaying is refuted. Likewise, within all marks one can realize the vajra mind and the wondrous nature of true suchness, thereby refuting all marks and realizing that all marks are no-marks. Yet this vajra mind is itself without marks, and the wondrous nature of true suchness is also without marks. This is the profound meaning of what the Buddha said: if one sees that all marks are no-marks, then one sees the Tathāgata. If one sees all marks as all marks, that is the ordinary person with the flesh eye; if one sees that all marks are not all marks, yet are provisionally called all marks, that is the noble bodhisattva. Although all marks are provisionally named "all marks," the false appearances still exist, and their illusory functions still exist and cannot be entirely extinguished. Therefore all marks are no-marks, and not no-marks—free of the four propositions, beyond the hundred negations.