If anyone should think that I can be seen among forms, Or that I can be sought among sounds, Then that person is on the wrong path And he will not see the Tathagata.

As mentioned previously, tathagata or rulai (如來) in Chinese is one of the epithets of the Buddha. The true nature of the Tathagata is unshakable, and it pervades all of the dharma realm. When the Tathagata comes, he has not truly come, and though sometimes he is hidden away, when he goes he has not truly gone. Because he does not come or go, he is called Tathagata, “thus come.”

In the above, “coming” and “going” can refer to the relative distinctions between things, but how is it that the Tathagata, who has realized and attained the Dharmakaya, does not manifest it? In the Diamond Sutra it says that, “‘Tathagata’ means all phenomena as they are: The Tathagata is one who realizes the principle of “suchness”: that absolute and immovable reality which pervades as many worlds as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River and extends throughout the three thousand-fold world system. That is another way in which the Tathagata “does not come from anywhere and does not go anywhere:’

The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana states:

The intrinsic essence of suchness neither increases nor decreases in ordinary people, sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, or all Buddhas. It does not arise in the beginning nor does it cease in the end and is absolutely eternal. From the very beginning, suchness by its very nature is perfectly endowed with all meritorious qualities. Namely, its essence is endowed with the quality of the light of great wisdom; the quality of illuminating the dharma realm; the quality of real cognition; the quality of mind in its intrinsic purity; the qualities of permanence, bliss, purity, an independent self, unchangeableness, and freedom. It possesses inconceivable teachings more numerous than the grains of sand along the Ganges River, from which it is not separated, disconnected, nor made different. And as it is perfect and lacks in nothing what-soever, it is called the tathagatagarbha, and it is also called the Tathagata Dharmakaya.

The term “Tathagata” also suggests adapting the teachings to conventional truth, which are taught in order to liberate living beings through skillful means. If someone believes that the Buddha is without the notion of self, others, sentient beings, or longevity, then how can the Buddha say of himself that he had attained Buddhahood, become a Dharma king, and is free and unobstructed by all phenomena? “Tathagata” is the true self of the Dharmakaya. In his coming and going, his sitting and lying down, the Buddha was acting in accordance with worldly appearances. The Buddha realized the fruit of enlightenment but did not abide in the appearance of Buddhahood.

Once there was a temple abbot who had been reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha for more than twenty years. Since he began practicing, he had always hoped that he would see Amitabha Buddha with his own eyes so that he could confirm his practice. Finally one night he had a dream in which a bodhisattva from Amitabha Buddha’s Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss said to him, “Your devotion to Amitabha Buddha surpasses most. I have been sent by Amitabha Buddha to tell you that tomorrow he will come to visit you in person.”

After he awoke, the abbot recited the name of Amitabha Buddha with even more joyous devotion. He sat in front of the Buddha hall with the name of Amitabha Buddha always on his lips, as he patiently waited to welcome the arrival of Amitabha Buddha. The abbot waited all day, the sun slipped behind the mountains, and Amitabha Buddha never appeared. He began to doubt: Was it really possible that Amitabha Buddha did not keep his word?

That night, the bodhisattva appeared in his dream again. Just as the abbot was preparing to complain about how Amitabha Buddha did not keep his word, the bodhisattva spoke, “What is wrong with you? Amitabha Buddha came to see you three times yesterday, yet you were unwilling to receive him.”

The abbot replied, “But no one told me that Amitabha Buddha had arrived!”

The bodhisattva said, “You must be blind. Amitabha Buddha first came early in the morning as a begging woman. He had just reached your door when you told a servant to chase her away. Around noon Amitabha Buddha came again as a householder woman. When she reached the main shrine you didn’t look at her even once, and when she told your servant to announce her visit to you, the servant said that you never receive female guests. In the evening, Amitabha Buddha manifested as a stray dog, but as soon as the dog entered the gate the receptionist scared him off with a stick!”

The abbot replied, “I had no idea that was Amitabha Buddha.”

“Subhuti, what do you think? Can the Buddha be seen as his physical body, complete [with the thirty-two marks of excellence and eighty noble characteristics]?”

“No, World-honored One, the Buddha should not be seen as his physical body. And why is this? The Tathagata has said that his complete physical body is not the complete physical body, and that this is what is called the complete physical body.”

“Subhuti, what do you think? Can the Tathagata, complete in all forms, be seen or not?”

“No, World-honored One, the Tathagata should not be seen as complete in all forms. And why is this? The Tathagata has said that complete in all forms is not complete and that that is what is called complete in all forms.”

In the passage quoted above, the Buddha is addressing ordinary people who become fixated on physical appearance and try to understand the Buddha in terms of how he looks or sounds. The Buddha is said to possess “thirty-two marks of excellence and eighty noble characteristics” which describe his voice and appearance, but these two are simply temporary manifestations which arise from causes and conditions for the sake of liberating living beings. As the proper causes and conditions come together they appear, and when the conditions are no longer present they disappear. They are nothing more than temporary manifestations that exist at a certain time. This cannot be the Tathagata’s eternal Dharmakaya that does not come or go.

Source: Hsing Yun. Four Insights for Finding Fulfillment: A Practical Guide to the Buddha’s Diamond Sutra. Los Angeles: Buddha’s Light Publishing, 2012.