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.Through all kinds of deeds and incalculable performances, such as the practice of the four acts of loving-kindness, etc., they exercise the force of permeation created by their great compassion, and are thus able to cause sentient beings to strengthen their capacity for goodness and are able to benefit them as they see or hear about their needs.This specific coordinating cause is of two kinds.One is immediate and enables a man to obtain deliverance quickly; and the other is remote and enables a man to obtain deliverance after a long time.The immediate and remote causes are again of two kinds: the causes which strengthen a man in his practices of expedient means to help others, and those which enable him to obtain enlightenment.(b) The General Coordinating Causes The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas all desire to liberate all men, spontaneously permeating them with their spiritual influences and never forsaking them.Through the power of the wisdom which is one with Suchness, they manifest activities in response to the needs of men as they see and hear them.Because of this indiscriminately permeating cause, men are all equally able, by means of concentration (samadhi), to see the Buddhas.This permeation through the influence of the wisdom whose essence is one with Suchness is also divided into two categories according to the types of recipients.The one is yet to be united with Suchness.Ordinary men, the Hinayanists, and those Bodhisattvas who have just been initiated devote themselves to religious practices on the strength of their faith, being permeated by Suchness through their mind and consciousness.Not having obtained the indiscriminate mind, however, they are yet to be united with the essence of Suchness, and not having obtained the perfection of the discipline of free acts, they are yet to be united with the influence of Suchness.The other is the already united with Suchness: Bodhisattvas who realize Dharmakaya have obtained undiscriminating mind and are united with the essence of the Buddhas; they, having obtained free acts, are united with the influence of the wisdom of the Buddhas.They singly devote themselves with spontaneity to their religious disciplines, on the strength of Suchness within; permeating into Suchness so that Suchness will reclaim itself, they destroy ignorance.Again, the defiled principle (dharma), from the beginningless beginning, continues perpetually to permeate until it perishes by the attainment of Buddhahood.But the permeation of the pure principle has no interruption and no ending.The reason is that the principle of Suchness is always permeating; therefore, when the deluded mind ceases to be, the Dharmakaya [i.e., Suchness, original enlightenment] will be manifest and will give rise to the permeation of the influence of Suchness, and thus there will be no ending to it.II.The Essence Itself and the Attributes of Suchness, or The Meanings of Maha A.The Greatness of the Essence of Suchness The essence of Suchness knows no increase or decrease in ordinary men, the Hinayanists, the Bodhisattvas, or the Buddhas.It was not brought into existence in the beginning nor will it cease to be at the end of time; it is eternal through and through.B.The Greatness of the Attributes of Suchness From the beginning, Suchness in its nature is fully provided with all excellent qualities; namely, it is endowed with the light of great wisdom, the qualities of illuminating the entire universe, of true cognition and mind pure in its self-nature; of eternity, bliss, Self, and purity; of refreshing coolness, immutability, and freedom.It is endowed with these excellent qualities which outnumber the sands of the Ganges, which are not independent of, disjointed from, or different from the essence of Suchness, and which are suprarational attributes of Buddhahood.Since it is endowed completely with all these, and is not lacking anything, it is called the Tathagata-garbha when latent and also the Dharmakaya of the Tathagata.Question: It was explained before that the essence of Suchness is undifferentiated and devoid of all characteristics [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]