Our phenomenal world is barren of true reality which ever remains unborn, not-become, not-made, and not-compounded. If our phenomenal world and true reality were exactly the same, then just by looking at any thing a being would become a Buddha instantly! This is why the Samdhinirmocana Sutra says that “the character of the ultimate is not included in the character of the afflicted” which is all of phenomenal reality.
We might also call true reality tathata or Suchness which I sometimes translate as ‘substance’ which means “essential nature.”
To help provide a clearer picture of tathata here are some examples of how it is used in the Lankavatara Sutra.
When the external world is not grasped [as real] there is neither causation nor reality; there is the essence of suchness (tathata), which is the [spiritual] realm of the wise.
Suchness (tathata), emptiness, realm of truth (dharmadhatu), the various forms of the will-body— these I call Mind-only.
[Relative] knowledge (vijnana) takes place where there is something resembling an external world; [transcendental] knowledge (jñâna)1 belongs to the realm of Suchness. When a turning-back (paravritta) takes place, there is a state of imagelessness, which is the realm of the wise.
When relative knowledge is purified by keeping itself aloof from discrimination, and detached from imagination, there is a turning-back to the abode of suchness.
When the [Yogin] enters upon Mind-only7, he will cease discriminating an external world; establishing himself where suchness has its asylum he will pass on to Mind-only.
What is established by a proposition (samaropa) is a proposition; suchness is theessence of mind; when this is clearly perceived, the Yogin attains the knowledge of Mind-only.
In Fa-tsang’s treatise, Wu-chiao-chang (T. 45, no. 1866), he describes tathata this way.
“Tathatâ [i.e., the absolute, Vairocana] has the meaning of existence, because it is the basis of error and enlightenment. Also it means nonempty, because it is indestructible. . . .Also, tathatâ means emptiness, because it is divorced from characteristics, because it obeys conditions, and because it is opposed to impurity. . . .Also, tathatâ both exists and does not exist [i.e., is empty], because it is endowed with [both] qualities [of existence and emptiness]” (trans. F.H. Cook).
On the other hand, the relative must by definition be included in the Absolute, otherwise the Absolute would be in relation to the relative and thus not Absolute at all.
Posted by: Nitpick | December 18, 2011 at 09:45 AM