M A HAVANA !U:i)DHISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 



257 



unfolds itself here, there, and everywhere, responding to the 

 call of Karma. It is not an individual reality, it is not a false 

 existence, but is universal and pure. It comes from nowhere, it 

 goes to nowhere ; it does not assert itself, nor is it subject to 

 annihilation. It is for ever serene and eternal. It is the One, 

 devoid of all determinations. This Body of Dharma has no 

 boundary, no quarters, but is embodied in all bodies. Its 

 freedom or spontaneity is incomprehensible, its spiritual 

 presence in things corporeal is incomprehensible. All forms of 

 corporeality are involved therein, it is able to create all things. 

 Assuming any concrete material body as required by the nature 

 and condition of Karma, it illuminates all creations. Though 

 it is the treasure of intelligence, it is void of particularity. 

 There is no place in the universe where this Body does not prevail. 

 The universe becomes, but this Body for ever remains. It is 

 free from all opposites and contraries, yet it is working in all 

 things to lead them to Nirvana." 



This extract and the general teaching of the Sutra on this 

 subject represent Mahayana Buddhism in an early and compara- 

 tively pure form, that is to say, before the Dharmakaya had 

 been personified and in part identified with Siddhartha Buddha. 

 Suzuki's own explanations of the term show this identification 

 in a great degree complete. Hence he speaks of " The Dhar- 

 makaya or the Body of the Tathagata, or the Body of Intelli- 

 gence,"* and says that it "isf not a mere philosophical abstraction, 

 standing aloof from this world of birth and death, of joy and 

 sorrow, calmly contemplating the folly of mankind : but — it is 

 a spiritual existence which is ' absolutely one, is real and true, 

 and forms the raison d'etre of all beings — is free from desires 

 and struggles, and stands outside the pale of our finite under- 

 standing.' * Elsewhere he says : " TheJ Dharmakaya, which 

 literally means body or system of being, is, according to the 

 Mahayanists, the ultimate reality that underlies all particular 

 phenomena ; it is that which makes the existence of individuals 

 possible ; it is the raison d'etre of the universe ; it is the norm 

 of being, which regulates the course of events and thoughts. . . . 

 The Dharmakaya may be compared in one sense to the God of 

 Christianity, and in another sense to the Brahman or Para- 

 mdtman of Vedantism. It is different, however, from the 

 former in that it does not stand transcendently above the 



* Op. cii., p. 231 (from the A vatamsaka- Sutra). 

 t p. 231. + pp. 45, 46. 



S 



