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THE REV. W. ST. CLAIR T1SDALL, D.D., OX 



prehended by the particularizing consciousness of all beings, we 

 call it the Negation (or Nothingness, Suntfatdy 1 But, as this 

 definition cannot be said to be exactly perspicuous, it may be 

 well to add Suzuki's explanation. " Suchness. "* he says, " the 

 ultimate principle of existence, is known by so many different 

 names, as it is viewed in so many different phases of its mani- 

 festation. Suchness is the Essence of Buddhas, as it constitutes 

 the reason of Buddhahood : it is the Dharma when it is 

 considered the norm of existence : it is the Bodhi when it is the 

 source of intelligence : Nirvana when it brings eternal peace to 

 a heart troubled with egoism and its vile passions ; Prajna 

 (wisdom) when it intelligently directs the course of nature ; the 

 Pharmakaya when it is religiously considered as the fountain- 

 head of love and wisdom ; the Bodhicitta (intelligence-heart) 

 when it is the awakener of religious consciousness ; Simyata 

 (vacuity ) when viewed as transcending all particular forms ; the 

 summum bonum (kusalam) when its ethical phase is emphasized ; 

 the Highest Truth (paramdrtha) when its epistemological feature 

 is put forward ; the Middle Path (madhyamdrga) when it is 

 considered above the onesidedness and limitation of individual 

 existence : the Essence of Being (bhutakoti) when its ontological 

 aspect is taken into account : the Tathdgata-garbha (the womb 

 of Tathagata) when it is thought of in analogy to mother earth, 

 where all the germs of life are stored, and where all precious 

 stones and metals are concealed under the coyer of filth/' All 

 this may perhaps be summed up by rendering the word 

 • Actuality " or " Nature." 



In order to show the practical agreement between this 

 doctrine of Suchness and the great fundamental principle of 

 Taoism it is not necessary to do more than to quote an 

 authoritative Chinese definition of what Tao itself is. In the 

 Tao-tehr-Jcing (cap. xxv.) we read rf 



- There was a something, undifferentiated and yet perfect, 

 before heaven and earth came into being. So still, so 

 incorporeal ! It alone abides and changes not. It pervades 

 all, but is not endangered. It may be regarded as the mother 

 of all things. I know not its name ; if I must designate it, I 

 call it Too. Striving to give it a name, I call it great ; great, I 

 call it transcending ; transcending, I call it far off ; far off, 

 I call it returning . . . Man takes his norm from earth : 

 earth from heaven : heaven from Tao ; the Tao from itself."' 



* n.itl ,'),'.< <>f M<iho,i<)n>< Buddhism, pp. 125, 126. 



t Quoted by Moore, History of Religions, vol. i, p. 50. 



