金光明最勝王經 分別三身品
你禮拜的佛，是哪一個身？
金光明會上，虛空藏菩薩問出了這個問題。佛的回答，把『佛』這件事徹底攤開：一切如來有三種身——隨眾生感應而現的化身，為菩薩說法而現的莊嚴應身，以及唯有如如與如如智的法身。前二種身，是假名有；法身，是真實有，為前二身作根本。經自說：受教化的弟子們眼中所見的應化之身，是法身的影；影後面那個本，無相、常住，猶如虛空。
而這一品把這個『本』說得極明白：若了此義，是身即是大乘，是如來性，是如來藏。依於此身，得發初心，乃至如來之心而悉顯現。凡夫到不了，經也把原因說破——三層心未滅：起事心滅，化身現；依根本心滅，應身顯；根本心滅，法身至。滅一層心，透一重身。
譬如金礦：碎之、擇精、爐中銷鍊，得清淨金，作環作釧——雖有諸用，金性不改。且入此品，看佛怎樣一層層剖開三身；金性不改，唯待銷鍊。
Which body of the Buddha do you bow to?
In the assembly of Golden Light, the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha asked this question. The Buddha’s answer laid the matter of “Buddha” fully open: every Tathāgata has three kinds of body—the emanation body that appears in response to sentient beings, the majestic responsive body that appears to teach bodhisattvas, and the dharma-body that is only suchness and the wisdom of suchness. The first two bodies exist by provisional designation; the dharma-body truly exists and serves as their basis. The sūtra itself says that the responsive and emanation bodies seen by disciples who receive transformation are images of the dharma-body. Behind those images is the basis, without characteristics and permanently abiding, like empty space.
The chapter’s most startling sentence places that “basis” directly in your hands: If one understands this meaning, this body itself is the great vehicle, the Tathāgata-nature, and the Tathāgata-womb. The dharma-body is not the Buddha’s private possession; it is the nature with which you and I are endowed. The sūtra also lays bare why ordinary beings do not reach it: three levels of mind have not ceased. When the mind that initiates activity ceases, the emanation body manifests. When the mind dependent on the root ceases, the responsive body is revealed. When the root mind ceases, the dharma-body is reached. One level of mind ceases; one dimension of body shines through.
It is like gold ore: break it, select the pure portion, smelt it in the furnace, and obtain pure gold; fashion it into rings and bracelets—although its uses are many, the nature of gold does not change. Enter this chapter. Watch the Buddha open the three bodies, layer by layer, and recognize the gold within your own ore that has never lost its nature.
唐義淨譯《金光明最勝王經》卷二〈分別三身品第三〉· 大正藏 T16n0665〔起 T16 0408b06〕。段/行首〔T16 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T16 0408b06〕爾時，虛空藏菩薩摩訶薩，在大眾中從座而起，偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌恭敬，頂禮佛足，以上微妙金寶之花寶幢幡蓋而為供養，白佛言：「世尊！云何菩薩摩訶薩於諸如來甚深祕密，如法修行？」佛言： 「善男子！諦聽！諦聽！善思念之，吾當為汝分別解說。 「善男子！一切如來有三種身。云何為三？一者、化身，二者、應身，三者、法身。如是三身具足，攝受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，若正了知，速出生死。云何菩薩了知化身？善男子！如來昔在修行地中，為一切眾生修種種法，如是修習至修行滿，修行力故，得大自在；自在力故，隨眾生意，隨眾生行，隨眾生界，悉皆了別，不待時，不過時，處相應，時相應，行相應，說法相應，現種種身，是名化身。善男子！云何菩薩了知應身？謂諸如來為諸菩薩得通達故，說於真諦，為令解了生死涅槃是一味故，為除身見眾生怖畏歡喜故，為無邊佛法而作本故，如實相應，如如、如如智本願力故，是身得現具三十二相、八十種好、項背圓光，是名應身。善男子！云何菩薩摩訶薩了知法身？為除諸煩惱等障，為具諸善法故，唯有如如、如如智，是名法身。前二種身，是假名有，此第三身，是真實有，為前二身而作根本。何以故？離法如如，離無分別智，一切諸佛無有別法，一切諸佛智慧具足，一切煩惱究竟滅盡，得清淨佛地，是故法如如、如如智攝一切佛法。 「復次，善男子！一切諸佛利益自他，至於究竟。自利益者，是法如如，利益他者，是如如智。能於自他利益之事，而得自在，成就種種無邊用故，是故分別一切佛法，有無量無邊種種差別。善男子！譬如依止妄想思惟，說種種煩惱，說種種業用，說種種果報。如是依法如如，依如如智，說種種佛法，說種種獨覺法，說種種聲聞法。依法如如，依如如智，一切佛法自在成就，是為第一不可思議。譬如畫空作莊嚴具，是難思議；如是依法如如，依如如智，成就佛法亦難思議。 「善男子！云何法如如、如如智二無分別，而得自在事業成就？善男子！譬如如來入於涅槃，願自在故，種種事業皆得成就；法如如、如如智自在事成，亦復如是。 「復次，菩薩摩訶薩入無心定，依前願力，從禪定起，作眾事業，如是二法無有分別，自在事成。善男子！譬如日月無有分別，亦如水鏡無有分別，光明亦無分別，三種和合得有影生。如是法如如、如如智亦無分別，以願自在故，眾生有感，現應化身，如日月影和合出現。 「復次，善男子！譬如無量無邊水鏡，依於光故，空影得現種種異相，空者即是無相。善男子！如是受化諸弟子等，是法身影，以願力故，於二種身現種種相，於法身地無有異相。善男子！依此二身，一切諸佛說有餘涅槃；依此法身，說無餘涅槃。何以故？一切餘法究竟盡故；依此三身，一切諸佛說無住處涅槃。為二身故，不住涅槃，離於法身，無有別佛。何故二身不住涅槃？二身假名不實，念念生滅，不定住故，數數出現，以不定故；法身不爾，是故二身不住涅槃，法身不二，是故不住涅槃，故依三身說無住涅槃。 〔T16 0409a11〕「善男子！一切凡夫為三相故，有縛有障，遠離三身，不至三身。何者為三？一者、遍計所執相，二者、依他起相，三者、成就相。如是諸相，不能解故，不能滅故，不能淨故，是故不得至於三身。如是三相，能解、能滅、能淨故，是故諸佛具足三身。善男子！諸凡夫人未能除遣此三心故，遠離三身，不能得至。何者為三？一者、起事心，二者、依根本心，三者、根本心。依諸伏道，起事心盡；依法斷道，依根本心盡；依最勝道，根本心盡。起事心滅故，得現化身；依根本心滅故，得顯應身；根本心滅故，得至法身。是故一切如來具足三身。 「善男子！一切諸佛於第一身，與諸佛同事；於第二身，與諸佛同意；於第三身，與諸佛同體。善男子！是初佛身，隨眾生意有多種故，現種種相，是故說多。第二佛身，弟子一意，故現一相，是故說一。第三佛身，過一切種相，非執相境界，是故說名不一不二。善男子！是第一身，依於應身得顯現故；是第二身，依於法身得顯現故；是法身者，是真實有，無依處故。 「善男子！如是三身，以有義故而說於常，以有義故說於無常。化身者，恒轉法輪，處處隨緣，方便相續，不斷絕故，是故說常；非是本故，具足大用不顯現故，說為無常。應身者，從無始來，相續不斷，一切諸佛不共之法能攝持故，眾生無盡，用亦無盡，是故說常；非是本故，以具足用不顯現故，說為無常。法身者，非是行法，無有異相，是根本故，猶如虛空，是故說常。善男子！離無分別智，更無勝智，離法如如，無勝境界；是法如如，是慧如如，是二種如如，如如不一不異，是故法身慧清淨故，滅清淨故，是二清淨，是故法身具足清淨。 「復次，善男子！分別三身，有四種異：有化身非應身，有應身非化身，有化身亦應身，有非化身亦非應身。何者化身非應身？謂諸如來般涅槃後，以願自在故，隨緣利益，是名化身。何者應身非化身？是地前身。何者化身亦應身？謂住有餘涅槃之身。何者非化身非應身？謂是法身。 「善男子！是法身者，二無所有所顯現故。何者名為二無所有？於此法身相及相處，二皆是無，非有非無，非一非異，非數非非數，非明非闇。如是如如智，不見相及相處，不見非有非無，不見非一非異，不見非數非非數，不見非明非闇。是故當知境界清淨，智慧清淨，不可分別，無有中間，為滅道本故，於此法身能顯如來種種事業。 「善男子！是身因緣境界處所，果依於本，難思議故，若了此義，是身即是大乘，是如來性，是如來藏。依於此身得發初心，修行地心而得顯現，不退地心亦皆得現，一生補處心、金剛之心、如來之心而悉顯現，無量無邊如來妙法，皆悉顯現。依此法身，不可思議摩訶三昧而得顯現；依此法身，得現一切大智。是故二身依於三昧，依於智慧，而得顯現。如此法身，依於自體說常、說我，依大三昧故說於樂，依於大智故說清淨，是故如來常住自在安樂清淨。依大三昧，一切禪定首楞嚴等，一切念處、大法念等，大慈大悲一切陀羅尼、一切神通、一切自在、一切法平等攝受，如是佛法，悉皆出現。依此大智，十力、四無所畏、四無礙辯、一百八十不共之法，一切希有不可思議法，悉皆顯現。譬如依如意寶珠，無量無邊種種珍寶，悉皆得現。如是依大三昧寶，依大智慧寶，能出種種無量無邊諸佛妙法。 「善男子！如是法身三昧智慧，過一切相，不著於相，不可分別，非常非斷，是名中道。雖有分別，體無分別。雖有三數而無三體，不增不減，猶如夢幻，亦無所執，亦無能執，法體如如是解脫處，過死王境，越生死闇，一切眾生不能修行、所不能至，一切諸佛菩薩之所住處。善男子！譬如有人願欲得金，處處求覓，遂得金礦，既得礦已，即便碎之，擇取精者，爐中銷鍊，得清淨金，隨意迴轉，作諸鐶釧種種嚴具，雖有諸用，金性不改。 〔T16 0410a02〕「復次，善男子！若善男子、善女人求勝解脫修行世善，得見如來及弟子眾。得親近已，白佛言：『世尊！何者為善？何者不善？何者正修，得清淨行？』諸佛如來及弟子眾，見彼問時，如是思惟：『是善男子、善女人欲求清淨，欲聽正法。』即便為說，令其開悟。彼既聞已，正念憶持，發心修行，得精進力，除嬾惰障，滅一切罪，於諸學處，離不尊重，息掉悔心，入於初地；依初地心，除利有情障，得入二地；於此地中，除不逼惱障，入於三地；於此地中，除心軟淨障，入於四地；於此地中，除善方便障，入於五地；於此地中，除見真俗障，入於六地；於此地中，除見行相障，入於七地；於此地中，除不見滅相障，入於八地；於此地中，除不見生相障，入於九地；於此地中，除六通障，入於十地；於此地中，除所知障，除根本心，入如來地。如來地者，由三淨故，名極清淨。云何為三？一者、煩惱淨，二者、苦淨，三者、相淨。譬如真金鎔銷治鍊，既燒打已，無復塵垢，為顯金性本清淨故，金體清淨，非謂無金。譬如濁水，澄渟清淨，無復滓穢，為顯水性本清淨故，非謂無水。如是法身，與煩惱離，苦集除已，無復餘習，為顯佛性本清淨故，非謂無體。譬如虛空，煙雲塵霧之所障蔽，若除屏已，是空界淨，非謂無空。如是法身一切眾苦悉皆盡故，說為清淨，非謂無體。譬如有人於睡夢中，見大河水漂泛其身，運手動足，截流而渡，得至彼岸，由彼身心不懈退故，從夢覺已，不見有水彼此岸別，非謂無心。生死妄想既滅盡已，是覺清淨，非謂無覺。如是法界一切妄想不復生故，說為清淨，非是諸佛無其實體。 「復次，善男子！是法身者，惑障清淨能現應身，業障清淨能現化身，智障清淨能現法身。譬如依空出電，依電出光，如是依法身故，能現應身，依應身故，能現化身。由性淨故能現法身，智慧清淨能現應身，三昧清淨能現化身。此三清淨，是法如如，不異如如，一味如如，解脫如如，究竟如如，是故諸佛，體無有異。 「善男子！若有善男子、善女人說於如來是我大師。若作如是決定信者，此人即應深心解了如來之身無有別異。善男子！以是義故，於諸境界不正思惟悉皆除斷，即知彼法無有二相，亦無分別，聖所修行，如如於彼，無有二相。正修行故，如是如是一切諸障悉皆除滅，如如一切障滅。如是如是法如如、如如智得最清淨，如如法界正智清淨。如是如是一切自在，具足攝受皆得成就，一切諸障悉皆除滅。一切諸障得清淨故，是名真如正智真實之相，如是見者，是名聖見，是則名為真實見佛。何以故？如實得見法真如故，是故諸佛悉能普見一切如來。何以故？聲聞、獨覺已出三界，求真實境，不能知見，如是聖人所不知見，一切凡夫皆生疑惑，顛倒分別，不能得度，如兔浮海，必不能過。所以者何？力微劣故。凡夫之人亦復如是，不能通達法如如故。然諸如來無分別心，於一切法得大自在，具足清淨深智慧故，是自境界，不共他故。是故諸佛如來於無量無邊阿僧祇劫，不惜身命，難行苦行，方得此身，最上無比，不可思議，過言說境，是妙寂靜，離諸怖畏。 「善男子！如是知見法真如者，無生老死，壽命無限，無有睡眠，亦無飢渴，心常在定，無有散動。若於如來起諍論心，是則不能見於如來。諸佛所說，皆能利益，有聽聞者，無不解脫，諸惡禽獸、惡人、惡鬼不相逢值，由聞法故，果報無盡。然諸如來無無記事，一切境界無欲知心，生死涅槃無有異想，如來所記，無不決定。諸佛如來四威儀中，無非智攝，一切諸法無有不為慈悲所攝，無有不為利益安樂諸眾生者。 「善男子！若有善男子、善女人於此《金光明經》聽聞信解，不墮地獄、餓鬼、傍生、阿蘇羅道，常處人天，不生下賤，恒得親近諸佛如來，聽受正法，常生諸佛清淨國土。所以者何？由得聞此甚深法故，是善男子、善女人則為如來已知已記，當得不退阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。若善男子、善女人於此甚深微妙之法，一經耳者，當知是人不謗如來，不毀正法，不輕聖眾，一切眾生未種善根，令得種故，已種善根，令增長成熟故，一切世界所有眾生皆勸修行六波羅蜜多。」 〔T16 0411a01〕爾時虛空藏菩薩、梵釋四王諸天眾等，即從座起，偏袒右肩，合掌恭敬，頂禮佛足，白佛言：「世尊！若所在處，講說如是《金光明王》微妙經典，於其國土有四種利益。何者為四？一者、國王軍眾強盛，無諸怨敵，離於疾病，壽命延長，吉祥安樂，正法興顯。二者、中宮妃后、王子諸臣和悅無諍，離於諂佞，王所愛重。三者、沙門、婆羅門及諸國人修行正法，無病安樂，無抂死者，於諸福田悉皆修立。四者、於三時中，四大調適，常為諸天增加守護，慈悲平等，無傷害心，令諸眾生歸敬三寶，皆願修習菩提之行。是為四種利益之事。世尊！我等亦常為弘經故，隨逐如是持經之人，所在住處，為作利益。」 佛言：「善哉！善哉！善男子！如是！如是！汝等應當勤心流布此妙經王，則令正法久住於世。」
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
底本：唐義淨譯《金光明最勝王經》卷二〈分別三身品第三〉。白話依原文逐句今譯，述而不作。
虛空藏請問：於如來甚深祕密如法修行
那時，虛空藏菩薩摩訶薩在大眾之中從座位起身，袒露右肩，右膝跪地，合掌恭敬，以頭頂禮佛的雙足，並奉上微妙的金寶之花與寶幢、幡、蓋作為供養，稟白佛說：「世尊！菩薩摩訶薩應當怎樣對於諸位如來甚深的祕密，如法修行？」佛說：
「善男子！仔細地聽！仔細地聽！好好地思惟憶念，我將為你分別解說。
三身總標：化身、應身、法身
「善男子！一切如來有三種身。哪三種呢？第一是化身，第二是應身，第三是法身。這三種身具足了，就攝受阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；若能正確了知，便能迅速出離生死。
「菩薩怎樣了知化身呢？善男子！如來從前在修行的階位之中，為一切眾生修習種種法門，這樣修習，直到修行圓滿；由修行之力的緣故，獲得大自在；由自在之力的緣故，能隨順眾生的心意，隨順眾生的行為，隨順眾生的界性，全都明了分別——不延誤時機，不錯過時機，處所相應，時節相應，行為相應，說法相應，示現種種的身。這就叫化身。
「善男子！菩薩怎樣了知應身呢？就是諸位如來為了讓諸菩薩得以通達，宣說真諦；為了使他們了解生死與涅槃本是一味；為了除去執身見的眾生的怖畏與歡喜；為了作無邊佛法的根本——如實相應，由如如與如如智的本願之力的緣故，這個身得以顯現，具足三十二相、八十種好、頸項背後有圓滿的光輪。這就叫應身。
「善男子！菩薩摩訶薩怎樣了知法身呢？為了滅除各種煩惱等障礙，為了具足各種善法的緣故，唯有如如與如如智。這就叫法身。
「前兩種身，是假名而有；這第三身，是真實而有，作為前兩種身的根本。為什麼呢？離開了法的如如，離開了無分別智，一切諸佛就沒有另外的法；一切諸佛智慧具足，一切煩惱究竟滅盡，證得清淨的佛地。所以，法如如與如如智統攝一切佛法。
法如如與如如智：利益自他，無分別而事自在成
「再者，善男子！一切諸佛利益自己、利益他人，都達到究竟。利益自己的，是法如如；利益他人的，是如如智。能對自利與利他之事得到自在，成就種種無邊的作用，所以分別一切佛法，有無量無邊種種的差別。
「善男子！譬如依止妄想思惟，而說種種煩惱，說種種業的作用，說種種果報；同樣地，依法如如、依如如智，而說種種佛法，說種種獨覺法，說種種聲聞法。依法如如、依如如智，一切佛法自在成就，這是第一不可思議。譬如在虛空中作畫、畫出莊嚴的器具，是難以思議的；同樣地，依法如如、依如如智而成就佛法，也是難以思議。
「善男子！法如如與如如智，二者都沒有分別，怎麼還能自在地成就種種事業呢？善男子！譬如如來入於涅槃之後，由本願自在的緣故，種種事業都能成就；法如如與如如智自在地成辦事業，也是這樣。
「再者，菩薩摩訶薩入於無心定，依先前的願力，從禪定中起來，作種種事業——這二種法沒有分別，而能自在成事。善男子！譬如太陽和月亮沒有分別，又如水鏡沒有分別，光明也沒有分別，三種和合，便有影像生起。同樣地，法如如與如如智也沒有分別，由於本願自在的緣故，眾生有所感，便顯現應身、化身，就像日月的影像因和合而出現一樣。
水鏡空影：三身與三種涅槃
「再者，善男子！譬如無量無邊的水鏡，依於光的緣故，虛空的影像得以顯現種種不同的相；而虛空就是無相。善男子！同樣地，受教化的諸弟子等，就是法身的影像，以願力的緣故，在二種身中顯現種種相；在法身之地，沒有別異之相。
「善男子！依這二種身，一切諸佛說有餘涅槃；依這法身，說無餘涅槃。為什麼呢？因為一切其餘之法究竟窮盡的緣故。依這三身，一切諸佛說無住處涅槃。因為二種身的緣故，不安住於涅槃；離開法身，沒有另外的佛。為什麼二種身不住於涅槃呢？二身是假名、不真實，念念生滅，不固定安住，屢屢出現，因為不固定的緣故；法身不是這樣。所以二身不住於涅槃；法身不二，所以也不住於涅槃。因此，依三身而說無住涅槃。
三相與三心：凡夫遠離三身之由
「善男子！一切凡夫因為三種相的緣故，有繫縛、有障礙，遠離三身，不能到達三身。哪三種呢？第一是遍計所執相，第二是依他起相，第三是成就相。對這些相，因為不能了解、不能滅除、不能清淨的緣故，所以不能到達三身。對這三種相，能了解、能滅除、能清淨的緣故，所以諸佛具足三身。
「善男子！諸凡夫人因為未能除遣這三種心的緣故，遠離三身，不能到達。哪三種呢？第一是起事心，第二是依根本心，第三是根本心。依各種伏道，起事心窮盡；依法斷道，依根本心窮盡；依最勝道，根本心窮盡。起事心滅的緣故，得以顯現化身；依根本心滅的緣故，得以顯發應身；根本心滅的緣故，得以到達法身。所以一切如來具足三身。
三身同事、同意、同體：說多、說一、不一不二
「善男子！一切諸佛在第一身上，與諸佛同一事業；在第二身上，與諸佛同一心意；在第三身上，與諸佛同一體性。善男子！這第一種佛身，隨眾生的心意有多種的緣故，顯現種種相，所以說是多。第二種佛身，弟子同一心意，故顯現一相，所以說是一。第三種佛身，超過一切種類之相，不是執取相的境界，所以稱為不一不二。善男子！這第一身，是依於應身而得顯現的；這第二身，是依於法身而得顯現的；而這法身，是真實有，沒有所依之處。
三身常與無常之義
「善男子！這三身，就某種義理而說是常，就某種義理而說是無常。化身，恆常轉動法輪，處處隨緣，以方便相續、不斷絕的緣故，所以說是常；因為不是根本、具足的大用不顯現的緣故，說為無常。應身，從無始以來，相續不斷，一切諸佛不共之法能夠攝持的緣故，眾生沒有窮盡，作用也沒有窮盡，所以說是常；因為不是根本、具足的作用不顯現的緣故，說為無常。法身，不是遷流造作之法，沒有別異之相，是根本，猶如虛空，所以說是常。
「善男子！離開無分別智，再沒有更殊勝的智；離開法的如如，再沒有更殊勝的境界。這法的如如，這智慧的如如，這二種如如，如如而不一不異。所以，法身由智慧清淨的緣故、由寂滅清淨的緣故，有這二種清淨，所以法身具足清淨。
化應四句與法身二無所有
「再者，善男子！分別三身，有四種差別：有是化身而不是應身的，有是應身而不是化身的，有既是化身也是應身的，有既不是化身也不是應身的。什麼是化身而不是應身？就是諸如來般涅槃之後，以願力自在的緣故，隨緣利益眾生，這叫化身。什麼是應身而不是化身？就是登地以前的身。什麼是既是化身也是應身？就是安住有餘涅槃的身。什麼是既不是化身也不是應身？就是法身。
「善男子！這法身，是由二種無所有所顯現的。什麼叫二種無所有？在這法身上，相與相的處所，二者都是無：非有非無，非一非異，非數非非數，非明非闇。這樣的如如智，不見相與相的處所，不見非有非無，不見非一非異，不見非數非非數，不見非明非闇。所以應當知道：境界清淨，智慧清淨，不可分別，沒有中間隔別，因為是滅與道的根本，於這法身之上，能顯發如來的種種事業。
法身即是大乘、如來性、如來藏
「善男子！這身的因、緣、境界、處所，果依於根本，難以思議；若能了達這個義理，這身就是大乘，就是如來性，就是如來藏。依於此身，得以發起最初的道心；修行諸地之心得以顯現，不退地之心也都得以顯現，一生補處之心、金剛之心、如來之心全都顯現；無量無邊如來的妙法，也全都顯現。依這法身，不可思議的摩訶三昧得以顯現；依這法身，得以顯現一切大智。所以，二種身是依於三昧、依於智慧而得顯現的。這樣的法身，依於自體而說常、說我；依大三昧的緣故而說樂；依於大智的緣故而說清淨。所以如來常住、自在、安樂、清淨。
「依大三昧，一切禪定如首楞嚴等，一切念處、大法念等，大慈大悲、一切陀羅尼、一切神通、一切自在、對一切法平等攝受——這樣的佛法，全都出現。依這大智，十力、四無所畏、四無礙辯、一百八十種不共之法，一切希有不可思議之法，全都顯現。譬如依著如意寶珠，無量無邊種種珍寶全都能現出；同樣地，依大三昧之寶、依大智慧之寶，能出生種種無量無邊諸佛的妙法。
「善男子！這樣的法身、三昧、智慧，超過一切相，不執著於相，不可分別，非常非斷，這就叫中道。雖然有所分別，體性卻沒有分別；雖然有三這個數，卻沒有三個體；不增不減，猶如夢幻；也沒有所執，也沒有能執。法體如如，就是解脫之處，超過死王的境界，越過生死的黑暗，是一切眾生所不能修行、所不能到達的，是一切諸佛菩薩所安住之處。
「善男子！譬如有人想要得到金子，到處尋覓，終於找到金礦；得到礦石之後，隨即把它敲碎，選取精純的部分，在爐中熔鍊，煉得清淨的金子；隨意轉動運用，做成指環、手釧等種種莊嚴之具——雖然有種種用途，金的本性卻不曾改變。
十地除障與如來地三淨
「再者，善男子！若有善男子、善女人，尋求殊勝的解脫而修行世間善法，得以見到如來及弟子眾；親近之後，稟白佛說：『世尊！什麼是善？什麼是不善？怎樣正確修行，能得清淨之行？』諸佛如來及弟子眾見他這樣問時，便如此思惟：『這位善男子、善女人想要求得清淨，想要聽聞正法。』隨即就為他宣說，使他開悟。
「他聽聞之後，以正念憶持，發心修行，獲得精進之力，除去懶惰的障礙，滅除一切罪，對各種學處遠離不尊重，止息掉舉、追悔之心，進入初地。依初地之心，除去利益有情之障，得入二地；在此地中，除去不逼惱之障，入於三地；在此地中，除去心軟淨之障，入於四地；在此地中，除去善方便之障，入於五地；在此地中，除去見真俗之障，入於六地；在此地中，除去見行相之障，入於七地；在此地中，除去不見滅相之障，入於八地；在此地中，除去不見生相之障，入於九地；在此地中，除去六通之障，入於十地；在此地中，除去所知障，除去根本心，入於如來地。
「所謂如來地，由於三種清淨的緣故，稱為極清淨。哪三種呢？第一是煩惱清淨，第二是苦清淨，第三是相清淨。譬如真金經過熔銷冶鍊，燒過、打過之後，不再有塵垢，這是為了顯出金性本來清淨；金體清淨了，並不是說沒有金。譬如混濁的水，澄靜下來而清淨，不再有渣滓污穢，這是為了顯出水性本來清淨，並不是說沒有水。同樣地，法身離開了煩惱，苦與集除盡之後，不再有殘餘的習氣，這是為了顯出佛性本來清淨，並不是說沒有其體。譬如虛空被煙、雲、塵、霧所遮蔽，除去屏退之後，虛空之界便清淨了，並不是說沒有虛空。同樣地，法身因為一切眾苦全都窮盡的緣故，說為清淨，並不是說沒有其體。譬如有人在睡夢之中，見到大河之水漂蕩浮泛著自己的身體，便揮動手、擺動腳，橫截水流而渡，得以到達對岸；由於他身心不懈怠、不退轉的緣故，從夢中醒來之後，就不見有水、也不見此岸彼岸的分別了——並不是說沒有心。生死的妄想滅盡之後，這覺體清淨，並不是說沒有覺。同樣地，法界因為一切妄想不再生起的緣故，說為清淨，並不是說諸佛沒有真實之體。
三障清淨與真實見佛
「再者，善男子！這法身：惑障清淨了，能顯現應身；業障清淨了，能顯現化身；智障清淨了，能顯現法身。譬如依虛空而出現閃電，依閃電而出現光明；同樣地，依法身的緣故，能顯現應身；依應身的緣故，能顯現化身。由於體性清淨的緣故，能顯現法身；智慧清淨，能顯現應身；三昧清淨，能顯現化身。這三種清淨，就是法如如——無異的如如、一味的如如、解脫的如如、究竟的如如。所以諸佛的體，沒有差異。
「善男子！若有善男子、善女人說：如來是我的大師。若能生起這樣決定的信心，這人就應當以深心了解：如來之身沒有分別差異。善男子！因為這個義理，對各種境界的不正思惟全都除斷，就能知道那法沒有二相，也沒有分別；聖者所修行的，於彼如如，沒有二相。由於正確修行的緣故，如是如是，一切諸障全都除滅，如如之中一切障滅盡；如是如是，法如如與如如智得到最極清淨，如如的法界正智清淨；如是如是，一切自在，具足攝受，都得成就，一切諸障全都除滅。一切諸障得到清淨的緣故，這就叫真如正智真實之相；能這樣見的，叫做聖見，這才稱為真實地見佛。為什麼呢？因為如實地見到了法的真如。所以諸佛都能普遍見到一切如來。
「為什麼呢？聲聞、獨覺雖已出離三界，尋求真實的境界，卻不能知見；像這樣連聖人都不能知見的，一切凡夫更都生起疑惑，顛倒分別，不能得度——如同兔子浮渡大海，必定不能渡過。為什麼呢？因為力量微弱低劣的緣故。凡夫之人也是這樣，因為不能通達法如如的緣故。然而諸如來沒有分別心，於一切法得大自在，因為具足清淨甚深的智慧，這是如來自己的境界，不與他人共通。所以，諸佛如來在無量無邊阿僧祇劫之中，不惜身命，行難行的苦行，才得到這個身——最上無比，不可思議，超過言說的境界，是微妙的寂靜，遠離種種怖畏。
「善男子！這樣知見法真如的，沒有生、老、死，壽命沒有限量，沒有睡眠，也沒有飢渴，心恆常在定中，沒有散亂動搖。若對如來生起諍論之心，就不能見到如來。諸佛所說的，都能利益眾生；有聽聞的，沒有不得解脫的。兇惡的禽獸、惡人、惡鬼，都不會與他相逢遭遇；由於聽聞正法的緣故，果報沒有窮盡。而且，諸如來沒有無記之事，對一切境界沒有欲求了知之心，對生死與涅槃沒有不同之想，如來所授記的，沒有不決定的。諸佛如來在行、住、坐、臥四威儀之中，無一不為智慧所統攝；一切諸法，無一不為慈悲所攝受，無一不是為了利益、安樂諸眾生的。
聞經之益與流通付囑
「善男子！若有善男子、善女人，對這部《金光明經》聽聞而信解，就不會墮入地獄、餓鬼、傍生、阿蘇羅之道，常常生在人間天上，不生於下賤之處，恆常得以親近諸佛如來，聽受正法，常生於諸佛清淨的國土。為什麼呢？由於得以聽聞這甚深之法的緣故，這位善男子、善女人就是如來所已經了知、已經授記的，將會證得不退轉的阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。若善男子、善女人對這甚深微妙之法，哪怕只有一次經過耳根，應當知道這人不誹謗如來，不毀壞正法，不輕慢聖眾；一切眾生尚未種下善根的，使他們得以種下，已經種下善根的，使它增長成熟；並勸一切世界所有的眾生，都修行六波羅蜜多。」
那時，虛空藏菩薩與大梵天王、帝釋天、四大天王及諸天眾等，隨即從座位起身，袒露右肩，合掌恭敬，頂禮佛足，稟白佛說：「世尊！凡是講說這部《金光明王》微妙經典的地方，那個國土就有四種利益。哪四種呢？第一，國王的軍隊強盛，沒有各種怨敵，遠離疾病，壽命延長，吉祥安樂，正法興隆顯揚。第二，中宮的妃嬪王后、王子與諸大臣，和睦喜悅，沒有諍鬥，遠離諂媚奸佞，為國王所愛重。第三，沙門、婆羅門以及全國的人民，修行正法，無病安樂，沒有枉死的人，對各種福田都能修習建立。第四，在三時之中，四大調和安適，常受諸天增加守護；慈悲平等，沒有傷害之心，使諸眾生歸敬三寶，都發願修習菩提之行。這就是四種利益之事。世尊！我們也會常常為了弘揚此經的緣故，跟隨這樣受持經典的人，在他所住之處，為他作利益。」
佛說：「善哉！善哉！善男子！正是這樣！正是這樣！你們應當以勤懇之心流布這部微妙的經王，這樣就能使正法長久住於世間。」
Base text: Yijing’s Tang translation of The Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King, fascicle two, “Distinguishing the Three Bodies,” Chapter 3. This vernacular rendering follows the source sentence by sentence, transmitting without adding.
Ākāśagarbha Asks How to Practice in Accordance with the Tathāgatas’ Profound Mystery
At that time, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha rose from his seat in the midst of the great assembly, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, respectfully joined his palms, and bowed his head at the Buddha’s feet. He presented exquisite flowers of gold and jewels, precious banners, pennants, and canopies as offerings, and addressed the Buddha: “World-Honored One, how should a bodhisattva mahāsattva practice in accordance with the Dharma with respect to the Tathāgatas’ profound mystery?” The Buddha said:
“Good man, listen closely! Listen closely! Attend well and bear this in mind. I will distinguish and explain it for you.
The Three Bodies in Brief: Emanation Body, Responsive Body, and Dharma-Body
“Good man, every Tathāgata has three kinds of body. What are the three? The first is the emanation body, the second is the responsive body, and the third is the dharma-body. When these three bodies are complete, they embrace unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening. If one rightly understands them, one swiftly emerges from birth and death.
“How does a bodhisattva understand the emanation body? Good man, in the past, while cultivating on the stages of practice, the Tathāgata cultivated many kinds of Dharma for all sentient beings. He cultivated in this way until his practice was complete. Through the power of that practice, he attained great mastery; through the power of that mastery, he accords with sentient beings’ intentions, accords with sentient beings’ conduct, and accords with sentient beings’ realms, understanding and distinguishing them all. He neither awaits the time nor passes it by: the place is appropriate, the time is appropriate, the conduct is appropriate, and the teaching of the Dharma is appropriate. He manifests many kinds of body. This is called the emanation body.
“Good man, how does a bodhisattva understand the responsive body? The Tathāgatas teach ultimate truth so that bodhisattvas may penetrate it; they enable them to understand that birth and death and nirvāṇa are of one taste; they remove the fear and delight of sentient beings who cling to the view of a self in the body; and they establish a basis for limitless buddha-dharmas. Corresponding to reality, through the power of original vows grounded in suchness and the wisdom of suchness, this body appears complete with the thirty-two marks, the eighty excellent characteristics, and a circular halo around its neck and back. This is called the responsive body.
“Good man, how does a bodhisattva mahāsattva understand the dharma-body? For the sake of removing all the obstructions of affliction and the like, and for the sake of completing every wholesome quality, there are only suchness and the wisdom of suchness. This is called the dharma-body.
“The first two bodies exist by provisional designation. This third body truly exists and serves as the basis for the first two. Why is this? Apart from the suchness of dharmas and apart from non-discriminating wisdom, none of the buddhas has any other dharma. All buddhas are complete in wisdom; all their afflictions have been utterly extinguished; and they attain the purified buddha ground. Therefore, the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness embrace all buddha-dharmas.
The Suchness of Dharmas and the Wisdom of Suchness: Benefiting Self and Others, Accomplishing Activity without Discrimination
“Furthermore, good man, all buddhas bring benefit to themselves and others to ultimate completion. That which benefits oneself is the suchness of dharmas; that which benefits others is the wisdom of suchness. Because they attain mastery in the activities that benefit self and others and accomplish limitless varieties of functions, all buddha-dharmas are distinguished into immeasurably and boundlessly many kinds.
“Good man, just as, in dependence on deluded conceptual thought, one speaks of many afflictions, many kinds of karmic activity, and many kinds of result and retribution, so, in dependence on the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness, one speaks of many buddha-dharmas, many dharmas of solitary realizers, and many dharmas of śrāvakas. In dependence on the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness, all buddha-dharmas are freely accomplished. This is the first inconceivability. It is inconceivable to paint in empty space and produce implements of adornment; in the same way, to accomplish the buddha-dharmas in dependence on the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness is also inconceivable.
“Good man, the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness are both without discrimination. How, then, can activities be freely accomplished? Good man, just as the Tathāgata, after entering nirvāṇa, freely accomplishes many activities through the sovereignty of his vows, so the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness freely accomplish activity in the same way.
“Furthermore, a bodhisattva mahāsattva enters a concentration without mind and, relying on the power of a previous vow, emerges from meditative concentration and performs many activities. These two dharmas are without discrimination, yet activities are freely accomplished. Good man, the sun and moon do not discriminate; a water mirror does not discriminate; and light does not discriminate. When these three combine, an image arises. In the same way, the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness do not discriminate. Through the sovereignty of vows, when sentient beings respond, the responsive and emanation bodies appear, just as an image of the sun or moon appears through the meeting of conditions.
Images of Empty Space in Water Mirrors: The Three Bodies and the Three Kinds of Nirvāṇa
“Furthermore, good man, in limitless water mirrors, through dependence on light, the image of empty space appears in many different forms, although empty space itself is without characteristics. Good man, in the same way, the disciples who receive transformation are images of the dharma-body. Through the power of vows, many forms appear in the two bodies, but at the ground of the dharma-body there is no differentiated characteristic.
“Good man, in dependence on these two bodies, all buddhas teach nirvāṇa with remainder. In dependence on this dharma-body, they teach nirvāṇa without remainder. Why? Because every remaining dharma is ultimately exhausted. In dependence on these three bodies, all buddhas teach non-abiding nirvāṇa. Because of the two bodies, they do not abide in nirvāṇa; apart from the dharma-body there is no other buddha. Why do the two bodies not abide in nirvāṇa? The two bodies are provisionally designated and unreal: they arise and cease thought after thought, do not remain fixed, and repeatedly appear because they are not fixed. The dharma-body is not like this. Therefore, the two bodies do not abide in nirvāṇa. The dharma-body is nondual and therefore does not abide in nirvāṇa either. Thus, in dependence on the three bodies, non-abiding nirvāṇa is taught.
The Three Characteristics and Three Minds: Why Ordinary Beings Remain Far from the Three Bodies
“Good man, because of three characteristics, all ordinary beings are bound and obstructed, remain far from the three bodies, and do not reach them. What are the three? First, the characteristic of the wholly-imagined; second, the characteristic of the other-dependent; third, the characteristic of accomplishment. Because they cannot understand, extinguish, or purify these characteristics, they do not reach the three bodies. Because the buddhas can understand, extinguish, and purify these three characteristics, they are complete in the three bodies.
“Good man, because ordinary beings have not yet removed these three minds, they remain far from the three bodies and cannot reach them. What are the three? First, the mind that initiates activity; second, the mind dependent on the root; third, the root mind. Through the various paths of suppression, the mind that initiates activity is exhausted. Through the Dharma-severing path, the mind dependent on the root is exhausted. Through the supreme path, the root mind is exhausted. Because the mind that initiates activity ceases, the emanation body is manifested. Because the mind dependent on the root ceases, the responsive body is revealed. Because the root mind ceases, the dharma-body is reached. Therefore every Tathāgata is complete in the three bodies.
The Three Bodies: Same Activity, Same Intent, Same Substance—Many, One, and Neither One nor Two
“Good man, in the first body all buddhas have the same activity; in the second body all buddhas have the same intent; in the third body all buddhas have the same substance. Good man, because the first buddha-body takes many forms in accordance with the many intentions of sentient beings, it is said to be many. Because the disciples have one intent, the second buddha-body manifests one form and is therefore said to be one. The third buddha-body transcends every kind of characteristic and is not an object grasped through characteristics; it is therefore called neither one nor two. Good man, the first body is manifested in dependence on the responsive body; the second body is manifested in dependence on the dharma-body; the dharma-body truly exists and has no place on which it depends.
In What Sense the Three Bodies Are Permanent and Impermanent
“Good man, the three bodies are called permanent in one respect and impermanent in another. The emanation body constantly turns the wheel of Dharma. Everywhere, in response to conditions, its skillful means continue without interruption; therefore it is called permanent. Because it is not the basis and does not manifest the complete great function, it is called impermanent. The responsive body has continued without interruption since beginningless time; it can uphold the qualities exclusive to all buddhas; and because sentient beings are inexhaustible, its functions are also inexhaustible. Therefore it is called permanent. Because it is not the basis and does not manifest the complete function, it is called impermanent. The dharma-body is not a conditioned dharma, has no differentiated characteristic, and is the basis. Because it is like empty space, it is called permanent.
“Good man, apart from non-discriminating wisdom, there is no more excellent wisdom; apart from the suchness of dharmas, there is no more excellent object. This is the suchness of dharmas; this is the suchness of wisdom. These two kinds of suchness are neither one nor different. Therefore, the dharma-body has the purity of wisdom and the purity of extinction. Because it has these two purities, the dharma-body is complete in purity.
Four Alternatives for the Emanation and Responsive Bodies, and the Dharma-Body Revealed through Two Absences
“Furthermore, good man, when the three bodies are distinguished, there are four differences: there is an emanation body that is not a responsive body; there is a responsive body that is not an emanation body; there is a body that is both emanation and responsive; and there is a body that is neither emanation nor responsive. What is an emanation body that is not a responsive body? After the Tathāgatas have entered parinirvāṇa, through the sovereignty of their vows they benefit beings according to conditions. This is called the emanation body. What is a responsive body that is not an emanation body? It is a body before the grounds. What is both an emanation body and a responsive body? It is a body abiding in nirvāṇa with remainder. What is neither an emanation body nor a responsive body? It is the dharma-body.
“Good man, this dharma-body is revealed through two absences. What are the two absences? With respect to this dharma-body, both characteristic and the locus of characteristic are absent: it is neither existent nor nonexistent, neither one nor different, neither numbered nor unnumbered, neither bright nor dark. The wisdom of suchness likewise sees neither characteristic nor the locus of characteristic; it sees neither existent nor nonexistent, neither one nor different, neither numbered nor unnumbered, neither bright nor dark. Therefore know that the object is pure and wisdom is pure. They cannot be discriminated and there is no interval between them. Because the dharma-body is the basis of cessation and the path, the many activities of the Tathāgata can be revealed through it.
The Dharma-Body Is the Great Vehicle, the Tathāgata-Nature, and the Tathāgata-Womb
“Good man, the causes, conditions, object, and locus of this body, and the way its fruit depends on its basis, are difficult to conceive. If one understands this meaning, this body itself is the great vehicle, the Tathāgata-nature, and the Tathāgata-womb. In dependence on this body, the first mind is aroused; the minds that cultivate the grounds are manifested; the mind of the irreversible ground is manifested; and the mind of one birth remaining, the adamantine mind, and the Tathāgata mind are all manifested. Limitless wondrous dharmas of the Tathāgata are all manifested. In dependence on this dharma-body, the inconceivable great samādhi is manifested; in dependence on this dharma-body, all great wisdom is manifested. Therefore, the two bodies are manifested in dependence on samādhi and wisdom. In dependence on its own substance, this dharma-body is called permanent and called self; because of great samādhi, it is called bliss; because of great wisdom, it is called pure. Therefore, the Tathāgata permanently abides, masterful, blissful, and pure.
“In dependence on great samādhi, all meditative concentrations, including Śūraṅgama Samādhi, all establishments of mindfulness, including the great mindfulness of Dharma, great loving-kindness and great compassion, every dhāraṇī, every supernormal power, every mastery, and the equal embrace of all dharmas—buddha-dharmas such as these—all appear. In dependence on this great wisdom, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed eloquences, the one hundred and eighty qualities exclusive to buddhas, and all rare and inconceivable dharmas are manifested. Just as limitless varieties of precious treasure all appear in dependence on a wish-fulfilling jewel, so limitless varieties of the buddhas’ wondrous dharmas can arise in dependence on the treasure of great samādhi and the treasure of great wisdom.
“Good man, this dharma-body, samādhi, and wisdom transcend every characteristic, do not cling to characteristics, cannot be discriminated, and are neither permanent nor annihilated. This is called the middle way. Although there is discrimination, their substance is without discrimination. Although there is the number three, there are not three substances. They neither increase nor decrease and are like a dream or an illusion. There is neither an object grasped nor one who grasps. The suchness of the substance of dharmas is the place of liberation, beyond the realm of the Lord of Death and across the darkness of birth and death. It cannot be cultivated or reached by sentient beings; it is the dwelling place of all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
“Good man, suppose a person wishes to obtain gold and searches everywhere until he finds gold ore. Having found the ore, he breaks it apart, selects its pure portion, and smelts it in a furnace, obtaining pure gold. He then turns it at will into rings, bracelets, and many kinds of ornament. Although it has many uses, the nature of the gold does not change.
Removing Obstructions through the Ten Grounds and the Three Purities of the Tathāgata Ground
“Furthermore, good man, suppose a good man or good woman seeks supreme liberation, cultivates worldly goodness, and comes to see the Tathāgata and the assembly of his disciples. After drawing near, that person addresses the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One, what is wholesome? What is unwholesome? What is right practice, through which pure conduct is attained?’ When the buddhas, Tathāgatas, and their assemblies of disciples see the person ask in this way, they think: ‘This good man or good woman wishes to seek purity and hear the True Dharma.’ They immediately teach so that the person may awaken.
“After hearing, that person recollects and retains the teaching with right mindfulness, arouses the mind to practice, attains the power of diligence, removes the obstruction of laziness, extinguishes every transgression, abandons disrespect toward the trainings, stills agitation and regret, and enters the first ground. Through the mind of the first ground, one removes the obstruction to benefiting sentient beings and enters the second ground. On that ground, one removes the obstruction to refraining from affliction and enters the third ground. On that ground, one removes the obstruction to the mind’s pliancy and purity and enters the fourth ground. On that ground, one removes the obstruction to skillful means and enters the fifth ground. On that ground, one removes the obstruction to seeing the ultimate and the conventional and enters the sixth ground. On that ground, one removes the obstruction to seeing the characteristics of activity and enters the seventh ground. On that ground, one removes the obstruction of not seeing the characteristic of cessation and enters the eighth ground. On that ground, one removes the obstruction of not seeing the characteristic of arising and enters the ninth ground. On that ground, one removes the obstruction to the six supernormal powers and enters the tenth ground. On that ground, one removes the cognitive obstruction and the root mind and enters the Tathāgata ground.
“The Tathāgata ground is called supremely pure because of three purities. What are the three? The first is purity from afflictions, the second is purity from suffering, and the third is purity from characteristics. True gold, for example, is melted and refined. After being fired and beaten, it is free from dust and dirt, revealing the original purity of gold’s nature. The body of gold is pure; this does not mean that there is no gold. Turbid water, for example, settles and becomes pure, free from dregs and filth, revealing the original purity of water’s nature; this does not mean that there is no water. In the same way, when the dharma-body has separated from afflictions, suffering and its arising have been removed, and no residual tendencies remain, the original purity of buddha-nature is revealed; this does not mean that there is no substance. Empty space, for example, may be covered by smoke, clouds, dust, and mist. When they are cleared away, the realm of empty space is pure; this does not mean that there is no empty space. In the same way, because every suffering of the dharma-body has been exhausted, it is called pure; this does not mean that there is no substance. Suppose, for example, that a person dreams that a great river is sweeping his body along. Moving his hands and feet, he cuts across the current and reaches the farther shore. Because his body and mind do not slacken or retreat, he awakens from the dream and no longer sees water or any distinction between this shore and the farther shore; this does not mean that there is no mind. Once the delusive thoughts of birth and death have been utterly extinguished, this awareness is pure; this does not mean that there is no awareness. In the same way, because no delusive thought ever again arises in the dharma-realm, it is called pure; this does not mean that the buddhas have no real substance.
Purifying the Three Obstructions and Truly Seeing the Buddha
“Furthermore, good man, with respect to this dharma-body, purification of the afflictive obstruction enables the responsive body to manifest; purification of the karmic obstruction enables the emanation body to manifest; purification of the wisdom obstruction enables the dharma-body to manifest. Just as lightning emerges in dependence on empty space and light in dependence on lightning, so the responsive body manifests in dependence on the dharma-body and the emanation body manifests in dependence on the responsive body. Purity of nature can manifest the dharma-body, purity of wisdom can manifest the responsive body, and purity of samādhi can manifest the emanation body. These three purities are the suchness of dharmas: undifferentiated suchness, suchness of one taste, liberated suchness, ultimate suchness. Therefore, the buddhas do not differ in substance.
“Good man, suppose a good man or good woman says, ‘The Tathāgata is my great teacher.’ If that person gives rise to such resolute faith, he or she should understand deeply that the Tathāgata’s body has no differentiation. Good man, for this reason, every incorrect way of thinking about objects is severed and removed, and one knows that dharmas have no dual characteristics and no discrimination. In the suchness cultivated by the noble ones, there are no dual characteristics. Through right practice, in this very way, every obstruction is utterly extinguished; in suchness, every obstruction is extinguished. In this very way, the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness become supremely pure, and right wisdom in the dharma-realm of suchness becomes pure. In this very way, all mastery and the complete embrace are accomplished, and every obstruction is utterly extinguished. Because all obstructions have been purified, this is called the true characteristic of suchness and right wisdom. One who sees in this way has noble vision and is said truly to see the Buddha. Why? Because that person sees the true suchness of dharmas in accord with reality. Therefore, all buddhas can universally see every Tathāgata.
“Why is this? Although śrāvakas and solitary realizers have already left the three realms and seek the real object, they cannot know or see it. If even such noble ones cannot know or see it, all ordinary beings give rise to doubt, discriminate in an inverted way, and cannot cross over. They are like a hare afloat upon the sea that certainly cannot cross. Why? Because its strength is feeble. Ordinary beings are the same: they cannot penetrate the suchness of dharmas. The Tathāgatas, however, have no discriminating mind and attain great mastery over all dharmas. Because they are complete in pure, profound wisdom, this is their own domain, not shared with others. Thus, through immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeya eons, the buddhas and Tathāgatas spare neither body nor life and perform difficult ascetic practices before attaining this body, which is supreme and incomparable, inconceivable, beyond the domain of words, wondrously quiescent, and free from every fear.
“Good man, those who know and see the true suchness of dharmas in this way have no birth, old age, or death; their lives are limitless; they neither sleep nor hunger nor thirst; and their minds always remain in concentration, without distraction or agitation. If one gives rise to a contentious mind toward the Tathāgata, one cannot see the Tathāgata. Everything taught by the buddhas benefits beings; no one who hears it fails to attain liberation. Fierce birds and beasts, evil people, and evil spirits do not encounter that person; because of hearing the Dharma, the resulting recompense is inexhaustible. Moreover, the Tathāgatas perform no indeterminate act; toward every object they have no mind that desires to know; toward birth and death and nirvāṇa they have no divergent conception; and every prediction made by a Tathāgata is certain. In all four modes of conduct—walking, standing, sitting, and lying down—there is nothing the buddhas and Tathāgatas do that is not embraced by wisdom. There is no dharma that is not embraced by compassion and nothing that is not for the benefit and well-being of sentient beings.
Benefits of Hearing the Sūtra and the Entrustment to Circulate It
“Good man, if a good man or good woman hears and gains confident understanding of this Sūtra of Golden Light, that person will not fall into the paths of hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, or asuras; will always dwell among humans and gods; will not be born in a lowly station; will constantly draw near to the buddhas and Tathāgatas and hear and receive the True Dharma; and will always be born in the purified lands of the buddhas. Why? Because that person has heard this profound Dharma. That good man or good woman has already been known and given a prediction by the Tathāgata and will attain irreversibility from unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening. If a good man or good woman hears this profound and wondrous Dharma even once, know that this person will not malign the Tathāgata, slander the True Dharma, or disparage the noble assembly. Those sentient beings who have not yet planted roots of goodness will be enabled to plant them; those who have already planted roots of goodness will be enabled to increase and mature them; and all sentient beings in all worlds will be encouraged to cultivate the six perfections.”
At that time, the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha, Brahmā, Śakra, the Four Heavenly Kings, and the other assemblies of gods rose from their seats, bared their right shoulders, respectfully joined their palms, bowed their heads at the Buddha’s feet, and addressed him: “World-Honored One, wherever this wondrous scripture, the King of Golden Light, is taught, its realm will receive four benefits. What are the four? First, the king’s armies will be powerful, there will be no enemies, illness will be absent, life will be prolonged, circumstances will be auspicious and peaceful, and the True Dharma will flourish and be made manifest. Second, the consorts and queen of the inner palace, the princes, and all the ministers will be harmonious and joyful, free from contention and from flattery and duplicity, and held dear by the king. Third, renunciants, brahmins, and the people throughout the realm will cultivate the True Dharma, remain free of illness and at ease, suffer no untimely death, and establish cultivation in every field of merit. Fourth, throughout the three periods, the four great elements will be harmonious and well-balanced; the gods will constantly increase their protection; loving-kindness and compassion will be impartial, without any intention to harm; and sentient beings will be led to take refuge in the Three Jewels and aspire to cultivate the conduct of awakening. These are the four benefits. World-Honored One, in order to propagate this sūtra, we too will always accompany those who uphold it and confer benefit wherever they dwell.”
The Buddha said, “Excellent! Excellent, good men! So it is! So it is! You should diligently circulate this wondrous king of sūtras, thereby causing the True Dharma long to abide in the world.”
前一品〈如來壽量品〉說佛壽無量、如來常住；聽的人自然要問：那個『常住的佛』，究竟是什麼樣的存在？眼前示現八十年而入滅的佛，與那常住的佛，是一是二？這一品，虛空藏菩薩替我們把問題問了出來：菩薩要怎樣對如來甚深的祕密如法修行？佛的回答，就是把『佛身』這件事徹底攤開——一切如來有三種身：化身、應身、法身。本品集中分別化身、應身、法身，是本經明說三身的品段。
一佛三身：化身、應身、法身
先該過問一句：三種身，是三尊佛嗎？不是。是同一佛陀，從三個層面看，有三重身。
化身，是佛隨眾生而現的身。經自說其來歷：如來昔在修行地中，為一切眾生修種種法，修行圓滿，得大自在；自在力故，隨眾生的心意、行為、根性，全都了別，不待時、不過時，處相應、時相應、行相應、說法相應，現種種身。哪裡有感，哪裡就現——這是佛『走到眾生面前』的那個身。
應身，是佛為菩薩而現的身。諸如來為了讓菩薩通達，宣說真諦；為了讓他們了解生死與涅槃本是一味；為了除去執身見眾生的怖畏與歡喜；為了作無邊佛法的根本——由如如與如如智的本願力故，現出具足三十二相、八十種好、項背圓光的身。這是說法會上被菩薩瞻仰的那個莊嚴身。
法身呢？經文說得極簡：為除諸煩惱等障，為具諸善法故，「唯有如如、如如智，是名法身」。除盡了一切障、圓滿了一切善法之後，剩下什麼？只剩真如之理（如如）與照理之智（如如智）。這就是法身。
然後是這一品第一個斬釘截鐵的判語：前二種身，是假名有；此第三身，是真實有，為前二身而作根本。化身應身固然莊嚴，卻是依他而現、念念生滅的『影』；法身才是那個『本』。離開法如如、離開無分別智，一切諸佛更無別法——所以說，法如如與如如智，攝盡一切佛法。
法如如與如如智：無分別，而事業自成
法身既「唯有如如、如如智」，經文接著自設一難：這兩樣都無分別——理無分別，智亦無分別——那佛度眾生的種種事業，是誰在做？無分別的東西，怎麼會有作用？
經用三個譬喻回答。第一，如來入於涅槃，還能以本願自在力成就種種事業——願力先前發了，涅槃後自然運轉，不必再起分別。第二，菩薩入無心定，定中無心，卻能依入定前的願力，從定起後作種種事業。第三個譬喻最透：日月無有分別，水鏡無有分別，光明亦無分別，三種和合，得有影生。日月不曾想『我要照』，水不曾想『我要映』，光不曾想『我要成像』——三緣和合，影像自然現前。法如如與如如智也是這樣：無分別，而以本願自在力故，眾生有感，應化二身自然出現，如日月影和合而現。
無分別而不礙作用：經以此立難——法如如、如如智二無分別，云何而得自在事業成就？經自答之：願自在故，種種事業皆得成就；眾生有感，現應化身。依妄想思惟，說種種煩惱、種種業、種種果報；依法如如、依如如智，說種種佛法、獨覺法、聲聞法——同一個「依」字，凡夫依妄想而流轉，諸佛依如如而建立，故經歎之：譬如畫空作莊嚴具，是難思議——在無相的虛空裡，畫出無邊莊嚴。
弟子是法身影：三身與三種涅槃
第三喻再推進一層：譬如無量無邊的水鏡，依於光故，空影得現種種異相——而空即是無相。經接著點破：受化的諸弟子，就是法身的影。法身無相，卻以願力故，在化身應身上現出種種相；在法身之地，本無異相。
依這個架構，經把三種涅槃安放停當：依化應二身，說有餘涅槃；依法身，說無餘涅槃；依三身合說，說無住處涅槃。為什麼二身不住涅槃？二身假名不實，念念生滅、數數出現，本來就不曾『住』在哪裡；法身不二，更無能住所住。所以經說二身不住涅槃，法身不二，是故不住涅槃；依此三身，說無住處涅槃。
為什麼我們見不到三身：三相與三心
三身既是眾生本該到達的，為什麼凡夫遠離三身、不能得至？經給出兩張病歷。
第一張，三相：一者遍計所執相，二者依他起相，三者成就相。凡夫對這三相，不能解、不能滅、不能淨，所以被縛被障；能解、能滅、能淨，就是諸佛具足三身。留意經文的用詞——縛住我們的，不是世界，是我們認取世界的三種相。
第二張，三心：一者起事心，二者依根本心，三者根本心。起事心，是最表層、隨境起事的心；依根本心，是倚著根本而轉的心；根本心，是最深處那一層。斷除也有次第：依諸伏道，起事心盡；依法斷道，依根本心盡；依最勝道，根本心盡。而妙就妙在下一句——起事心滅故，得現化身；依根本心滅故，得顯應身；根本心滅故，得至法身。滅一層心，顯一重身。經下文自有分寸：一面說「為顯佛性本清淨故，非謂無體」，一面把三身繫在伏道、斷道、最勝道三道之上——性本自淨，而身待道成，一路是修。
三身之間：同一同異，說常說無常
三身彼此是什麼關係？經用三個「同」字說：一切諸佛於第一身，與諸佛同事——化身層面，諸佛救度眾生之事相同；於第二身，與諸佛同意——應身層面，諸佛之意趣相同；於第三身，與諸佛同體——法身層面，諸佛根本是同一體。所以化身說「多」（隨眾生意現種種相），應身說「一」（弟子一意，故現一相），法身說「不一不二」（過一切種相，非執相境界）。又，第一身依應身得顯，第二身依法身得顯，法身真實有、無依處——層層向本回溯。
常與無常，經雙邊說。化身恆轉法輪、處處隨緣、方便相續不斷絕，故說常；非是本故，說無常。應身從無始來相續不斷、眾生無盡用亦無盡，故說常；非是本故，說無常。法身非是行法、無有異相、是根本，猶如虛空——是故說常，更無無常一邊。經又以四句把化應二身裁得分明：有化身非應身（佛般涅槃後以願自在隨緣利益者）、有應身非化身（地前身）、有化身亦應身（住有餘涅槃之身）、有非化身亦非應身（法身）。至於法身自體，經以「二無所有」顯之：於此法身，相與相處二皆是無——非有非無、非一非異、非數非非數、非明非闇；境界清淨、智慧清淨，不可分別，而能顯如來種種事業。
這身就是如來藏：常樂我淨
講到這裡，經文忽然把門推開：若了此義，是身即是大乘，是如來性，是如來藏。法身不是佛獨有的祕藏——經自說，是身即是如來性、如來藏；依於此身，得發初心；修行地心、不退地心、一生補處心、金剛之心、如來之心，皆依之而顯現。
依此法身，說常樂我淨四德：依於自體，說常、說我；依大三昧故，說於樂；依於大智故，說清淨。凡夫執五蘊為我為常，是顛倒；法身之常我樂淨，是斷盡顛倒之後的真實。依大三昧，首楞嚴等一切禪定、大慈大悲、一切陀羅尼、一切神通悉皆出現；依大智，十力、四無所畏、四無礙辯、一百八十不共之法悉皆顯現——譬如依如意寶珠，無量珍寶悉皆得現。而此法身三昧智慧，過一切相、不著於相、非常非斷，是名中道：雖有分別，體無分別；雖有三數，而無三體。
怕人把『三數無三體』聽成玄談，經給了一個手上的譬喻：有人求金，得礦、碎之、擇取精者、爐中銷鍊，得清淨金；隨意迴轉，作環作釧種種嚴具——雖有諸用，金性不改。三身種種顯現，如環釧之形各異；法身之性，如金性之未嘗變。
一條可以走的路：十地斷障，如來地三淨
義理說盡，經文落到修行。有善男子善女人求勝解脫、修行世善，來問佛：何者為善？何者不善？云何正修？從這一問起步，經把整條路鋪出來：聞法、正念憶持、發心修行、得精進力——除嬾惰障，入初地；除利有情障，入二地；除不逼惱障，入三地……一地除一障，直到除所知障、除根本心，入如來地。那個「根本心」，正是前文三心的最深一層：十地走完，根本心盡，法身現前。
如來地由三淨故名極清淨：煩惱淨、苦淨、相淨。怕人把『清淨』聽成『斷滅』，經一連四喻，喻喻都收在同一句上——真金熔鍊，燒打之後無復塵垢，為顯金性本淨，非謂無金；濁水澄渟，無復滓穢，為顯水性本清，非謂無水；虛空除卻煙雲塵霧，是空界淨，非謂無空；夢中渡河，運手動足，覺後不見有水、不見彼此岸，非謂無心。法身離煩惱、除苦集、盡妄想，說為清淨——非謂無體。清淨，是垢盡，不是體無。
末後經再把三障與三身扣起來：惑障清淨能現應身，業障清淨能現化身，智障清淨能現法身——譬如依空出電、依電出光，依法身現應身、依應身現化身。三重清淨，同是一味如如、解脫如如、究竟如如，是故諸佛體無有異。
真實見佛
那麼，怎樣才算『見佛』？經的回答出人意料：若有人說「如來是我大師」，作如是決定信者，此人即應深心解了——如來之身，無有別異。見佛，不在眼見三十二相，在如實得見法真如：一切諸障除滅、如如法界正智清淨，「如是見者，是名聖見，是則名為真實見佛」。聲聞獨覺已出三界，求真實境尚不能知見；凡夫顛倒分別，更如兔子浮海——不是海不可渡，是力微劣故。諸佛如來於無量阿僧祇劫不惜身命、難行苦行，方得此身：最上無比、過言說境、是妙寂靜。
所以品末的付囑不重玄理而重流通：於此《金光明經》聽聞信解者，不墮惡道、常生佛前，如來已知已記，當得不退菩提；講說此經之處，國土得四種利益。虛空藏菩薩與梵釋四王當眾發願，隨逐持經之人所在作諸利益。佛印可說：汝等應當勤心流布此妙經王，則令正法久住於世。
以唯識之眼，再看幾處
上來是分別三身品自身的義。這一系譯註，另以慈恩慧沼《金光明最勝王經疏》為一面旁照的鏡子——鏡非經，唯識不是此經的源頭；只是同一樁事，換一副心識之學的眼來看，有幾處看得更細。
其一，化身、應身、法身這套名目，慧沼逐一繫上唯識家的三身：化身即變化身；應身即受用身——而且判定此經的應身屬「他受用身」，並從經文自身舉出四證：現三十二相（自受用功德相好無邊，不止此數）、念念生滅數數出現（自受用不數數出現）、弟子一意故現一相（自受用非對弟子）、經自言「應身非化身者，是地前身」；至於自受用身，則歸法身所攝。法身即自性身，而疏自釋走性相合論一路（又會通諸說不相違），說法身即淨法界與四智心品——如如是自性法身，如如智是四智品，能證所證合名法身。
其二，經文的三相——遍計所執相、依他起相、成就相——慧沼直說「三相即三性」：由悟遍計所執相得化身，修淨依他起得應身，淨證圓成實性顯得法身。三性淨而三身顯，這一品由是成為三性教義的正經據。三心一節，疏中並錄兩家之釋而不裁：真諦以皮肉骨為喻——起事心是六識皮，依根本心是第七肉，根本心是阿梨耶識骨；慈恩自家則釋起事心為見修煩惱相應之心。斷位亦有著落：伏道在地前三十心位，最勝道至金剛方盡。至於三身是本有還是新得，疏於彰妨難自判得平：「據因俱本有，談果竝新成」——因位有其性，果上身新成。
其三，常無常一門，疏以三常會之：自性身自性常，受用身無間常，化身相續常——經說化身恆轉法輪、方便相續不斷故常，正是相續常。三障一節，疏點明智障即所知障：智體非障，所知障礙智不生，名為智障。乃至那個金礦喻，疏亦配上修行五位：得礦，是資糧位知自身有佛性；碎礦擇精，是加行位除所取能取、住唯識觀；爐中銷鍊，是不退地心至金剛心；得清淨金，是如來地。
末後誌一筆：此品曇無讖四卷本原無，梁真諦補譯，唐義淨重譯，故天台智顗、三論吉藏所疏皆無此品；然智顗於玄談中明言「若作三身者，即有〈三身分別品〉專論其義」，並以觀心讀三身——即空是報身、即假是應身、即中是法身；吉藏守法應化之架；慧沼繫變化受用自性。三家讀法各有著眼；經自說其三身，諸師各還其位。這面唯識之鏡照見的，是此品裡『心與身』的紋理：三層心滅而三重身顯，本是一套心識轉依的地圖——這一層曲折，借唯識之眼，看得分外分明。
The preceding chapter, The Lifespan of the Tathāgata, teaches that the Buddha’s lifespan is immeasurable and that the Tathāgata permanently abides. A listener naturally asks: What kind of existence is that “permanently abiding Buddha”? Is the Buddha who appears before us for eighty years and enters nirvāṇa the same as that permanent Buddha, or different? In this chapter, the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha asks the question on our behalf: How should a bodhisattva practice in accordance with the Dharma with respect to the Tathāgatas’ profound mystery? The Buddha’s answer lays the matter of “buddha-body” fully open: every Tathāgata has three kinds of body—the emanation body, the responsive body, and the dharma-body. This is the sūtra’s most doctrinally profound chapter and one of the principal scriptural grounds for the teaching of the three bodies in Chinese Buddhism. What follows explains each point in the sūtra’s own sequence; at the end, the perspective of the consciousness-only tradition provides a further reflection.
One Buddha, Three Bodies: Emanation, Responsive, and Dharma
We should begin by asking: Are the three bodies three buddhas? No. They are three dimensions of one and the same Buddha.
The emanation body is the body the Buddha manifests in response to sentient beings. The sūtra itself tells how it comes to be: in the past, while cultivating on the stages of practice, the Tathāgata cultivated many kinds of Dharma for all sentient beings. When his practice was complete, he attained great mastery. Through the power of that mastery, he understood sentient beings’ intentions, conduct, and dispositions completely. Neither waiting for the time nor letting it pass, he accorded with the proper place, time, conduct, and Dharma teaching and manifested many kinds of body. This is the body with which the Buddha “comes before sentient beings” wherever their response calls him.
The responsive body is the body the Buddha manifests for bodhisattvas. The Tathāgatas teach ultimate truth so that bodhisattvas may penetrate it; enable them to understand that birth and death and nirvāṇa are of one taste; remove the fear and delight of sentient beings who cling to a view of self in the body; and establish the basis for limitless buddha-dharmas. Through the power of original vows grounded in suchness and the wisdom of suchness, there appears a body complete with the thirty-two marks, the eighty excellent characteristics, and a circular halo around its neck and back. This is the majestic body beheld by bodhisattvas in an assembly where the Dharma is taught.
What, then, is the dharma-body? The sūtra speaks with extreme economy: for the sake of removing all the obstructions of affliction, and for the sake of completing every wholesome quality, 「唯有如如、如如智，是名法身」—“there are only suchness and the wisdom of suchness; this is called the dharma-body.” When every obstruction has been removed and every wholesome quality fulfilled, what remains? Suchness as principle and the wisdom that illumines principle: this is the dharma-body.
The chapter then gives its first unequivocal judgment: the first two bodies exist by provisional designation; the third body truly exists and serves as the basis for the first two. Magnificent as the emanation and responsive bodies are, they appear in dependence on conditions, arise and cease thought after thought, and are “images.” The dharma-body is their “basis.” Apart from the suchness of dharmas and apart from non-discriminating wisdom, the buddhas have no other dharma. Thus the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness embrace every buddha-dharma.
The Suchness of Dharmas and the Wisdom of Suchness: No Discrimination, yet Activity Accomplishes Itself
Once the dharma-body has been defined as 「唯有如如、如如智」—“suchness and the wisdom of suchness alone,” the sūtra poses an objection to itself: both are without discrimination—principle does not discriminate, and wisdom does not discriminate. Who, then, performs all the Buddha’s activities of liberating sentient beings? How can that which does not discriminate have any function?
The sūtra answers with three similes. First, after the Tathāgata enters nirvāṇa, the sovereign power of his original vows can still accomplish many activities: the vow was made before, and after nirvāṇa it operates of itself without fresh discrimination. Second, a bodhisattva enters a concentration without mind. Although there is no mind within that concentration, the bodhisattva can rely on the power of the prior vow, emerge from concentration, and perform many activities. The third simile is the most transparent: the sun and moon do not think, “I will shine”; the water does not think, “I will reflect”; and the light does not think, “I will form an image.” When the three conditions meet, an image appears of itself. The suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness are the same: without discrimination, yet through the sovereignty of original vows, when sentient beings respond the responsive and emanation bodies appear of themselves, just as an image of the sun or moon appears when conditions converge.
To be without discrimination is not to be without function. Precisely because it is without discrimination, its functions can be limitless. This is the chapter’s most profound turn: the Buddha’s liberating activity is shifted from deliberate construction to responsive activity without contrivance. In dependence on deluded conceptual thought, one speaks of many afflictions, karmic acts, and results; in dependence on the suchness of dharmas and the wisdom of suchness, one speaks of the many dharmas of buddhas, solitary realizers, and śrāvakas. The same word 「依」—“in dependence on”—marks both clauses: ordinary beings depend on delusion and revolve in saṃsāra; buddhas depend on suchness and establish the Dharma. The sūtra therefore marvels that it is like painting implements of adornment in empty space—in the space that has no characteristics, limitless adornments are drawn.
The Disciples Are Images of the Dharma-Body: Three Bodies and Three Kinds of Nirvāṇa
The third simile takes the argument one step further. In limitless water mirrors, through dependence on light, an image of empty space appears in many different forms—yet empty space itself has no characteristics. The sūtra then makes the point explicit: disciples who receive transformation are images of the dharma-body. The dharma-body has no characteristics, yet through the power of vows it displays many forms in the emanation and responsive bodies; at the ground of the dharma-body, there is no differentiated characteristic.
Within this structure, the sūtra sets the three kinds of nirvāṇa in place: in dependence on the emanation and responsive bodies, it teaches nirvāṇa with remainder; in dependence on the dharma-body, it teaches nirvāṇa without remainder; in dependence on all three bodies together, it teaches non-abiding nirvāṇa. Why do the first two bodies not abide in nirvāṇa? They are provisionally designated and unreal, arising and ceasing thought after thought and repeatedly appearing; from the beginning, they have never “abided” anywhere. The dharma-body is nondual, with neither an abiding subject nor a place in which to abide. The Buddha therefore abides neither in birth and death nor in nirvāṇa: non-abiding nirvāṇa is established precisely on the basis of the three bodies.
Why We Do Not See the Three Bodies: Three Characteristics and Three Minds
If the three bodies are what sentient beings should reach, why do ordinary beings remain far from them and fail to arrive? The sūtra gives two diagnoses.
The first is the three characteristics: the characteristic of the wholly-imagined, the characteristic of the other-dependent, and the characteristic of accomplishment. Because ordinary beings cannot understand, extinguish, or purify these characteristics, they are bound and obstructed. Because the buddhas can understand, extinguish, and purify them, they are complete in the three bodies. Attend to the sūtra’s choice of words: what binds us is not the world itself, but the three characteristics through which we apprehend it.
The second is the three minds: the mind that initiates activity, the mind dependent on the root, and the root mind. The first is the most evident level, arising in activity in response to objects; the second turns while depending on the root; the third is the deepest level. Their removal also has an order: through the paths of suppression, the mind that initiates activity is exhausted; through the Dharma-severing path, the mind dependent on the root is exhausted; through the supreme path, the root mind is exhausted. The wonder lies in the next sentence: when the mind that initiates activity ceases, the emanation body manifests; when the mind dependent on the root ceases, the responsive body is revealed; when the root mind ceases, the dharma-body is reached. One level of mind ceases; one dimension of body shines through. Later, the sūtra keeps both sides in view. It says 「為顯佛性本清淨故，非謂無體」—“this reveals that buddha-nature is originally pure; it does not mean that there is no substance,” yet it also binds the three bodies to three paths—suppression, severance, and the supreme path. The nature is originally pure, but the bodies await the path’s accomplishment: it is a road of practice all the way through.
Relations among the Three Bodies: Same and Different, Permanent and Impermanent
What is the relation among the three bodies? The sūtra speaks through the word 「同」—“same” in three ways. In the first body, all buddhas have the same activity: at the level of emanation, the buddhas share the activity of liberating sentient beings. In the second body, all buddhas have the same intent: at the level of response, the buddhas share one intention. In the third body, all buddhas have the same substance: at the level of the dharma-body, the buddhas are fundamentally of one substance. Therefore, the emanation body is called 「多」—“many,” because it manifests many forms in accordance with sentient beings’ intentions; the responsive body is called 「一」—“one,” because the disciples have one intent and it manifests one form; the dharma-body is called 「不一不二」—“neither one nor two,” because it transcends every kind of characteristic and is not an object grasped through characteristics. The first body is manifested in dependence on the responsive body, the second in dependence on the dharma-body, while the dharma-body truly exists and has no place of dependence: the sequence leads layer by layer back to the basis.
The sūtra speaks of permanence and impermanence on both sides. Because the emanation body constantly turns the wheel of Dharma, responds to conditions everywhere, and continues its skillful means without interruption, it is called permanent; because it is not the basis, it is called impermanent. Because the responsive body has continued since beginningless time, and because sentient beings and its functions are both inexhaustible, it is called permanent; because it is not the basis, it is called impermanent. The dharma-body is not a conditioned dharma, has no differentiated characteristic, is the basis, and is like empty space; therefore, it is called permanent, without an impermanent side. The sūtra then distinguishes the emanation and responsive bodies through four alternatives: emanation but not responsive—the Tathāgata’s post-parinirvāṇa activity that benefits beings according to conditions through the sovereignty of vows; responsive but not emanation—a body before the grounds; both emanation and responsive—a body abiding in nirvāṇa with remainder; neither emanation nor responsive—the dharma-body. As for the dharma-body itself, the sūtra reveals it through 「二無所有」—“two absences”: both characteristic and the locus of characteristic are absent. It is neither existent nor nonexistent, neither one nor different, neither numbered nor unnumbered, neither bright nor dark. Its object is pure, its wisdom is pure, it cannot be discriminated, yet it can manifest the Tathāgata’s many activities.
This Body Is the Tathāgata-Womb: Permanence, Bliss, Self, and Purity
At this point, the sūtra suddenly throws the door open: if one understands this meaning, this body itself is the great vehicle, the Tathāgata-nature, and the Tathāgata-womb. The dharma-body is not a secret treasury possessed by the Buddha alone. The sūtra itself says that this body is the Tathāgata-nature and the Tathāgata-womb. In dependence upon it, the first mind is aroused; the minds cultivating the grounds, the mind of the irreversible ground, the mind of one birth remaining, the adamantine mind, and the Tathāgata mind are all manifested.
In dependence on the dharma-body, the sūtra teaches the four virtues of permanence, bliss, self, and purity. In dependence on its own substance, it is called permanent and called self; because of great samādhi, it is called bliss; because of great wisdom, it is called pure. When ordinary beings cling to the five aggregates as self and permanent, that is inversion. The permanence, bliss, self, and purity of the dharma-body are real after inversion has been completely severed. In dependence on great samādhi, Śūraṅgama and all other meditative concentrations, great loving-kindness and great compassion, every dhāraṇī, and every supernormal power appear. In dependence on great wisdom, the ten powers, four fearlessnesses, four unobstructed eloquences, and one hundred and eighty qualities exclusive to buddhas are manifested. They are like the limitless treasures that appear in dependence on a wish-fulfilling jewel. Yet this dharma-body, samādhi, and wisdom transcend every characteristic, do not cling to characteristics, and are neither eternalist nor annihilationist. This is called the middle way. Although there is discrimination, the substance does not discriminate; although there is the number three, there are no three substances.
Lest “three in number, but not three in substance” remain an abstraction, the sūtra offers a tangible simile. Someone seeking gold finds ore, breaks it, selects the pure portion, and smelts it in a furnace until pure gold emerges. The person then fashions it into rings, bracelets, and many ornaments. Although its shapes and functions are many, the nature of gold has never changed. The many manifestations of the three bodies are like the different shapes of rings and bracelets; the nature of the dharma-body is like the unchanged nature of gold.
A Path That Can Be Walked: Removing Obstructions through the Ten Grounds and the Three Purities of the Tathāgata Ground
Once the doctrine has been fully stated, the sūtra turns to practice. A good man or good woman seeking supreme liberation and cultivating worldly goodness comes to the Buddha and asks: What is wholesome? What is unwholesome? What is right practice? Beginning from this question, the sūtra lays out the entire path: hearing the Dharma, recollecting and retaining it with right mindfulness, arousing the mind to practice, and attaining the power of diligence. One removes the obstruction of laziness and enters the first ground; removes the obstruction to benefiting sentient beings and enters the second; removes the obstruction to refraining from affliction and enters the third—and so, removing one obstruction on each ground, one ultimately removes the cognitive obstruction and the root mind and enters the Tathāgata ground. That 「根本心」—“root mind” is the deepest of the three minds described earlier. When the ten grounds have been traversed and the root mind is exhausted, the dharma-body appears.
The Tathāgata ground is called supremely pure because of three purities: purity from afflictions, purity from suffering, and purity from characteristics. Lest “purity” be mistaken for “annihilation,” the sūtra gives four similes in succession, and every simile concludes at the same point. True gold is smelted, fired, and beaten until the dirt is gone, revealing the original purity of its nature; it does not mean there is no gold. Turbid water settles until the dregs are gone, revealing the original purity of water’s nature; it does not mean there is no water. When smoke, clouds, dust, and mist clear from the sky, the realm of empty space is pure; it does not mean there is no empty space. In a dream, one crosses a river, moving arms and legs; upon awakening, there is no water and no distinction between this shore and the farther shore, but this does not mean there is no mind. When the dharma-body is free from affliction, suffering and its arising have been removed, and delusive thought is exhausted, it is called pure—not nonexistent. Purity means the exhaustion of defilement, not the absence of substance.
At the end, the sūtra joins the three obstructions to the three bodies once more. When the afflictive obstruction is purified, the responsive body can manifest; when the karmic obstruction is purified, the emanation body can manifest; when the wisdom obstruction is purified, the dharma-body can manifest. As lightning emerges in dependence on space and light in dependence on lightning, so the responsive body manifests in dependence on the dharma-body and the emanation body in dependence on the responsive body. The three purities are a single-tasted, liberated, ultimate suchness. Therefore, the buddhas do not differ in substance.
Truly Seeing the Buddha
What, then, counts as “seeing the Buddha”? The sūtra’s answer is unexpected. If someone says, 「如來是我大師」—“The Tathāgata is my great teacher,” and has this resolute faith, that person should understand deeply that the Tathāgata’s body has no differentiation. Seeing the Buddha does not lie in visually perceiving the thirty-two marks, but in seeing the true suchness of dharmas in accord with reality. When every obstruction is extinguished and right wisdom in the dharma-realm of suchness is pure, 「如是見者，是名聖見，是則名為真實見佛」—“One who sees in this way has noble vision and is said truly to see the Buddha.” Although śrāvakas and solitary realizers have left the three realms, they still cannot know or see the real object they seek; ordinary beings, discriminating in an inverted way, are even more like a hare floating upon the sea. The sea is not impossible to cross; the hare’s strength is simply too feeble. Through immeasurable asaṃkhyeya eons, the buddhas and Tathāgatas spare neither body nor life and perform difficult ascetic practices before attaining this body, supreme and incomparable, beyond the domain of words, wondrously quiescent.
For this reason, the entrustment at the chapter’s end does not return to abstraction but emphasizes circulation. Those who hear and gain confident understanding of this Sūtra of Golden Light do not fall into evil destinies, are constantly born before the buddhas, have already been known and given a prediction by the Tathāgata, and will become irreversible from awakening. A realm in which this sūtra is taught receives four kinds of benefit. Before the assembly, Ākāśagarbha, Brahmā, Śakra, and the Four Heavenly Kings vow to accompany those who uphold the sūtra and confer benefit wherever they dwell. The Buddha confirms their vow: diligently circulate this wondrous king of sūtras, thereby causing the True Dharma long to abide in the world.
Through the Eye of Consciousness-Only: A Further Look
Everything above is the meaning of the Distinguishing the Three Bodies chapter itself. This edition also uses Huizhao’s Cien Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King as a reflecting mirror. The mirror is not the sūtra; consciousness-only is not the sūtra’s source. But when the same matter is viewed through the discipline of mind and consciousness, several of its patterns become more finely visible.
First, Huizhao correlates the sūtra’s emanation, responsive, and dharma bodies one by one with the three bodies of the consciousness-only tradition. The emanation body is identified with the transformation body. The responsive body is identified with the enjoyment body—and specifically classified as the 「他受用身」—“other-enjoyment body.” Huizhao derives four proofs from the sūtra itself: it manifests the thirty-two marks, whereas the virtues and marks of the self-enjoyment body are limitless rather than numerically bounded; it arises and ceases thought after thought and repeatedly appears, whereas the self-enjoyment body does not repeatedly appear; it manifests one form because the disciples have one intent, whereas the self-enjoyment body does not face disciples; and the sūtra itself says 「應身非化身者，是地前身」—“the responsive body that is not an emanation body is the body before the grounds.” The self-enjoyment body, meanwhile, is included within the dharma-body. The dharma-body is identified with the self-nature body. Huizhao’s own explanation proceeds through a combined discussion of nature and characteristics, while also reconciling the different accounts: the dharma-body is the pure dharma-realm together with the mind-products of the four wisdoms. Suchness is the self-nature dharma-body, the wisdom of suchness is the four wisdom-products, and the realized and the realizing are jointly called dharma-body.
Second, Huizhao says directly of the sūtra’s three characteristics—the wholly-imagined, the other-dependent, and accomplishment—that 「三相即三性」—“the three characteristics are precisely the three natures.” Awakening to the wholly-imagined yields the emanation body; cultivating and purifying the other-dependent yields the responsive body; purely realizing the perfectly-accomplished reveals the dharma-body. When the three natures are purified, the three bodies manifest, making this chapter a primary scriptural ground for the doctrine of the three natures. In explaining the three minds, the commentary records two traditions without deciding between them. Paramārtha uses skin, flesh, and bone as a simile: the mind that initiates activity is the skin of the six consciousnesses, the mind dependent on the root is the flesh of the seventh, and the root mind is the bone of the ālaya consciousness, the store consciousness. The Cien explanation instead interprets the mind that initiates activity as a mind associated with the afflictions to be severed on the paths of seeing and cultivation. Their stages of severance are also located: the path of suppression is at the thirty mind-stages before the grounds, while the supreme path reaches completion only at the adamantine stage. As for whether the three bodies are innately present or newly attained, Huizhao’s answer in framing the difficulty is balanced: 「據因俱本有，談果竝新成」—“considered as causes, they are all originally present; discussed as fruits, they are all newly accomplished.” Their natures are present at the causal stage; as bodies at the fruit, they are newly accomplished.
Third, in his analysis of permanence and impermanence, Huizhao reconciles the passage through three kinds of permanence: the self-nature body has the permanence of self-nature, the enjoyment body has uninterrupted permanence, and the emanation body has continuous permanence. The sūtra says that the emanation body is permanent because it constantly turns the wheel of Dharma and continues its skillful means without interruption; this is precisely continuous permanence. In the passage on the three obstructions, the commentary clarifies that the wisdom obstruction is the cognitive obstruction: wisdom itself is not an obstruction; rather, because the cognitive obstruction prevents wisdom from arising, it is called the wisdom obstruction. Even the gold-ore simile is correlated with the five stages of practice. Finding the ore is the stage of provisions, when one knows that one’s own body has buddha-nature. Breaking the ore and selecting the pure portion is the stage of preparation, when apprehended object and apprehending subject are removed and one abides in the contemplation of consciousness-only. Smelting in the furnace is the irreversible-ground mind through the adamantine mind. Pure gold is the Tathāgata ground.
One final historical note: Dharmakṣema’s four-fascicle recension lacks this chapter. Paramārtha added a translation under the Liang, and Yijing translated it anew under the Tang. Zhiyi of Tiantai and Jizang of the Sanlun school therefore had no corresponding chapter in the base recensions on which they commented. Zhiyi nevertheless says in his topical exposition, 「若作三身者，即有〈三身分別品〉專論其義」—“if interpreted in terms of the three bodies, there is precisely the Three Bodies’ Distinguishing chapter that specially discusses their meaning,” and reads the three bodies contemplatively: the immediately empty is the reward body, the immediately provisional is the responsive body, and the immediately middle is the dharma-body. Jizang retains the framework of dharma, responsive, and emanation; Huizhao correlates the transformation, enjoyment, and self-nature bodies. The three masters’ readings differ and are recorded without adjudicating—each reading the sūtra from its own place. What this consciousness-only mirror reveals is the chapter’s pattern of “mind and body”: as three levels of mind cease, three dimensions of body are revealed. It is a map of the transformation of the basis, a pattern whose turns become especially clear through the eye of consciousness-only.
考據Apparatus
本品宣一切如來有三種身——化身、應身、法身；前二假名有、法身真實有為本，依三身說有餘、無餘、無住處三涅槃，凡夫以三相三心縛障遠離三身，十地斷障至如來地三淨。本編義疏鏡＝慈恩慧沼《金光明最勝王經疏》——化應法三身逐一繫變化身、受用身、自性身，三相即三性，三障即惑業所知，逐句可徵於《疏》。天台智顗、三論吉藏所疏皆曇無讖四卷本（無此品），其三身談並錄為旁證，誌錄不判。
一、科判定位
| 科判系統 | 此品之位 |
|---|---|
| 義淨 T665 三十一品 | 第三 分別三身品（卷二；〔T16 0408b06〕起）· 承〈壽量品〉果說而分別智果 |
| 慧沼《疏》科文（主錨·慈恩） | 品題三門分別：一辨來意、二釋品名、三彰妨難〔T39 0208b22〕；品內經文大分為四〔T39 0209a27〕；三身義本體五門分別〔T39 0210b08〕、諸門分別九門〔T39 0214b19〕 |
| 天台《玄義》（旁證） | 明宗：「〈三身分別品〉雖復問因，佛答三身，還是果為正意」〔T39n1783 0011a21〕（所疏為讖本·此品義證取新本·詳目四） |
慧沼來意三重，首重承〈壽量品〉〔T39n1788 0208b23–c04〕：
「來意有三：一、前〈壽量品〉總說菩提、涅槃二果，未能別知。〈壽量品〉內已為別說涅槃斷果，未為分別菩提智果。今為分別三身不同，令差別解障治有別，修因而證〔……〕甚深祕密即三身果，如法修行即障治因，故此品來。第二來意〔……〕故無性《攝論》彼〈果智分〉云『由斷所斷，獲得無垢無罣礙智故。斷殊勝無間，次說果智殊勝。』故前品後有此品生。第三來意，為機宜聞，慈悲為說令獲利樂。」〔T39n1788 0208b23–0208c04〕
品內大科四段〔T39n1788 0209a27–29〕：「就此品中大分為四，一菩薩啟請、二如來為答、三『善男子如是知見』下結勸修行。四『爾時虛空藏』已下領解持學。」三身義五門（釋名·出體·開合廢立·因起果相·諸門分別）〔0210b08〕，諸門分別九門（假實·二利·有餘無餘·治障廢立·三體同別·一多·能所相依〔行文標「有依非依」0219c11〕·常無常·四句）〔0214b19–23〕。
釋品名（梵漢語序·依主釋）〔T39n1788 0208c13／0208c21–24〕：「分謂分段，別謂殊別，即為分段殊別三身。」「應云三身之分別，名〈三身分別品〉，是依主釋。今順此方云〈分別三身品〉。」——真諦本品題正作〈三身分別品〉，義淨本順此方語序（目二）。
二、異譯·對勘
本品兩漢譯：義淨 T665〈分別三身品第三〉（底本）· 真諦譯（存合部 T664〈三身分別品第三〉，題署「梁三藏真諦譯」〔T16 0362c11〕）。曇無讖 T663 無此品——讖本十九品逐品覆核場景，無與本品同構之段：其〈壽量品〉作信相自疑佛壽「何因何緣，釋迦如來壽命短促方八十年？」〔T16n0663 0335c19–20〕，四佛答以「汝今不應思量如來壽命短促」〔0336a15–18〕；次品即〈懺悔品〉「爾時信相菩薩，即於其夜夢見金鼓」〔0336b11–15〕。全帙未見虛空藏啟請、如來分別三身之場景。〔附誌旁觀·不承擔此判：三身·應身·化身三名於讖本〇見，然此三名皆義淨譯法，異譯之〇見唯證譯法不同；「法身」五見皆泛言佛身功德——〈空品〉「求於如來，真實法身」〔0340c06〕·〈四天王品〉讚偈「佛真法身，猶如虛空，應物現形，如水中月」〔0344b03〕·〈捨身品〉願文兩見·經前序一見。〕品為梁真諦補譯，寶貴〈合部金光明經序〉自證〔T16n0664 0359b22–24〕：
「後逮梁世，真諦三藏於建康譯〈三身分別〉、〈業障滅〉、〈陀羅尼最淨地〉、〈依空滿願〉等四品，足前出沒為二十二品。」〔T16n0664 0359b22–24〕
句一 發問（甚深祕密）
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 義淨 T665 | 云何菩薩摩訶薩於諸如來甚深祕密，如法修行？ | T16n0665 0408b09–10 |
| 真諦（T664） | 云何菩薩摩訶薩於諸如來如法正修行？ | T16n0664 0362c15–16 |
異文所繫：「甚深祕密」唯義淨本有；慧沼即依之科「甚深祕密即三身果，如法修行即障治因」〔T39n1788 0208b28〕。真諦本以「正修行」攝之。
句二 三身名目
兩本全同：「一者、化身，二者、應身，三者、法身」〔T16n0665 0408b12–13／T16n0664 0362c20〕——三身名目為兩譯共許之骨幹。
句三 縛障三相
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 義淨 T665 | 一者、遍計所執相，二者、依他起相，三者、成就相。 | T16n0665 0409a12–13 |
| 真諦（T664） | 一者、思惟分別相，二者、依他起相，三者、成就相。 | T16n0664 0363b16–17 |
異文所繫：首相譯名——義淨用玄奘系「遍計所執」，真諦作「思惟分別」；第二第三相兩本同。此為兩代譯語之對照樞：同一梵語名相，前後譯風於一句中並見。
句四 三道之名
義淨「依最勝道，根本心盡」〔T16n0665 0409a20〕；真諦「依勝拔道，根本心盡」〔T16n0664 0363b23〕。三心之名（起事心·依根本心·根本心）兩本全同。
句五 法身四德
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 義淨 T665 | 依於自體說常、說我，依大三昧故說於樂，依於大智故說清淨。 | T16n0665 0409c11–13 |
| 真諦（T664） | 依於自體說常說實、依大三昧故說於樂、依於大智故說清淨。 | T16n0664 0364a09–11 |
異文所繫：義淨明用「我」字，成常樂我淨四德之文；真諦作「實」。
句六 品末付囑
義淨「汝等應當勤心流布此妙經王，則令正法久住於世」〔T16n0665 0411a15–16〕；真諦「汝等應當如是修行如此經典，則法久住於世」〔T16n0664 0365b08–10〕——流布／修行之異。
餘異舉要
假名有／真實有：真諦作「是第三身名為真有，為前二身而作本故」〔T16n0664 0363a07〕。用字系：獨覺／緣覺·傍生／畜生·阿蘇羅／阿修羅·惑障／煩惱障（〔T16n0665 0410b07〕／〔T16n0664 0364c07〕）。三障現三身一段，真諦作「性極清淨攝受法身、智慧清淨攝受應身、三昧清淨攝受化身」〔T16n0664 0364c10–11〕，義淨作「由性淨故能現法身，智慧清淨能現應身，三昧清淨能現化身」——現／攝受之異。「一百八十不共之法」兩本同文〔T16n0665 0409c17／T16n0664 0364a16〕——經自有之數，非孤例異讀。
三、唯識義之經據（眼）
此品經文自身即立三性名目（遍計所執·依他起·成就）、三心斷道、三障顯三身，為慈恩三身義之正經據；慧沼《疏》逐句讀之，可徵。
（一） 化應法三身，繫變化、受用、自性三身——慧沼列名門逐一對繫〔T39n1788 0210b11–0210c14〕。化身：「梁《攝論》云『由佛本願自在力故，似彼眾生變異顯現，名變化身。』」〔0210b12〕應身六名，第二即受用：「二名受用身，受用淨土大乘法樂。《唯識論》分自他受用，自受用者恒自受用廣大法樂，他受用者令彼受用大乘法樂。」〔0210b24–25〕法身五名，第二即自性身：「一名法身，無垢真如功德所依名為法身〔……〕二名自性身〔……〕《成唯識》云『謂諸如來真淨法界，受用變化平等所依，名自性身。』」〔0210c04–09〕
（二） 此經應身判屬他受用，四證〔T39n1788 0213b25–0213c04〕：
「問：此應身、二受用身，是何身攝？答：他受用。何以得知？答：略四證明。一、此文云『如如如如智，本願力故，是身得現三十二相八十種好』故。若自受用，功德相好皆悉無邊故。二、下云『二身假名不實，念念生滅，不定住故數數出現。』自受用身非數數出現故。三、下云『第二佛身，弟子一意故現一相。』自受用身非對弟子故。四、下云『應身非化身』者，是地前身故。」〔T39n1788 0213b25–0213c04〕
自受用之歸屬：「問：若爾，自受用豈不三攝耶？答：非三不攝，是法身故。」〔0213c10〕又會通諸說成四種論門（性相合論／性相別論／假實二合論／假實別論）〔0214b16–17〕：「故知諸說義不相違。」
（三） 三相即三性，三性淨而三身顯——「三相即三性，是所應知境相故。《攝大乘論》說此三性名所應知勝相。」〔T39n1788 0218a05〕治障廢立門核心判文〔0218b02–07〕：
「由悟遍計所執相得化身〔……〕修淨依他起，智斷染故，得應身。由智生時能斷障漏，故能淨證圓成實性顯得法身，故至三身。」〔T39n1788 0218b03–07〕
（四） 三心雙釋（真諦·慈恩並錄）〔T39n1788 0218b22–26〕：
「言三心者，依真諦三藏釋云：『一起事心，是六識皮；二依根本心，是第七肉；三根本心，是阿梨耶識骨。』慈恩唯識法師云：『起事心者，謂見修煩惱相應之心。由此煩惱起造諸業，感異熟果事，名起事心。』」〔T39n1788 0218b22–26〕
斷位：「依諸伏道起事心盡者，謂在地前三十心位」〔0218c16〕；「此中二說，如《成唯識》第十卷明」〔0219a02〕。八地所知障：引《解深密經》「八地已去唯有所依所知障在」〔0218c23〕。
（五） 法身＝淨法界四智心品——「此法身有二：一自性法身、二功德法身〔……〕即淨法界四智心品總名法身，能證所證合名法身。」〔T39n1788 0214a12–16〕「如如，即自性法身。如如智，即四智品。」〔0214a20〕假實所以：「以如為本、從智變起，故與前二而作根本〔……〕法身唯攝如如，如如是本不從他起，故得名實。」〔0214b27–29〕
（六） 常無常門，會三常——總判「以有義故而說於常，通於三身。說無常者，不遍法身」〔T39n1788 0219c26〕；引《攝大乘》「所依常故，應化亦常」〔0220a22〕；引《大莊嚴論》三常〔0220b11–13〕：
「由自性常故，一切諸佛自性身常住。由無間常故，一切諸佛食身常住。由相續常故，一切諸佛化身常住。」〔T39n1788 0220b11–13〕
法身常：「如如是諸法之真性，云是根本。無形相故如虛空，所以名常。」〔0220b26–27〕
（七） 智障即所知障，三障淨而三身現〔T39n1788 0230c02–08〕：
「智謂無漏本後二智。智體非障，猶所知障礙智不生名為智障〔……〕由惑障淨，智慧得生為應身；由業障淨，神通自在得化身；由所知障淨，所覆理顯得現法身。」〔T39n1788 0230c02–08〕
（八） 本有新成·在纏出纏——彰妨難首問：「據因俱本有，談果竝新成。」〔T39n1788 0208c26〕引《勝鬘經》「在纏名如來藏，出纏名法身」〔0209a02〕。得身時位：「竝在金剛已後，佛地方起故〔……〕若據分得及相似得〔……〕在十信位分得化身〔……〕初地已去得應法身。」〔0219a08–20〕金礦喻配五位：資糧位知自身有佛性如得金礦，加行位「漸次學，除所取能取，住唯識觀等，如擇精者」〔0226c17〕，燒鍊喻不退地心至金剛心，淨金喻如來地。
四、諸家異釋（古德·標宗·誌錄不判）
此品慧沼《疏》為唯一逐文全疏（智顗、吉藏所疏皆讖本，無此品）；天台、三論之三身談皆在讖本框架之經題玄談與壽量品下，並錄為旁證，誌其異而不判。
慈恩·慧沼《金光明最勝王經疏》T39n1788（鏡骨幹）
化應法繫變化、受用、自性；應身判他受用（四證）；三相即三性；三心雙釋；智障即所知障；三常會通（詳目三）。無性種姓義亦此品段見：「有三乘性，令得果地究竟；無性之人同無窮盡，不入涅槃而為利益」〔0214c16〕「不定種姓諸聲聞」〔0222b25〕——誌其宗義所在，經文自身無此判。
天台·智顗（旁證·所疏讖本）
《玄義》引真諦譬式而破其分置〔T39n1783 0002a05–07／0002a20〕：
「真諦三藏云『三字譬三種三法：一譬三身、二譬三德、三譬三位。』譬三身者，金體真實以譬法身，光用能照以譬應身，明能遍益以譬化身。」〔T39n1783 0002a05–07〕 「夫三身三德本是果上圓滿之名，而今分置，三德殘缺不足。」〔0002a20〕
十種三法標數，三身居第四〔0002c01〕。圓義：「若言三身皆真實至理是法身，契理之智是報身，起用是應身」〔0005a10〕觀心三身：「言即中者即是法身，即空者即是報身，即假者即是應身，是名觀心三身金光明。」〔0009b02〕玄義疏面雖讖本，義證明取新本此品：「若作三身者，即有〈三身分別品〉專論其義」〔0005a23〕；直引品文「〈三身品〉云『與諸佛同體、與諸佛同意、與諸佛同事』」〔0006b24〕。《文句》亦然：「新本具有三周說法之文〔……〕佛分別三身，下根得益」〔T39n1785 0050a25–27〕；誌真諦科判而揀之：「三藏云：正說有兩段，〈壽量〉是果段、〈三身〉是因段」〔0057b21〕；引「〈三身品〉云『化身亦常，處處說法』，是故為常」〔0058c02〕。
三論·吉藏《金光明經疏》T39n1787（旁證·所疏讖本）
釋題承真諦譬式：「金體真實譬法身佛、光用能照譬應身佛、明能遍益猶如化身。」〔T39n1787 0160b14〕其三身架構係法／應／化（全疏「報身」〇見，實文作「報佛」）。品目闕如自證：「若論正因，在七卷經〈三身品〉中，此經略無。」〔0162b06〕
宋山家·知禮（旁證）
「此經新本顯以三身而立品目，品內三身燦然可舉」〔T39n1784 0017b29〕「若七卷經有〈三身品〉，此亦是文。今解四卷且名為義。」〔0042a26〕會真諦名目與天台名目：「彼經三身與法、報、應，二三名異其義是同。」〔0017c20〕
並錄（誌·不判）
同一化應法三身：慧沼繫變化、受用（他受用）、自性三身，法身攝四智心品；智顗以觀心配即空即假即中（報身居中而非『應化法』直對）；吉藏守法應化之架、不立報身之名；知禮判名異義同。「法報應」連稱四典唯知禮有之（宋代山家約詞，隋疏無此連文——約詞紀律）。三家異讀異判，並錄不判。
五、術語
| 漢 | 傳梵（羅馬字·發音輔助） | 古德所徵 | 義 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 化身 | nirmāṇa-kāya | 慧沼繫變化身，引梁《攝論》「由佛本願自在力故，似彼眾生變異顯現，名變化身」〔T39n1788 0210b12〕 | 隨眾生意、界、行，應時應處示現之身 |
| 應身 | — | 慧沼六名之釋：「恒沙德成與理相應、名曰應身」；第二名受用身〔T39n1788 0210b21–25〕；判他受用（四證·目三） | 為諸菩薩說真諦、如如如如智本願力故現三十二相之身 |
| 法身 | dharma-kāya | 慧沼五名之釋：「無垢真如功德所依名為法身」；第二名自性身〔T39n1788 0210c04–09〕 | 唯有如如如如智，真實有，為前二身根本 |
| 如如·如如智 | tathatā | 慧沼「如如，即自性法身。如如智，即四智品」〔T39n1788 0214a20〕 | 所證真如之理與能證無分別之智 |
| 遍計所執相·依他起相·成就相 | — | 〔本經 0409a12–13〕；慧沼「三相即三性，是所應知境相故」〔T39n1788 0218a05〕；真諦本首相作「思惟分別相」〔T16n0664 0363b16〕 | 凡夫縛障之三相；即三性之名（義淨用玄奘系譯語） |
| 三心（起事·依根本·根本） | — | 〔本經 0409a18〕；慧沼雙釋並錄真諦（六識皮·第七肉·阿梨耶識骨）與慈恩（見修煩惱相應之心）〔T39n1788 0218b22–26〕 | 凡夫不至三身之三層心；三道斷之而三身順顯 |
| 無住處涅槃 | apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa | 〔本經 0409a04「依此三身，一切諸佛說無住處涅槃」〕；『不住生死』一面為慧沼所補〔T39n1788 0217c07〕：「亦應云不住生死」 | 經自說二身不住涅槃、法身不二故不住涅槃，依三身立無住處涅槃；『不住生死』＝慧沼補釋，非本經逐字 |
| 甚深祕密 | — | 慧沼「甚深祕密即三身果，如法修行即障治因」〔T39n1788 0208b28〕；真諦本無此語（目二） | 虛空藏所問之如來祕密，即三身 |
| 怖畏歡喜 | — | 慧沼「以為無始我見縛故〔……〕於生死生怖、於涅槃生喜，不能廣利」〔T39n1788 0213b09〕 | 應身所除之二病：怖生死、喜涅槃（承「生死涅槃是一味」） |
| 一百八十不共之法 | — | 〔本經 0409c17〕；真諦本同文〔T16n0664 0364a16〕 | 依大智所現不共佛法之數（兩校本一致） |
六、譬喻·修辭
（一） 畫空作莊嚴具——〔T16 0408c14「譬如畫空作莊嚴具，是難思議」〕：喻依如如、如如智成就佛法之難思議——於無相處成無邊莊嚴。
（二） 日月水鏡光明，三合影生——〔T16 0408c22「譬如日月無有分別，亦如水鏡無有分別，光明亦無分別，三種和合得有影生」〕：日月、水鏡、光明各無分別而影像自現；喻法如如、如如智無分別，願自在故，眾生有感，應化自現。
（三） 水鏡空影——〔T16 0408c27「譬如無量無邊水鏡，依於光故，空影得現種種異相，空者即是無相」〕：受化弟子是法身影，於二身現種種相，法身地無異相。
（四） 金礦鍊金——〔T16 0409c29「遂得金礦〔……〕爐中銷鍊，得清淨金，隨意迴轉，作諸鐶釧種種嚴具，雖有諸用，金性不改」〕：慧沼配五位（得礦喻資糧位知有佛性、擇精喻加行位住唯識觀、銷鍊喻不退至金剛心、淨金喻如來地、鐶釧諸用喻功德不失定慧性）〔T39n1788 0226c10–0227a〕。
（五） 真金·濁水·虛空·夢渡河四喻（非謂無體）——〔T16 0410a〕：金經燒打顯性淨「非謂無金」、水澄清淨「非謂無水」、空除雲霧「非謂無空」、夢覺無水「非謂無心」——四喻同軛一句「非謂無體」，遮清淨即斷滅之疑。
（六） 依空出電，依電出光——〔T16 0410b09「譬如依空出電，依電出光」〕：慧沼「空體遍常，又性本淨，故喻法身。應化無常，故喻電光」〔T39n1788 0230c11–12〕。
（七） 如意寶珠——〔T16 0409c19「譬如依如意寶珠，無量無邊種種珍寶，悉皆得現」〕：喻依大三昧寶、大智慧寶出生無量佛法。
（八） 兔浮海——〔T16 0410c01「如兔浮海，必不能過。所以者何？力微劣故」〕：喻二乘凡夫求真實境不能知見——非境不可至，力微劣故。
七、互讀·承衍
（一） 本品所依論（慧沼《疏》所引·穩定徵引·本藏諸典相涉）：
- 《攝大乘論》〈彼果智分〉——來意即引無性釋「由斷所斷，獲得無垢無罣礙智」〔T39n1788 0208c02〕；三身章為此品義理之論本（本藏《攝大乘論》已成編）。
- 《成唯識論》第十——三身、自他受用、三心斷位之所本〔0210c09·0219a02〕（本藏《成唯識論》已成編）。
- 《大乘莊嚴經論》——三常之所本〔0220b11〕（本藏在譯）。
- 《楞伽經》——智慧佛、功德佛、如如佛之名〔0210b28–29／0210c13〕；「阿梨耶識者，名空如來藏，具足熏習無漏法故，名不空如來藏」〔0223a21〕（本藏《楞伽》已成編）。
- 《勝鬘經》——「在纏名如來藏，出纏名法身」〔0209a02〕。
- 《解深密經》——八地所知障〔0218c23〕（本藏《解深密》已成編）。
- 《辯中邊論》〈無上乘品〉·《瑜伽師地論》·《佛地經論》——三無上〔0210a29〕·諸門所引（本藏《辯中邊》《瑜伽》已成編）。
（二） 經內互讀：本品承〈如來壽量品第二〉——慧沼判壽量總說二果、此品分別智果〔0208b23〕；三身常無常之義補足壽量常住之說。三障清淨章下接〈滅業障品第五〉（業障淨能現化身之廣說）。
（三） 承衍：慧沼為窺基嫡嗣，此《疏》云「餘如《法苑．三身義林》辨」〔0211a19〕即承窺基《大乘法苑義林章》；本藏法華編以窺基《玄贊》為鏡（三佛菩提軸〈壽量品〉），此編以慧沼《疏》為鏡（三身軸此品）——師資相銜，同一慈恩三身義之兩面。天台後學知禮於宋世重會此品名目〔T39n1784 0017c20〕——各承其宗讀法，誌不判。
八、校本定位
- 義淨 T665（底本）：〈分別三身品第三〉〔T16n0665 0408b06〕—〔0411a16〕（卷二·純長行無偈）。發問 0408b09 · 三身名目 0408b12 · 應身 0408b21–26 · 法身 0408b27 · 假實 0408b29 · 三涅槃 0409a02–05 · 三相 0409a12 · 三心 0409a18 · 同事同意同體 0409a24 · 常無常 0409b03 · 四句 0409b17 · 如來藏 0409c03 · 四德 0409c11 · 中道 0409c23 · 十地 0410a03 · 三淨四喻 0410a20 · 三障現三身 0410b07 · 真實見佛 0410b15 · 聞經益 0410c18 · 四種利益 0411a01。源檔：原典層（逐字校訖）。
- 真諦譯（合部 T664）：〈三身分別品第三〉〔T16n0664 0362c10〕—〔0365b10〕（卷一末）。題署「梁三藏真諦譯」0362c11（題署宋元明宮本闕、品題「金光明經」冠明本闕——校記誌）。發問 0362c15 · 三身名目 0362c20 · 思惟分別相 0363b16 · 勝拔道 0363b23 · 說常說實 0364a10 · 品末 0365b08。
- 曇無讖 T663：無此品（十九品逐品場景覆核：〈壽量品〉信相疑佛壽、四佛答〔0335c19–0336a18〕，次品〈懺悔品〉夢見金鼓〔0336b11〕，無虛空藏啟請分別三身之段。附誌旁觀·不承擔此判：三名〇見係義淨譯法之異；法身五見皆泛言〔0335a13 序·0340c07 空品·0344b03 四天王品讚偈·0354c02–03 捨身品願文〕）。
- 成立史：寶貴〈合部序〉「後逮梁世，真諦三藏於建康譯〈三身分別〉〔……〕等四品，足前出沒為二十二品」〔T16n0664 0359b22–24〕；吉藏自證「若論正因，在七卷經〈三身品〉中，此經略無」〔T39n1787 0162b06〕；知禮「若七卷經有〈三身品〉，此亦是文。今解四卷且名為義」〔T39n1784 0042a26〕。
- 慧沼《疏》T39n1788（義疏鏡）：〈分別三身品〉〔0208b21〕—〔0234a10〕（卷二末—卷三本；卷三本起 0219a24）。三門 0208b22 · 來意 0208b23–c04 · 釋名 0208c13／0208c21 · 本有新成 0208c25 · 因體別 0209a06 · 三體同別 0209a10 · 大科四段 0209a27 · 四祕密 0209c14 · 五門 0210b08 · 列名門 0210b11–0210c14 · 應身二義 0210c29 · 十自在對十怖畏 0212b05 · 怖喜雙除 0213b08 · 他受用四證 0213b25 · 法身出體 0214a12 · 九門 0214b19 · 假實 0214b25 · 無性利益 0214c16 · 三相即三性 0218a05 · 三性三身配 0218b02 · 三心雙釋 0218b22 · 伏道地前 0218c17 · 八地所知障 0218c23 · 得身時位 0219a07 · 有依非依 0219c11 · 常無常 0219c25–0220b27 · 金礦五位 0226c10 · 五果離繫 0230b19 · 智障釋 0230c02 · 空電光喻 0230c11 · 五怖畏 0231c25。
- 天台旁證：《玄義》T39n1783 譬式 0002a05 · 破分置 0002a20 · 十種三法 0002c01 · 圓義 0005a10 · 引品 0005a23／0006b24 · 觀心三身 0009b02 · 明宗 0011a21。《文句》T39n1785 新本三周 0050a25 · 真諦科判 0057b21 · 引品 0058c02。
- 三論旁證：吉藏《疏》T39n1787 譬式 0160b14 · 壽量果 0161c21 · 此經略無 0162b06。
- 宋山家旁證：知禮《拾遺記》T39n1784 新本立品 0017b29 · 名異義同 0017c20 · 品文之判 0042a26。
- 異讀誌：T665 品內文字異讀四條（0408 用＝因【西】·0408 說字宋元明宮西本闕·0410 離＝雜【三】【宮】·0410 兔＝免【明】【宮】），另大正編者梵名腳註三條（非經文）；T664 品內異讀三十八條（含題署條·多宋元明宮小異）。正文皆取大正定讀。
This chapter declares that every Tathāgata has three kinds of body—the emanation body, the responsive body, and the dharma-body. The first two exist by provisional designation; the dharma-body truly exists and serves as their basis. On the basis of the three bodies, the sūtra teaches nirvāṇa with remainder, nirvāṇa without remainder, and non-abiding nirvāṇa. Ordinary beings are bound and obstructed by three characteristics and three minds, while the obstructions removed through the ten grounds culminate in the three purities of the Tathāgata ground. The exegetical mirror of this edition is Huizhao’s Cien, consciousness-only Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King: it correlates the sūtra’s emanation, responsive, and dharma bodies respectively with the transformation, enjoyment, and self-nature bodies; identifies the three characteristics with the three natures; and identifies the three obstructions as the afflictive, karmic, and cognitive obstructions. Each point is textually attested in the commentary. Zhiyi of Tiantai and Jizang of the Sanlun school both commented on Dharmakṣema’s four-fascicle recension, which lacks this chapter. Their discussions of the three bodies are recorded as collateral testimony without adjudicating among them.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
| Outline system | Placement of this chapter |
|---|---|
| Yijing’s thirty-one-chapter T665 | Chapter 3, Distinguishing the Three Bodies (fascicle two; beginning at 〔T16 0408b06〕) · It follows the teaching of the fruit in the Lifespan chapter and distinguishes the fruit of wisdom. |
| Huizhao’s outline in the Commentary (primary anchor · Cien) | The chapter title is treated through three approaches: (1) discerning the reason for its coming, (2) explaining the chapter title, and (3) setting out difficulties and responses 〔T39 0208b22〕. The chapter’s sūtra text is broadly divided into four parts 〔T39 0209a27〕. The substance of the doctrine of the three bodies is treated through five approaches 〔T39 0210b08〕, followed by nine approaches of further analysis 〔T39 0214b19〕. |
| Tiantai’s Profound Meaning (collateral testimony) | In explaining the central purport: 「〈三身分別品〉雖復問因，佛答三身，還是果為正意」—“Although the Distinguishing the Three Bodies chapter asks about the cause, the Buddha answers in terms of the three bodies; the fruit remains its principal intent” 〔T39n1783 0011a21〕. Zhiyi’s base text is the Dharmakṣema recension; for this doctrinal testimony he expressly draws on the newer recension. See Topic IV. |
Huizhao gives three reasons for the chapter’s arrival. The first takes it as a continuation of the Lifespan chapter 〔T39n1788 0208b23–c04〕:
「來意有三：一、前〈壽量品〉總說菩提、涅槃二果，未能別知。〈壽量品〉內已為別說涅槃斷果，未為分別菩提智果。今為分別三身不同，令差別解障治有別，修因而證〔……〕甚深祕密即三身果，如法修行即障治因，故此品來。第二來意〔……〕故無性《攝論》彼〈果智分〉云『由斷所斷，獲得無垢無罣礙智故。斷殊勝無間，次說果智殊勝。』故前品後有此品生。第三來意，為機宜聞，慈悲為說令獲利樂。」〔T39n1788 0208b23–0208c04〕 — “There are three reasons for its coming. First, the preceding Lifespan chapter spoke in general of the two fruits, awakening and nirvāṇa, without enabling them to be known distinctly. Within that chapter, the fruit of severance, nirvāṇa, had already been explained separately, but the fruit of wisdom, awakening, had not yet been distinguished. Now the differences among the three bodies are distinguished, so that one may understand separately the distinct obstructions and their distinct remedies, cultivate their causes, and realize them.… ‘Profound mystery’ is the fruit of the three bodies; ‘practicing in accordance with the Dharma’ is the causal practice that remedies the obstructions. Therefore this chapter comes. The second reason … is as Asvabhāva’s commentary on the Compendium says in the section on the wisdom of the fruit: ‘Through severing what is to be severed, one obtains stainless, unobstructed wisdom. Immediately after the excellence of severance, the excellence of the wisdom of the fruit is taught.’ Therefore this chapter arises after the preceding one. The third reason is that, compassionately responding to what the capacities should hear, the teaching is given so that they may obtain benefit and well-being.”
The chapter’s text has four main divisions 〔T39n1788 0209a27–29〕: 「就此品中大分為四，一菩薩啟請、二如來為答、三『善男子如是知見』下結勸修行。四『爾時虛空藏』已下領解持學。」—“This chapter is broadly divided into four: first, the bodhisattva opens with a request; second, the Tathāgata answers; third, from ‘Good man, one who knows and sees in this way’ onward, the text concludes by encouraging practice; and fourth, from ‘At that time Ākāśagarbha’ onward, the assembly receives the teaching, understands it, and undertakes to uphold and learn it.” The doctrine of the three bodies is then treated through five approaches—explaining their names, establishing their substance, analyzing their expansion or contraction and their institution or abandonment, explaining the arising of causes and the characteristics of fruits, and further analyses 〔0210b08〕. The latter comprise nine approaches—provisional versus real, the two benefits, nirvāṇa with and without remainder, the treatment of obstructions and the institution of distinctions, the identity or difference of the three substances, one and many, the dependence of agent and object (the text labels this 「有依非依」—“having dependence and not having dependence” at 0219c11), permanence and impermanence, and the four alternatives 〔0214b19–23〕.
In explaining the chapter title (Sanskrit-Chinese word order and a dependent determinative compound), Huizhao writes 〔T39n1788 0208c13／0208c21–24〕: 「分謂分段，別謂殊別，即為分段殊別三身。」—“Fen means to divide into sections; bie means to distinguish differences. Thus it means dividing and distinguishing the three bodies.” He continues: 「應云三身之分別，名〈三身分別品〉，是依主釋。今順此方云〈分別三身品〉。」—“It should say ‘the distinguishing of the three bodies’ and be titled Chapter on the Three Bodies’ Distinguishing; this is a dependent determinative explanation. Following the usage of this land, however, it is called Chapter on Distinguishing the Three Bodies.” Paramārtha’s chapter title is indeed The Three Bodies’ Distinguishing, while Yijing’s title follows Chinese word order. See Topic II.
II. Alternate Translations · Collation of the Three Translations
This chapter has two Chinese translations: Yijing’s Distinguishing the Three Bodies, Chapter 3, in T665 (the base text), and Paramārtha’s translation preserved in the composite T664 as The Three Bodies’ Distinguishing, Chapter 3, bearing the attribution 「梁三藏真諦譯」—“Translated by the Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha of the Liang” 〔T16 0362c11〕. Dharmakṣema’s T663 has no corresponding chapter—its nineteen chapters were reviewed scene by scene, and none is structured like this one. Its Lifespan chapter has Xinxiang doubting the Buddha’s lifespan for himself: 「何因何緣，釋迦如來壽命短促方八十年？」—“For what cause and condition is Śākyamuni Tathāgata’s lifespan cut short at a mere eighty years?” 〔T16n0663 0335c19–20〕, and the four buddhas answer 「汝今不應思量如來壽命短促」—“You should not now reckon the Tathāgata’s lifespan as cut short” 〔0336a15–18〕; the next chapter is Repentance, opening 「爾時信相菩薩，即於其夜夢見金鼓」—“Then the bodhisattva Xinxiang, that very night, dreamt of a golden drum” 〔0336b11–15〕. Nowhere in that recension does Ākāśagarbha make a request and the Tathāgata distinguish three bodies. 〔Recorded as collateral observation only, carrying none of this judgment: three bodies, responsive body, and emanation body occur zero times in Dharmakṣema’s recension, but all three are Yijing’s renderings, and a zero count across recensions attests only to a difference of rendering. Its five occurrences of 「法身」 (“dharma-body”) all refer broadly to the Buddha’s bodily virtues: the Emptiness chapter has 「求於如來，真實法身」—“seek the Tathāgata’s true dharma-body” 〔0340c06〕; a praise verse in the Four Heavenly Kings chapter reads 「佛真法身，猶如虛空，應物現形，如水中月」—“The Buddha’s true dharma-body is like empty space; responding to beings, it manifests forms like the moon in water” 〔0344b03〕; there are two occurrences in the aspiration of the Giving Up the Body chapter and one in the preface.〕 That the chapter was added in Paramārtha’s Liang translation is attested by Baogui’s Preface to the Composite Sūtra of Golden Light 〔T16n0664 0359b22–24〕:
「後逮梁世，真諦三藏於建康譯〈三身分別〉、〈業障滅〉、〈陀羅尼最淨地〉、〈依空滿願〉等四品，足前出沒為二十二品。」〔T16n0664 0359b22–24〕 — “Later, in the Liang, Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha translated at Jiankang the four chapters The Three Bodies’ Distinguishing, Extinguishing Karmic Obstructions, The Dhāraṇī of the Most Purified Grounds, and Fulfilling Vows through Emptiness, supplementing what had been missing from the earlier translation and bringing the total to twenty-two chapters.”
Passage 1 · The Question (the profound mystery)
| Edition | Verbatim text | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Yijing T665 | 〔云何菩薩摩訶薩於諸如來甚深祕密，如法修行？〕 — “How should a bodhisattva mahāsattva practice in accordance with the Dharma with respect to the Tathāgatas’ profound mystery?” | T16n0665 0408b09–10 |
| Paramārtha (T664) | 〔云何菩薩摩訶薩於諸如來如法正修行？〕 — “How should a bodhisattva mahāsattva rightly practice in accordance with the Dharma with respect to the Tathāgatas?” | T16n0664 0362c15–16 |
Significance of the variant: Only Yijing’s recension has 「甚深祕密」—“profound mystery.” Huizhao immediately uses it to formulate the outline: 「甚深祕密即三身果，如法修行即障治因」—“The profound mystery is the fruit of the three bodies; practicing in accordance with the Dharma is the causal practice that remedies the obstructions” 〔T39n1788 0208b28〕. Paramārtha’s recension encompasses the point under 「正修行」—“right practice.”
Passage 2 · Names of the Three Bodies
The two recensions agree exactly: 「一者、化身，二者、應身，三者、法身」—“First, the emanation body; second, the responsive body; third, the dharma-body” 〔T16n0665 0408b12–13／T16n0664 0362c20〕. The three-body nomenclature is the common backbone of both translations.
Passage 3 · The Three Characteristics of Bondage and Obstruction
| Edition | Verbatim text | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Yijing T665 | 〔一者、遍計所執相，二者、依他起相，三者、成就相。〕 — “First, the characteristic of the wholly-imagined; second, the characteristic of the other-dependent; third, the characteristic of accomplishment.” | T16n0665 0409a12–13 |
| Paramārtha (T664) | 〔一者、思惟分別相，二者、依他起相，三者、成就相。〕 — “First, the characteristic of conceptual discrimination; second, the characteristic of the other-dependent; third, the characteristic of accomplishment.” | T16n0664 0363b16–17 |
Significance of the variant: The difference lies in the name of the first characteristic. Yijing uses the Xuanzang-lineage term 「遍計所執」—“the wholly-imagined,” while Paramārtha has 「思惟分別」—“conceptual discrimination.” The second and third characteristics agree in both versions. The sentence thus forms a hinge between the terminology of two translation periods: the same Indic category appears in the styles of both the earlier and later translators.
Passage 4 · Names of the Three Paths
Yijing reads 「依最勝道，根本心盡」—“Through the supreme path, the root mind is exhausted” 〔T16n0665 0409a20〕; Paramārtha reads 「依勝拔道，根本心盡」—“Through the supreme emancipating path, the root mind is exhausted” 〔T16n0664 0363b23〕. The names of the three minds—the mind that initiates activity, the mind dependent on the root, and the root mind—agree exactly in the two translations.
Passage 5 · The Four Virtues of the Dharma-Body
| Edition | Verbatim text | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Yijing T665 | 〔依於自體說常、說我，依大三昧故說於樂，依於大智故說清淨。〕 — “In dependence on its own substance it is called permanent and is called self; because of the great samādhi it is called bliss; because of great wisdom it is called pure.” | T16n0665 0409c11–13 |
| Paramārtha (T664) | 〔依於自體說常說實、依大三昧故說於樂、依於大智故說清淨。〕 — “In dependence on its own substance it is called permanent and called real; because of the great samādhi it is called bliss; because of great wisdom it is called pure.” | T16n0664 0364a09–11 |
Significance of the variant: Yijing explicitly uses 「我」—“self,” yielding the four virtues of permanence, bliss, self, and purity; Paramārtha has 「實」—“real.”
Passage 6 · The Chapter’s Final Entrustment
Yijing has 「汝等應當勤心流布此妙經王，則令正法久住於世」—“You should diligently circulate this wondrous king of sūtras, thereby causing the True Dharma long to abide in the world” 〔T16n0665 0411a15–16〕. Paramārtha has 「汝等應當如是修行如此經典，則法久住於世」—“You should practice this scripture in this way, thereby causing the Dharma long to abide in the world” 〔T16n0664 0365b08–10〕. The variant turns on circulation versus practice.
Other Noteworthy Variants
For existence by provisional designation versus true existence, Paramārtha reads 「是第三身名為真有，為前二身而作本故」—“This third body is called truly existent, because it serves as the basis for the first two bodies” 〔T16n0664 0363a07〕. Terminological differences include solitary realizers versus condition-awakened ones, animals versus beasts, the distinct Han transcriptions 阿蘇羅 and 阿修羅, and the afflictive obstruction versus the obstruction of afflictions (〔T16n0665 0410b07〕／〔T16n0664 0364c07〕). In the passage on the three obstructions manifesting the three bodies, Paramārtha has 「性極清淨攝受法身、智慧清淨攝受應身、三昧清淨攝受化身」—“Utmost purity of nature embraces the dharma-body, purity of wisdom embraces the responsive body, and purity of samādhi embraces the emanation body” 〔T16n0664 0364c10–11〕, while Yijing has 「由性淨故能現法身，智慧清淨能現應身，三昧清淨能現化身」—“Purity of nature can manifest the dharma-body, purity of wisdom can manifest the responsive body, and purity of samādhi can manifest the emanation body.” Thus the translations differ between “manifest” and “embrace.” 「一百八十不共之法」—“the one hundred and eighty exclusive qualities”—appears identically in both recensions 〔T16n0665 0409c17／T16n0664 0364a16〕; the number is stated by the sūtra itself and is not an isolated variant.
III. Scriptural Grounds for the Consciousness-Only Meaning (the Point of the Eye)
This chapter’s own sūtra text establishes the terminology of the three natures—the wholly-imagined, the other-dependent, and accomplishment—together with the three minds and their paths of severance and the three obstructions through whose purification the three bodies are manifested. It is therefore a primary scriptural ground for the Cien account of the three bodies. Huizhao’s Commentary reads it sentence by sentence, and every point below is textually attested.
(1) The sūtra’s emanation, responsive, and dharma bodies are correlated with the transformation, enjoyment, and self-nature bodies. Huizhao makes each correlation in his approach of listing the names 〔T39n1788 0210b11–0210c14〕. Of the emanation body he writes: 「梁《攝論》云『由佛本願自在力故，似彼眾生變異顯現，名變化身。』」—“The Liang Compendium says, ‘Because of the sovereign power of the Buddha’s original vows, it appears in transformations resembling those sentient beings and is called the transformation body’” 〔0210b12〕. Among the responsive body’s six names, the second is enjoyment body: 「二名受用身，受用淨土大乘法樂。《唯識論》分自他受用，自受用者恒自受用廣大法樂，他受用者令彼受用大乘法樂。」—“The second name is enjoyment body, for it enjoys the Dharma bliss of the great vehicle in a pure land. The Treatise on Consciousness-Only divides enjoyment into self-enjoyment and other-enjoyment: the self-enjoyment body perpetually enjoys vast Dharma bliss itself, while the other-enjoyment body enables those others to enjoy the Dharma bliss of the great vehicle” 〔0210b24–25〕. Among the dharma-body’s five names, the second is self-nature body: 「一名法身，無垢真如功德所依名為法身〔……〕二名自性身〔……〕《成唯識》云『謂諸如來真淨法界，受用變化平等所依，名自性身。』」—“The first name is dharma-body: stainless suchness, the support of virtues, is called the dharma-body.… The second name is self-nature body.… The Demonstration of Consciousness-Only says, ‘The Tathāgatas’ truly pure dharma-realm, the equal support of the enjoyment and transformation bodies, is called the self-nature body’” 〔0210c04–09〕.
(2) This sūtra’s responsive body is classified as the other-enjoyment body, on four proofs 〔T39n1788 0213b25–0213c04〕:
「問：此應身、二受用身，是何身攝？答：他受用。何以得知？答：略四證明。一、此文云『如如如如智，本願力故，是身得現三十二相八十種好』故。若自受用，功德相好皆悉無邊故。二、下云『二身假名不實，念念生滅，不定住故數數出現。』自受用身非數數出現故。三、下云『第二佛身，弟子一意故現一相。』自受用身非對弟子故。四、下云『應身非化身』者，是地前身故。」〔T39n1788 0213b25–0213c04〕 — “Question: Under which of the two enjoyment bodies is this responsive body included? Answer: Other-enjoyment. How is this known? Answer: In brief, four proofs establish it. First, this text says, ‘Because of the power of original vows grounded in suchness and the wisdom of suchness, this body appears with the thirty-two marks and the eighty excellent characteristics.’ If it were the self-enjoyment body, its virtues, marks, and excellent characteristics would all be limitless. Second, the text below says, ‘The two bodies are provisionally designated and unreal; because they arise and cease thought after thought and do not remain fixed, they repeatedly appear.’ The self-enjoyment body does not repeatedly appear. Third, the text below says, ‘Because the disciples have one intent, the second buddha-body manifests one characteristic.’ The self-enjoyment body does not face disciples. Fourth, the text below says, ‘The responsive body that is not an emanation body is the body before the grounds.’”
On where the self-enjoyment body belongs, Huizhao writes: 「問：若爾，自受用豈不三攝耶？答：非三不攝，是法身故。」—“Question: If so, is the self-enjoyment body not included among the three? Answer: It is not excluded from the three; it is the dharma-body” 〔0213c10〕. He further reconciles the different accounts through four modes of discussion—the combined discussion of nature and characteristics, their separate discussion, the combined discussion of the provisional and the real, and their separate discussion 〔0214b16–17〕—and concludes: 「故知諸說義不相違。」—“Therefore one knows that the meanings of the various accounts do not contradict one another.”
(3) The three characteristics are the three natures, and the purification of the three natures manifests the three bodies. Huizhao says: 「三相即三性，是所應知境相故。《攝大乘論》說此三性名所應知勝相。」—“The three characteristics are precisely the three natures, for they are the characteristics of the object that should be known. The Compendium of the Great Vehicle calls these three natures the excellent characteristics of what should be known” 〔T39n1788 0218a05〕. His central judgment in the approach on remedying the obstructions and establishing the distinctions reads 〔0218b02–07〕:
「由悟遍計所執相得化身〔……〕修淨依他起，智斷染故，得應身。由智生時能斷障漏，故能淨證圓成實性顯得法身，故至三身。」〔T39n1788 0218b03–07〕 — “Through awakening to the characteristic of the wholly-imagined, one attains the emanation body.… Through cultivating and purifying the other-dependent, wisdom severs defilement, and one attains the responsive body. Because arising wisdom can sever obstructing contaminants, one can purely realize the perfectly-accomplished and manifestly attain the dharma-body; hence one reaches the three bodies.”
(4) Two explanations of the three minds—Paramārtha’s and the Cien explanation—are recorded together 〔T39n1788 0218b22–26〕:
「言三心者，依真諦三藏釋云：『一起事心，是六識皮；二依根本心，是第七肉；三根本心，是阿梨耶識骨。』慈恩唯識法師云：『起事心者，謂見修煩惱相應之心。由此煩惱起造諸業，感異熟果事，名起事心。』」〔T39n1788 0218b22–26〕 — “Concerning the three minds, Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha explains: ‘First, the mind that initiates activity is the skin of the six consciousnesses; second, the mind dependent on the root is the flesh of the seventh; third, the root mind is the bone of the ālaya consciousness.’ The Cien Master of Consciousness-Only explains: ‘The mind that initiates activity means the mind associated with the afflictions to be severed on the paths of seeing and cultivation. Because these afflictions initiate the construction of various karmic acts and bring about events that are their ripened results, it is called the mind that initiates activity.’”
On the stage of severance: 「依諸伏道起事心盡者，謂在地前三十心位」—“For the mind that initiates activity to be exhausted through the various paths of suppression refers to the thirty mind-stages before the grounds” 〔0218c16〕. Huizhao notes: 「此中二說，如《成唯識》第十卷明」—“The two explanations here are clarified in fascicle ten of the Demonstration of Consciousness-Only” 〔0219a02〕. Concerning the cognitive obstruction at the eighth ground, he cites the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra: 「八地已去唯有所依所知障在」—“From the eighth ground onward, only the remaining cognitive obstruction that serves as a basis is present” 〔0218c23〕.
(5) The dharma-body is the pure dharma-realm together with the mind-products of the four wisdoms. Huizhao writes: 「此法身有二：一自性法身、二功德法身〔……〕即淨法界四智心品總名法身，能證所證合名法身。」—“This dharma-body is twofold: first, the self-nature dharma-body; second, the virtue dharma-body.… The pure dharma-realm and the mind-products of the four wisdoms are together called the dharma-body; the realizing and the realized are jointly named dharma-body” 〔T39n1788 0214a12–16〕. He adds: 「如如，即自性法身。如如智，即四智品。」—“Suchness is the self-nature dharma-body; the wisdom of suchness is the four wisdom-products” 〔0214a20〕. On why the first two are provisional and the third real: 「以如為本、從智變起，故與前二而作根本〔……〕法身唯攝如如，如如是本不從他起，故得名實。」—“Because suchness is the basis and the first two arise through transformation from wisdom, it serves as their basis.… The dharma-body includes only suchness; suchness is the basis and does not arise from another, and so it is called real” 〔0214b27–29〕.
(6) In the approach to permanence and impermanence, the three kinds of permanence are reconciled. Huizhao’s general judgment is: 「以有義故而說於常，通於三身。說無常者，不遍法身」—“To speak of permanence in a certain respect applies to all three bodies; to speak of impermanence does not extend to the dharma-body” 〔T39n1788 0219c26〕. He cites the Compendium of the Great Vehicle: 「所依常故，應化亦常」—“Because their support is permanent, the responsive and emanation bodies are also permanent” 〔0220a22〕. He then cites the three kinds of permanence in the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra 〔0220b11–13〕:
「由自性常故，一切諸佛自性身常住。由無間常故，一切諸佛食身常住。由相續常故，一切諸佛化身常住。」〔T39n1788 0220b11–13〕 — “Because of the permanence of self-nature, the self-nature bodies of all buddhas permanently abide. Because of uninterrupted permanence, the enjoyment bodies of all buddhas permanently abide. Because of continuous permanence, the emanation bodies of all buddhas permanently abide.”
On the dharma-body’s permanence: 「如如是諸法之真性，云是根本。無形相故如虛空，所以名常。」—“Suchness is the true nature of all dharmas and is therefore called their basis. Because it has no form or characteristic, it is like empty space and is therefore called permanent” 〔0220b26–27〕.
(7) The wisdom obstruction is the cognitive obstruction; when the three obstructions are purified, the three bodies manifest 〔T39n1788 0230c02–08〕:
「智謂無漏本後二智。智體非障，猶所知障礙智不生名為智障〔……〕由惑障淨，智慧得生為應身；由業障淨，神通自在得化身；由所知障淨，所覆理顯得現法身。」〔T39n1788 0230c02–08〕 — “Wisdom means the non-outflow fundamental and subsequently attained wisdoms. The substance of wisdom is not an obstruction; rather, because the cognitive obstruction prevents wisdom from arising, it is called the wisdom obstruction.… Through purification of the afflictive obstruction, wisdom arises as the responsive body; through purification of the karmic obstruction, mastery of supernormal powers yields the emanation body; through purification of the cognitive obstruction, the covered principle is revealed and the dharma-body manifests.”
(8) Innately present and newly accomplished; bound and freed. In first setting out a difficulty, Huizhao asks: 「據因俱本有，談果竝新成。」—“Considered as causes, all three are originally present; discussed as fruits, all three are newly accomplished” 〔T39n1788 0208c26〕. He cites the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra: 「在纏名如來藏，出纏名法身」—“While bound it is called the Tathāgata-womb; when freed it is called the dharma-body” 〔0209a02〕. On the stages at which the bodies are attained: 「竝在金剛已後，佛地方起故〔……〕若據分得及相似得〔……〕在十信位分得化身〔……〕初地已去得應法身。」—“All three arise only after the adamantine stage, at the buddha ground.… If considered in terms of partial attainment and analogous attainment … one partially attains the emanation body at the ten stages of faith … and from the first ground onward attains the responsive body and dharma-body” 〔0219a08–20〕. Huizhao correlates the gold-ore simile with the five stages: at the stage of provisions one knows that one’s own body has buddha-nature as one who has found gold ore; at the stage of preparation one 「漸次學，除所取能取，住唯識觀等，如擇精者」—“progressively trains, removes apprehended object and apprehending subject, and abides in the contemplation of consciousness-only, like one selecting the pure portion” 〔0226c17〕; smelting corresponds to the mind of the irreversible ground through the adamantine mind, and purified gold corresponds to the Tathāgata ground.
IV. Explanations of Various Masters
Huizhao’s Commentary is the only complete, line-by-line commentary on this chapter. Zhiyi and Jizang both comment on the Dharmakṣema recension, which lacks it. Their discussions of the three bodies occur in the topical expositions on the title and under the Lifespan chapter in the Dharmakṣema framework; they are recorded here as collateral testimony, with their differences noted without adjudicating.
Cien · Huizhao’s Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King, T39n1788 (the principal mirror)
Huizhao correlates emanation, responsive, and dharma bodies with transformation, enjoyment (specifically other-enjoyment), and self-nature bodies; identifies the three characteristics with the three natures; records two explanations of the three minds; identifies the wisdom obstruction with the cognitive obstruction; and reconciles the three kinds of permanence. See Topic III. This chapter also contains his account of those without a determinate capacity: 「有三乘性，令得果地究竟；無性之人同無窮盡，不入涅槃而為利益」—“Those possessing the natures of the three vehicles are brought to the ultimate fruit-ground; persons without such a nature are likewise benefited without end, though they do not enter nirvāṇa” 〔0214c16〕, and 「不定種姓諸聲聞」—“śrāvakas of indeterminate lineage” 〔0222b25〕. These statements locate Huizhao’s doctrinal position; the sūtra itself does not make this judgment.
Tiantai · Zhiyi (collateral testimony · commenting on the Dharmakṣema recension)
The Profound Meaning cites Paramārtha’s threefold simile and then criticizes its separation of the terms 〔T39n1783 0002a05–07／0002a20〕:
「真諦三藏云『三字譬三種三法：一譬三身、二譬三德、三譬三位。』譬三身者，金體真實以譬法身，光用能照以譬應身，明能遍益以譬化身。」〔T39n1783 0002a05–07〕 — “Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha says: ‘The three characters illustrate three sets of three dharmas: first, the three bodies; second, the three virtues; third, the three positions.’ As an analogy for the three bodies, the real substance of gold illustrates the dharma-body, light’s function of illumination illustrates the responsive body, and radiance’s ability to benefit everywhere illustrates the emanation body.” 「夫三身三德本是果上圓滿之名，而今分置，三德殘缺不足。」〔0002a20〕 — “The three bodies and the three virtues are originally names for completeness at the level of the fruit. To separate them in this way leaves the three virtues fragmentary and incomplete.”
The three bodies stand fourth among ten sets of three dharmas 〔0002c01〕. On their perfect meaning, Zhiyi writes: 「若言三身皆真實至理是法身，契理之智是報身，起用是應身」—“If one says that all three bodies are real: ultimate principle is the dharma-body, wisdom conforming to principle is the reward body, and the activation of function is the responsive body” 〔0005a10〕. On contemplating the mind through the three bodies: 「言即中者即是法身，即空者即是報身，即假者即是應身，是名觀心三身金光明。」—“The immediately middle is the dharma-body, the immediately empty is the reward body, and the immediately provisional is the responsive body: this is called contemplating the mind as the Golden Light of the three bodies” 〔0009b02〕. Although the commentary surface of the Profound Meaning is the Dharmakṣema recension, its doctrinal testimony expressly draws on this chapter of the newer recension: 「若作三身者，即有〈三身分別品〉專論其義」—“If interpreted in terms of the three bodies, there is precisely the Three Bodies’ Distinguishing chapter that specially discusses their meaning” 〔0005a23〕; it directly quotes the chapter: 「〈三身品〉云『與諸佛同體、與諸佛同意、與諸佛同事』」—“The Three Bodies chapter says, ‘One in substance with all buddhas, one in intent with all buddhas, and one in activity with all buddhas’” 〔0006b24〕. The Words and Phrases does the same: 「新本具有三周說法之文〔……〕佛分別三身，下根得益」—“The new recension contains the text of three cycles of teaching in full.… When the Buddha distinguishes the three bodies, those of lesser capacity obtain benefit” 〔T39n1785 0050a25–27〕. It records Paramārtha’s outline and differentiates its own: 「三藏云：正說有兩段，〈壽量〉是果段、〈三身〉是因段」—“The Tripiṭaka Master says that the main teaching has two sections: Lifespan is the section on the fruit, and Three Bodies is the section on the cause” 〔0057b21〕. It also cites: 「〈三身品〉云『化身亦常，處處說法』，是故為常」—“The Three Bodies chapter says, ‘The emanation body is also permanent, teaching the Dharma everywhere’; therefore it is permanent” 〔0058c02〕.
Sanlun · Jizang’s Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light, T39n1787 (collateral testimony · commenting on the Dharmakṣema recension)
In explaining the title, Jizang follows Paramārtha’s analogy: 「金體真實譬法身佛、光用能照譬應身佛、明能遍益猶如化身。」—“Gold’s real substance illustrates the Buddha as dharma-body, light’s illuminating function illustrates the Buddha as responsive body, and radiance’s universal benefit is like the emanation body” 〔T39n1787 0160b14〕. His three-body framework is dharma, responsive, and emanation: the exact term 「報身」—“reward body”—occurs zero times in the entire commentary, while the actual wording is 「報佛」—“reward buddha.” The absence of the chapter from his base recension is self-attested: 「若論正因，在七卷經〈三身品〉中，此經略無。」—“As for the correct cause, it appears in the Three Bodies chapter of the seven-fascicle sūtra; this sūtra omits it” 〔0162b06〕.
Song Tiantai · Zhili (collateral testimony)
Zhili writes: 「此經新本顯以三身而立品目，品內三身燦然可舉」—“The new recension of this sūtra explicitly establishes a chapter title through the three bodies, and within the chapter the three bodies can be luminously set forth” 〔T39n1784 0017b29〕. He also says: 「若七卷經有〈三身品〉，此亦是文。今解四卷且名為義。」—“If the seven-fascicle sūtra has a Three Bodies chapter, that too is textual evidence; in explaining the four-fascicle recension here, for the present it is treated as doctrinal meaning” 〔0042a26〕. He reconciles Paramārtha’s terminology with Tiantai’s: 「彼經三身與法、報、應，二三名異其義是同。」—“The three bodies in that sūtra and the dharma, reward, and responsive bodies differ in the names of their second and third members, but their meaning is the same” 〔0017c20〕.
Recorded Together, without Adjudicating
With regard to the same threefold set of emanation, responsive, and dharma bodies: Huizhao correlates them with the transformation, enjoyment (other-enjoyment), and self-nature bodies, and includes the mind-products of the four wisdoms in the dharma-body; Zhiyi interprets them contemplatively through the immediately empty, immediately provisional, and immediately middle (placing the reward body in the middle position rather than correlating it directly with 『應化法』—“responsive, emanation, and dharma”); Jizang retains the dharma-responsive-emanation framework without establishing the name reward body; and Zhili judges that the terms differ but the meaning is the same. Among these four works, only Zhili uses the consecutive expression 「法報應」—“dharma, reward, and responsive”; it is a concise term of the Song Tiantai tradition and does not occur in the Sui commentaries. Their readings and judgments differ; they are recorded without adjudicating.
V. Terminology
| Chinese | Transmitted Sanskrit (romanization as an aid to pronunciation) | Ancient attestation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 化身 · emanation body | nirmāṇa-kāya | Huizhao correlates it with the transformation body, citing the Liang Compendium: 「由佛本願自在力故，似彼眾生變異顯現，名變化身」—“Because of the sovereign power of the Buddha’s original vows, it appears in transformations resembling those sentient beings and is called the transformation body” 〔T39n1788 0210b12〕. | The body that appears in response to sentient beings’ intent, realm, and conduct, at the appropriate time and place. |
| 應身 · responsive body | — | Huizhao explains one of its six names: 「恒沙德成與理相應、名曰應身」—“Accomplished in virtues as numerous as the sands of the Ganges and corresponding with principle, it is called the responsive body”; its second name is enjoyment body 〔T39n1788 0210b21–25〕, and it is classified as other-enjoyment on four proofs (Topic III). | The body that teaches ultimate truth to bodhisattvas and appears with the thirty-two marks through the power of original vows grounded in suchness and the wisdom of suchness. |
| 法身 · dharma-body | dharma-kāya | Huizhao explains one of its five names: 「無垢真如功德所依名為法身」—“Stainless suchness, the support of virtues, is called the dharma-body”; its second name is self-nature body 〔T39n1788 0210c04–09〕. | Suchness and the wisdom of suchness alone: truly existent and the basis of the first two bodies. |
| 如如·如如智 · suchness and the wisdom of suchness | tathatā | Huizhao: 「如如，即自性法身。如如智，即四智品」—“Suchness is the self-nature dharma-body; the wisdom of suchness is the four wisdom-products” 〔T39n1788 0214a20〕. | The principle of suchness that is realized and the non-discriminating wisdom that realizes it. |
| 〔遍計所執相·依他起相·成就相〕 · the characteristics of the wholly-imagined, the other-dependent, and accomplishment | — | 〔This sūtra, 0409a12–13〕; Huizhao: 「三相即三性，是所應知境相故」—“The three characteristics are precisely the three natures, for they are the characteristics of the object that should be known” 〔T39n1788 0218a05〕; Paramārtha calls the first 「思惟分別相」—“the characteristic of conceptual discrimination” 〔T16n0664 0363b16〕. | The three characteristics that bind and obstruct ordinary beings; that is, the names of the three natures (Yijing uses the Xuanzang-lineage terminology). |
| 三心（起事·依根本·根本） · the three minds (initiating activity, dependent on the root, and root) | — | 〔This sūtra, 0409a18〕; Huizhao records both Paramārtha’s explanation through skin, flesh, and bone—the skin of the six consciousnesses, flesh of the seventh, and bone of the ālaya consciousness—and the Cien explanation in terms of a mind associated with the afflictions to be severed in seeing and cultivation 〔T39n1788 0218b22–26〕. | The three levels of mind through which ordinary beings fail to reach the three bodies; when the three paths sever them, the three bodies are accordingly manifested. |
| 〔無住處涅槃〕 · non-abiding nirvāṇa | apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa | 〔This sūtra, 0409a04: 「依此三身，一切諸佛說無住處涅槃」—“On the basis of these three bodies, all buddhas teach non-abiding nirvāṇa.”〕; the 『不住生死』 side is Huizhao’s supplement 〔T39n1788 0217c07〕: 「亦應云不住生死」—“One should also say: does not abide in birth-and-death.” | Neither abiding in saṃsāra nor abiding in nirvāṇa; established on the basis of the three bodies. |
| 〔甚深祕密〕 · profound mystery | — | Huizhao: 「甚深祕密即三身果，如法修行即障治因」—“The profound mystery is the fruit of the three bodies; practicing in accordance with the Dharma is the causal practice that remedies the obstructions” 〔T39n1788 0208b28〕; Paramārtha’s version lacks the phrase (Topic II). | The Tathāgatas’ mystery asked about by Ākāśagarbha: the three bodies. |
| 〔怖畏歡喜〕 · fear and delight | — | Huizhao: 「以為無始我見縛故〔……〕於生死生怖、於涅槃生喜，不能廣利」—“Because they have been bound by the view of self since beginningless time … they fear saṃsāra and delight in nirvāṇa and cannot benefit beings extensively” 〔T39n1788 0213b09〕. | The two illnesses removed by the responsive body: fear of saṃsāra and delight in nirvāṇa (following 「生死涅槃是一味」—“saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are of one taste”). |
| 〔一百八十不共之法〕 · the one hundred and eighty exclusive qualities | — | 〔This sūtra, 0409c17〕; Paramārtha’s version has the same text 〔T16n0664 0364a16〕. | The numbered set of qualities exclusive to buddhas that manifests through great wisdom (the two editions agree). |
VI. Similes · Rhetoric
(1) Painting ornaments in empty space. 〔T16 0408c14: 「譬如畫空作莊嚴具，是難思議」—“It is difficult to conceive, like painting ornaments in empty space.”〕 The simile expresses the inconceivability of accomplishing the Buddha’s qualities on the basis of suchness and the wisdom of suchness: limitless adornments arise where there are no characteristics.
(2) Sun and moon, water mirror, and light: three combining to produce an image. 〔T16 0408c22: 「譬如日月無有分別，亦如水鏡無有分別，光明亦無分別，三種和合得有影生」—“The sun and moon do not discriminate, the water mirror does not discriminate, and the light does not discriminate; when the three combine, an image is produced.”〕 Sun and moon, water mirror, and light are each without discrimination, yet an image appears of itself. They illustrate how suchness and the wisdom of suchness are without discrimination, while the sovereignty of vows and sentient beings’ responses allow the responsive and emanation bodies to appear.
(3) Images of empty space in water mirrors. 〔T16 0408c27: 「譬如無量無邊水鏡，依於光故，空影得現種種異相，空者即是無相」—“In limitless water mirrors, through dependence on light, the image of empty space appears in many different forms; empty space itself is without characteristics.”〕 The disciples who receive transformation are images of the dharma-body. Various forms appear in the two bodies, while at the ground of the dharma-body there is no differentiated characteristic.
(4) Refining gold ore. 〔T16 0409c29: 「遂得金礦〔……〕爐中銷鍊，得清淨金，隨意迴轉，作諸鐶釧種種嚴具，雖有諸用，金性不改」—“At last he finds gold ore … smelts it in a furnace, obtains pure gold, and turns it at will into rings, bracelets, and many ornaments. Although it has many uses, the nature of gold does not change.”〕 Huizhao correlates the simile with the five stages: finding ore illustrates knowing at the stage of provisions that one has buddha-nature; selecting the pure portion illustrates abiding in the contemplation of consciousness-only at the stage of preparation; smelting illustrates the irreversible ground through the adamantine mind; pure gold illustrates the Tathāgata ground; and the varied uses as rings and bracelets illustrate virtues that do not lose the nature of meditative stability and wisdom 〔T39n1788 0226c10–0227a〕.
(5) Four similes of true gold, turbid water, empty space, and crossing a river in a dream (“not that there is no substance”). 〔T16 0410a〕 Gold is fired and beaten to reveal its purity—「非謂無金」, “not that there is no gold.” Water becomes clear and pure—「非謂無水」, “not that there is no water.” Empty space is disclosed when clouds and mist are removed—「非謂無空」, “not that there is no empty space.” One awakens from the dream and no longer sees the river—「非謂無心」, “not that there is no mind.” All four similes are yoked to the conclusion 「非謂無體」—“not that there is no substance,” guarding against the error that purity is annihilation.
(6) Lightning emerging in dependence on space, and light in dependence on lightning. 〔T16 0410b09: 「譬如依空出電，依電出光」—“Like lightning emerging in dependence on empty space, and light emerging in dependence on lightning.”〕 Huizhao explains: 「空體遍常，又性本淨，故喻法身。應化無常，故喻電光」—“The substance of space is pervasive and permanent, and its nature is originally pure; therefore it illustrates the dharma-body. The responsive and emanation bodies are impermanent, and therefore are illustrated by lightning and its light” 〔T39n1788 0230c11–12〕.
(7) The wish-fulfilling jewel. 〔T16 0409c19: 「譬如依如意寶珠，無量無邊種種珍寶，悉皆得現」—“Depending on a wish-fulfilling jewel, limitless varieties of precious treasures all appear.”〕 It illustrates how limitless qualities of the buddhas arise from the treasure of great samādhi and the treasure of great wisdom.
(8) The hare floating across the sea. 〔T16 0410c01: 「如兔浮海，必不能過。所以者何？力微劣故」—“Like a hare afloat upon the sea, it certainly cannot cross. Why? Because its strength is feeble.”〕 It illustrates why ordinary beings and practitioners of the two vehicles who seek the real object cannot know or see it: not because the object cannot be reached, but because their strength is feeble.
VII. Cross-Reading · Carrying Forward
(1) Treatises on which this chapter relies, as cited by Huizhao’s Commentary and connected with stable works in this canon:
- The Compendium of the Great Vehicle, section on the wisdom of the fruit. In explaining the chapter’s arrival, Huizhao cites Asvabhāva’s commentary: 「由斷所斷，獲得無垢無罣礙智」—“Through severing what is to be severed, one obtains stainless, unobstructed wisdom” 〔T39n1788 0208c02〕. Its chapter on the three bodies is the treatise basis for this chapter’s doctrine. The translation canon’s Compendium of the Great Vehicle edition is complete.
- Fascicle ten of the Demonstration of Consciousness-Only. This is the basis for the three bodies, self- and other-enjoyment, and the stages at which the three minds are severed 〔0210c09·0219a02〕. The translation canon’s edition is complete.
- The Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra. This is the basis for the three kinds of permanence 〔0220b11〕. The translation canon’s edition is in translation.
- The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. It supplies the names wisdom buddha, virtue buddha, and suchness buddha 〔0210b28–29／0210c13〕, as well as 「阿梨耶識者，名空如來藏，具足熏習無漏法故，名不空如來藏」—“The ālaya consciousness is called the empty Tathāgata-womb; because it is fully perfumed by non-outflow dharmas, it is called the nonempty Tathāgata-womb” 〔0223a21〕. The translation canon’s Laṅkāvatāra edition is complete.
- The Śrīmālādevī Sūtra. It provides 「在纏名如來藏，出纏名法身」—“While bound it is called the Tathāgata-womb; when freed it is called the dharma-body” 〔0209a02〕.
- The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra. It supplies the account of the cognitive obstruction at the eighth ground 〔0218c23〕. The translation canon’s edition is complete.
- The Madhyāntavibhāga, “Unsurpassed Vehicle” chapter; the Yogācārabhūmi; and the Buddhabhūmi Treatise. These are cited in connection with the three unsurpassed qualities 〔0210a29〕 and the further analyses. The translation canon’s editions of the Madhyāntavibhāga and Yogācārabhūmi are complete.
(2) Cross-reading within the sūtra. This chapter follows Chapter 2, The Lifespan of the Tathāgata: Huizhao judges that Lifespan states the two fruits in general, while this chapter distinguishes the fruit of wisdom 〔0208b23〕. The discussion of permanence and impermanence among the three bodies completes the preceding teaching of the Tathāgata’s permanence. The section on purifying the three obstructions points ahead to Chapter 5, Extinguishing Karmic Obstructions, which unfolds how purification of the karmic obstruction enables manifestation of the emanation body.
(3) Carrying Forward. Huizhao was Kuiji’s direct successor. His Commentary says 「餘如《法苑．三身義林》辨」—“The remainder is analyzed in the Dharma Garden’s Forest of Meanings, in the section on the three bodies” 〔0211a19〕, explicitly carrying forward Kuiji’s Essay on the Forest of Meanings of the Dharma Garden. The Lotus edition in this canon takes Kuiji’s Profound Praise as its mirror, organized around the three awakenings in the Lifespan chapter; this edition takes Huizhao’s Commentary as its mirror, organized around the three bodies in the present chapter. Master and disciple thus join as two faces of the same Cien doctrine of the three bodies. Zhili of the later Tiantai tradition again brought the terminology of this chapter into conversation in the Song 〔T39n1784 0017c20〕. Each carries forward the reading of a particular tradition; they are noted without adjudicating.
VIII. Placement of the Editions
- Yijing’s T665 (base text): Distinguishing the Three Bodies, Chapter 3 〔T16n0665 0408b06〕–〔0411a16〕 (fascicle two; prose throughout, with no verse). The question is at 0408b09; the three-body nomenclature at 0408b12; responsive body at 0408b21–26; dharma-body at 0408b27; provisional and real at 0408b29; the three kinds of nirvāṇa at 0409a02–05; the three characteristics at 0409a12; the three minds at 0409a18; sameness in activity, intent, and substance at 0409a24; permanence and impermanence at 0409b03; the four alternatives at 0409b17; Tathāgata-womb at 0409c03; the four virtues at 0409c11; the middle way at 0409c23; the ten grounds at 0410a03; the three purities and four similes at 0410a20; the three obstructions manifesting the three bodies at 0410b07; truly seeing the Buddha at 0410b15; benefits of hearing the sūtra at 0410c18; and the four benefits at 0411a01. Source file: the source layer, collated verbatim.
- Paramārtha’s translation (composite T664): The Three Bodies’ Distinguishing, Chapter 3 〔T16n0664 0362c10〕–〔0365b10〕 (end of fascicle one). The attribution reads 「梁三藏真諦譯」—“Translated by the Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha of the Liang” at 0362c11 (the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace editions lack the attribution; the Ming lacks the title’s prefix 「金光明經」—“Sūtra of Golden Light”; these are recorded textual notes). The question is at 0362c15; the three-body nomenclature at 0362c20; the characteristic of conceptual discrimination at 0363b16; the supreme emancipating path at 0363b23; “permanent and real” at 0364a10; and the chapter ending at 0365b08.
- Dharmakṣema’s T663: No corresponding chapter (all nineteen chapters reviewed scene by scene: the Lifespan chapter has Xinxiang doubting the Buddha’s lifespan and the four buddhas answering 〔0335c19–0336a18〕, and the next chapter, Repentance, opens with the dream of the golden drum 〔0336b11〕; nowhere does Ākāśagarbha request and the Tathāgata distinguish three bodies. Recorded as collateral observation only, carrying none of this judgment: the zero count of the three names reflects a difference in Yijing’s rendering; the five occurrences of dharma-body are broad references—the preface at 0335a13, the Emptiness chapter at 0340c07, the praise verse in the Four Heavenly Kings chapter at 0344b03, and two occurrences in the aspiration in the Giving Up the Body chapter at 0354c02–03).
- Formation history: Baogui’s Preface to the Composite Sūtra says 「後逮梁世，真諦三藏於建康譯〈三身分別〉〔……〕等四品，足前出沒為二十二品」—“Later, in the Liang, Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha translated at Jiankang The Three Bodies’ Distinguishing … and three other chapters, supplementing what had been missing from the earlier translation and bringing the total to twenty-two chapters” 〔T16n0664 0359b22–24〕. Jizang self-attests: 「若論正因，在七卷經〈三身品〉中，此經略無」—“As for the correct cause, it appears in the Three Bodies chapter of the seven-fascicle sūtra; this sūtra omits it” 〔T39n1787 0162b06〕. Zhili writes: 「若七卷經有〈三身品〉，此亦是文。今解四卷且名為義」—“If the seven-fascicle sūtra has a Three Bodies chapter, that too is textual evidence; in explaining the four-fascicle recension here, for the present it is treated as doctrinal meaning” 〔T39n1784 0042a26〕.
- Huizhao’s Commentary, T39n1788 (exegetical mirror): the Distinguishing the Three Bodies chapter extends from 〔0208b21〕 to 〔0234a10〕 (end of fascicle two through the main part of fascicle three; the main part of fascicle three begins at 0219a24). The three approaches begin at 0208b22; reason for coming at 0208b23–c04; explanation of the name at 0208c13／0208c21; innately present and newly accomplished at 0208c25; separate causal substances at 0209a06; sameness and difference of the three substances at 0209a10; the four-part main division at 0209a27; the four mysteries at 0209c14; the five approaches at 0210b08; listing the names at 0210b11–0210c14; two meanings of the responsive body at 0210c29; ten masteries corresponding to ten fears at 0212b05; removing fear and delight together at 0213b08; four proofs for other-enjoyment at 0213b25; substance of the dharma-body at 0214a12; the nine approaches at 0214b19; provisional and real at 0214b25; benefits for those without a determinate nature at 0214c16; the three characteristics as the three natures at 0218a05; the three natures correlated with the three bodies at 0218b02; two explanations of the three minds at 0218b22; suppression before the grounds at 0218c17; the cognitive obstruction at the eighth ground at 0218c23; the stages of attaining the bodies at 0219a07; having dependence and not having dependence at 0219c11; permanence and impermanence at 0219c25–0220b27; the gold ore and five stages at 0226c10; five fruits of separation at 0230b19; interpretation of the wisdom obstruction at 0230c02; the space-lightning-light simile at 0230c11; and the five fears at 0231c25.
- Tiantai collateral testimony: Zhiyi’s Profound Meaning, T39n1783: the threefold simile at 0002a05; criticism of separation at 0002a20; ten sets of three dharmas at 0002c01; the perfect meaning at 0005a10; citations of the chapter at 0005a23／0006b24; contemplation of mind through the three bodies at 0009b02; and the central purport at 0011a21. Zhiyi’s Words and Phrases, T39n1785: three cycles in the new recension at 0050a25; Paramārtha’s outline at 0057b21; and citation of the chapter at 0058c02.
- Sanlun collateral testimony: Jizang’s Commentary, T39n1787: the threefold simile at 0160b14; the fruit in the Lifespan chapter at 0161c21; and
此經略無—“this sūtra omits it” at 0162b06. - Song Tiantai collateral testimony: Zhili’s Supplementary Notes on the Profound Meaning, T39n1784: the new recension’s chapter title at 0017b29; terminology different but meaning the same at 0017c20; and judgment concerning the chapter text at 0042a26.
- Variant readings recorded: Four intratextual variants in T665 (“use” versus “cause” in 0408 according to the Western edition; the character “teach” omitted in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Western editions at 0408; “depart” versus “mixed” in the Third and Palace editions at 0410; “hare” versus “avoid” in the Ming and Palace editions at 0410), plus three Sanskrit-name notes by the Taishō editors, which are not sūtra text. T664 contains thirty-eight intratextual variants, including the attribution and many minor differences in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Palace editions. The body text in each case follows the Taishō lemma.