¹ Sj. Atal Bihari Ghosh (see our Preface, p. x) has added here thefollowing comment: ‘The word Dhar ma is derived from the verb—root Dhri, meaning ‘to Support’ or ‘to Uphold’. Dharnta is that which upholds orsupports the Universe, as also the individual. Dharnta is in mankind RightConduct, the result of True Knowledge. Truth according to Brahmanism is the Brahman, is Liberation— Moksha, Nirvana. Satnhhoga is the Life ofEnjoyment. Nirmåna is the Process of Building. In the Brahmanic scheme, Dhartna is the first thing needed. Then comes Ariha (i.e. Wealth, orPossessions), which corresponds with Nirmåna. After this comes Sambhoga; and the last is Moksha, or Liberation.’

² ‘Whatever is visible and invisible, whether Sangsära or Nirvana, is atbase one [that is, Shünyatá], with two Paths [Avidyå, Ignorance, and Vidyå, Knowledge] and two ends [Sangsära and Nirvana].⁹ . . . ‘The Foundationof all is uncreated and independent, uncompounded and beyond mind andspeech. Of It neither the word Nirvana nor Sangsåra may be said’—The GoodWishes of the Adi—Buddha, i—a (cf. the late Lama Kazi Dawa—Samdup’s translation, Tantrik Texts, vol. vii, London, 1919). The Shünyatá, the Void, synonymous with the Dharma—Kåya, is thus beyond all mental concepts, beyond thefinite mind with all its imaginings and use of such ultimate terms of the dualisticworld as Nirvana and Sangsåra.

³ Cf. Waddell, op. cit., pp. 127, 347.
Ashvaghosha, the great philosopher of Mahäyäna Buddhism (see pp. 225—6), has explained the Tri—Käya Doctrine in The Awakening of Faith, translation by T. Suzuki (Chicago, 1900, pp. 99—103), as follows:

‘Because All Tathägatas are the Dharmakäya itself, are the highest truth (pammärthasatya) itself, and have nothing to do with conditionality (samvritti—satyd) and compulsory actions; whereas the seeing, hearing, &c. [i.e. the particularizing senses], of the sentient being diversify [on its own account] the activity of the Tathägatas.

‘Now this activity [in another word, the Dharmakäya] has a twofold aspect. The first one depends on the phenomena—particularizing consciousness, by means of which the activity is conceived by the minds of common people (prithagjana), Crävakas, and Pratyekabuddhas. This aspect is called the Body of Transformation (Nirmänakäya).

‘But as the beings of this class do not know that the Body of Transformation is merely the shadow [or reflection] of their own evolving—consciousness (pravritti—vijftänd)) they imagine that it comes from some external sources, and so they give it a corporeal limitation. But the Body of Transformation [or what amounts to the same thing, the Dharmakäya} has nothing to do with limitation and measurement.

‘The second aspect [of the Dharmakäya’] depends on the activity—consciousness (kanna—vijftäna) by means of which the activity is conceived by the minds of Bodhisattvas while passing from their first aspiration (cittotpäda) stage up to the height of Bodhisattvahood. This is called the Body of Bliss (Santbhogakäya). . . . ²).