The Fundamental Tenets of Buddhism Concerning Reality – Part 3 of 3
Now, let me further expound the Buddhist conception of the relation between the world and the individual, which gives the key to the understanding of its conception of reality.
The individual, as such, is neither real, in the commonly asserted sense of being a personally persistent entity, nor unreal, in the sense that it has no place in existence. It is unreal, because it is subject to constant change; but it is real, as a product of causation, as a manifestation of character accumulated by karma. Either of these points of view leads to the thesis, “There is no (substantial) ego.” But Buddhism sees in the person of the Tathāgata a real individual, the individual par excellence, because the Dharmatā of the universe is represented, embodied, realized, in his person as the Tathāgata. It is in the personal enlightenment of universal truths in Buddha that the realm of Dharma has come to self-consciousness, to the full realization of its meaning. In other words, the person of the Tathāgata is not an individual personality, in contradistinction to other individuals, but in communion with all others. When I say, “all others,” I mean it, not as an aggregate of separate individuals, nor as a haphazard crowd of individuals, but as unified in the basic unity of the Dharmatā, and united in the realization of the universal communion. This is the teaching of the Ekayāna [One Vehicle], of which we shall see more presently. An individual, according to Buddhism, is no more a mere individual, if, and so far as, he identifies himself with others; his ego is transformed to a universal self. Buddhism does not call this transformed and expanded self a self, but a Tathāgata, or a “being of truth” (dharmā-bhūto, dharma-kaya), as in the case of Buddha.
Looked at in this way, any individual is a Tathāgata who realizes the universal Dharmatā of the universe, not only in his ideas, but in his life, and lives the life of the universal self. So long as, and so far as, he regards himself as separate from others, every individual is only a partial, and therefore imperfect, manifestation of his own real nature (dharmatā), while everyone is destined to attain the height, or depth, of his own true self in communion with all others, by virtue of the basic unity of the fundamental Dharmatā. When this ideal is attained, even partially, one has so far realized his real self, which is no longer an ego in the sense that he once cherished. He is the same person in appearance, but in reality his self is so far transformed. What thus happens resembles the metamorphosis of an insect. Buddha, in recalling his former lives, designates his former self by the pronoun “I,” but he is at the same time most emphatic in distinguishing his former “I” – even the “I” when he lived as a prince or a recluse – and calls himself “Tathāgata,” in the third person, as the designation of his true personality and high dignity. The same title may be applied to anybody who reaches the same attainment as Buddha; and, in fact, Buddha called everyone of the same attainment a Tathāgata. In short, everyone who has found his own real nature in the fundamental Dharmatā of all existences, that is, in communion with the Tathāgatas, is one who has become truth, become insight, and thereby identified himself with the universe. It is in the conception of reality attained by such a person that the universe is realizing its universal Dharmatā [– the intrinsic nature or reality of phenomena].
A necessary consequence of this idea about the relation between the individual and the world is the teaching of the Ekayāna [One Vehicle]. It means the one and the same way for all the Tathāgatas of the past, present, and future. It is the Way, and at the same time the Ideal – the way to realize the truth of universal communion, and the ideal to be reached by that way. It is also the foundation of existences, and the goal of the way, because an ideal is vain without foundation, and the two are simply two aspects of the same Dharmatā. Buddha said:
“The Perfectly Enlightened of the past, and the Buddhas of the future,
As well as the present Perfectly Enlightened One who dispels sorrows from many –
All have lived, do live, or will live,
By revering Dharma; this is the Dharmatā of all Buddhas.
(Samyuga, 6.1.2; com. S. 47. 18.)
This unity of the Ekayāna [One Vehicle] is manifested in the Buddhist community, which, though limited in its visible manifestation, is to be extended without limit to include all beings of every possible description, and of all ages. Thus, the Buddhist community is a realization of the universal communion of all Buddhas and Buddhas-to-be, who are – or ought to be – united in the revelation of the final Dharmatā. This is the reason why Buddha disdained anyone who, being satisfied with the tranquility of his mind, remains a solitary sage. Such a sage is called a Pratyekabuddha, or self-satisfied wise man, and is regarded not only as a selfish man, but one who does not see the real light, either his own, or that of the world. The Tathāgata, on the contrary, is an individual who is no longer an individual merely, but has identified himself with all others.
Thus, the Tathāgata is the ideal person in the Buddhist religion, and it is only in the life of the Tathāgata that the full meaning of the universe is realized. This ideal is also called Dharma, which here means “norm,” as Mrs. Rhys Davids correctly renders it. [Buddhism: A Study of the Buddhist Norm, 1912.] The moral norm and religious ideal for every Buddhist consists in attaining, as Buddha has shown by his own example, the supreme enlightenment in the truth-order and the fundamental nature of the world, in accordance with the truth of existence, and by treading the same One Road, in company with the Buddhas of all ages. The Buddhist ideal, seen in this light, necessarily demands the life of fellowship, in which the real continuity of life, or the Dhammatā of existence, is first realized. In this fellowship, an individual no longer remains a separate being, but becomes a personal embodiment of the universal life – “das Objectwerden des Subjects,” to borrow the Hegelian terminology. The “communion of saints” transforms our self into the universal self; and therein is brought to light the true nature of reality.
To sum up, the Buddhist conception of reality is the existence in which the universal nature of existence is realized in the enlightened mind, which is the realization of the all-embracing fellowship. It rejects reality apart from this personal enlightenment; it rejects an enlightenment in a secluded self – the former being externalism and the latter transcendentalism. But both aspects of being embraced and “aufgehoben” in the realization of the universal Dharmatā. In short, the true conception of reality is brought to light only in the unity of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.