Mahayana and the Will of the Dharmakaya

"Dharmakaya directs the course of the Universe, not blindly, but rationally." --Suzuki

In summary, Suzuki reflects that there are three essential aspects to that which is called Dharmakaya. Ultimately we are led into the teaching of the Trikaya, a sort of three-in-one, a trinity.
In the religious consciousness, there is intelligence (prajna), love (karuna), and the will (pranidhanabala). With intelligence, the Dharamakaya directs the progression of the universe--not blindly, but rationally. With love, because Dharmakaya embraces all beings "with a tender, fatherly love." Thirdly, Mahayanists suppose that its work is also accomplished with will, because it has been firmly set down that the Dharmakaya chief aim is for the good, a good which holds as its final goal, the conversion of all evil in the universe.
These evils, in the will of the Dharmakaya, shall be brought forth into the light of dharmakaya; they shall know his fatherly will, with which love and intelligence in their own being shall be realized unto they become at one with the will of the Dharmakaya. "Without the will, love and intelligence will not be realized; without love, the will and intelligence lose their impulse; without intelligence, love and will are irrational. In fact, all three are essential coordinates of the Dharmakaya and constitute the Oneness."

In other sects and denominations, some Buddhists may not agree with this view of the will. When rendered or understood literally or fundamentally, the inner significance, the working of the Dharmakaya is totally ignored. Yet the Dharmakaya is without a partial, fragmentary borrowing or knowledge as exists in other beings; thus Mahayanists are quite forthright in recognizing its completeness in both knowledge and will. Dharmakaya is wholeness, or oneness itself. What is done by the Dharmakaya is "done by its own free will, with intelligence and love, independent of all the determinations that might affect it from outside."

Those practitioners who recognize this free and creative will, especially those of the Sukhavati sect, recognize the presence of an all powerful, all encompassing will, embracing in love with all knowing intelligence, and they want to present it more concretely, more humanly, so that other practitioners may come to see beyond the clouds which obscure the vision.

A great Mahayana sutra says of love (karuna):

"With one great, loving heart
The thirsty desires of all beings
he quenches with coolness,
refreshing;

With compassion, of all he thinks,
which like space, knows no bounds;
Over all the world's creation
With no thought of particularly, he reviews .

With a great heart, compassionate and loving,
All sentient beings are embraced by him;
With means (upaya) pure, free from stain, and all
excellent,

He delivers and saves all creatures, innumerable.
With unfathomable love, and with compassion
All creations are caressed by him universally;
Yet his heart is free from attachment.

As his compassion is great and infinite,
He confers Bliss, unearthly, upon each and every being,
And shows himself all over the universe;
Until all attain Buddhahood, he'll not rest."

--"On Merit," the Avatamsaka (Lotus) Sutra
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Amida Buddha, The Buddha of Light

" I have nothing to say. Even if I were to explain, people attached to the phenomenal world would not believe me; on the contrary, they would criticize the sutra."

--Bassui, Zen Master, 14th century Japan

Amida Buddha is the heart of Ch'an Buddhist faith and practice. Originating in Mahayana practice and revealed by the historical Buddha over 2,600 years ago, the name Amida is Japanese (from the ancient Sanskrit language) which means ‘Immeasurable Life and Light’ or Oneness.

Bassui wrote, "Amida means the Buddha nature of ordinary people. Upon realizing your true nature, eighty thousand delusions will change into eighty thousand wonderful meanings. These are referred to as Kwan Yin Bodhisattva and Seishi Bodhisattva and other sages."
Kwan Yin, or Kannon as the bodhisattva is also called, sometimes considered the Great Compassionate One, freely loving, and universal, assures spiritual liberation for all. By this living experience of love and compassion, no one is left behind.
Religions offer sacred or mythical stories so that ordinary people can understand that which is not visible to the eye. For example, there are stories of virgin births, crucifixions, visits by angels, ascensions through heavens and resurrections. Some may dismiss myths as false, or just nice little stories but in reality, myth serves as the medium by which our inner deep subconscious mind interacts with our outer conscious mind and world. Myths manifest themselves in a many ways, often most clearly in religious experience and rituals.

In The Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life, the main Ch'an Buddhist scripture, the historical Buddha tells Ananda, one of his chief disciples this sacred story, "There was a prince called Dharmakara, which means Storehouse of the Dharma, who like the true historical Prince Siddhartha Gautama or Shakyamuni, renounced his royal position, and became a monk. His reason for pursuing the religious life was motivated by his great compassion and deep understanding for all suffering beings throughout the universe and time. Due to his compassion, Dharmakara declared 48 religious vows, the Primal Vows, creating a Pure Land that would liberate each and every suffering being throughout time and space." The Way was now open for the ordinary people of ordinary minds.

A Pure Land, "depends upon the purity of the mind," writes Bassui, "the appearance of the Amida buddha comes when the mind remains undisturbed... If you destroy all thoughts, your true nature being no mind, the resting mind, the most basic, empty mind, both pain and pleasure cease. This is what is referred to as the land of bliss... The physical body... is a temporary formation of the five aggregates."

The undisturbed mind is described by Bassui as a mind that is, "consisting of the four elements, having no individual form; when there is thus no individual form, the nature of the mind is as it is, and there is no aspect of disorder. This is called the one undisturbed mind as it is said in a sutra that the undisturbed, straightforward mind is the abode of the Buddha Way because there is no misconception there."