Source of Indra's Net?

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Caoimhghín
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Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

What is the source of the teachings on Indra's Net of the Huayan school? It doesn't appear to feature in the Avataṃsakasūtra, their definitive text. Is it a product of the insights of the teachers in that tradition?
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Queequeg »

B I believe Brahmajala. Iirc.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Anonymous X »

Coëmgenu wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:27 pm What is the source of the teachings on Indra's Net of the Huayan school? It doesn't appear to feature in the Avataṃsakasūtra, their definitive text. Is it a product of the insights of the teachers in that tradition?
I believe it is Paul Swanson who includes this in the apochryphal texts of Chinese Buddhism. As you probably know, this has no relation to the Brahmajala Sutta in the Pali Canon, DN 1.
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

I just quickly read through the Mahāyānabrahmajālasūtra and the associated Bodhisattvaśīlakārikā (菩薩戒本), but they don't seem to reference 'Indra's Net' specifically. Any other ideas?
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Queequeg »

According to Wikipedia, it seems to be based on an oblique reference in Chapter 30 of the Avatamsaka.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra%27s_net

Might be a Vedic source, actually.

When I get home, I have Cleary's outline of Huayen. I'll take a look and see if I can find more detail.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Ven Dhammanando found it for me on SuttaCentral. It's in Book 33. I'm looking through the sea of Chinese right now.

It's a very casual mention: “[All Buddhas] know all the different phenomena in all worlds, interrelated in Indra’s net.”

Not very specific, but very interesting, since such a 'casual mention' implies that it was already a well-known and/or well-understood metaphor/image/concept.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Coëmgenu wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:50 pm Ven Dhammanando found it for me on SuttaCentral. It's in Book 33. I'm looking through the sea of Chinese right now.

It's a very casual mention: “[All Buddhas] know all the different phenomena in all worlds, interrelated in Indra’s net.”

Not very specific, but very interesting, since such a 'casual mention' implies that it was already a well-known and/or well-understood metaphor/image/concept.
Taishō 10.0279 Scroll 47 Ch 33 @ 0248c07

「佛子!諸佛世尊有十種知一切法盡無有餘。
Bodhisattvāḥ! All Buddhāḥ possess ten varieties of knowledge of all dharmāḥ with no varieties remaining.

何等為十?所謂:知過去一切法盡無有餘;知未來一切法盡無有餘;
Which ten proceeding? So-called: knowledge of all past dharmāḥ with none remaining; knowledge of all future dharmāḥ with none remaining;

知現在一切法盡無有餘;知一切言語法盡無有餘;知一切世間道盡無有餘;
knowledge of all present dharmāḥ with none remaining; knowledge of all spoken-language teachings with none remaining; knowledge of all the world's paths entirely with none remaining;

知一切眾生心盡無有餘;知一切菩薩善根上、中、下種種分位盡無有餘;
knowledge of all sentient beings' hearts with none remaining; knowledge of all bodhisattvāḥ's (sarvabodhisattvānām?) virtue's roots[:] high, middle, low[,] all manner of various ranks with none remaining;

知一切佛圓滿智及諸善根不增不減盡無有餘;知一切法皆從緣起盡無有餘;
knowledge that all Buddhas' completed wisdom reaches all roots of virtue neither increasing nor decreasing always with none remaining; knowledge that all dharmāḥ entirely follow dependent origination with none remaining;

知一切世界種盡無有餘;知一切法界中如因陀羅網諸差別事盡無有餘。是為十。
knowledge of all world-system varieties with none remaining; knowledge of all dharmāḥ middling as in Indra's Net[;] myriad disparate items all with none remaining. There are the ten.

---------
---------
---------

因陀羅網 = Indra's Net
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Coëmgenu wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 5:40 pm知一切法界中如因陀羅網諸差別事盡無有餘。[...]
knowledge of all dharmāḥ middling as in Indra's Net[;] myriad disparate things all [of them] with none remaining.
The above is not quite right. I could edit it on SuttaCentral but not here. I think it's actually:

知一切法界中如因陀羅網諸差別事盡無有餘。
Knowledge of all of dharmadhātu middling as in Indra's Net[;] myriad disparate items all with none remaining.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

An early draft of Dharmamitra:
They know all of the different phenomena without exception throughout the entire Dharma realm are like the net of Indra.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Nicholas Weeks wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 10:22 pm An early draft of Dharmamitra:
They know all of the different phenomena without exception throughout the entire Dharma realm are like the net of Indra.
I lack the qualifications and skills to be a professional translator. As such, I would never dream to argue for my rendering over anyone qualified where I am not. That being said, as that I may take this opportunity to learn, in comparing three renderings, my own, Ven Dharmamitra's, & Thomas Cleary's, I see some differences:

知一切世界種盡無有餘;知一切法界中如因陀羅網諸差別事盡無有餘。
knowledge of all world-system varieties with none remaining; knowledge of all dharmāḥ middling as in Indra's Net[;] myriad disparate items all with none remaining.
(myself)
They know all of the different phenomena without exception throughout the entire Dharma realm are like the net of Indra.
(Ven Dharmamitra from above)
They know all world systems exhaustively. They know all the different phenomena in all worlds, interrelated in Indra's Net.
(Thomas Cleary, 925)

We have "middling as in Indra's Net", "are like the net of Indra" & "interrelated in Indra's Net".

The Chinese here is 中如因陀羅網, does why I said "middling as in" make more sense now? That is the proper reading for 中? As the passage is in the Chinese, it looks like Indra's Net is being used for a metaphor for the middling way, more-so than "inter-relation", which seems like it should be translating 圓融如因陀羅網, not 中如因陀羅網. In fact, I can't find any word that would mean 'inter-relation' as it appears in Cleary's translation.

Thoughts? Thank you for your time.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

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Coëmgenu wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:54 pmThe Chinese here is 中如因陀羅網, does why I said "middling as in" make more sense now? That is the proper reading for 中?
中 means "middle" yes, as in "middle kingdom", but it also means "within" or "throughout" and it's referring to the Dharma realm/universe (法界中). Dharmamitra's translation looks right to me.
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Admin_PC wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:11 am
Coëmgenu wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:54 pmThe Chinese here is 中如因陀羅網, does why I said "middling as in" make more sense now? That is the proper reading for 中?
中 means "middle" yes, as in "middle kingdom", but it also means "within" or "throughout" and it's referring to the Dharma realm/universe (法界中). Dharmamitra's translation looks right to me.
It is the 如 ("like", "as if", "thus", etc) after the 中 that makes me doubt "within". But like I said, my Chinese is hardly professional. I would never claim my own doodles are comparable work.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

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Coëmgenu wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:24 amIt is the 如 ("like", "as if", "thus", etc) after the 中 that makes me doubt "within". But like I said, my Chinese is hardly professional. I would never claim my own doodles are comparable work.
"Thus" is definitely the basic meaning, but it goes deeper than that.
Ref: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xp ... =%E5%A6%82


Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: thus
Senses:

Like, such as, as if. [Charles Muller; source(s): JEBD]
Be equal to, be like. [Charles Muller]
To seem to be. [Charles Muller]
Thusness, thusness; reality as-it-is. [Charles Muller]
Used in the sense of the absolute, another way of describing emptiness 空 śūnya, which is the real characteristic of all buddha 諸佛之實相 the reality of all buddhas; hence 如 is the undifferentiated whole of things 實相, the ultimate reality; it is the nature of all things 諸法之性, hence it connotes 'Dharma-nature' 法性 which is the ultimate of reality 眞實之際極, or the absolute, and therefore connotes ultimate reality 實際. The ultimate nature of all things being 'thus,' the one undivided same, it also connotes the principle 理 within all things, and this principle is the 眞實 truth or ultimate reality. Thusness is also expressed as 眞如 bhūtatathatā, the real so, or thusness, or reality, the ultimate or the all, i. e. the single thusness 一如. In regard to thusness as principle 理, the Prajñā-pāramitā puṇḍarīka makes it the 中 zhong, neither matter nor nothingness. The Skt. tathā is also transliterated as 多陀; 但他, and 怛他 (Skt. yathā, tad-yathā, tādṛśa, iva, ākṛti, ābhāsa, udāhārya, udāhṛti, upamā, upasaṃhita, evam, aupamya-mātreṇa, kalpa, jāta, jātīya, tathā tad-yathā, tathā yathā, thativa, tad-yathâpi nāma, tad-rūpa, tulya, darśana, dṛśa, na ca khalu varam..., nikāśa, nidarśana, nibha, nibhopama, *nyāyya, prakāśa, pratibimbaka, pratispardhin, bhūta, bhūta-tathatā, bhūtatva, mātra, yatha-r-iva, yathā..ṭathā, yathâpi nāma, yathāvat, *yathaiva, yad, yadvat, yādṛśa, yādṛśaḥ..ṭādṛśaḥ, yāvat..ṭāvat, varam...varaṃ na, vā, viya, saṃsthāna, saṃkāśa, sadṛśa, sadṛśam, saṃnibha, sama, samam, sama-sādṛśa, samāna, samānaka, sādṛśa, sādṛśaka, sādharmya, sthānīya; Tib. rigs pa). [Charles Muller; source(s): Soothill, Hirakawa, YBh-Ind]
中 coming at the end of a location or period of time, usually means within or throughout - it's a very common construct.

知一切法界中如因陀羅網
Wisdom of everything throughout the Dharma realm, like Indra's net...
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Queequeg »

Admin_PC wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:11 am
Coëmgenu wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:54 pmThe Chinese here is 中如因陀羅網, does why I said "middling as in" make more sense now? That is the proper reading for 中?
中 means "middle" yes, as in "middle kingdom", but it also means "within" or "throughout" and it's referring to the Dharma realm/universe (法界中). Dharmamitra's translation looks right to me.
Its fun to think about a character as simple as 中 and its meanings, and then you think of its translation and you realize even for a simple thing like this there is no one to one translation.

What is more, when I look at that, I don't even necessarily think of how its pronounced (in Japanese - it could be chu or naka) I just get the range of meanings it could be. If one wanted, one could write English in Chinese characters and yet still read it in English...
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Queequeg »

Admin_PC wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:31 am
Coëmgenu wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:24 amIt is the 如 ("like", "as if", "thus", etc) after the 中 that makes me doubt "within". But like I said, my Chinese is hardly professional. I would never claim my own doodles are comparable work.
"Thus" is definitely the basic meaning, but it goes deeper than that.
Ref: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xp ... =%E5%A6%82


Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: thus
Senses:

Like, such as, as if. [Charles Muller; source(s): JEBD]
Be equal to, be like. [Charles Muller]
To seem to be. [Charles Muller]
Thusness, thusness; reality as-it-is. [Charles Muller]
Used in the sense of the absolute, another way of describing emptiness 空 śūnya, which is the real characteristic of all buddha 諸佛之實相 the reality of all buddhas; hence 如 is the undifferentiated whole of things 實相, the ultimate reality; it is the nature of all things 諸法之性, hence it connotes 'Dharma-nature' 法性 which is the ultimate of reality 眞實之際極, or the absolute, and therefore connotes ultimate reality 實際. The ultimate nature of all things being 'thus,' the one undivided same, it also connotes the principle 理 within all things, and this principle is the 眞實 truth or ultimate reality. Thusness is also expressed as 眞如 bhūtatathatā, the real so, or thusness, or reality, the ultimate or the all, i. e. the single thusness 一如. In regard to thusness as principle 理, the Prajñā-pāramitā puṇḍarīka makes it the 中 zhong, neither matter nor nothingness. The Skt. tathā is also transliterated as 多陀; 但他, and 怛他 (Skt. yathā, tad-yathā, tādṛśa, iva, ākṛti, ābhāsa, udāhārya, udāhṛti, upamā, upasaṃhita, evam, aupamya-mātreṇa, kalpa, jāta, jātīya, tathā tad-yathā, tathā yathā, thativa, tad-yathâpi nāma, tad-rūpa, tulya, darśana, dṛśa, na ca khalu varam..., nikāśa, nidarśana, nibha, nibhopama, *nyāyya, prakāśa, pratibimbaka, pratispardhin, bhūta, bhūta-tathatā, bhūtatva, mātra, yatha-r-iva, yathā..ṭathā, yathâpi nāma, yathāvat, *yathaiva, yad, yadvat, yādṛśa, yādṛśaḥ..ṭādṛśaḥ, yāvat..ṭāvat, varam...varaṃ na, vā, viya, saṃsthāna, saṃkāśa, sadṛśa, sadṛśam, saṃnibha, sama, samam, sama-sādṛśa, samāna, samānaka, sādṛśa, sādṛśaka, sādharmya, sthānīya; Tib. rigs pa). [Charles Muller; source(s): Soothill, Hirakawa, YBh-Ind]
中 coming at the end of a location or period of time, usually means within or throughout - it's a very common construct.

知一切法界中如因陀羅網
Wisdom of everything throughout the Dharma realm, like Indra's net...
In Buddhist contexts, 如 is tatha as in tathagata, or thus such etc. referring to the real.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Queequeg wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:34 am
Admin_PC wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:11 am
Coëmgenu wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:54 pmThe Chinese here is 中如因陀羅網, does why I said "middling as in" make more sense now? That is the proper reading for 中?
中 means "middle" yes, as in "middle kingdom", but it also means "within" or "throughout" and it's referring to the Dharma realm/universe (法界中). Dharmamitra's translation looks right to me.
Its fun to think about a character as simple as 中 and its meanings, and then you think of its translation and you realize even for a simple thing like this there is no one to one translation.

What is more, when I look at that, I don't even necessarily think of how its pronounced (in Japanese - it could be chu or naka) I just get the range of meanings it could be. If one wanted, one could write English in Chinese characters and yet still read it in English...
I think Thomas Clearly looked at 中如, saw "within" as a reading for 中, and interpreted it as "inter-", and then saw "like X" as a meaning for 如, and then interpreted the entire compound as 中如 = "inter-related", being familiar with Huáyán exegeses on DO.

Its not correct I don't think (I like Ven Dharmamitra's rendering better, simply "are like"), but I think that is what he did.
Last edited by Caoimhghín on Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:44 am, edited 2 times in total.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Queequeg »

Know that everything in the dharmadhatu thus caused is like Indra's Net

:shrug:
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Admin_PC »

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD
中 wouldn't typically modify the word following, but the word preceding.

http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin/xp ... =%E4%B8%AD

From SATDB:
人中 - among human beings (rénzhōng)

一切法 all dharmas (yīqiè fǎ)
界中 in [this] world (jièzhōng)

EDIT: I think Cleary added the context of the allusion to Indra's Net.
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Queequeg »

Are we sure 法界 should be split? that is Dharmadhatu

一切 this means all.

知 know
一切 all
法界中in the Dharmadhatu
如因 thus caused
陀羅網 are Indra's Net
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Source of Indra's Net?

Post by Caoimhghín »

That works nicely, however, 因陀羅網 = Indra's Net. We can't split up Indra. Only Avalokiteśvara can take something like that and keep ticking.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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