Segment 5 / the Right Understanding of Reality
The Buddha asked Subhūti, “What do you think? Can Tathāgata be seen through physical form?” Subhūti replied, “No, World-Honored One. The Tathāgata cannot be seen through physical form.
Why is this? When the Tathagata speaks of physical form, it is not the true form. The Buddha then explained to Subhūti, “All forms are illusory. If one sees all forms not as the forms they appear to be or are believed to be, then one sees the Tathāgata.”
In this passage, the Buddha asks Subhūti: “Can sentient beings recognize the Tathāgata by the appearance of a physical body?” Here, “Tathāgata” refers to the self-nature. The question could also be phrased as: “Can sentient beings perceive the complete true self-nature through the limited and illusory senses—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind?”
Subhūti responded, “No, World-Honored One. The Buddha has explained that the physical form of sentient beings is merely an illusory combination, formed through the aggregation of conditions, arising and ceasing in accordance with causes and conditions.
In essence, sentient beings do not possess a perfect, unchanging, and eternal physical form. Therefore, what is referred to as a physical form is not truly a physical form.”
In the practice and realization of the Dharma, sentient beings often cling to their own physical form as real, using it as a basis for seeking their “self-nature.” They mistakenly believe that their “self-nature” must necessarily manifest in a specific physical form. When searching for beings in other realms, whether Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or even extraterrestrials, we tend to fixate on human bodily appearances, which prevents us from recognizing them. The Buddha taught Subhūti that our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—all that we see, hear, smell, touch, define, recognize, and experience—are illusory and lack true reality. Once we realize this, we come to know that all forms are not fixed. They are constantly changing, arising, and vanishing like illusions, without permanent existence. We are no longer deceived by the external forms of things, in truth, all phenomena share the same nature: they are the eternal, unchanging and unmoving Tathagata.
Therefore, the true meaning of this passage from the sutra is that the Buddha wants you to see true nature in every “form”. The Buddha stated, “All forms are illusory. If one sees all forms not as the forms they appear to be or are believed to be, then one sees the Tathāgata.”
To see your true nature does not entail the rejection or avoidance of all forms, such as the form of your body form with eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. If you discard this bodily form in an attempt to find the self-nature or the Tathāgata outside of bodily forms, then you are mistaken, this is all an attempt to see the Tathāgata through the body’s form. Similarly, if you negate everything and take emptiness or nothingness to be the Tathāgata, that too is mistaken.
Rather, if you can see the illusory nature of your own bodily form, its arising and ceasing, its impermanence and remain unshaken by the illusions created by your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, without clinging to anything both inwardly and outwardly, then you have returned to your self-nature, That is, you have seen the Tathāgata of yourself.
This serves as a reminder from the Buddha following his earlier teachings on “not clinging to forms when making vows” and “not clinging to forms when practicing almsgiving.” The Buddha reminds those who have recently made the aspiration to attain Buddhahood to be mindful of another point: the Buddha is formless and without appearance. One should not view the Buddha as any fixed, image, nor should one treat the path to enlightenment as a worldly pursuit to be studied, striving to become an imagined image of a Buddha. This is a common mistake among many practitioners.
All appearances in this world are manifestations of true emptiness. For example, when I lift a 20-pound object, my arm displays the strength to bear it. But once I put my arm down, does that strength still exist or not? If you say it exists – then where is it? If you say it doesn’t – well, it just manifested a moment ago. All appearances in this world are like that strength: when causes and conditions come together, they manifest – but none possess an inherently existing self that can be defined as either truly existent or purely illusory.For those who are attached to the belief in the inherent reality of material things, the Buddha states: “All forms are illusory. When you come to the realization that all forms are not as they appear or as you once believed, the Buddha does not mean that these phenomena vanish or become empty. Rather, He indicates that they are “not phenomena as you see.” In other words, everything still exists. When you understand that everything has no fixed form, and your perception fundamentally shifts; you no longer cling to the distinctions of truth, falsity, illusion, or reality, nor are you swept away by their arising, cessation, transformation, or change. This is how you can truly perceive the Tathāgata. It is not that everything dissolves into nothingness, or vanishes.
I would like to share a personal experience from my own practice and realization. On one occasion, I said something that touched a friend’s ego and personal interests, provoking a furious response. He began loudly scolding me. I stood silently and listened. Perhaps due to my consistent practice, I had cultivated some inner peace, mental force, and compassion In that moment, I did not judge who was right or wrong, nor did I have hatred. I simply faced his outbursts with a gentle and impartial heart, without thinking that I was practicing patience or restraining myself. My mind did not harbor rejection, resistance, or disdain. I merely listened quietly as he vented his frustration.
Suddenly, I entered a state of awareness in which I perceived him as transforming into a ball of fire, burning in the air, while I floated upwards, seated on a giant lotus. In that moment,
I gained a deeper understanding of the teaching in the Diamond Sutra: “All phenomena are not phenomena as you see.” All phenomena are of no fixed form, and as long as you do not cling to or distinguish between them, you could experience the state of “emptiness.” Of course, the practicing realms I describe here do not signify anything extraordinary. Those practicing realms are illusory. The concepts of “I,” “he,” “anger,” “fire,” and “lotus”—all are illusions and not real. The essential point is that, in every experience realm, you awaken when you do not cling to any appearance.
In the process of practice, each individual has their own unique path and means by which they can experience the “self-nature of the Tathāgata.” Some smell the fragrance of plum blossoms and see the “self-nature of the Tathāgata.” Some, when their pillow accidentally falls to the floor as they sleep, see the “self-nature of the Tathāgata.” Others, when the bottom of their water bucket breaks while fetching water, see the “self-nature of the Tathāgata.”
If you refrain from clinging to the notion that things are exactly as you believe, you can also realize the “self-nature of the Tathāgata” in a variety of experiences—whether in the anger or praise from others, in the quietude of meditation, or even in walking, standing, sitting, lying down, eating, drinking, excreting, and sleeping. This is because all phenomena are illusory and have no fixed form; they are emptiness in essence. This is exactly the Buddha teaches Subhūti: “All forms are illusory. If one sees all forms not as the forms they appear to be or are believed to be, then one sees the Tathāgata.”