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Di Bộ Tông Luân Luận - Hệ Thống Hóa Tư Tưởng Các Bộ Phái
Two seductive objects are raised:
- The need to have an object to love, worship, and venerate leads to making the World-Honored One into a deity, while the work Old Path White Clouds restores Him as a human being, as a teacher.
- The desire to prove the existence of an unchanging entity, as the subject for karma and realization, gives rise to the notion of an unchanging “self.”
The early Buddhist schools all endeavored to seek an “unchanging foundation” for the phenomenal world of impermanence:
- The Vātsīputrīya school: acknowledged the Pudgala (transcendent entity) as a necessary condition for action and realization.
- The Saṃmitīya school.
- The Sarvāstivāda school: developed the concepts of attainment, life faculty, and continuity, along with santati (subtle consciousness) and bhavanga (the continuous stream of life).
- The Theravāda school: emphasized sukṣma mana vijñāna (subtle consciousness) and bhavanga.
- The Mahāsaṅghika, Mahīśāsaka schools…
Mahayana Buddhism responds to both of these needs with the doctrine of the Three Bodies of the Buddha (the Reward Body, the Transformation Body, and the Dharma Body), and develops two main streams:
- Yogācāra (Consciousness-Only School): bases itself on consciousness (vijñāna), advocating “only manifestation” (vijñapti-mātratā).
- Madhyamaka (School of Emptiness Wisdom): penetrates the nature of emptiness (śūnyatā), affirming that not only the self is empty but phenomena are also empty; truth transcends both being and non-being.
Along with the original Three Dharma Seals — impermanence, non-self, and nirvana — Mahayana further develops the concept of Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha Nature), the “embryo of the Buddha” latent in every sentient being, while also nurturing faith through objects such as Akṣobhya Buddha, Amitābha Buddha, Avalokiteśvara, thereby combining self-power and other-power, guiding practitioners to Nirvana — the foundational reality of “no birth, no death,” transcending both being and non-being.
