The three bodies are originally my being, the fourfold knowledge is clarity of the basic mind.

The following is from the Shobogenzo (Dahui's):

Tong said, “May I hear about the meaning of the fourfold knowledge?”

The patriarch said, “Once you understand the three bodies, you understand the fourfold knowledge—why ask further? If you speak of the fourfold knowledge apart from the three bodies, this is called having knowledge with no embodiment, so this having knowledge turns into having no knowledge. I will again utter a verse:

The great round mirror knowledge is purity of essence;

The knowledge of equality is mind without illness.

Observing knowledge sees, not as a result of effort;

Knowledge for accomplishing tasks is the same as the round mirror.

Five and eight, six and seven, effect and cause revolve;

It’s just use of terminology, with no substantive nature.

If you do not keep feelings on the revolving,

Flourishing, you’ll always be in dragon concentration.”

Tong bowed in thanks and expressed praise in a verse:

The three bodies are originally my being,

The fourfold knowledge is clarity of the basic mind.

Body and knowledge merge without hindrance,

Responding to people, freely adapting.

Initiating cultivation is all arbitrary action;

Maintaining stasis is not true refinement.

The subtle message understood through the teacher,

Finally I’ve lost defiling terms.

---

A great way to understand this would be the model of the Five Dhyani Buddhas which maps the eight consciousnesses and the four wisdoms. From my Huangbo post:

" Each of us has a mind which is the eighth consciousness (vijnana), as well as the seventh, sixth and the first five consciousnesses. The first five are the five thieves of the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. The sixth consciousness is the thief of the mind (manas). The seventh is the deceptive consciousness (klista-mano-vijnana) which from morning to evening grasps the eighth consciousness' 'subject' and mistakes it for an 'ego'. It incites the sixth to lead the first five consciousnesses to seek external objects (such as) form, sound, smell, taste and touch. Being constantly deceived and tied the eighth consciousness-mind is held in bondage without being able to free itself. For this reason we are obliged to have recourse to this hua t'ou and use its 'Vajra King's Precious Sword' to kill all these thieves so that the eighth consciousness can be transmuted into the Great Mirror Wisdom, the seventh into the Wisdom of Equality, the sixth into the Profound Observing Wisdom and the first five consciousnesses into the Perfecting Wisdom. It is of paramount importance first to transmute the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, for they play the leading role and because of their power in discriminating and discerning. While you were seeing the voidness and the brightness and composing poems and gathas, these two consciousnesses performed their (evil) functions. Today, we should use this hua t'ou to transmute the discriminating consciousness into the Profound Observing Wisdom and the mind which differentiates between ego and personality into the Wisdom of Equality. This is called the transmutation of consciousness into wisdom and the transformation of the worldly into the saintly."

From the initial OP Shobogenzo quote,

1) The great round mirror knowledge is purity of essence - This is the Great Mirror Wisdom, the Wisdom of Reflection. This in the Five Buddhas is Akshobhya, whose name means "Mirror-like Wisdom".

2) The knowledge of equality is mind without illness - This is Ratnasambhava, and the Wisdom of Equanimity. "Again in the past, immeasurable, incalculable kalpas ago, as many as the grains of sand in the Ganges River, there appeared in the world a Buddha bearing the title of Ratnasambhava Tathagata. Any man or woman, hearing the Buddha's name and showing respect to him, will soon attain the stage of an Arhat." - Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra.

3) Observing knowledge sees, not as a result of effort - This is Amitabha and the wisdom of observation. According to Wikipedia, Amitābha means "Infinite Light", and Amitāyus means "Infinite Life" so Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life". Amitabha represents the Pure Lands.

4) Knowledge for accomplishing tasks is the same as the round mirror - this is the wisdom of perfect practice. This is Amoghasiddhi, whose name means 'He Whose Accomplishment Is Not In Vain'.

The fifth is Vairocana. Vairocana is the embodiment of cosmic space emptiness.

Submitted November 22, 2018 at 11:16AM by Dillon123 https://ift.tt/2S9CgZT