Skillful means, or upaya, occupy a central role in Mahayana Buddhism. They have been used as a hermeneutical tool within the Mahayana tradition and are central to the Lotus Sutra. The skillful means, however, seem to imply that there has to be a decision from the subject who is employing them in order to benefit their object. This, however, could be understood as contrary to the nature of the Buddha, who is said to possess activity that is spontaneous and without any ideation. This paper will examine this apparent contradiction and argue that skillful means and effortless activity are both causes and effects of one another and therefore complement each other. To support this argument, the paper will analyze the nature of dharmadhatu in terms of its two-fold disposition and the three kayas. First, we will look at the two-fold disposition as the skillful means leading to the effortless activity. Then we will look at three kayas as the effortless activity that leads to the manifestation of skillful means. Finally, the paper will examine how Yogācāra’s luminous clarity serves as the bridge between effortless activity and skillful means.
In order to understand the relationship between effortless activity and skillful means, we need to understand that the Buddha’s intention was not to set an ontological claim about a “truth”; instead, his focus was to benefit the specific person in the specific moment and out of this motivation, he shared his wisdom (Schroeder 2004, 10). One can say that he knew the potential or disposition of beings, and because of this, he has effortless compassion. One example that we can see is from the Lotus Sutra, where we see a story of a wealthy man who uses skillful means to bring his children out of a burning house, by promising them beautiful gifts outside of the house. The point of the story is that no ontological “true” view that will bring one to a state of awakening. Instead, one needs a skillful means, that is based on wisdom to be able to reach awakening (Roberts 2018, chap. 3). To understand this, we start by examining the Uttaratantra-sastra and the nature of dharmadhatu. The nature of dharmadhatu is divided into three aspects: dharmakaya, suchness, and the disposition. These are connected to the buddhas, bodhisattvas and ordinary beings, respectively. The aspect of the disposition has two main functions: to show the practitioner, the ordinary being, their true nature, and to give an understanding of the path. In short, it is a skillful mean for the practitioner to utilize in order to develop trust in the awakened state and take the path to it. The function of showing the true nature establishes the view that the Buddha nature has existed since beginningless time as the nature of the mind (Maitreya 2018, 171). What this means for the ordinary being is that understanding that one has this nature, then the obscurations that are apparent now are temporary and removable. The obscurations that have to do with the naturally present disposition are the cognitive obscurations – the experience of every moment as a division between the experiencer, the object experienced, and the action in between, also called the three spheres. In order to clear away those cognitive obscurations, one perfects the accumulation of wisdom – this is where the nature is revealed. Then, the function of the disposition to show the path is called the expanded or unfolded disposition. Here, the practitioner is shown how supreme abilities will manifest through necessary conditions such as study and reflection after the afflictive obscurations have been purified (Maitreya 2018, 171). To achieve this, one must focus on accumulating merit. These abilities, however, are not something newly arisen; instead, the perfection of the accumulation of merit allows for the activities to manifest once the obscurations are removed. These two dispositions function as the accumulation of wisdom and merit, which present the skillful means to an ordinary being to utilize. We can also see these two as the development of relative and absolute Bodhicitta:
The arising of compassion without deliberately familiarizing with apprehending the conceptual cognitions of mind to be independent real entities is the nirmānakāya. Through various means, this is what arises in the mind stream [as] the bodhicitta that is associated with the thoughts of sentient beings (Brunnholzl 2015, 864).
Now, these two function as the cause for the effortless activity to manifest.
The effortless activity concerns the complete awakening manifesting as the three kayas – Svabhavikakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya. The Svabhavikakaya is the perfected accumulation of wisdom, which is the absence of the cognitive obscurations – the three spheres. As such, this state is beyond ideation, since there are no longer any concepts of duality. It is said to have existed naturally since beginningless time, as it is not something created through deliberate effort (Maitreya 2018, 172). Therefore, this state acts as the source of the effortless activity that manifests as the two form kayas – Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya.
In particular, the dharmakāya consists of the actual stainless dharmakāya (suchness endowed with twofold purity) and its natural outflow—the two rūpakāyas. Due to explaining the mahāyāna dharma, the rūpakāyas serve as the concordant cause for others attaining the dharmakāya through studying, reflecting, and meditating on this dharma (Brunnholzl 2015, 860).
It is essentially the “effortless” part of the activity or, as per the text above, the “natural” part of the outflow, whereas the activity itself is the perfection of the accumulation of merit. This is so because the accumulation of merit has been rooted in the goal to establish beings in the awakened state (Brunnholzl 2015, 860). Once one has completely perfected this accumulation of merit, any obscurations related to that ability or activity that can help establish beings in the awakened state are removed, and there is spontaneous ability or activity. These spontaneous and effortless activities, as we saw earlier, are not subject to a dualistic mind. They manifest in accordance with the being’s needs. The reason for this is that they manifest in accordance with their karmic fortune (Maitreya 2018, 211). An example of that would be the moon reflection in the water. The ability of the moon to shine is not affected by anything; this is its nature. Moreover, when the moon shines, it does not decide that it will shine in one pond of water but not in another. The only condition for the reflection of the moon in the water is whether the water in the pond is muddy or not. This is what is meant by “depending on the karmic fortunes of beings.” For these reasons, the Sambhogakaya is the skillful means that supports and brings joy to the bodhisattvas and guides them towards awakening, whereas the Nirmanakaya is the skillful means that supports ordinary beings on the way to the bodhisattva levels and awakening.
Therefore, we have two sides of skillful means or in other words, two sides of compassion. I specifically use sides because these two are inseparable. One requires effort because beings fail to recognize their nature, and thus there is dualism, thoughts, which require a volitional effort of compassion to bring the gap closer between subject and object and ultimately dissolve it:
Sentient beings are the adventitious flaws of thoughts. Therefore, one familiarizes with them as being nonentities. (6) Buddhahood is one’s own minďs being stainless of these adventitious stains of thoughts. [Thus,] one familiarizes with this luminosity of one’s own mind (Brunnholzl 2015, 863).
Therefore, this is the skillful means of effort. However, these volitional skillful means are related directly to the three kayas, in the sense that the naturally present disposition is the dharmakaya and vice versa; and the expanded disposition is the rupakayas and vice versa. The compassion stemming from the kayas, however, is not volitional; they manifest due to the karmic fortunes of disciples, as we saw above. Due to these reasons, we can say that awakening is possible at every moment because these three kayas are always present within the two dispositions and thus within one’s own experience:
(…)(a) The luminosity of one’s own mind is the disposition for the dharmakāya. Since it abides primordially and by nature as buddhahood, it is not that something nonexistent is accomplished. There is not the slightest buddhahood to be added apart from the realization of one’s own mind, (b) To realize thoughts as being adventitious is the sambhogakāya. (c) The arising of compassion for those who do not realize this is the nirmānakāya. (d) By virtue of the wisdom of realizing the two rūpakāyas, which is the supreme accomplished disposition, [luminosity] is free from the stains of thoughts—the buddhahood that is the dawn of realization is unceasing. Through realizing one’s own mind, there is not the slightest to be removed because there is no sentient being to be relinquished apart from [minds] playing as thoughts without a basis (…) (Brunnholzl 2015, 863-864)
Here is where Yogācāra’s luminosity of mind and the three natures are the factors that make it possible to utilize both skillful means and thus bridge the gap between the effortless and volitional sides of them. To reduce the gap one can utilize the three natures of Yogacara and change one’s perception from a mistaken view of experiences, through seeing their dependent arising, and finally to recognizing what they really are. For this, there are three guiding instructions: 1) Imaginary nature – even though the mind appears as all kinds of thoughts, this is not a problem; they are wakefulness in themselves. They appear, they are lucid, but they do not abide anywhere, and thus they are free of any limiting nature, without a self. Resting in this way, wisdom manifests. 2) Dependent nature — in the middle, if thoughts appear, one just looks at them with wisdom and tries to find where the thought is. In this way, one does not destroy the thought, but one reveals the nature of the thought. 3) Perfectly established nature – at the end, and this is especially the crossing from effortful to effortless, one just lets thoughts appear without analyzing them, but simply recognizing them as they are, and then they self-liberate (Brunnholzl 2015, 861-862). Thus, the union of the crossing from effortful to effortless is achieved, which equals awakening.
Thus, the effortless activity and the skillful means function as support for each other rather than contradicting each other. We can say that the first one needs the effortless activity of the Buddha to inspire the disciple to embark on the path. This is where the dispositions are taught and act as the goal and guide, which, in turn, constitute the effortful skillful means that culminate in the three kayas. These three kayas then represent the effortless activity, which again acts as the support for beings to embark on the path. In this way, this is a cycle. This is so because the disposition and the three kayas are the two sides of the same coin – dharmadhatu. Then, to bridge the gap between the effortless activity and the skillful means, Yogacara provides a framework for removing the perception of these two as different. Using the luminous mind and the three natures provides a framework for seeing all experiences as one taste and therefore attaining awakening.
References
Brunnholzl, Karl. 2015. When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition As a Bridge Between Sutra and Tantra. Tsadra Ser. Shambhala.
Maitreya, Arya. 2018. Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary. With Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Rosemarie Fuchs, and Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso. Shambhala.
Roberts, Peter Alan, trans. 2018. The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh113.
Schroeder, John William. 2004. Skillful Means: The Heart of Buddhist Compassion. 1. Indian ed. Buddhist Tradition Series 54. Motilal Banarsidass.