2011-11-17

The Skin of the Snake


“Also, further, oh good man! Do you think that death comes or not to the snake as it discards its skin?"

"No, oh World Honored One!"

"Oh good man! The same is the case with the Tathagata. He makes use of an expedient, manifests himself and discards the non-eternal, the poisoned body. Do you think that the Tathagata is non-eternal and dies away?"

"No is the word, oh World Honored One! The Tathagata abandons his body in this Jambudvipa as an expedient. The case is like that a snake that exchanges (and abandons) its old skin. This is why we say that the Tathagata is Eternal."

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 16 - On the Bodhisattva.

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