How, then, can one talk about the Buddha or Tathagata? Was the Buddha completely void of any self-image aside from awakening itself? In fact, the Buddha thought of his life in terms of the Dharma itself. One might say that through his awakening he ceased to live as a private individual and became instead a living embodiment or personification of the Dharma. The corollary to this is that the Dharma, not simply his personality or physical presence, was the true nature of his life. According to one story, there was once an elder monk named Vakkali who was fatally ill and his one regret was that he was not able to go and see the Buddha. When, out of compassion, the Buddha came to visit the sick elder, he made the following remark:
“Enough, Vakkali! Why do you want to see this foul body? One who sees the Dhamma sees me; one one who sees me sees the Dhamma. For in seeing the Dhamma, Vakkali, one sees me; and in seeing me, one sees the Dhamma.” (Ibid, p. 939)
If seeing the Dharma is equivalent to seeing the Buddha, then one must ask: what exactly does it mean to see the Dharma? The Dharma, in this case, refers to the interdependent and dynamic life process which is the true nature of reality. As the Buddha states in another discourse: “One who sees dependent origination sees the Dhamma; one who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination.” (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, p.284) Therefore, while the Buddha can not be defined by any particular phenomena or as any particular being, the Buddha is the true nature of reality itself which is characterized by dependent origination. In the Agganna Sutta of the Long Discourses of the Buddha the terms Brahmakaya, or Divine Body, and Dhamma-kaya, or Body of Dhamma, are used to indicate that the reality which the Buddha has awakened to is the true body of the Buddha which all his disciples will also realize for themselves by following his teachings. In the sutta, the Buddha teaches as follows:
Vasettha, all of you, though of different birth, name, clan and family, who have gone forth from the household life into homelessness, if you are asked who you are, should reply: “We are ascetics, followers of the Sakyan.” He whose faith in the Tathagata is settled, rooted, established, solid, unshakeable by any ascetic or Brahmin, any deva or mara or Brahma or anyone in the world, can truly say: “I am a true son of the Blessed Lord, born of his mouth, born of Dhamma, created by Dhamma, an heir of Dhamma.” Why is that? Because, Vasettha, this designates the Tathagata: “The Body of Dhamma”, that is, “The Body of Brahma”, or “Become Dhamma”, that is, “Become Brahma”. (The Long Discourses of the Buddha, p. 409)