As such it is also called Tathagatagarbha and Dharma-dhatu, the matrix or store-house of all phenomena.  On the other hand, inasmuch as it is beyond them and implies their unreality, it may also be regarded as the annihilation of all phenomena, in other words as Nirvana.  In fact the Dharma-kaya (or Bhuta-tathata) is sometimes[99] defined in words similar to those which the Pali Canon makes the Buddha use when asked if the Perfect Saint exists after death—­“it is neither that which is existence nor that which is non-existence, nor that which is at once existence and non-existence nor that which is neither existence nor non-existence.”  In more theological language it may be said that according to the general opinion of the Mahayanists a Buddha attains to Nirvana by the very act of becoming a Buddha and is therefore beyond everything which we call existence.  Yet the compassion which he feels for mankind and the good Karma which he has accumulated cause a human image of him (Nirmana-kaya) to appear among men for their instruction and a superhuman image, perceptible yet not material, to appear in Paradise.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 73:  In Mahaparinib.  Sut.  I. 16 the Buddha is made to speak of all the other Buddhas who have been in the long ages of the past and will be in the long ages of the future.]

[Footnote 74:  Though Dhyani Buddha is the title most frequently used in European works it would appear that Jina is more usual in Sanskrit works, and in fact Dhyani Buddha is hardly known outside Nepalese literature.  Ratnasambhava and Amoghasiddhi are rarely mentioned apart from the others.  According to Getty (Gods of Northern Buddhism, pp. 26, 27) a group of six, including the Adi-Buddha himself under the name of Vajrasattva, is sometimes worshipped.]

[Footnote 75:  About the same period Siva and Vishnu were worshipped in five forms.  See below, Book V. chap.  III. sec. 3 ad fin.]

[Footnote 76:  Nanjio, Cat.  No. 28.]

[Footnote 77:  Virocana also occurs in the Chandogya Up.  VIII. 7 and 8 as the name of an Asura who misunderstood the teaching of Prajapati.  Verocana is the name of an Asura in Sam.  Nik.  I. xi. 1. 8.]

[Footnote 78:  The names of many of these Buddhas, perhaps the majority, contain some word expressive of light such as Aditya, prabha or tejas.]

[Footnote 79:  Chap.  XX.  Pushpavalivanarajikusumitabhijna.]

[Footnote 80:  E.g. Yashts.  XXII. and XXIV. S.B.E. vol.  XXIII. pp. 317 and 344.  The title Pure Land (Chinese Ch’ing-t’u, Japanese Jo-do) has also a Persian ring about it.  See further in the chapter on Central Asia.]

[Footnote 81:  Vishnu P., Book III. chap.  II.]

[Footnote 82:  See below:  Section on Central Asia, and Gruenwedel, Mythologie, 31, 36 and notes:  Taranatha (Shiefner), p. 93 and notes.]

[Footnote 83:  Amitayur-dhyana-sutra.  All three works are translated in S.B.E. vol.  XLIX.]