Great bodhisattvas are said to be able to appear as buddhas in order to approach and teach beings.
What is the difference between a bona fide buddha and a bodhisattva who appears as a buddha? Is there any difference?
Bodhisattva appearing as a Buddha
Bodhisattva appearing as a Buddha
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
Re: Bodhisattva appearing as a Buddha
I assume by great bodhisattvas we are talking about tenth stage bodhisattvas, in which case the difference is quite minimal. The Abhisamayālaṃkāra states that tenth stagers are on a stage of buddhahood.
Re: Bodhisattva appearing as a Buddha
https://read.84000.co/translation/toh11 ... chapter-23
"He has taught the Dharma as a tathāgata for the beings who are to be guided by a tathāgata. And so on up to manifesting the relics of a tathāgata for beings who are to be guided by the relics of a tathāgata. And so on up to passing into nirvāṇa for beings who are to be guided by his passing into nirvāṇa."
Is that what happened here?
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,