Trikaya
The Trikāya is a fundamental Buddhist doctrine that explains the multidimensional nature of Buddhahood. As such, the Trikāya is the basic theory that grounds the Mahayana buddhology, that is, the theology of Buddhahood.
This concept posits that a Buddha has three types of kayas or "bodies", aspects, or ways of being, each representing a different facet or embodiment of Buddhahood and ultimate reality. The three are the Dharmakāya, the Sambhogakāya and the Nirmāṇakāya. It is widely accepted in Buddhism that these three bodies are not separate realities, but functions, modes or "fluctuations" of a single state of Buddhahood.
The Trikāya doctrine explains how a Buddha can simultaneously exist in multiple realms and embody a spectrum of qualities and forms, while also seeming to appear in the world with a human body that gets old and dies. It is also used to explain the Mahayana doctrine of non-abiding nirvana, which sees Buddhahood as both unconstructed and transcendent, as well as constructed, immanent and active in the world. This idea was developed in early Yogācāra school sources, like the Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra. The doctrine's interpretations vary across different Buddhist traditions, some theories contain extra "bodies", making it a "four body" theory and so on. However, the basic Trikāya theory remains a cornerstone of Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings, providing a comprehensive perspective on the nature of Buddhahood, Buddhist deities and the Buddhist cosmos. The Buddhist triple body theory was also adopted into Daoist philosophy and modified using Daoist concepts.
Overview
The Trikāya doctrine sees Buddhahood as composed of three bodies, components or collection of elements : the Dharma body, the body of self-enjoyment and the manifestation body.The term kāya was understood to have multiple meanings simultaneously. The three main ways it was understood by Indian exegetes were:
- Body as a collection or accumulation of things or parts, mainly referring to the "corpus" of all of Buddha's qualities
- Body as a basis or substratum of all phenomena, or as the basis for all the Buddha's qualities.
- Body in the sense of embodiment of the real nature of reality
The relationship among the three
Furthermore, according to Yogācāra sources like the Madhyāntavibhāga, the non-duality of a Buddha's nirvana also means that Buddhahood is both conditioned and unconditioned at the same time. Thus, the Madhyāntavibhāga says of Buddhahood "Its operation is nondual because of its abiding neither in saṃsāra nor in nirvāṇa, through its being both conditioned and unconditioned." Thus, while there is an element of Buddhahood which is transcendent, free from all worldly conditions and quiescent, there is also an element which compassionately manifests for the good of all beings and thus is engaged in worldly conditions. This transcendent and immanent character is described in the Buddhabhūmi-sūtra as follows:
In space, there appear the arising and ceasing of diverse forms. Yet space neither arises nor ceases. Likewise, within the purified dharma realm of the Tathagatas, there appear the arising and ceasing of awareness, manifestation, and performance of all the activities for sentient beings. Yet the purified dharma realm has neither arising nor ceasing.The longer edition of the Golden Light Sutra, which contains a whole chapter on the triple body theory, states that while the manifestation body is singular, the enjoyment body is multiple since "it has many forms in accord with the aspirations of beings". Furthermore, the Dharma body is to be understood as neither singular or multiple, "neither the same nor different".
The Trikāyasūtra preserved in the Tibetan canon contains the following simile for the three bodies:
the dharmakāya of the Tathāgata consists in the fact that he has no nature, just like the sky. His saṃbhogakāya consists in the fact that he comes forth, just like a cloud. His nirmāṇakāya consists in the activity of all the buddhas, the fact that it soaks everything, just like rain.Furthermore, this sutra explains that the three bodies can be understood as relative to those who see them:
That which is seen from the perspective of the Tathāgata is the dharmakāya. That which is seen from the perspective of the bodhisattvas is the saṃbhogakāya. That which is seen from the perspective of ordinary beings who conduct themselves devotedly is the nirmāṇakāya.The Buddhabhūmi-''vyākhyāna also explains the bodies through the various types of beings who have access to them in the same way. Only Buddhas see the dharma body, only bodhisattvas see the enjoyment body, and sentient beings are able see the manifestations.
The Golden Light sutra'' also associates different kinds of wisdom to each body and with the different elements of the eight consciousnesses. The Dharma body is the mirror-like wisdom, the pure state of the "basis-of-all" ; the enjoyment body is discriminating wisdom, the pure state of mental cognition; while the nirmāṇakāya is "all-accomplishing wisdom", which is the pure state of the five sense consciousnesses.
Dharmakāya
The Dharmakāya is often described through Buddhist philosophical concepts that describe the Buddhist view of ultimate reality like emptiness, Buddha nature, Dharmata, Suchness, Dharmadhatu, Prajñaparamita, Paramartha, non-duality, and original purity. The Dharmakāya is also associated with the "body of the teachings", that is to say, the Buddhadharma, the teachings of the Buddha, and by association, with the nature of reality itself, which the teachings point to and are in accord with.In several Mahayana sources, the Dharma body is the primary and ultimate Buddha body, as well as "the foundation and basis for the two other bodies" according to Gadjin Nagao. For example, the Golden Light sutra states that:
The first two bodies are merely designations, while the Dharma body is true and the basis for those two other bodies. Why is that? It is because there is only the true nature of phenomena and nonconceptual wisdom, and there are no other qualities that are separate from all buddhas. All buddhas have a perfection of wisdom, and all their kleśas have completely ceased and ended so that the buddhas have attained purity. Therefore, all buddha qualities are contained within the true nature and the wisdom of the true nature.The Dharma body embodies the true nature of Buddhahood itself and all its inconceivable powers and qualities. It is generally understood as impersonal, without concept, words or thought. Even thought it is without any intention or thought, it accomplishes all Dharma activities spontaneously. Indeed, various Mahayana sources describe the Buddha bodies are being without thought or cognition. The Golden Light Sutra uses the analogy of the sun, moon, water, mirrors and light, which are without thought and yet they cause reflections to appear: "in the same way that through a combination of factors the reflections of the sun and moon appear, through a combination of factors the enjoyment bodies and the emanation bodies manifest their appearances to beings who are worthy."
The Dharma body is also the true nature of all things and the true nature of all beings, equivalent to the Mahayana concept of emptiness, the lack of inherent essence in all things. It is permanent, unceasing and unchanging. According to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra:
Dharmata-Buddha is Buddhahood in its self-nature of perfect oneness in whom absolute tranquillity prevails. As Noble Wisdom, Dharmata-Buddha transcends all differentiated knowledge, is the goal of intuitive self-realisation, and is the self-nature of the Tathagatas. As Noble Wisdom, Dharmata-Buddha is inscrutable, ineffable, unconditioned. Dharmata-Buddha is the Ultimate Principle of Reality from which all things derive their being and truthfulness, but which in itself transcends all predicates. Dharmata-Buddha is the central sun which holds all, illumines all.
The Dharma-body is often described in apophatic terms, as formless, thought-less and beyond all concepts, language and ideas - including any idea of existence or non-existence, or eternalism and annihilation. The Golden Light Sutra says:
Noble one, the Dharma body is revealed nonduality. What is nonduality? In the Dharma body, there are neither characteristics nor the basis for characteristics, and so there is neither existence nor nonexistence; the Dharma body is neither single nor diverse; it is neither a number nor numberless; and it is neither light nor darkness.According to Paul Williams, the Hymn to the Ultimate by Nagarjuna describes the Buddha in negative terms. Buddha is thus beyond all dualities, "neither nonbeing nor being, neither annihilation nor permanence, not noneternal, not eternal." He is without color, size, location, and so on. Because of this negative buddhology that is often used to describe the Dharmakaya, it is often depicted with impersonal symbols, like the letter A, some other mantric seed syllable, the disk of the moon or sun, space, or the sky. However, iconic representations of the Dharmakaya are also common, as with the depiction of the Buddha Mahavairocana in East Asian esoteric Buddhism and the Buddha Vajradhara or Samatabhadra in Tibetan Buddhism.
In Indian Yogācāra school sources, the Dharmakāya is sometimes described in more positive ways. According to Williams, Yogācāra sees the Dharmakāya as the support or basis of all dharmas, and as being a self-contained nature which lacks anything contingent or adventitious. It is thus "the intrinsic nature of the Buddhas, the ultimate, the purified Thusness or Suchness " and "the true nature of things taken as a body", a non-dual, pure and immaculate wisdom. A related term used to describe Buddhahood in Yogācāra is the natural luminosity of the mind According to the commentary to the Dharma-dharmatā-vibhāga: "although there has been a "fundamental transformation" , nothing has undergone an actual change" This innate nature is then compared to the sky, which is always pure, but can be covered by clouds which are only adventitious. It is also compared to water, which may get muddy, but its nature remains clear and pure. However, "when the is freed from those , it appears." As such, the dharmakaya is never generated or created, and is thus permanent.
The Yogācāra also sees the Dharmabody as equivalent to the dharmadhātu in its ultimate sense, in other words "the intrinsic body of the Buddha is the intrinsic or fundamental dimension of the cosmos". According to Yogācāra, on this ultimate level, there is no distinction between different Buddhas, there is only the same non-dual reality beyond all concepts including singularity and multiplicity. This also means that a Buddha's knowledge is all pervasive. Since Buddha's knowledge knows the true nature of all things and is conjoined with the true nature of all things, it pervades the entire world, and thus its functions are operative throughout the entire cosmos according to beings' needs. The Buddhabhūmi-sūtra compares the omnipresence of the Buddha's knowledge to how space pervades all things. Furthermore, Yogācāra sources indicate that the dharma body is beyond the understanding of any being that is not a Buddha, describing it as inconceivable, subtle, difficult to know, "inaccessible to speculative investigation", and "beyond ascertainment by reason."
The Golden Light Sutra also describes the Dharma body in positive terms as well, using various terms for it including: "the pure field of experience and pure wisdom", "the nature of the tathāgatas, "the essence of the tathāgatas". The Sutra also describes it using the perfections used to describe Buddha nature in other sources: eternal, self, bliss , and purity .
In the Xuanzang's Chengweishilun '','' the Dharmakaya is described as what is adorned with the great Buddha qualities, which are conditioned and unconditioned, immeasurable, and infinite. It also describes the dharmakaya-svabhāvikakāya as the real nature of the Buddhas and all dharmas, "the real pure dharmadhatu", the "immutable support" of the two other bodies, which is peaceful, beyond all prapañca, neither matter nor mind. It is "endowed with real, permanent qualities", and is permanent, blissful, sovereign, pure, infinite and all pervasive. Xuanzang also states that the svabhāvikakāya "is common to all tathagatas" and that it is "realized in the same way by all the tathagatas" since there is "no difference possible between the self-nature body of one buddha and that of the other buddhas".