Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Trikaya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Trikaya doctrine (Sanskrit, literally "Three bodies or personalities"; 三身 Chinese: Sānshén, Japanese: sanjin) is an important Buddhist teaching both on the nature of reality, and what a Buddha is. By the 4th century CE the Trikaya Doctrine had assumed the form that we now know. The Trikaya is symbolised by the Gankyil. Briefly the doctrine says that a Buddha has three kayas or bodies: the nirmanakaya or created body which manifests in time and space; the sambhogakaya or body of mutual enjoyment which is an archetypal manifestation; and the Dharmakaya or reality body which embodies the very principle of enlightenment and knows no limits or boundaries. The Mindstream (Sanksrit: citta santana) fords the triune of the Trikaya.[1] The Trikaya is symbolised by the Gankyil.
Contents |
Buddhism has always recognized more than one Buddha. In the Pali Canon twenty-eight previous Buddhas are mentioned, and Gautama Buddha, the historical Buddha, is simply the Buddha who has appeared in our world age. Even before the Buddha's Parinirvana the term Dharmakaya was current. Dharmakaya literally means Truth body, or Reality body. However all of these Buddha are unified in two ways: firstly they share similar special characteristics. All Buddhas have the 32 major marks, and the 80 minor marks of a superior being. These marks are not necessarily physical, but are talked about as bodily features. They include the 'ushinisha' or a bump on the top of the head; hair tightly curled; a white tuft of hair between the eyes, long arms that reach to their knees, long fingers and toes that are webbed; his penis is completely covered by his foreskin; images of an eight-spoked wheel on the soles of their feet etc. Clearly if these were physical marks the Buddha would have been a strange looking individual. But since not everyone was able to discern these marks on him, we can assume that they were either metaphorical, or a psychic phenomenon.
The other thing that all Buddhas have in common, is the Dharma that they teach, which is identical in each case.
In the Pali Canon The Buddha tells Vasettha that the Tathagata (the Buddha) was Dharmakaya, the 'Truth-body' or the 'Embodiment of Truth', as well as Dharmabhuta, 'Truth-become', that is, 'One who has become Truth' (Digha Nikaya).[citation needed]
On another occasion, Ven. Vakkali, who was ill, wanted to see the Buddha before the passed away from old age. The text from the Samyutta Nikaya (SN 22.87) is as follows:
...and the Buddha comforts him, "Enough, Vakkali. Why do you want to see this filthy body? Whoever sees the Dhamma sees me; whoever sees me sees the Dhamma."[2]
Similarly in this same text, the term Putikaya meaning "decomposing" body is distinguished from the eternal Dhamma body of the Buddha and of course the Bodhisat body. So in the Tipitika we have the following early Trikaya parallels which were never formally taught as "trikaya" in a singular framework as it later became in the Mahayana and found in later Mahayana sutras expounded as a complete doctrine of Trikaya:
- Putikaya - the material body of the Buddha that is used to teach and is present amongst us, but is subject to decay.
- Bodhisat - the reward body marked with the 32 marks of a great man, these marks are present in the Bodhisat and identifiable from birth in the Tipitika. This is the body which gains enlightenment.
- Dhammakaya - the eternal body of the Buddha.
Later Mahayana Buddhists were concerned with the transcendent aspect of the Dharma. One response to this was the development of the Tathagatagarbha Doctrine. Another was the introduction of the Sambhogakaya, which conceptually fits between the Rupakaya, now renamed Nirmanakaya and the Dharmakaya.
The Three Bodies of the the Buddha in Mahayana thought can be broken down like so:[3]
- The Nirmanakaya is the historical, physical Buddha
- The Samboghakaya is the reward-body, whereby a bodhisattva completes his vows and becomes a Buddha. Amitabha is traditionally seen as a Samboghakaya.
- The Dharmakaya is the embodiment of the truth itself. Vairocana Buddha is often depicted as the incomprehensible Dharmakaya, particularly in esoteric Buddhist schools such as Shingon and Kegon in Japan.
As with earlier Buddhist thought, all three forms of the Buddha teach the same Dharma, but take on different forms to expound the truth.
Vajrayana sometimes refers to a fourth body, called the Svabhavikakaya (Tib. ngo wo nyi kyi ku), engl. meaning is body of essence, or essential. [4], [5] In the book Embodiment of Buddhahood Chapter 4 the subject is: Embodiment of Buddhahood in its Own Realization: Yogacara Svabhavikakaya as Projection of Praxis and Gnoseology.
- ^ Welwood, John (2000). The Play of the Mind: Form, Emptiness, and Beyond. Source: http://www.purifymind.com/PlayMind.htm (accessed: Saturday January 13, 2007)
- ^ http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.5-6.than.html See footnote #3
- ^ Hattori, Sho-on (2001). A Raft from the Other Shore : Honen and the Way of Pure Land Buddhism. Jodo Shu Press, 25-27. ISBN 4883633292.
- ^ remarks on Svabhavikakaya by khandro.net
- ^ slightly different spelling: "ngo bo nyid kyi sku - svabhavikakaya" explanation of meaning
- Snellgrove, David (1987). Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Vol. 1. Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, Inc.. ISBN 0 87773 311 2.
- Snellgrove, David (1987). Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Vol. 2. Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, Inc.. ISBN 0 87773 379 1.
- John J. Makransky: (August 1997) Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet, Publisher: State University of New York Press , ISBN 079143432X (10), ISBN 978-0791434321 (13)