Trikāya

The Trikāya doctrine ( sa, त्रिकाय, lit. "three bodies"; , ) is a Mahayana Buddhist teaching on both the nature of reality and the nature of Buddhahood. The doctrine says that Buddha has three ''kāyas'' or ''bodies'', the '' Dharmakāya'' (ultimate reality), the '' Saṃbhogakāya'' (divine incarnation of Buddha), and the ''Nirmāṇakāya'' (physical incarnation of Buddha).

Definition

The doctrine says that a Buddha has three ''kāyas'' or bodies:
# The '' Dharmakāya'', "Dharma body," ultimate reality, "pure being itself," Buddha nature, emptiness, it is usually associated with Vairocana;
# The '' Saṃbhogakāya'', "Enjoyment (or Bliss) body," the divine Buddhas of the Buddha realms, it is usually associated with Amitabha;
# The ''Nirmāṇakāya'', "Transformation (or Appearance) Body," physical appearance in the world, it is usually associated with Gautama.

Origins

The Dharmakāya doctrine was possibly first expounded in the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā'' "The Perfection of Wisdom In Eight Thousand Verses", composed in the 1st century BCE. Mahayana Buddhism introduced the Sambhogakāya, which conceptually fits between the Nirmāṇakāya (the manifestations of enlightenment in the physical world) and the Dharmakaya. Around 300 CE, the Yogacara school systematized the prevalent ideas on the nature of the Buddha in the Trikaya or ''three-body doctrine''.

Interpretation in Buddhist traditions

Various Buddhist traditions have different ideas about what the three bodies are.佛三身觀之研究－以漢譯經論為主要研究對象

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Chinese Buddhism

The Three Bodies of the Buddha consists of:

* The Nirmaṇakāya, which is a physical/manifest body of a Buddha. An example would be Gautama Buddha's body.
* The Sambhogakāya, which is the reward/enjoyment body, whereby a bodhisattva completes his vows and becomes a Buddha. Amitābha, Vajrasattva and Manjushri are examples of Buddhas with the Sambhogakaya body.
* The Dharmakāya, which is the embodiment of the truth itself, and it is commonly seen as transcending the forms of physical and spiritual bodies. Vairocana Buddha is often depicted as the Dharmakāya in the Chinese Esoteric Buddhist and Huayan traditions.

As with earlier Buddhist thought, all three forms of the Buddha teach the same Dharma, but take on different forms to expound the truth.

According to Schloegl, in the '' Zhenzhou Linji Huizhao Chansi Yulu'' (which is a Chan Buddhist compilation), the Three Bodies of the Buddha are not taken as absolute. They would be "mental configurations" that "are merely names or props" and would only perform a role of light and shadow of the mind.

The ''Zhenzhou Linji Huizhao Chansi Yulu'' advises:

Japanese Buddhism

In Tendai and Shingon of Japan, they are known as the .

Tibetan Buddhism

Three Vajras

The Three Vajras, namely "body, speech and mind", are a formulation within Vajrayana Buddhism and Bon that hold the full experience of the śūnyatā "emptiness" of Buddha-nature, void of all qualities () and marks () and establish a sound experiential key upon the continuum of the path to enlightenment. The Three Vajras correspond to the trikaya and therefore also have correspondences to the Three Roots and other refuge formulas of Tibetan Buddhism. The Three Vajras are viewed in twilight language as a form of the Three Jewels, which imply purity of action, speech and thought.

The Three Vajras are often mentioned in Vajrayana discourse, particularly in relation to samaya, the vows undertaken between a practitioner and their guru during empowerment. The term is also used during Anuttarayoga Tantra practice.

The Three Vajras are often employed in tantric sādhanā at various stages during the visualization of the generation stage, refuge tree, guru yoga and iṣṭadevatā processes. The concept of the Three Vajras serves in the twilight language to convey polysemic meanings, aiding the practitioner to conflate and unify the mindstream of the iṣṭadevatā, the guru and the sādhaka in order for the practitioner to experience their own Buddha-nature.

Speaking for the Nyingma tradition, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche perceives an identity and relationship between Buddha-nature, dharmadhatu, dharmakāya, rigpa