Trikaya (The Three Fold Body)

Trikaya (The Three Fold Body)

The Trikaya doctrine is an important metaphysical concept of Mahayana Buddhism. This doctrine is based on the profound concept of the Satyadvaya or Two Fold Truth. It says that a Buddha manifests in three different ways. This allows a Buddha to simultaneously be one with the absolute while appearing in the relative world for the benefit of suffering beings. Understanding the Trikaya can clear up a lot of perplexity about the nature of a Buddha.

            In this sense, "absolute" and "relative" touches on the Two Fold Truth doctrine of Mahayana, and before one delves into Trikaya, a quick review of the Two Truths may be helpful. This doctrine tells us that existence can be understood as both absolute and relative.

            One can by and large perceive the world as a place full of distinctive things and beings. However, phenomena exist only in a relative way, taking identity only as they relate to other phenomena. In an absolute sense, there are no distinctive phenomena.

            The Trikaya is enumerated as a) Nirmanakaya) Sambhogakaya and c)  Dharmakaya.

Nirmanakaya:

Nirmanakaya means "emanation body." This is the physical body that is born, walks the earth, and dies. An example is the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who was born and who died. However, this Buddha also has Sambhogakaya and Dharmakaya forms as well.

            It is understood that the Buddha is primordially enlightened in the Dharmakaya, but he manifests in various Nirmanakaya forms -- not necessarily as a "Buddha" -- to teach the way to enlightenment

            Sometimes Buddhas and bodhisattvas are said to take the form of ordinary beings so they can help others. Sometimes when we say this, we don't mean that some supernatural creature temporarily disguises himself as an ordinary being, but rather that any of us can be physical or Nirmanakaya emanations of a Buddha.

            Together, the three bodies are sometimes compared to weather -- Dharmakaya is the atmosphere, Sambhogakaya is a cloud, Nirmanakaya is rain. But there are many ways to understand Trikaya.

Sambhogakaya:

            In the very beginning, it is to be emphatically noted that Sambhogakaya does not at all refers to sensual enjoyment or pleasure. It refers to enjoyment in thought and transcends the physical body. The Sambhogakaya means "bliss body" or "body of enjoyment" in consciousness or perception level.  The "bliss body" is the body that feels the bliss of enlightenment. It is also a Buddha as an object of devotion. A Sambhogakaya Buddha is enlightened and purified of defilements, yet he remains distinctive.

            This body is explained in several different ways. Sometimes it is a kind of interface between the Dharmakaya and Nirmanakaya bodies. When a Buddha manifests as a celestial being, distinctive but not "flesh and blood," this is the Sambhogakaya body. The Buddhas who reign over Pure Lands are Sambhogakaya Buddhas.

            Sometimes the Sambhogakaya body is thought of as a reward for accumulated good merit. It is said that only one on the final stage of the bodhisattva path can perceive a Sambhogakaya Buddha.

Dharmakaya:

            Dharmakaya means "truth body." The Dharmakaya is the absolute; the unity of all things and beings, all phenomena unmanifested. The Dharmakaya is beyond existence or nonexistence, and beyond concepts. The Dharmakaya is not a special place where only Buddhas go. Dharmakaya is sometimes identified with Buddha Nature, which in Mahayana Buddhism is the fundamental nature of all beings. In the Dharmakaya, there are no distinctions between Buddhas and everyone else.

            The Dharmakaya is synonymous with perfect enlightenment, beyond all perceptual forms. As such it is also sometimes synonymous with Sunyata, or "emptiness".

Development of the Trikaya

            The seed or idea of differential body of the Buddha is clearly stated in the original Pali texts of the Theravada. The Buddha told 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). On another occasion, the Buddha told Vakkali: 'He who sees the Dhamma (Truth) sees the Tathagata, he who sees the Tathagata sees the Dhamma (Samyutta Nikaya). That is to say, the Buddha is equal to Truth, and all Buddhas are one and the same, being no different from one another in the Dharmakaya. It seems there are a couple bodies of the Buddha, such as a) Historical Buddha or Nirmanakaya or Rupakaya and b) Dharmakaya. 

            Furthermore, early Buddhism struggled with how to understand the Buddha. He was not a god -- he had said so -- but he did not seem to be just an ordinary human being, either. Early Buddhists -- and later ones as well -- thought that when the Buddha realized enlightenment, he was transformed into something other than a human being. But he also lived and died like any other human being.

            In Mahayana Buddhism, the doctrine of Trikaya clarifies that, in the Dharmakaya, every being is a Buddha or has potential to be a Buddha. It was a watershed development in the paradigm of Buddhist metaphysics. In Sambhogakaya form, a Buddha is godlike or having a godhead quality, but not a god. However, in most schools of Mahayana, the Nirmanakaya body even of a Buddha is said to be subject to cause and effect; sickness, old age and death. While some Mahayana Buddhists appear to think that the Nirmanakaya body of a Buddha has unique abilities and properties, others deny this.

            As per the Kagyu Karma Sub-School of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dharmakaya is the mind, the Sambhogakaya is the thought and Nirmanakaya is the body.

            According to modern Buddhist scholars, an analogy may be drawn between Trikaya and weather. The Dharmakaya is atmosphere, the Sambhogakaya is cloud and Nirmanakaya is rain. As a corollary of this analogy, it may be said that out of atmosphere, cloud comes and out of cloud comes rain. And thus, out of Dharmakaya comes Sambhogakaya and out of Sambhogakaya comes Nirmanakaya.

 The following excerpts have been taken from the books:

·         Singh, Ram Nandan. 2007.  Buddhism: From Genesis to Decline, Delhi: New Bhartiya Book Corporation.

·         Murti, T.R.V. 1980. The Central Philosophy of Buddhism, rpt, London; George Allen & Unwin.