CHAPTER XVI THE BUDDHIST TRIKAYA 1. The Dharmakaya, Body of the Law THE doctrine of the three bodies of a Buddha' is specifically a possession of the Mahāyāna, but it is not without precursors in the earlier history of Buddhism, and it is the special distinction of the Mahāyāna to have converted a doctrine merely theological into an ontological and cosmogonical speculation. In various aspects the theory is found both in the Madhyamaka, the Vijñānavāda, and the Mahāyānaçraddhotpāda; it is modified slightly to meet the metaphysical aspects of each theory, but these changes are slight, nor is it always possible to say precisely what view in detail was held by the schools. We find already in the Hinayana the conception of the distinction between the mere physical body of the Buddha which passes away, and the body of the law, which is the doctrine taught by him, to be realized by each man for himself. Later we find the idea that the material body of the Buddha is his body, while the law is the soul.2 The law, however, which is the true nature of the Buddha, is true knowledge or the insight or intuition (prajñā) which is attained by a Buddha. The body of the law, therefore, can be equated with enlightenment (bodhi), or with release (nirvana). But for the Madhyamaka release, enlightenment, and the body of the law are ultimately no more or less than the highest and only true reality, the void, which lies underneath every phenomenal thing. For the Vijñānavāda in the same way 3 1 Poussin, JRAS. 1906, pp. 943 ff.; Kern, Muséon, vii. (1906), 46 ff.; Wassilieff, Bouddhisme, p. 127; Rockhill, Buddha, pp. 200 ff. See also Poussin, Muséon, 1913, pp. 257 ft. 2 Divyāvadāna, pp. 19 f. See DN. iii. 84; Geiger, PD., p. 78. PP., pp. 94, 462; BCAP. ix. 38. the body of the law as highest reality is the void intelligence, whose infection (samklcça) results in the process of birth and death, while its purification brings about Nirvāņa or its restoration to its primitive transparence. At the same time the body of the law must be considered, not merely abstractly, but also in its relation to the world of phenomena. The schools are agreed that the only truth is Nirvana or Buddhahood or cessation or purification of thought; that such purification is impossible, if infection or defilement is real; and that every individual being is only illusion; hence it follows that the body of the law is the true reality of everything. Or, as it is defined in a verse1 possibly by Nagarjuna, it is neither one nor multiple, it supports the great blessing of salvation for oneself and for others, it neither exists nor does not exist, it is homogeneous like the ether, its nature is unmanifested, it is undefiled, unchanging, blessed, unique in its kind, diffused, transcendant, and to be known by every one in himself. It is neither one, since it pervades everything, nor multiple, since it remains identical with itself. This appertains to every Buddha, but at the same time each Buddha is asserted to have a Dharmakaya of his own, and receives a special denomination in this aspect; Amitabha, for instance, is named thus as Dharmakaya, but Amitayus as Sambhogakāya, body of enjoyment. In the case of Mañjuçri, who is essentially an embodiment of wisdom, the term body of knowledge (jñānakāya) appears in lieu of body of the law. The Dharmakaya has an equivalent in suchness (tathata) or suchness of being, a term which in some aspects stresses the primitive non-differentiation of reality, and has, therefore, so far, analogies with the matter of the Samkhya. It also may be equated with the womb of the Tathāgata (tathāgata-garbha), which is primarily intuition or true knowledge, and, derivatively, the source of every individual being. Further, though it cannot be identified with, it underlies the store of phenomena (dharma-dhātu, 3 JRAS. 1906, p. 955, n. 2, from the Chinese of Fa-Tien (A. D. 982) and comm. on Nāmasamgīli. 2 On the supposed Chinese origin of this person, see Eliot, HB. ii. 19. • Lank. p. 80. raçi), the collection of unconscious mental elements, which are liable to be perceived as sound, or matter, or happiness.1 2. The Sambhogakāya, Body of Bliss The conception of a body of bliss, the state in which a Buddha enjoys his merits as a Bodhisattva, is not known to the Pali Canon, although it is apparently in error attributed to the Sautrāntikas, and it can hardly be doubted that those who worshipped the relics and symbols of the Buddha conceived of him rather as a living deity than a dead saint, powerless to aid, whose cult was merely one of commemoration, not of prayer and adoration. In the view, further, that a Tathagata can live, if he please, a cosmic age, there is present in germ the conception of such a body as is accepted by the Mahāyāna. Each Buddha in his heaven is conceived as possessing a body of ineffable brilliance, and the Bodhisattvas who are his officers are also clad in glory, though the term body of bliss is not assigned to their forms; Avalokita in special has a peculiarly splendid body of glory; in the pores of his skin there are worlds with hosts of meditating or praising saints, a conception reminiscent of the famous apparition of Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna in a shape in which is lodged the whole universe. It is manifested in the assembly of Bodhisattvas for their delight; it is visible and manifested, though it is made of, or by, mind; its manifestation is above the three worlds of desire, matter, and non-matter, and is inexplicable (acintya), and it constantly emits the sublime sound of the good law, while it bears the thirty-two characteristic marks of the Buddha. 3 4 The relation of this body of bliss to the body of the law is explained by Candrakırti who holds that equipment of knowledge (jñāna-sambhāra), leads to the attainment of the body consisting of the law, whose characteristic is no birth, while equipment of merit (punya-sambhāra) results in a body of bliss, marvellous, inexplicable, and multiform, a reference perhaps to its power to appear 1 Nagarjuna's Sramatoddeça; JRAS. 1906, p. 954, n. 3. Wassilieff, Bouddhisme, p. 286 (cited to this effect in JRAS. 1906, p. 958, n. 3) says the contrary. 3 Karandavyuha in Burnouf, Intr., p. 224; Bhagavadgītā, xi. • MA. iii. 12. under many forms or imaginary bodies. As merit is essentially the lot of Bodhisattvas, it is natural that they should have similar bodies. But a real difficulty arises as to the body of bliss of a Buddha who has attained enlightenment, and the body of the law, for Candrakirti appears to hold that none the less his body of bliss endures. This also agrees with the general picture of relations in the literature; Amitabha has attained enlightenment; yet there exists in Sukhāvatī his immaterial, yet visible, image, and so with Çakyamuni himself according to the Saddharmapuṇḍarika. It is possible to explain the apparent discrepancy on strictly Mahāyāna principles; granted that his body of bliss becomes nothing for a Buddha, still his store of merit is available for others, and so presents to Bodhisattvas and to men respectively a body of bliss or magic body for their edification. Or perhaps we need not press the belief that on enlightenment the Buddha censes interest in mundane things; he is freed from Nirvāņa and from transmigra tion, that is, he can be active and conscious, while yet his activity does not defile him, since he is above becoming. Though he has by wisdom attained Nirvaṇa, yet through compassion he may continue in his body of bliss for ever in the world of becoming. A further refinement of the doctrine conceives apparently of the bodies of bliss of the Buddhas uniting to form one marvellous appearance in the abode of the gods, Akanisthas, which takes the place of the innumerable paradises of the older view.2 Ontologically the Vijñānavāda has a simple place for the concep tion of body of bliss. In accord with the Tantrika conception of the body of bliss as an emanation from the body of the law,3 it holds that from intelligence (vijñāna), pure, immaculate, and quiescent or void, that is, the body of the law, springs mind, which, when infected or defiled (klista), originates the whole complex of thought which constitutes the world. The body of bliss is parallel with the undefiled mind, or from another point of view the intellect, in so far as it is individualized as Buddha or Bodhisattva. 3. The Nirmāṇakāya, Magic Body Even in the Hinayana we have from the lips of the Buddha himself an assertion of his power of leaving the assembly in which he preaches dubious as to his identity, and the Kathavatthu records the docetic heresy of the Vetulyakas who held that the Buddha remained in the Tusita heaven, and merely a phantom appeared on earth. The idea is not known to the Mahāvastu, but it occurs repeatedly in the Mahāyāna Sūtras, with the substitution of some other abode of the real Buddha in lieu of the Tusita heaven, the Vulture peak in the Saddharmapuṇḍarika, the Sukhāvati paradise in the Vyahas and Amitayuḥ-sūtras. From time immemorial Çakyamuni or Amitabha or Vajrasattva has been emancipated, not first at Gaya, but he repeatedly appears in a magic form in the world, to lead an apparent life, teach the law, and be extinct.1 A development of this conception is the five Mănuşi-Buddhas corresponding to five Jinas or so-called DhyaniBuddhas in the mythology; the former are essentially artificial, the latter true Buddhas. Both Buddhas and Bodhisattvas may transform themselves thus, but the Bodhisattva Avalokiteçvara is par excellence the transformer of himself into the most varied shapes in his eagerness to succour men, and to fulfil his vow to secure the release of all beings. The shapes which may be assumed are not limited to Buddha appearances, though these are usual in the case of Buddhas, but any form may be chosen which serves the end aimed at. Beside this conception, which is frequent and orthodox, there appears an analogous idea; on attaining enlightenment a Buddha is endowed with a body of bliss, and his old body disappears; but out of pity for the world he causes a magic body to survive so that men may see it and enclose its bones in a relic shrine, ignorant of the fact that the bones have no reality.2 Ontologically, the conception is fully employed in the Mahā. yanaçraddhotpäda, where suchness as the absolute is conceived as the void and radiant intellect, which under the influence of 1 Saddharmapundarika; SBE. XXI. xxv. 2 Wassilieff, Bouddhisme, p. 127. |