View source for Dharmakāya

{{short description|One of the three bodies (trikaya) of a buddha in Mahayana Buddhism}}
{{italic title}}
{{buddhism}}
The '''''dharmakāya''''' ([[Sanskrit]], "truth body" or "reality body", {{bo|w=chos sku, rdzogs sku}}) is one of the three bodies (''[[trikāya]]'') of a [[buddhahood|buddha]] in [[Mahāyāna]] Buddhism. The ''dharmakāya'' constitutes the unmanifested, "inconceivable" (''acintya'') aspect of a buddha out of which buddhas arise and to which they return after their dissolution. Buddhas are manifestations of the ''dharmakāya'' called the ''[[nirmāṇakāya]]'', "transformation body". Reginald Ray writes of it as "the body of reality itself, without specific, delimited form, wherein the Buddha is identified with the spiritually charged nature of everything that is."<ref name="Reginald Ray 2001, p. 13">{{cite book|last=Ray|first=Reginald|authorlink=Reginald Ray|title=Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQMLAAAAYAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Shambhala|isbn=978-1-57062-772-9|page=13}}</ref>

The [[Dhammakaya Movement|Dhammakāya tradition]] of Thailand and the ''[[Tathāgatagarbha sūtras]]'' of the ancient Indian tradition view the ''dharmakāya'' as the ''[[ātman (Buddhism)|ātman]]'' (true self) of the Buddha present within all beings.<ref>{{cite book|author=Thrangu Rinpoche|authorlink=Thrangu Rinpoche|title=Pointing Out the Dharmakaya: Teachings on the Ninth Karmapa's Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5w-wNj0D8C|year=2003|publisher=Shambhala|isbn=978-1-55939-857-2}}</ref>

== Origins and development ==

=== Pali Canon ===
{{religious text primary|section|date=November 2017}}
In the [[Pāli Canon]], [[Gautama Buddha]] tells Vasettha that the [[Tathāgata]] (the Buddha) is ''Dhammakaya'', the "Truth-body" or the "Embodiment of Truth", as well as ''Dharmabhuta'', "Truth-become", that is, "One who has become Truth."
{{quote|He whose faith in the Tathagata is settled, rooted, established, solid, unshakeable by any ascetic or Brahmin, any deva or mara or Brahma or anyone in the world, can truly say: 'I am a true son of Blessed Lord (Bhagavan), born of his mouth, born of Dhamma, created by Dhamma, an heir of Dhamma.' Why is that? Because, Vasettha, this designates the Tathagata: 'The Body of Dhamma,' that is, 'The Body of Brahma,' or 'Become Dhamma,' that is, 'Become Brahma.'" <ref name="Maurce Walshe 1995 p.409">Digha Nikaya III.84, Maurice Walshe, The Long Discourses of the Buddha, (Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 1995) 409</ref>}}

During the Buddha's life great veneration was shown to him. A mythology developed concerning the physical characteristics of Universal Buddhas.

After the Buddha's ''[[Parinirvana]]'' a distinction was made between the Buddha’s physical body or ''rūpakaya'' and his ''dharmakaya'' aspect. As the Buddha told Vakkali, he was a living example of the "Truth" of the ''Dharma''. Without that form to relate to, the Buddha's followers could only relate to the ''dharmakaya'' aspect of him.

In [[Samyutta Nikaya|SN]] 6.2 – Garava sutta. Buddha paid homage to the ''Dhamma'' and tell, that he will respect it.

=== Trikaya doctrine ===
{{Main|Trikaya}}
The ''Trikaya doctrine'' (Sanskrit, literally "three bodies" or "three personalities") is a Buddhist teaching both on the nature of reality, and the appearances of a Buddha.

The ''dharmakaya''-doctrine was possibly first expounded in the ''[[Prajnaparamita#Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā|Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā]]'', composed in the 1st century BCE.

Around 300 CE, the [[Yogacara]] school systematized the prevalent ideas on the nature of the Buddha in the ''Trikaya'' "three-body" doctrine. According to this doctrine, [[Buddhahood]] has three aspects:{{sfn|Snelling|1987|p=126}}
# The ''Nirmāṇakāya'', "Transformation body"
# The ''[[Sambhogakāya]]'', "Enjoyment-body"
# The ''Dharmakāya'', "Dharma-body"

=== Qualities ===
Tulku Thondup states that ''dharmakaya'' must possess three great qualities:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thondup|first1=Tulku|title=Masters of meditation and miracles : the Longchen Nyingthig lineage of Tibetan Buddhism|date=1996|publisher=Shambhala|location=Boston [u.a.]|isbn=978-1-57062-113-0|page=50|edition=1.}}</ref>
# ''Great purity'' ({{bo|w=spang pa chen po}}, "the great abandonment"<ref name=nitartha>{{cite web|title=dictionary|url=http://www.nitartha.org/dictionary_search04.html|publisher=Nitartha|accessdate=25 October 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224040319/http://www.nitartha.org/dictionary_search04.html|archivedate=24 February 2015}}</ref>),
# ''Great realization'' ({{bo|w=rtogs pa chen po}}),
# ''Great mind'' ({{bo|w=sems pa chen po}}).

== Interpretation in Buddhist traditions ==
{{See also|Anatta}}

=== Mahāsāṃghika ===
According to Guang Xing, two main aspects of the Buddha can be seen in [[Mahāsāṃghika]] teachings: the true Buddha who is omniscient and omnipotent, and the manifested forms through which he liberates sentient beings through skillful means.<ref>Guang Xing. ''The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikaya Theory.'' 2004. p. 53</ref> For the Mahāsaṃghikas, the historical Gautama Buddha was one of these transformation bodies (Skt. ''nirmāṇakāya''), while the essential real Buddha is equated with the ''dharmakāya''.<ref>Sree Padma. Barber, Anthony W. ''Buddhism in the Krishna River Valley of Andhra.'' 2008. pp. 59-60</ref>

=== Sarvāstivāda ===
[[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivādins]] viewed the Buddha's physical body (Skt. ''rūpakāya'') as being impure and improper for taking refuge in, and they instead regarded taking refuge in the Buddha as taking refuge in the dharmakāya of the Buddha.<ref name="Guang Xing 2004. p. 49">Guang Xing. ''The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikaya Theory.'' 2004. p. 49</ref> As stated in the ''[[Mahavibhasa|Mahāvibhāṣā]]'':<ref name="Guang Xing 2004. p. 49" />
{{quote|Some people say that to take refuge in the Buddha is to take refuge in the body of the Tathāgata, which comprises head, neck, stomach, back, hands and feet. It is explained that the body, born of father and mother, is composed of defiled ''dharmas'', and therefore is not a source of refuge. The refuge is the Buddha's fully accomplished qualities (''aśaikṣadharmāḥ'') which comprise ''bodhi'' and the ''dharmakāya.''}}

=== Theravāda ===
In the [[Pali Canon]] of [[Theravada]] Buddhism, the ''Dhammakāya'' (''dharmakāya'') is explained as a figurative term, meaning the "body" or the sum of the Buddha's teachings.<ref name="Endo1">{{cite book | title=Buddha in Theravada Buddhism: A Study of the Concept of Buddha In the Pali Commentaries | url=http://www.khamkoo.com/uploads/9/0/0/4/9004485/toshiichi_endo_buddha_in_theravada_buddhism_a_study_of_the_concept_of_buddha_in_the_pali_commentaries__2002.pdf|publisher=[[Buddhist Cultural Centre]] | author=Toschiichi, Endo | year=2002 | location=Nedimala | pages=108–10 | isbn=978-955-96292-0-7 | edition=2}}</ref>{{sfn|Reynolds|1977|pp=376–7}}{{sfn|Dutt|1929|p=523}} The Canon does not invest the term ''dhammakāya'' with a metaphysical or unrealistic connotation.<ref name="Endo1" />{{sfn|Dutt|1929|p=521-523}} Jantrasrisalai disagrees though, arguing that the term originally was more connected with the process of enlightenment than the way it later came to be interpreted.<ref>{{Cite thesis|url=http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/4130/1/01ch-jantrasrisalai-2008-thesis.pdf|title=Early Buddhist Dhammakaya: Its Philosophical and Soteriological Significance| type=PhD thesis|last=Jantrasrisalai|first=Chanida|publisher=Department of Studies in Religion, [[University of Sydney]]|year=2008|isbn=|location=Sydney|pages=288|quote=In all references to dhammakāya in early Buddhist usage, it is apparent that dhammakāya is linked always with the process of enlightenment in one way or another. Its relation with the Buddhist noble ones of all types is evident in the early Buddhist texts. That is to say, dhammakāya is not exclusive to the Buddha. It appears also that the term’s usage in the sense of teaching is a later schema rather than being the early Buddhist common notions as generally understood.}}</ref>

In the ''[[atthakatha|atthakathā]]''s (commentaries on the [[Buddhist texts]]), the interpretation of the word depends on the author. Though both [[Buddhaghoṣa]] and [[Dhammapala|Dhammapāla]] describe ''dhammakāya'' as the nine supramundane states (''navalokuttaradhamma''), their interpretations differ in other aspects. Buddhaghoṣa always follows the canonical interpretation, referring to the ''teaching'' of the ''lokuttaradhamma''s, but Dhammapāla interprets ''dhammakāya'' as the ''spiritual attainments'' of the Buddha.{{sfn|Reynolds|1977|pp=376–80}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Collins|first1=Steven|title=Reflections on the Dichotomy Rūpakāya/Dhammakāya|journal=Contemporary Buddhism|date=15 July 2014|volume=15|issue=2|pages=261–2|doi=10.1080/14639947.2014.932481}}</ref> Dhammapāla's interpretation is still essentially Theravāda though, since the Buddha is still considered a human being, albeit an enlightened one.<ref name="Endo1" /> The Buddha's body is still subject to ''[[Karma in Buddhism|kamma]]'' and limited in the same way as other people's bodies are.{{sfn|Reynolds|1977|pp=376–80}}

In a post-canonical text Sri Lankan text called Saddharmaratnākaraya, a distinction is drawn between four different ''kāya''s: the ''rūpakāya'', ''dharmakāya'', ''nimittakāya'' and ''suñyakāya''. The ''rūpakāya'' refers to the four ''[[Dhyāna in Buddhism|jhāna]]''s here; the ''dharmakāya'' refers to the attainment of the first eight of the nine ''lokuttaradhamma''s; the ''nimittakāya'' refers to the final ''lokuttaradhamma'': ''Nibbāna'' with a physical remainder (''sopadisesanibbāna''); and the ''suñyakāya'' refers to ''Nibbāna'' without physical remainder (''anupādisesanibbāna''). However, even this teaching of four ''kāya''s does not really stray outside of orthodox Theravāda tradition.<ref name="Endo1" />{{sfn|Reynolds|1977|pp=380–2}}

In a more unorthodox approach, Maryla Falk has made the argument that in the earliest form of Buddhism, a [[yogic]] path existed which involved the acquisition of a ''manomayakāya'' or ''dhammakāya'' and an ''amatakāya'', in which the ''manomayakāya'' or ''dhammakāya'' refers to the attainment of the ''jhānas'', and the ''amatakāya'' to the attainment of insight and the culmination of the path. In this case, the ''kāyas'' refer to a general path and fruit, not only to the person of the Buddha.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Falk|first1=Maryla|title=Nāma-rūpa and dharma-rūpa : origin and aspects of an ancient Indian conception|date=2006|publisher=Jain Publishing|location=Fremont, California|isbn=978-0-89581-978-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9M-z-JVSa0C|accessdate=9 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Strong|first=J.|author-link=John S. Strong|year=1979|title=The Transforming Gift: An Analysis of Devotional Acts of Offering in Buddhist ''Avadāna'' Literature|journal=History of Religions|volume=18|issue=3|page=223|doi=10.1086/462817}}</ref> Although Reynolds does not express agreement with Falk's entire theory, he does consider the idea of an earlier yogic strand worthy of investigation. Furthermore, he points out that there are remarkable resemblances with interpretations that can be found in ''Yogāvacara'' texts, often called [[Tantric Theravada]].{{sfn|Reynolds|1977|pp=380–4}}

The usage of the word ''dhammakāya'' is common in Tantric Theravāda texts. It is also a common term in later texts concerning the consecration of Buddha images.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=1062942 | title=Hypostasizing the Buddha: Buddha Image Consecration in Northern Thailand | author=Swearer, Donald K. | journal=History of Religions | year=1995 | volume=34 | issue=3 (Image and Ritual in Buddhism) | page=270 |url=http://works.swarthmore.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1116&context=fac-religion}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Kinnard|first1=Jacob N.|editor1-last=Jones|editor1-first=Lindsay|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of religion|title=Iconography: Buddhist iconography|date=2005|publisher=[[Thomson Gale]]|location=Detroit|isbn=978-0-02-865740-0|page=4331|edition=2nd|url=https://www.politicalavenue.com/PDF/ENCYCLOPEDIAS/The%20Gale%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religion%202nd%20Ed%20Vol.%207.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302020621/https://www.politicalavenue.com/PDF/ENCYCLOPEDIAS/The%20Gale%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religion%202nd%20Ed%20Vol.%207.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-03-02|volume=7}}</ref> In these later texts, which are often descriptions of ''[[kammaṭṭhāna]]'' (meditation methods), different parts of the body of the Buddha are associated with certain spiritual attainments, and the practitioner determines to pursue these attainments himself. The idea that certain characteristics or attainments of the Buddha can be pursued is usually considered a Mahāyāna idea, but unlike Mahāyāna, Yogāvacara texts do not describe the Buddha in [[ontological]] terms, and commonly use only Theravāda terminology.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Crosby|first=Kate|year=2000|title=Tantric Theravada: A Bibliographic Essay on the Writings of Francois Bizot and others on the Yogavacara-Tradition|journal=Contemporary Buddhism|volume=1|issue=2|url=http://abhidharma.ru/A/Vedalla/Content/0003.pdf|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226044721/http://abhidharma.ru/A/Vedalla/Content/0003.pdf|archivedate=2011-12-26}}</ref>{{sfn|Reynolds|1977|pp=384–7}}

==== Dhammakaya Movement of Thailand ====
<!-- "Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro#The attainment of the Dhammakaya", "Dhammakaya meditation" and "Dhammakaya Movement" link here. Should this section be removed or renamed, please adjust corresponding wikilinks accordingly. Thank you.-->
{{See also|Dhammakaya Movement#Dhammakaya meditation and True Self}}
The [[Dhammakaya Movement]] of Thai Theravada Buddhism has doctrinal elements which distinguish it from conventional Theravāda Buddhism. Basing itself on the Pali suttas and meditative experience, the movement teaches that the ''Dhammakaya'' is the eternal Buddha within all beings. The ''dhammakaya'' is ''Nibbāna'', and ''Nibbāna'' is equated with the true Self (as opposed to the non-self).{{sfn|Williams|2009|p=126}} In some respects its teachings resemble the [[Buddha-nature]] doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism. Paul Williams has commented that this view of Buddhism is similar to ideas found in the [[Rangtong-Shentong|shentong]] teachings of the [[Jonang]] school of Tibet made famous by [[Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen]].{{sfn|Williams 2009|p=237}}

The Thai meditation masters who teach of a true self of which they claim to have gained meditative experience are not rejected by [[Buddhism in Thailand|Thai Buddhists]] in general, but tend, on the contrary, to be particularly revered and worshipped in Thailand as arahats or even ''[[bodhisattva]]s'', far more so than more orthodox Theravada monks and scholars.{{sfn|Williams|2009|p=329}}

=== Mahāyāna ===

==== Prajnaparamita ====
According to Paul Williams, there are three ways of seeing the concept of the ''dharmakaya'' in the ''[[prajnaparamita]] '' sutras:
{{quote|First, the dharmakaya is the collection of teachings, particularly the Prajñaparamita itself. Second, it is the collection of pure [[Dharma#Dharmas in Buddhist phenomenology|dharmas]] possessed by the Buddha, specifically pure mental dharmas cognizing emptiness. And third, it comes to refer to [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]] itself, the true nature of things. The dharmakaya in all these senses is contrasted with the Buddha’s physical body, that which lived and died and is preserved in [[stupa]]s.{{sfn|Williams|2009|p=177}}}}

==== ''Lotus Sutra'' ====
In the ''[[Lotus Sutra]]'' (sixth fascicle) the Buddha explains that he has always and will always exist to lead beings to their salvation.

==== Tathāgatagarbha ====
In the [[Buddha-nature|tathagatagarbha]] sutric tradition, the ''dharmakaya'' is taught by the Buddha to constitute the transcendental, blissful, eternal, and pure Self of the Buddha. "These terms are found in sutras such as the ''Lankavatara'', ''Gandavyuha'', ''Angulimaliya'', ''Srimala'', and the ''Mahaparinirvana'', where they are used to describe the Buddha, the Truth Body (''dharmakaya'') and the Buddha-nature."<ref name=Duckworthxiv>''Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition'' by Douglas S. Duckworth, State University of New York Press, Albany, 2008, p. xiv</ref> They are the "transcendent results [of spiritual attainment]".<ref name=Duckworthxiv />

==== Tibetan Buddhism ====
In Tibetan, the term ''chos sku''<ref>Source: [http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/chos_sku] (accessed: January 15, 2008)</ref> glosses ''dharmakāya''; it is composed of ''chos'' "religion, [[dharma]]" and ''sku'' "body, form, image, bodily form, figure".<ref>Source: [http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/sku] (accessed: January 15, 2008)</ref> Thondup & Talbott render it as the "ultimate body".<ref name="Thondup, Tulku 1996, p.48">Thondup, Tulku & Harold Talbott (Editor)(1996, 2002). ''Masters of Meditation and Miracles: Lives of the Great Buddhist Masters of India and Tibet''. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Shambhala, South Asia Editions. {{ISBN|1-57062-113-6}}; {{ISBN|1-56957-134-1}}. p.48</ref> [[Padmasambhava]], [[Karma Lingpa]], [[Gyurme Dorje]], [[Graham Coleman]] and [[Thupten Jinpa]] define "Buddha-body of Reality", which is a rendering of the Tibetan ''chos-sku'' and the Sanskrit ''dharmakāya'', as:
{{quote|[T]he ultimate nature or essence of the enlightened mind [''byang-chub sems''], which is uncreated (''skye-med''), free from the limits of conceptual elaboration (''spros-pa'i mtha'-bral''), empty of inherent existence (''rang-bzhin-gyis stong-pa''), naturally radiant, beyond duality and spacious like the sky. The intermediate state of the time of death (''chi-kha'i bar-do'') is considered to be an optimum time for the realisation of the Buddha-body of Reality.<ref name="Padmasambhava 2006 p.452">Padmasambhava (composed), Karma Linga (revealed), Gyurme Dorje (translated), Graham Coleman (Editor) and Thupten Jinpa (Associate) (2006). ''The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States''. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd. {{ISBN|978-0-14-045529-8}}. p.452</ref><ref>For more discussion on this particular 'intermediate state of the time of death' refer "Chikkhai bardo" (Tibetan) in the [[Bardo]] article.</ref>}} The Yungdrung [[Bon]] term for ''dharmakāya'' is ''rdzogs sku'', where ''rdzogs'' means "perfection".{{cn|date=November 2019}}

[[Reginald Ray]], writing of the Vajrayana view of the ''dharmakaya'', defines it as:
{{quote|The body of reality itself, without specific, delimited form, wherein the Buddha is identified with the spiritually charged nature of everything that is.'<ref name="Reginald Ray 2001, p. 13" />}}

The Dalai Lama defines the dharmakaya as "the realm of the Dharmakaya-- the space of emptiness--where all phenomena, pure and impure, are dissolved. This is the explanation taught by the Sutras and Tantras." However he also states that its distinct from the Hindu concept of [[Brahman]] because buddhism adheres to the doctrine of emptyness (sunyata).<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://hhdl.dharmakara.net/hhdlquotes22.html | title=Dalai Lama Answers Questions on Various Topics}}</ref>

===== Rime movement =====
According to [[Jamgon Kongtrul]], the founder of the [[Rimé movement]], in his 19th century commentary to the [[Lojong]] slogan, "To see confusion as the four kayas, the [[Śūnyatā|sunyata]] protection is unsurpassable",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kongtrul|first1=Jamgon|title=The great path of awakening : the classic guide to lojong, a Tibetan Buddhist practice for cultivating the heart of compassion|date=2005|publisher=Shambhala|location=Boston, MA|isbn=978-1-59030-214-9}}</ref> when one meditates on ultimate ''[[bodhicitta]]'' and rests in a state where appearances simply appear but there is no clinging to them, the ''dharmakaya'' aspect is that all appearances are empty in nature, the ''[[sambhogakāya]]'' is that they appear with clarity, the ''nirmanakaya'' is that this emptiness and clarity occur together, and the natural ''kāya'' aspect is that these are inseparable.

===== Gyaltrul Rinpoche's Dharmakaya Organization =====
Recently, ''Dharmakaya'' has also become the name for an organization founded by the 4th [[Trungram Gyaltrul Rinpoche]], and is affiliated with his global organization the United Trungram Buddhist Fellowship (UTBF).  {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

Gyaltrul Rinpoche's Dharmakaya organization was founded for the specific purpose of bringing the teachings and meditation practices from the Trungram Tradition of the [[Karma Kagyu]] lineage to North America. {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

== Iconography ==

=== Emptiness ===
In the early traditions of Buddhism, depictions of Gautama Buddha were neither iconic nor aniconic but depictions of empty space and absence: [[petrosomatoglyph]]s (Images of a part of the body carved in rock), for example.<ref>Huntington, Susan (1990). "Early Buddhist art and the theory of aniconism" in ''Art Journal'', Winter 1990.</ref>

=== Sky-blue ===
Thondup and Talbott identify dharmakaya with the naked ("sky-clad"; Sanskrit: ''Digāmbara''), unornamented, sky-blue [[Samantabhadra]]:
{{quote|In Nyingma icons, dharmakāya is symbolized by a naked, sky-coloured (light blue) male and female Buddha in union [Kāmamudrā], called Samantabhadra [and [[Samantabhadrī (tutelary)|Samantabhadrī]]].<ref name="Thondup, Tulku 1996, p.48" />{{refn|group=lower-alpha|For further discussion of 'Kāmamudrā' (English: "love-seal") refer: [[mudra]], [[mahamudra]] and [[Yab-Yum]].}}}}

Fremantle states:
{{quote|Space is simultaneously the first and the last of the great elements. It is the origin and precondition of the other four, and it is also their culmination... The Sanskrit word for space is the same as for the sky: ''[[akasha]]'', which means "shining and clear." What is it that we call the sky? It marks the boundary of our vision, the limit our sight can reach. If we could see more clearly, the sky would extend infinitely into outer space. The sky is an imaginary boundary set by the limitations of our senses, and also by the limitations of our mind, since we find it almost impossible to imagine a totally limitless [U]niverse. Space is the dimension in which everything exists. It is all-encompassing, all-pervading, and boundless. It is synonymous with emptiness: that emptiness which is simultaneously fullness.<ref>[[Francesca Fremantle|Fremantle, Francesca]] (2001). ''Luminous Emptiness: Understanding the Tibetan Book of the Dead''. Boston: Shambala Publications. {{ISBN|1-57062-450-X}}. p.85</ref>}}

The colour blue is an iconographic polysemic rendering of the ''[[mahābhūta]]'' element of the "pure light" of space (Sanskrit: ''ākāśa'').<ref>[[Francesca Fremantle|Fremantle, Francesca]] (2001). ''Luminous Emptiness: Understanding the Tibetan Book of the Dead''. Boston: Shambala Publications. {{ISBN|1-57062-450-X}}. p.86</ref>

The conceptually bridging and building poetic device of analogy, as an exemplar where ''dharmakaya'' is evocatively likened to sky and space, is a persistent and pervasive visual metaphor throughout the early [[Dzogchen]] and Nyingma literature and functions as a linkage and conduit between the 'conceptual' and 'conceivable' and the 'ineffable' and 'inconceivable' (Sanskrit: ''acintya''). It is particularly referred to by the ''[[terma (religion)|terma]]'' ''Gongpa Zangtel'' {{refn|group=lower-alpha|Wylie: ''kun tu bzang po'i dgongs pa zang thal du bstan pa''; English: ''Direct Revelation of Samantabhadra's Mind''}}, a terma cycle revealed by [[Rigdzin Gödem]] (1337–1408) and part of the Nyingma "Northern Treasures" ({{bo|w=byang gter}}).<ref>Kunsang, Eric Pema  (compiler, translator); Tweed, Michael (editor); Schmidt, Marcia Binder (editor); Zanpo, Ngawang (artwork) (2006). ''Wellsprings of the Great Perfection: Lives and Insights of the Early Masters in the Dzogchen Lineage''. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications. {{ISBN|962-7341-57-6}}; {{ISBN|978-962-7341-57-4}}. p. 209</ref>

=== Mirror ===
Sawyer conveys the importance of [[melong|mirror]] iconography to ''dharmakaya'':
{{quote|The looking glass/mirror (T. me-long, Skt. adarsa), which represents the dharmakaya or Truth Body, having the aspects of purity (a mirror is clear of pollution) and wisdom (a mirror reflects all phenomena without distinction).<ref>[http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/sama/Essays/CS92.061MahaOfr.html Sawyer, Chad (1998, 2004), ''Offerings to Mahakala''] (accessed: Saturday March 14, 2009) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125213943/http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/sama/Essays/CS92.061MahaOfr.html |date=January 25, 2009 }}</ref>}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

== Citations ==
{{reflist|20em}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation|last=Dutt|first=Nalinaksha|year=1929|title=The Doctrine of Kaya in Hinayana and Mahayana|journal=The Indian Historical Quarterly|volume=5|issue=3|url=http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-ENG/dutdo.htm}}
* [[Francesca Fremantle|Fremantle, Francesca]] (2001). ''Luminous Emptiness: Understanding the Tibetan Book of the Dead''. Boston: Shambala Publications. {{ISBN|1-57062-450-X}}.
* [[Jamgon Kongtrul]] translated by [[Ken McLeod]] (2000) ''[[The Great Path of Awakening]] – A commentary on the [[Mahayana]] teaching of [[the seven points of mind training]]'' Shambhala Publications, Inc. {{ISBN|1-57062-587-5}}
* John J. Makransky (1997), Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet, Publisher: State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|0-7914-3432-X}}
* Padmasambhava (composed), Karma Linga (revealed), Gyurme Dorje (translated), Graham Coleman (Editor) and Thupten Jinpa (Associate) (2006). ''The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States''. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd. {{ISBN|978-0-14-045529-8}}
* {{Citation|last=Reynolds|first=Frank E.|year=1977|title=The Several Bodies of Buddha: Reflections on a Neglected Aspect of Theravada Tradition|journal=History of Religions|volume=16|issue=4|jstor=1062637|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Several_Bodies_of_Buddha_Reflections.html?id=KvQ4jwEACAAJ}}
* [[David Snellgrove|Snellgrove, David]] (1987). ''Indo-Tibetan Buddhism'' (Vol.1). Boston, Massachusetts:  Shambhala Publications, Inc.  {{ISBN|0-87773-311-2}}
* [[David Snellgrove|Snellgrove, David]] (1987). ''Indo-Tibetan Buddhism'' (Vol.2). Boston, Massachusetts:  Shambhala Publications, Inc.  {{ISBN|0-87773-379-1}}
* {{Citation | last =Snelling | first=John | year= 1987 |title =The Buddhist handbook. A Complete Guide to Buddhist Teaching and Practice | place =London | publisher =Century Paperbacks}}
* Thondup, Tulku & Harold Talbott (Editor)(1996). ''Masters of Meditation and Miracles: Lives of the Great Buddhist Masters of India and Tibet''. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Shambhala, South Asia Editions. {{ISBN|1-57062-113-6}} (alk. paper); {{ISBN|1-56957-134-1}}
* {{Citation|first=Paul|last=Williams|url=http://www.khamkoo.com/uploads/9/0/0/4/9004485/mahayana_buddhism_-_the_doctrinal_foundations_second_edition.pdf|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=Oxford|edition=2|year=2009}}
{{refend}}

== Bibliography ==
* Harrison, Paul (1992). [http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8792 Is the Dharma-Kāya the Real "Phantom Body" of the Buddha?]. Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15 (1), 44-94
* Nagao, Gadjin (1973). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/44361355 On the Theory of Buddha-Body], Eastern Buddhist, New Series, 6 (1), 25-53

== External links ==
*[http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_trikaya.htm Khandro: The Three Kayas]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060724045115/http://www.kagyu.org/buddhism/cul/cul02.html Kagyu: The Three Kayas]
*[http://www.dhammakaya.net/ Dhammakaya Foundation, Thailand]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140812210814/http://www.manuyogas.org/trikaya-ndash-the-tree-bodies-of-a-buddha-or-learning-to-love.html Trikaya – The Three Bodies of a Buddha or Learning to Love]

{{Buddhism topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dharmakaya}}
[[Category:Buddha-nature]]
[[Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Buddhist terminology]]
[[Category:Nondualism]]
[[Category:Shentong]]