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{{short description|Three Bodies concept in Mahayana Buddhism}}
[[File:善缘寺-2.jpg|thumb|The Trikāya Buddha (三身) in the main hall of Shanyuan Temple (善缘寺), Liaoning Province, China.]]
[[File:Dharma Flower Temple Trikaya.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Three buddha statues symbolizing the Three Bodies. Dharma Flower Temple, [[Huzhou]], [[Zhejiang]] province, China]]
{{buddhism}}
The '''Trikāya doctrine''' ([[Sanskrit]], literally "three bodies"; {{cjkv|c=三身|p=sānshēn|rr=samsin|v=tam thân|r=sanjin, sanshin}}, {{bo|t=སྐུ་གསུམ|w=sku gsum}}) is a [[Mahayana|Mahayana Buddhist]] teaching on both the nature of reality and the nature of [[Buddhahood]].

==Definition==
The doctrine says that a Buddha has three ''kāyas'' or ''bodies'':
# The ''[[Dharmakāya]]'', ''Buddha nature'', ''law and order'', or ''Truth body'' which embodies the very principle of enlightenment and knows no limits or boundaries;
# The ''[[Saṃbhogakāya]]'', ''Buddha fields'' or ''body of mutual enjoyment'' which is a body of bliss or clear light manifestation;
# The ''[[Nirmāṇakāya]]'', ''Buddha incarnation'', ''Emanation'', or ''created body'' which manifests in time and space.<ref name="Welwood, John 2007">Welwood, John (2000). [http://www.purifymind.com/PlayMind.htm ''The Play of the Mind: Form, Emptiness, and Beyond''], accessed January 13, 2007</ref><ref name="Trikaya Alternate translations">{{cite book |last1=Bob Kindler |first1=Babaji |title=A Quintessential Yoga Vasishtha |date=2010-04-30 |publisher=SRV Associations |location=Portland, USA |isbn=978-1891893100 |pages=254 |edition=1st |url=https://www.amazon.com/Quintessential-Yoga-Vasishtha-Babaji-Kindler/dp/1891893106 |accessdate=2018-09-30}}</ref>

==Origins==

===Pāli Canon===
Even before the Buddha's [[Parinirvana|parinirvāṇa]], the term ''Dhammakāya'' was current. Dhammakāya literally means ''Truth body''.

In the [[Pāli Canon]], [[Gautama Buddha]] tells [[Vasistha|Vasettha]] that the [[Tathāgata]] (the Buddha) is the Dhammakāya, the 'Truth-body' or the 'Embodiment of Truth', as well as ''Dhammabhūta'', 'Truth-become', 'One who has become Truth.' <ref>[[Dīgha Nikāya]] 27.9</ref><ref>See Walsh, Maurice. 1995. ''The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya''. Boston: Wisdom Publications, “Aggañña Sutta: On Knowledge of Beginnings,”
p. 409.</ref>

The Buddha is equated with the Dhamma: "[T]he 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.'"<ref>[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.5-6.than.html http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.5-6.than.html] [[Samyutta Nikaya]] (SN 22.87) See footnote #3</ref>

In the ''[[Aggañña Sutta]]'', the Buddha advises Vasettha that whoever has strong, deep-rooted, and established belief in the Tathagata can declare that he is the child of [[Bhagavan]], born from the mouth of Dhamma, created from Dhamma, and the heir of Dhamma. Because the titles of the Tathagatha are: The Body of Dhamma, The Body of [[Brahmā (Buddhism)|Brahma]], the Manifestation of Dhamma, and the Manifestation of Brahma.

===Mahāyāna===
The Dharmakāya doctrine was possibly first expounded in the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikā [[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā]]'' "The Perfection of Wisdom In Eight Thousand Verses", composed in the 1st century BCE.<ref name="Buswell" />.

[[Mahayana|Mahayana Buddhism]] introduced the [[Sambhogakāya]], which conceptually fits between the Nirmāṇakāya (the manifestations of enlightenment in the physical world){{refn|group=note|Formerly called [[Rūpa|Rupakaya]]}} and the Dharmakaya. The Sambhogakaya is that aspect of the Buddha, or the Dharma, that one meets in visions and in deep meditation. It could be considered an interface with the Dharmakaya.

The Trikaya-doctrine and the [[Buddha-nature]] bring the transcendental within reach, by placing the transcendental within the [[plane of immanence]].

Around 300 CE, the Yogacara school systematized the prevalent ideas on the nature of the Buddha in the Trikaya or ''three-body doctrine''.{{sfn|Snelling|1987|p=126}}

==Interpretation in Buddhist traditions==
Schools have different ideas about what the three bodies are.<ref>[http://www.huayen.org.tw/thesis/10/1010.pdf 佛三身觀之研究－以漢譯經論為主要研究對象] {{dead link|date=January 2017}}</ref><ref>[http://enlight.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-MAG/mag89471.html 佛陀的三身觀]</ref>

===Chinese Mahayana===

====Pure Land====
The Three Bodies of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] from the point of view of [[Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land Buddhist]] thought can be broken down like so:<ref>{{cite book | last = Hattori | first = Sho-on | title = A Raft from the Other Shore : Honen and the Way of Pure Land Buddhism | publisher = Jodo Shu Press | year = 2001 | isbn = 4-88363-329-2 | pages=25–27}}</ref>

* The Nirmaṇakāya is a physical/manifest body of a Buddha. An example would be [[Gautama Buddha]]'s body.
* The [[Sambhogakāya]] 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]] 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, particularly in esoteric Buddhist schools such as [[Shingon Buddhism]], [[Tendai]] 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.

====Chan Buddhism====
According to Schloegl, in the ''[[Linji school#Zhenzhou Linji Huizhao Chansi yulu .281120.29|Zhenzhou Linji Huizhao Chansi Yulu]]'', 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.{{sfn|Schloegl|1976|p=19}}{{refn|group=note|Lin-ji yu-lu: "The scholars of the Sutras and Treatises take the Three Bodies as absolute. As I see it, this is not so. These Three Bodies are merely names, or props. An old master said: "The (Buddha's) Bodies are set up with reference to meaning; the (Buddha) Fields are distinguished with reference to substance." However, understood clearly, the Dharma Nature Bodies and the Dharma Nature Fields are only mental configurations."{{sfn|Schloegl|1976|p=21}}}}

The ''Zhenzhou Linji Huizhao Chansi Yulu'' advises:
{{quote|Do you wish to be not different from the Buddhas and patriarchs? Then just do not look for anything outside. The pure light of your own heart [i.e., 心, mind] at this instant is the Dharmakaya Buddha in your own house. The non-differentiating light of your heart at this instant is the Sambhogakaya Buddha in your own house. The non-discriminating light of your own heart at this instant is the Nirmanakaya Buddha in your own house. This trinity of the Buddha's body is none other than here before your eyes, listening to my expounding the Dharma.{{sfn|Schloegl|1976|p=18}}}}

===[[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan]] Buddhism===

====Fourth and Fifth Bodies - Svābhāvikakāya and Mahasukhakaya====
{{See also|Kosha}}

[[Vajrayana]] sometimes refers to a fourth body called the ''svābhāvikakāya'' ({{bo|t=ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་སྐུ|w=ngo bo nyid kyi sku}}) "essential body",<ref>[http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_trikaya.htm remarks on Svabhavikakaya by khandro.net]</ref><ref>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.</ref><ref>[http://jigtenmig.blogspot.com/2007/10/ngo-bo-nyid-kyi-sku-svabhahavikakaya.html explanation of meaning]</ref> and to a fifth body, called the mahāsūkhakāya ({{bo|w=bde ba chen po'i sku}}, "great bliss body").<ref>{{cite book|author1=Tsangnyön Heruka|authorlink1=Tsangnyön Heruka|title=The life of Marpa the translator : seeing accomplishes all|date=1995|publisher=Shambhala|location=Boston|isbn=978-1570620874|page=229}}</ref> The svābhāvikakāya is simply the unity or non-separateness of the three kayas.<ref>[http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_trikaya.htm khandro.net citing H.E. Tai Situpa]</ref>

The term is also known in [[Gelug]] teachings, where it is one of the assumed two aspects of the dharmakāya: ''svābhāvikakāya'' "essence body" and jñānakāya "body of wisdom".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Paul|title=Mahayana Buddhism: the doctrinal foundations|date=1993|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0-415-02537-9|edition=Reprinted|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3FuzkBnOxAC&pg=PR10&dq=Mah%C4%81y%C4%81na+Buddhism&hl=de&sa=X&ei=imY1Ve7oLYSksAXX4oDgCg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=j%C3%B1anakaya&f=false}}</ref>

[[Haribhadra (Buddhist philosopher)|Haribhadra]] claims that the ''[[Abhisamayalankara]]'' describes [[Buddhahood]] through four kāyas in chapter 8: svābhāvikakāya, [jñāna]dharmakāya, sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Makransky|first1=John J.|title=Buddhahood embodied : sources of controversy in India and Tibet|date=1997|publisher=State Univ. of New York Press|location=Albany, NY|isbn=978-0791434314|page=115|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4qmkptncxQC&q=embodiment+of+kaya#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>

====Dzogchen====
In [[dzogchen]] teachings, "dharmakaya" means the buddha-nature's absence of self-nature, that is, its emptiness of a conceptualizable essence, its cognizance or clarity is the sambhogakaya, and the fact that its capacity is 'suffused with self-existing awareness' is the nirmanakaya.<ref>[[Reginald Ray]], ''Secret of the Vajra World''. Shambhala 2001, page 315.</ref>

====Mahamudra====
The interpretation in [[Mahamudra]] is similar: When the mahamudra practices come to fruition, one sees that the mind and all phenomena are fundamentally empty of any identity; this emptiness is called ''dharmakāya''. One perceives that the essence of mind is empty, but that it also has a potentiality that takes the form of luminosity.{{clarify|date=November 2013}} In Mahamudra thought, Sambhogakāya is understood to be this luminosity. Nirmanakāya is understood to be the powerful force with which the potentiality affects living beings.<ref>Reginald Ray, ''Secret of the Vajra World''. Shambhala 2001, pages 284-285.</ref>

====Anuyoga====
In the view of [[Anuyoga]], the [[Mind Stream]] (Sanskrit: ''citta santana'') is the 'continuity' (Sanskrit: ''santana''; Wylie: ''rgyud'') that links the Trikaya.<ref name="Welwood, John 2007"/> The Trikāya, as a triune, is symbolised by the [[Gankyil]].

====Dakinis====
A [[dakini|ḍākinī]] ({{bo|t=མཁའ་འགྲོ་[མ་]|w=mkha' 'gro [ma]}} ''khandro[ma]'') is a [[Tantra|tantric]] [[deity]] described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. The Sanskrit term is likely related to the term for drumming, while the Tibetan term means "sky goer" and may have originated in the Sanskrit ''khecara'', a term from the ''[[Cakrasaṃvara Tantra]]''.<ref name=Buswell>{{cite book|ref=harv|editor1-last=Buswell|editor1-first=Robert Jr|editor2-last=Lopez|editor2-first=Donald S. Jr.|editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr.|editor2-link=Donald S. Lopez, Jr.|title=Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.|date=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=9780691157863}}</ref>

Ḍākinīs can also be classified according to the trikāya theory. The dharmakāya ḍākinī, which is [[Samantabhadrī (tutelary)|Samantabhadrī]], represents the [[dharmadhatu]] where all phenomena appear. The sambhogakāya ḍākinī are the [[yidam]]s used as meditational deities for tantric practice. The nirmanakaya ḍākinīs are human women born with special potentialities; these are realized [[yogini]], the consorts of the [[guru]]s, or even all women in general as they may be classified into the families of the [[Five Tathagatas]].<ref>Cf. Capriles, Elías (2003/2007). ''Buddhism and Dzogchen'' [http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/elicap/en/uploads/Biblioteca/bdz-e.version.pdf]', and Capriles, Elías (2006/2007). ''Beyond Being, Beyond Mind, Beyond History,'' vol. I, ''Beyond Being''[http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/elicap/en/Main/Bb-bm-bh]</ref>

===Non-Buddhist Interpretations===

====Theosophy====
[[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]], a Western esoteric school founded in the 19th century, regards Buddhism as containing esoteric teachings. In those supposed esoteric teachings of Buddhism, "exoteric Buddhism" believes that Nirmanakaya simply means the physical body of Buddha. According to the esoteric interpretation, when the Buddha dies, he assumes the Nirmanakaya instead of going into [[Nirvana]]. He remains in that glorious body he has woven for himself, invisible to uninitiated mankind, to watch over and protect it.<ref>Helena Blavatsky, ''The Voice of the Silence'' Theosophical Publishing Co., pages 75-77.</ref>

==See also==
{{div col}}
*[[Buddharupa]]
*[[Dakini]]
*[[Rainbow body]]
*[[Rūpa]]
*[[Satcitananda]]
*[[Svabhava]]
*[[Three Vajras]]
*[[Trimurti]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}

* John J. Makransky: (August 1997) ''Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet'', Publisher: State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|0-7914-3432-X}} (10), {{ISBN|978-0-7914-3432-1}} (13), [https://books.google.com/books?id=I4qmkptncxQC&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=embodiment+of+kaya&source=bl&ots=Y_OtBtMzPx&sig=AlH56SC68O9nDxWxBKdWsxkm6QA&hl=de&ei=Mku5Sd6aB9G4-QbntfnHBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1]
* {{Citation | last =Schloegl | first =Irmgard | year = 1976 | title = The Zen Teaching of Rinzai | publisher = Shambhala Publications, Inc. | isbn = 0-87773-087-3 | url =http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/Teachings_of_Rinzai.pdf}}
* {{cite book | last = Snellgrove | first = David | title = Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Vol. 1 | publisher = Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, Inc. | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-87773-311-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/indotibetanbuddh00snel }}
* {{cite book | last = Snellgrove | first = David | title = Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Vol. 2 | publisher = Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, Inc. | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-87773-379-1 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/indotibetanbuddh00snel }}
* {{Citation | last =Snelling | first=John | year= 1987 |title =The Buddhist handbook. A Complete Guide to Buddhist Teaching and Practice | place =London | publisher =Century Paperbacks}}
* {{cite book | last = Walsh | first = Maurice | title = The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya | publisher = Boston: Wisdom Publications | year = 1995 | isbn = 0-86171-103-3 }}
{{refend}}

==Bibliography==
* Radich, Michael (2007). [http://www.nzasia.org.nz/downloads/NZJAS-June07/14Radich5.pdf Problems and Opportunities in the Study of the Bodies of the Buddha], New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 9 (1), 46-69
* Radich, Michael (2010). [http://iriab.soka.ac.jp/content/pdf/aririab/Vol.%20XIII%20(2010).pdf Embodiments of the Buddha in Sarvâstivāda Doctrine: With Special Reference to the Mahavibhāṣā]. Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology 13, 121-172
* {{cite book|author=Xing, Guang |title=The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikāya Theory|year=2005|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-33344-3}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.trikaya.es/ Trikaya del Saya Kunsal Kassapa ]
*[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-trikya.html trikāya - A Dictionary of Buddhism]
*[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]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101224101215/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/buddhism/32marks2.htm 32 marks of the Buddha ("THIRTY TWO MARKS OF A GREAT MAN")]
*[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}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Buddhist terminology]]
[[Category:Vajrayana]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhism]]
[[Category:Buddhist enumerations by number (3)]]

Trikaya - Revision history

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