Rai-1 Nagendra Prasad Rai Prakash Subedi Religion: Buddhism 07 April, 2011 Buddhas Multiple Body in Mahayana Buddhism

Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to Insight into the true nature of life. Buddhist practices such as meditation are means of changing oneself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all those who wish to follow a path - a path which ultimately culminates in Enlightenment or Buddhahood. Because Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator god, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western sense. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and practical: nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change is possible. Thus Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective of race, nationality, or gender. It teaches practical methods (such as meditation) which enable people to realise and utilise its teachings in order to transform their experience, to be fully responsible for their lives and to develop the qualities of Wisdom and Compassion. Buddhists follow many different forms of Buddhism, but all traditions are characterised by non-violence, lack of dogma, tolerance of differences, and, usually, by the practice of meditation. Among the different forms of Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism is one of the main Buddhisms that means "great vehicle," and the primary distinction of Mahayana is its emphasis on the enlightenment of all beings. Mahayana idealizes the bodhisattva, an enlightened being who remains in the world to work for the liberation of others.

Rai-2 In Mahayana Buddhism, the body is recognized as Trikaya which is the combination of three bodies or kayas: Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya. The Body in common sense, is physical structure possessed by living beings. It can also refer to any collection of things classed together as text. But whatever its meaning is borne in mind that is completely different in the sense of Buddhism or at the case of the Buddhas multiple bodies. The dharmakaya is sometimes called the Truth Body or the Dharma Body and is identified with shunyata. Dharmakaya is everything, unmanifested, free of characteristics and distinctions. According to the Mahayana teaching of shunyata, beings and things have no intrinsic existence in themselves. All phenomena come into being because of conditions created by other phenomena. Thus, they have no existence of their own and are empty of a permanent self. There is neither reality nor not-reality; only relativity. This emptiness is not nihilistic. All phenomena are void of self-essence, but it is incorrect to say that phenomena exist or dont exist. Form and appearance create the world of myriad things, but the myriad things have identity only in relation to each other. Beyond identity, shunyata is an absolute reality that is all things and beings, unmanifested. According to Paul Griffiths (1994) in classical doctrine, Buddha is said to have three types of body. These bodies consist of the dharmakaya or svabhavkaya- the real body, the sambhogkaya- the body of communal enjoyment, and the nirmanakaya- the body of magical transformation. The dharmakaya refers to those factors or dharmas the possession of which serves to distinguish a Buddha from one who is not a Buddha. Buddha is possessed of a body of Dharma, his teaching, or perhaps a body of dharmas, his Buddha qualities. These qualities distinctly contrast that the actual physical body of Buddha and with Buddhas true body. The physical body passes away as Buddhas body already passed away but his true

Rai-3 body continues. The true body is either his teachings (Dharmas) that remain and lead to enlightenment, the qualities the possession of which to their fullest degree make him a Buddha and that can still be obtained by his followers. Buddha can be seen through a physical body but can actually be seen with the eyes of Dharmas. Thus through understanding his teachings one sees the true body of the Buddha, yet the very point of those teaching is that emptiness is not something that can be seen at all in the normal way of seeing. So the Buddha body is as eternal, unalterable, auspicious, made of Dharma. He thus does not die and remains with skills to help others. Nagarjuna puts it in his Paramarthstava (Hymn to the Ultimate), the Buddha has not been born, remains nowhere, neither existing nor non-existing. This is actually the way of things (dharmata), emptiness itself (Buddhism, 174). Madhyamaka sources also speaks of the dharmakaya- the body whisch is the collection of ultimates(i.e. for Abhiddharma, dharmas ) - as emptiness. But of course while emptiness applies to everything, one specifically refers to the dharmakaya is spoken of in the context of Buddhology. According to basic structure of theclassical doctrine associated with Yogacara, the dharmakaya is to be equivalent to the actual true way of things (tathata), the purified dependent aspect. Similarly, the sambhogakaya, the body of communal enjoyment, is wonderful form-body (rupakaya). Sambhogakaya is the Reward Body. It is the bliss of enlightenment and the reward of spiritual practice. It appears in the physical form to benefit others. It clearly shows way of fulfilling the Buddhas great aspirations to help other. The body of communal enjoyment is Griffiths Buddha in heaven. It appears according to the needs of sentient beings in glorified body ornamented with the 112 marks of Buddha who is often seen on

Rai-4 statues such as long ears, cranial bump, etc. The Buddha appears in a pure land seating on a lotus throne where a sambhogakaya form of Buddha appears is another plane. Buddhist scholars generally understand a Pure Land as a transcendent state of being. It is a Pure Land is thought of as a real place, not unlike the way many people conceptualize Heaven. The Pure Land is not the final destination, however. The Pure Land is believed that achieving the liberation of Nirvana through a life of monastic austerity was too difficult for most people. They rejected the "self effort" emphasized by earlier schools of Buddhism. Instead, the ideal is rebirth in a Pure Land, where the toils and worries of ordinary life do not interfere with devoted practice of the Buddha's teachings. By the grace of Amitabha's compassion, those reborn in a Pure Land find themselves only a short step from Nirvana. To access to Pure Land, Buddhists accept the basic Buddhas Teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The primary practice common to all schools of Pure Land is the recitation of the name of Amitabha, who is also called Amida. The practices and meditation that help the Pure Land Buddhist visualize Amitabha Buddha. In the most advanced stage of practice, the follower contemplates Amitabha as not separate from his own being. In the Pure Land, Buddha teaches the doctrine to an assembly made up mainly or entirely of advanced bodhisattvas. The place is populated by infinite number of bodies of communal enjoyment because the infinite time and the infinite beings have become Buddha. The sambhogakaya teaches only the Mahayana because these teaching truly manifest in a superior sambhogakaya form. To have direct access to the body of communal enjoyment it is necessary to have spiritual attainments that will allow one, either in this life or in another, to reach the relevant Pure Land.( Buddhism,175)

Rai-5 On the other hand, nirmanakaya, the body of magical transformation is also physical form or appears in the form-body (rupakaya). Nirmanakaya is the Transformation Body, or the body that appears in the world to teach and liberate others. It manifests as automatic ways of fulfilling the Buddhas great aspirations to help others made throughout their long career as boddhisatvas. Sakyamuni Buddha and his great deeds are described on the model of nirmankaya. But the magical transformation can appear in any form that will benefit others and is not limited to appearing in accordance with the classic model of the life of the Buddha. Sakyamuni Buddha emanates as a body of magical transformation since it is asn overflow of the Dharmakaya. The nirmanakaya is the earthly, physical body of a buddha, which manifests in the world to teach the dharma and bring all beings to enlightenment. For example, the historical Buddha is said to have been a nirmanakaya buddha. The nirmanakaya body is subject to sickness, old age and death like any other living being. In conclusion, a Buddha having three kayas, however, wishes to help everyone to benefit in unison.

Rai-6 Works Cited Griffiths, P.J. On Being Buddha: The Classical Doctrine of Buddhahood, Albany, N. Y.: State University of New York Press, 1994. Nagarjuna. On Voidness: A study on Buddhist Nihilism, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1995. Williams, Paul. Religion: Buddhism, Kathmandu: IACER, 2011.