འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མཆག་ཏ་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བའ་མད་སྡའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.53

intro.53

This chapter is not present in the shorter twenty-one-chapter version of the sūtra. In response to a question from the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha, the Buddha describes the three kāyas or “bodies” that complete buddhahood comprises—the dharmakāya, saṃbhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya. The nirmāṇakāya, or emanation body, is the manifestation of various kinds of bodies of individuals in accordance with the various situations of beings. The saṃbhogakāya, or enjoyment body, is the manifestation of perfect bodies that teach the ultimate truth to bodhisattvas. Neither of these kāyas, however, has ultimate reality, whereas the dharmakāya, or Dharma body, is the ultimate, featureless, true nature that is the basis of the other two kāyas, which appear spontaneously without thought and can be described as having both permanent and impermanent qualities. The Buddha gives various analogies to describe them. He also describes the progress to buddhahood through the ten bhūmis and the ten perfections.