Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s1.t2.10

c7.s1.t2.10

The Yogācāra school distinguished the gross rūpakāya from the subtle rūpakāya, calling the former Rūpa- or Nirmāṇa-kāya and the latter Sambhogakāya. The Laṅkāvatāra, representing the earliest stage of the Yogācāra conception, calls the Sambhoga-kāya Nisyanda-buddha or Dharmatā-nisyanda-buddha (the Buddha produced by the Dharmas). The Sūtrālaṅkāra¹ uses the term Sambhogakāya for Nisyandabuddha and Svābhāvikakāya for Dharmakāya. In the *Abhisamayālaṅkārakārikā* and the recast version of the *Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā*, Sambhogakāya denotes the subtle body which the Buddhas adopted for preaching their doctrines to Bodhisattvas, and Dharmakāya, the body purified by the practice of the bodhipaksika and other dharmas which constitute a Buddha. For the metaphysical Dharmakāya they use the term Svabhāva- or Svābhāvikakāya. The *Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi* retains the conception of the *Kārikā* but adopts a new term, Svasambhogakāya, to denote the Dharmakāya of the *Kārikā* and distinguishes the Sambhogakāya by calling it Parasambhoga-kāya.