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Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s2.t12: Sambhogakāya

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c7.s2.t12

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Sambhogakāya

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We have seen that the Rūpakāya or Nirmāṇakāya was meant for the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Pṛthagjanas and Bodhisattvas who were not in one of the ten bhūmis, so another kāya had to be devised, a very subtle kāya; for the benefit of all Bodhisattvas. This is called Parasambhogakāya, as distinguished from Svasambhogakāya, a similar subtle body perceived by the Buddhas alone. It is this Parasambhogakāya which plays the rôle of a preacher of the various Mahāyāna sūtras, the scenes being mostly laid either at Gṛdhrakūṭa, the only place in the three dhātus considered pure and suitable for the appearance of a Sambhogakāya, or in the Sukhāvatī-vyūha, or in one of the heavens.

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It will be observed from the description of the appearance of Buddha and his manner of preaching the Sūtras that the Mahāyānists were not yet able to forget or rise above the human conception of the Hinayānists. They still gave Śākyamuni the rôle of the presiding Buddha of the universe, to whom flocked reverently with flowers, incense, etc., all the Bodhisattvas, Śrāvakas and Gṛhapatis of the various lokadhātus of the ten directions, to hear from him the Prajñā- pāramitā, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, or the Gaṇḍavyūha. These Bodhisattvas again had their own tutelary Buddhas, who, according to the Mahāyāna metaphysics, possessed the same Dharmakāya as Śākyamuni. They also came or were sometimes sent by their Buddhas, with messages of greetings and flowers as tokens of their regard, to Śākyamuni Buddha, whose Buddhakṣetra was then the Sahā lokadhātu. Sometimes the descriptions go so far as to say that the Buddhas themselves came to hear discourses from Śākyamuni Buddha, and the concourse of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas became so great that the Sahā lokadhātu had to be cleared of all oceans, mountains, seas, rivers, and cities, as well as gods, men and other beings. As we read in the Hīnayāna texts that monks used to come to meet Buddha, bringing with them one or two sāmaṇeras, so also we read in the Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka that on account of insufficiency of space the countless Buddhas could not bring with them more than one or two Bodhisattvas as attendants (upasthāpakas).¹

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¹ Sad. P., pp. 244-245.

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Now let us see what was their conception of the Kāya of this Buddha. According to the Śatasāhasrikā and the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā,² it is an exceedingly refulgent body, from every pore of which streamed forth countless brilliant rays of light, illuminating the lokadhātus as innumerable as the sands of the Ganges. When this body stretched out its tongue, innumerable rays of light issued forth from it, and on each ray of light was found a lotus of thousand petals on which was seated a Tathāgatavigraha (an image of the Tathāgata, a sort of Nirmāṇakāya), preaching to Bodhisattvas, Gṛhasthas (householders), Pravrajitas (recluses) and others the dharma consisting of the six pāramitās. After a Siṃhavikrīḍita samādhi his body illuminated the trisāhasra-mahāsahasra lokadhātu just as the bright clear sun or the full moon illuminates the world. Buddha then shows his Prakṛtyātmabhāva (real form) to all the worlds. The several classes of gods as well as the men of the four continents, Jambudvīpa, Aparagodāna, etc., see this Prakṛtyātmabhāva and think that the Tathāgata is sitting before them and preaching the doctrine. From this body again issue forth some rays of light by which all beings of all lokadhātus see Śākyamuni Buddha preaching the Prajñāpāramitā to his saṅgha of monks and congregation of Bodhisattvas.

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² Śata., pp. 8-29; Pañca., pp. 6ff.; for ‘Āsecanaka’ see Samādhirājasūtra (B.T.S. ed.), p. 10.

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Though this conception of the refulgent body of Buddha found currency in the Prajñāpāramitās, the expression Sambhogakāya was still unknown to them. It was usually called by them Prakṛtyātmabhāva (natural body) or Āsecanaka-ātmabhāva (all-diffusing body). As a matter of fact, the Aṣṭasāhasrikā is not even aware of the Prakṛtyātmabhāva or Āsecanaka-ātmabhāva, showing clearly its priority to the other Prajñāpāramitās. It speaks only of Rūpakāya and Dharmakāya¹ and the long glorious description of Buddhakāya, which appears in the Śata- and Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā as nidāna (introduction) to the text, is totally absent from it. It is only in the recast version of the Pañcaviṃśati that the expression Sāmbhogika-kāya was introduced by way of giving a gist of the topic.² In it the Sambhoga-kāya is described thus: Bodhisattvas, after attaining bodhi by means of the prajñāpāramitā, take a body endowed with thirty-two major and eighty minor signs with a view to preach the doctrines of Mahāyāna to the bodhisattvas and at the same time to arouse in their minds joy, delight and love for the excellent dharma. The original Prajñāpāramitā regarded this refulgent kāya as nirmita (created), and as such they included it in Rūpakāya and did not feel the necessity of introducing the conception of a third kāya, the Sāmbhogika.

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¹ Aṣṭa., pp. 338, 497, 513.

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² Pañca., (A.S.B. ms.) leaf, 359a: Iti Sāmbhogika-kāyaḥ.

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In keeping with this dvikāya theory of the Prajñāpāramitās, Nāgārjuna also did not refer to, or probably was not aware of, the third kāya, the Sāmbhogika. Both Drs. Akanuma and Masuda could not trace the conception of Sambhogakāya in Nāgārjuna's Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra. Dr. Akanuma also mentions his disinclination to accept the "Hymns of the Triple Body (Trikāya)" ascribed by the Tibetans to Nāgārjuna as a work of the famous Nāgārjuna.¹ If the *Kārikās* of Nāgārjuna on the *Tathāgatakāya*² be examined, it also becomes apparent that Nāgārjuna was interested in giving an exposition of the real kāya (i.e., Dharmakāya or Svabhāvakāya) only. To him the distinction of Sambhogakāya and Rūpakāya was unimportant, as both of them were unreal.

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¹ Eastern Buddhist, II, pp. 17ff.

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² M. Vr., Ch. XXII.

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Thus, we see that up to the time of Nāgārjuna, the conception of Sambhogakāya was not distinguished from that of Rūpa- or Nirmāṇakāya. The *Laṅkāvatāra* presents us first with this conception, calling it Niṣyanda- or Dharmatā-niṣyanda-Buddha, and it seems that the term Sambhogakāya was not yet current. We have seen that in Hīnayāna works also it is pointed out that the super-excellent body of Buddha, endowed with the major and minor signs of great men, was due to the countless meritorious deeds performed by him in his previous lives.³ The Chinese rendering of Sambhogakāya by *pao sheng*⁴ 報身 in which *pao* means fruit or reward, also indicates that Sambhoga had no other sense than ‘vipāka or niṣyanda’. The later Yogācārins called it Parasambhogakāya in order to distinguish it from the other kāya called by them Svasambhoga. Though the *Aṣṭasāhasrikā* does not distinguish Sambhogakāya from the Nirmāṇakāya, it refers to the super-excellent body of Buddha as the result of his meritorious acts in previous lives.⁵ The *Laṅkāvatāra* by using the expression Vipākaja or Vipākastha, shows a stage of transition from the Hīnayānic conception of Vipākaja-kāya to that of Mahāyānic Parasambhogakāya.

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³ Laṅkā., pp. 28, 34; see ante.

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⁴ Sakaki, Mvyut. 117.

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⁵ Aṣṭa., p. 515. Buddhānāṃ kāyaḥ kāraṇasamutpannaḥ pūrvakarmavipākād utpannaḥ, etc.

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The *Laṅkāvatāra* says that the function of the Niṣyanda Buddha is to teach the *parikalpita* (imaginary) and *paratantra* (relatively existent) nature of things to those persons, who weave a net of thought-constructions around themselves being unaware of the dream-like nature of things.¹ This is also the function of Śākyamuni of the Sahāl okadhātu when he imparts the teaching of the Prajñāpāramitās or the Sad-dharma-Puṇḍarīka.²

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¹ Laṅkā., p. 57.

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² The function of Nirmitabuddha is to teach dāna, śīla, etc., see ante.

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The Sūtrālaṅkāra also does not distinguish Sambhogakāya into Svasambhoga and Parasambhoga. It says that with this body Buddhas enjoy the dharmas and it is different according to the different lokadhātus, implying thereby that a Buddha of each lokadhātu has his own Sambhogakāya which is different from those of other Buddhas of other Buddhakṣetras.³

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³ Sūtrā., pp. 45-6.

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(iii) The Suvarṇaprabhāsa and (iv) the Abhisamayālaṅkārakārikā tell us that the Sambhogakāya is a very subtle body of Buddha. It is endowed with all the mahāpuruṣa signs and is generally assumed by Buddhas for imparting the higher and metaphysical truths to the advanced bodhisattvas. The Suvarṇaprabhāsa⁴ also does not speak of the two forms of Sambhogakāya, to be found in the Siddhi.

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⁴ Suzuki, Outlines etc., p. 257; in the published portion of the Sanskrit text (B.T.S.) this passage does not occur.

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(v) The Siddhi says that there are two Sambhogakāyas called Parasambhogakāya and Svasambhogakāya. The former is seen by bodhisattvas, while the latter is seen by the Buddhas of the various lokadhātus, and not by bodhisattvas. As regards refulgence, illimitability and immeasurability there is no difference between these two kāyas. Both of them have colour and form (varṇa-rūpa-saṃsthāna) as well as sound (śabda). On account of the knowledge of sameness (samatā) obtained by Buddhas, the body is anāsrava (pure). It can appear only in a pure land like the Sukhāvatīvyūha or Gṛdhrakūṭa. The difference between the Parasambhogakāya and the Svasambhogakāya are that the former has the mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇas while the latter has not, and that the citta of the former is as unreal as that of the Nirmāṇakāya, while the citta of the latter is real, and besides, this citta possesses the four jñānas, *viz.*, ādarśajñāna (mirror-like knowledge),¹ samatā-jñāna (knowledge of the sameness of all things), pratyavekṣaṇā-jñāna (knowledge of distinguishing subject, object and the varieties of things) and kṛtyānuṣṭhāna-jñāna (knowledge of doing all that is to be done).² The rūpa of both the Sambhogakāyas is exceedingly subtle and expansive without limit, yet it is sapratigha (possessed of the quality of obstruction). Nevertheless the subtle bodies of countless Buddhas are interpenetrable.

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¹ Cf. Dīgha, II, p. 93 : Dhammādāsa.

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² Explained in detail in the Sūtra., pp. 46ff ; Mvyut. 5.

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The recast version of the Pañcaviṃśati³ refers to the Sambhogakāya, and does not, like the Kārikā, distinguish between Dharmakāya (=Svasambhoga) and Parasambhogakāya, the reason being that in the original version of the Pañcaviṃśati, there must have been, as in the other Prajñāpāramitās, the conceptions of only two kāyas, and not of three or four. The Kārikā, in fact, supports the Siddhi in regard to the conception of kāyas, using only somewhat different names. The conception of the Svasambhogakāya shows a tendency of the Yogācāra school to posit something like the Īśvara of the Upaniṣads behind the phenomenal universe. The Dharmakāya corresponds to the impersonal Absolute of the Vedānta, the Brahman, and the Sambhogakāya to the Īśvara when Brahman assumes name and form. Every Buddha, it should however be noted, has his own Sambhogakāya but all Buddhas have one Dharmakāya. The Laṅkāvatāra also gives hints to this effect. It says that abhāva (absence of anything) is not Tathāgata, and again, as Tathāgata is described as ‘Anutpāda-anirodha’, it has some meaning. It then denotes the Manomaya-dharmakāya.⁴ It cannot be seen by the non-Buddhists, Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas and even Bodhisattvas in one of the first seven bhūmis. Just as different names of one thing or one person like hasta, kara, pāṇi, or Indra, Śakra, Purandara indicate different aspects of the same thing so also the different names of Śākyamuni Buddha in the Sahā lokadhātu, e.g., Svāyambhuva, Nāyaka, Vṛṣabha, Viṣṇu, Īśvara, Pradhāna, Kapila, Soma, Bhāskara, Rāma, Vyāsa, or Śūnyatā, Tathatā Bhūtakoṭi, Nirvāṇa, Sarvajña, etc., indicate the different aspects of Śākyamuni Buddha.¹ People being subject to the conceptions of two extremes 'is' or 'is not' (dvayāntapatitayā) do not know that Buddha is like a reflection of the moon on water neither appearing nor disappearing. In this passage there is a clear hint that this Manomaya-dharmakāya, existing in the Sahā lokadhātu, is the same as the Svasambhogakāya of the Siddhi and the Āsecanaka-ātmabhāva or Prakṛtyātmabhāva of the Prajñāpāramitās, and it corresponds to the Upaniṣadic conception of Īśvara.

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³ Pañca. (A.S.B. ms.), leaf. 359a. Cf. Śikṣā., p. 159 ; Bodhic., pp. 1, 4; Mtu., III, pp. 344, 452.

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⁴ For the definition of Manomayakāya and its three sub-divisions, see Laṅkā., p. 81; Suzuki, E.B., iv, pp. 284-5.

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¹ Laṅkā., pp. 192-3; cf. Daśa., p. 55.

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