Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c7.s2.t2: Kāya-Conception of the Theravādins Remained Unchanged

Aspects of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Relation to Hīnayāna c7.s2.t2

Language
English

Kāya-Conception of the Theravādins Remained Unchanged

c7.s2.t2.1

Even if it be assumed that the Mahāyānic ideas are latent in the above-mentioned expressions though not adequately expressed, the discussion in the *Kathāvatthu*² to establish the historical existence of Buddha as against those who denied it, and the manner in which references were made to the events of Buddha's life as depicted in the Nikāyas leaves no vestige of doubt about the opinion of the Theravādins regarding the kāya of Buddha.

c7.s2.t2.2

² Kvu., xvii, 1: The Vetulyakas held on the basis of the passage cited above (fn. 4) that "it is not right to say that the exalted Buddha lived in the world of mankind." The Theravādins did not agree with them. Buddhaghosa also pointed out how the passage should be interpreted.

c7.s2.t2.3

Though the terms rūpakāya and dharmakāya found their way into the later Pāli works³ from Mahāyāna or semi-Mahāyāna works, they did not bring with them any non-realistic sense. Buddhaghosa even as late as the fifth century A.C. refers thus to the kāyas:

c7.s2.t2.4

³ See, e.g., Sad. Saṅ. (JPTS., 1890), p. 69: Sambuddhānaṃ dve kāyā rūpakāyo sirīdharo, Yo tehi desito dhammo dhammakāyo ti vuccati.

c7.s2.t2.5

Yo pi so Bhagavā asiti anuvyañjanapatimaṇḍita-dvattiṃsamahāpurisalakkhaṇa-vicitra-rūpakāyo sabbākāraparisuddhasīlakkhandhādi-guṇaratanasamiddha-dhammakāyo yasamahatta-puññāmahatta......appaṭipuggalo arahaṃ sammāsambuddho.

c7.s2.t2.6

(That Bhagavā, who is possessed of a beautiful rūpakāya, adorned with eighty minor signs and thirty-two major signs of a great man, and possessed of a dhammakāya purified in every way and glorified by sīla, samādhi, etc.,¹ full of splendour and virtue, incomparable and fully awakened ).²

c7.s2.t2.7

¹ The five khandhas referred to here are, sīla samādhi, paññā, vimutti and vimuttiñāṇadassana. See *Mil.*, p. 98.

c7.s2.t2.8

² *Vis. M.*, p. 234; *Jātaka*, I, p. 84: Rūpakāyasirī.

c7.s2.t2.9

Though Buddhaghosa’s conception was realistic, he was not immune from the religious bias of attributing superhuman powers to Buddha. In the *Atthasālinī*³ he says that during the three months of his absence from the world while Buddha was engaged in preaching Abhidhamma to his mother in the Tusita heaven, he created some *Nimmitabuddhas* as exact replicas of himself. These Nimmitabuddhas could not be distinguished from the real Buddha in voice, words and even the rays of light that issued forth from his body. The created Buddhas could be detected only by the gods of the higher classes and not by the ordinary gods or men of the world.

c7.s2.t2.10

³ *Attha.*, p. 16.

c7.s2.t2.11

In short, the early Hīnayānists conceived Buddha’s *rūpakāya* as that of a human being,⁴ and his *dhammakāya* as the collection of his dhammas, *i.e.*, doctrines and disciplinary rules collectively.

c7.s2.t2.12

⁴ See Prof. Vallée Poussin’s *Bouddhisme*, pp. 232f.

Linked texts (4)