Indian Philosophy v1.c16.4

v1.c16.4

Page 597.—In the Hinayāna, the physical body of the Buddha is distinguished from the body of the law which each man has to realise for himself. Later in the *Divyāvadāna* (pp. 19 ff.; see *Dīgha N.*, iii. 84), we find the idea that the material body of the Buddha is the body, while his soul is the law. The true nature or soul of Buddha is the intuition (prajñā) or enlightenment (bodhi) attained by him. When expressed in metaphysical terms, it is the ultimate reality which underlies the phenomenal universe. While this reality belongs to every Buddha, each Buddha is said to have at the same time a dharmakāya of his own. The dharmakāya is identified with the tathatā, or primitive undifferentiated reality, or the womb of the Tathāgata, or the source of every individual being (*Laṁkāvatāra*, p. 80). Each Buddha is conceived as possessing a body of ineffable brilliance which is called saṁbhogakāya. The relation of saṁbhogakāya to dharmakāya is explained by Candrakīrti (*Mādhyamakāvatāra*, iii. 12). Those equipped with wisdom (jñāna), as the Buddhas, reach dharmakāya, while those equipped with merit (puṇya), as the Bodhisattvas, reach saṁbhogakāya. One cannot, however, be sure of this, since the Mahāyāna literature gives visible forms to Amitābha and Śākyamuni.