(Sanskrit) Celestial dimension, expression of the symbolic and archetypal dimension of Buddhahood, to which only the spiritually developed have access. Sambhogakaya - See Also. Trikaya Categories: Wikipedia articles needing context | Articles that need to be wikified ...

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Sambhogakaya

See "Three bodies of the Buddha."

 (See also: Sambhogakaya, Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Sambhogakaya :

Sambhogakaya

(Sanskrit) This is a compound of two words meaning "enjoyment-body," or rather "participation-body"; sambhoga meaning "enjoyment together," or "delightful participation," etc.; and kaya, meaning "body." This is the second of the glorious vestures, the other two being dharmakaya, the highest, and nirmanakaya, the lowest. The buddha in the sambhogakaya state still participates in, still retains more or less, his self-consciousness as an individual, his egoship and his individual soul-sense, though he is too far above material or personal concerns to care about or to meddle with them. In consequence, a buddha in the sambhogakaya state would be virtually powerless here on our material earth.

See also: Sambhogakaya, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Integral organizations: Integral Institute Cal. Inst. of Integral Studies Integral University In the Integral theory of Ken Wilber, AQAL stands for "All quadrants, all levels", and equally connotes "all lines, all states, all types". An account or theory is said to be AQAL, and thus integral (inclusive or comprehensive), if it accounts for or makes reference to all four quadrants and four major levels in Wilber's ontological scheme, described below. AQAL - QuadrantsIncluding:

• AQAL - Quadrants
• AQAL - Eight indigenous perspectives
• AQAL - Lines streams or intelligences
• AQAL - Levels or stages
• AQAL - States
• AQAL - Types

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The Lankavatara Sutra is one of the most important sutras (sacred texts) of Mahayana Buddhism. According to tradition, these are the actual words of the Buddha as he entered Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon). This sutra figured prominently in the development of Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism. It is the cornerstone of Chinese Chan and its Japanese version, Zen, and was translated from Sanskrit into Japanese and English ...

Read more here: » Lankavatara Sutra: Encyclopedia - Lankavatara Sutra

The Trikaya doctrine (Sanskrit, literally "Three bodies or personalities"; 三身 Chinese: Sānshén, Japanese: sanjin) is an important Buddhist teaching both on the nature of reality, and what a Buddha is. By the 4th century CE the Trikaya Doctrine had assumed the form that we now know. Briefly the doctrine says that a Buddha has three 'bodies': the nirmana-kaya or created body which manifests in time and space; the sambhoga-kaya or body of mutual enjoyment which is an archetypal manifestatio ...

Including:

• Trikaya - Origins
• Trikaya - Trikaya
• Trikaya - Neoplatonism?

Read more here: » Trikaya: Encyclopedia - Trikaya

Sambhogakaya (Sanskrit) [from sambhoga enjoyment together, delightful participation + kaya body]

Participation body; the second of the trikaya (three glorious vestures) of Buddhism, the highest being dharmakaya, and the lowest nirmanakaya. A buddha in the sambhogakaya state still retains his individual self-consciousness and sense of egoity, and is able to be conscious to a certain extent of the world of men and its griefs and sorrows, but has little power or impulse to render aid.

See also TRIKAYA; TRIRATNA; TRISARNA; TRAILOKYA

(See also: Sambhogakaya, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Sambhogakaya (Sanskrit). One of the three "Vestures" of glory, or bodies, obtained by ascetics on the "Path". Some sects hold it as the second, while others as the third of the Buddhahshetras; or forms of Buddha. Lit., the "Body of Compensation" (See Voice of the Silence, Glossary iii). Of such Buddhakshetras there are seven, those of Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakáya and Dharmakaya, belonging to the Trikaya, or three-fold quality.

(See also: Sambhogakaya, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Later Mahayana Buddhists were concerned with the transcendent aspect of the Dharma. So therefore if the Dharma is transcendental, totally beyond space and time, then so is the Dharmakaya. One response to this was the development of the Tathagatagarbha Doctrine. Another was the introduction of the Sambhogakaya which conceptually fits between the rupakaya, now renamed nirmanakaya or created body, and the Dharmakaya. The Sambhogakaya is that aspect of the Buddha, or the Dharma, that one meets in visions and in deep meditati ...

See also:

Trikaya, Trikaya - Origins, Trikaya - Trikaya, Trikaya - Neoplatonism?

Read more here: » Trikaya: Encyclopedia II - Trikaya - Trikaya

Celestial Buddha (sambhogakaya): in Mahayana Buddhism's Triple Body (trikaya) theory, these are heavenly or god-like Buddhas, the most famous of which is Amita; by showing devotion to Celestial Buddhas they assist us in our quest for enlightenment.

 (See also: Celestial Buddha, Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

Triple Body (trikaya): In Mahayana Buddhism, the notion of three levels or "bodies" of Buddha's existence: (a) the Eternal Buddhas of the Body of Dharma (dharmakaya), (2) human incarnations in the Body of Transformation (nirmanakaya), and (3) Celestial Buddhas in the Body of Bliss (sambhogakaya).

 (See also: Triple Body, Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

Dzog-pa'i-Ku rdzogs-pa'i-sku (Tibetan) Body of bliss, equivalent of Sambhogakaya {BCW 14:392n}.

(See also: Dzog-pa'i-Ku, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Nirmanakaya :

Nirmanakaya

(Sanskrit) A compound of two words: nirmana, a participle meaning "forming," "creating"; kaya, a word meaning "body," "robe," "vehicle"; thus, nirmanakaya means "formed-body." A nirmanakaya, however, is really a state assumed by or entered into by a bodhisattva  - an individual man made semi-divine who, to use popular language, instead of choosing his reward in the nirvana of a less degree, remains on earth out of pity and compassion for inferior beings, clothing himself in a nirmanakayic vesture. When that state is ended the nirmanakaya ends.

A nirmanakaya is a complete man possessing all the principles of his constitution except the linga-sarira and its accompanying physical body. He is one who lives on the plane of being next superior to the physical plane, and his purpose in so doing is to save men from themselves by being with them, and by continuously instilling thoughts of self-sacrifice, of self-forgetfulness, of spiritual and moral beauty, of mutual help, of compassion, and of pity.

Nirmanakaya is the third or lowest, exoterically speaking, of what is called in Sanskrit trikaya or "three bodies." The highest is the dharmakaya, in which state are the nirvanis and full pratyeka buddhas, etc.; the second state is the sambhogakaya, intermediate between the former and, thirdly, the nirmanakaya. The nirmanakaya vesture or condition enables one entering it to live in touch and sympathy with the world of men. The sambhogakaya enables one in that state to be conscious indeed to a certain extent of the world of men and its griefs and sorrows, but with little power or impulse to render aid. The dharmakaya vesture is so pure and holy, and indeed so high, that the one possessing the dharmakaya or who is in it, is virtually out of all touch with anything inferior to himself. It is, therefore, in the nirmanakaya vesture if not in physical form that live and work the Buddhas of Compassion, the greatest sages and seers, and all the superholy men who through striving through ages of evolution bring forth into manifestation and power and function the divinity within. The doctrine of the nirmanakayas is one of the most suggestive, profound, and beautiful teachings of the esoteric philosophy. (See also Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya)

See also: Nirmanakaya, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Dharmakaya :

Dharmakaya

(Sanskrit) This is a compound of two words meaning the "continuance body," sometimes translated equally well (or ill) the "body of the Law"  - both very inadequate expressions, for the difficulty in translating these extremely mystical terms is very great. A mere correct dictionary-translation often misses the esoteric meaning entirely, and just here is where Occidental scholars make such ludicrous errors at times.

The first word comes from the root dhri, meaning "to support," "to sustain," "to carry," "to bear," hence "to continue"; also human laws are the agencies supposed to carry, support, sustain, civilization; the second element, kaya, means "body." The noun thus formed may be rendered the "body of the Law," but this phrase does not give the idea at all. It is that spiritual body or state of a high spiritual being in which the restricted sense of soulship and egoity has vanished into a universal (hierarchical) sense, and remains only in the seed, latent  - if even so much. It is pure consciousness, pure bliss, pure intelligence, freed from all personalizing thought.

In the Buddhism of Central Asia, the dharmakaya is the third and highest of the trikaya. The trikaya consists of (1) nirmanakaya, (2) sambhogakaya, and (3) dharmakaya. We may look upon these three states, all of them lofty and sublime, as being three vestures in which the consciousness of the entity clothes itself. In the dharmakaya vesture the initiate is already on the threshold of nirvana, if not indeed already in the nirvanic state. (See also Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya)

See also: Dharmakaya, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Trikaya (Sanskrit) [from tri three + kaya vesture, body]

The three glorious vestures or states in which the consciousness of an adept clothes itself: 1) the nirmanakaya (Tibetan pru-lpai-ku) in which the bodhisattva after entering the path to nirvana by the six paramitas appears to mankind in order to teach and which thus is associated with the Buddhas of Compassion; 2) the sambhogakaya (Tibetan dzog-pai-ku) the body of bliss impervious to all material sensations assumed by one who has fulfilled the three conditions of spiritual, intellectual, and moral perfection; and 3) the dharmakaya (Tibetan chos-ku) the nirvanic body or robe in which all nirvanis and full Pratyeka Buddhas exist.

The Wondrous Being or hierarch manifests in three forms, the highest being in direct spiritual intercommunion with cosmic adi-buddha, and this highest aspect or form is the dharmakaya state in which, at least in the inferior portions of it, the dhyani-buddha abides; the second form or state is that of the dhyani-bodhisattva, who is in the sambhogakaya state in direct intercommunion with the lower part of the dhyani-buddha just above it in abstruse power and consciousness; the third and lowest form or aspect, yet in one sense the highest morally on account of the immense, willing self-sacrifice involved, is the manusha-buddha who lives and works in the nirmanakaya state.

"This is a most abstruse teaching which, however, once understood, explains the mystery of every triad or trinity, and is a true key to every three-fold metaphysical symbol. In its most simple and comprehensive form it is found in the human Entity in its triple division into spirit, soul, and body, and in the universe regarded pantheistically, as a unity composed of a Deific, purely spiritual Principle, Supernal Beings -- its direct rays -- and Humanity. The origin of this is found in the teachings of the prehistoric Wisdom Religion, or Esoteric Philosophy. The grand Pantheistic ideal, of the unknown and unknowable Essence being transformed first into subjective, and then into objective matter, is at the root of all these triads and triplets (TG 338-9).

See also DHARMAKAYA; NIRMANAKAYA; SAMBHOGAKAYA; TRISARANA. {check Tibetan}

(See also: Trikaya, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Trikaya (Sanskrit) Lit., three bodies, or forms. This is a most abstruse teaching which, however, once understood, explains the mystery of every triad or trinity, and is a true key to every three-fold metaphysical symbol. In its most simple and comprehensive form it is found in the human Entity in its triple division into spirit, soul, and body, and in the universe, regarded pantheistically, as a unity composed of a Deific, purely spiritual Principle, Supernal Beings - its direct rays  -  and Humanity.

The origin of this is found in the teachings of the pre historic Wisdom Religion, or Esoteric Philosophy. The grand Pantheistic ideal, of the unknown and unknowable Essence being transformed first into subjective, and then into objective matter, is at the root of all these triads and triplets.

Thus we find in philosophical Northern Buddhism

(1)  Adi-Buddha (or Primordial Universal Wisdom) ;

(2)  the Dhyani-Buddhas (or Bodhisattvas);

(3)  the Manushi (Human) Buddhas.

In European conceptions we find the same: God, Angels and Humanity symbolized theologically by the God-Man. The Brahmanical Trimurti and also the three-fold body of Shiva, in Shaivism, have both been conceived on the same basis, if not altogether running on the lines of Esoteric teachings. Hence, no wonder if one finds this conception of the triple body - or the vestures of Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya and Dharmakaya, the grandest of the doctrines of Esoteric Philosophy -  accepted in a more or less disfigured form by every religious sect, and explained quite incorrectly by the Orientalists.

Thus, in its general application, the three-fold body symbolizes Buddha’s statue, his teachings and his stupas ; in the priestly conceptions it applies to the Buddhist profession of faith called the Triratna, which is the formula of taking "refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha". Popular fancy makes Buddha ubiquitous, placing him thereby on a par with an anthropomorphic god, and lowering him to the level of a tribal deity; and, as a result, it falls into flat contradictions, as in Tibet and China.

Thus the exoteric doctrine seems to teach that while in his Nirma kaya body (which passed through 100,000 kotis of transformations on earth), he, Buddha, is at the same time a Lochana (a heavenly Dhyani-Bodhisattva), in his Sambhogakaya "robe of absolute completeness", and in Dhyana, or a state which must cut him off from the world and all its connections; and finally and lastly he is, besides being a Nirmanakaya and a Sambhogakaya, also a Dharmakaya "of absolute purity", a Vairotchana or Dhyani-Buddha in full Nirvana! (See Eitel’s Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary.)

This is the jumble of contradictions, impossible to reconcile, which is given out by missionaries and certain Orientalists as the philosophical dogmas of Northern Buddhism. If not an intentional confusion of a philosophy dreaded by the upholders of a religion based on inextricable contradictions and guarded "mysteries", then it is the product of ignorance. As the Trailokya, the Trikaya, and the Triratna are the three aspects of the same conceptions, and have to be, so to say, blended in one, the subject is further explained under each of these terms. (See also in this relation the term " Trisharana".)

(See also: Trikaya, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Marut-jivas (Sanskrit) [from marut a class of divine beings + jiva monad]

Those monads which have been, are, or will be during long ages passing through the evolutionary stage called agnishvattas or kumaras, a direct hint of the real significance of the term marut itself. All maruts are jivas, the latter explaining characteristics and functions of the maruts.

In a more specific and limited sense, marut-jivas are the monads of adepts who have attained liberation, nirvana, or are very close to attaining it, but who wish to be reborn on earth for the sake of helping humanity. It is apparent that the nirmanakayas, as well as a large part of the sambhogakayas, therefore fall within the category of the marut-jivas.

(See also: Marut-jivas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Dharmakaya (Sanskrit). Lit., "the glorified spiritual body" called the "Vesture of Bliss". The third, or highest of the Trikaya (Three Bodies), the attribute developed by every "Buddha", i.e., every initiate who has crossed or reached the end of what is called the "fourth Path" (in esotericism the sixth "portal" prior to his entry on the seventh). The highest of the Trikaya, it is the fourth of the Buddhakchetra, or Buddhic planes of consciousness, represented figuratively in Buddhist asceticism as a robe or vesture of luminous Spirituality.

In popular Northern Buddhism these vestures or robes are:

(1) Nirmanakaya

(2) Sambhogakaya

(3) and Dharmakaya the last being the highest and most sublimated of all, as it places the ascetic on the threshold of Nirvana. (See, however, the Voice of the Silence, page 96, Glossary, for the true esoteric meaning.)

(See also: Dharmakaya, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Three bodies of the Buddha (Skt. trikaya)

1. Dharmakaya: The Dharma-body, or the "body of reality", which is formless, unchanging, transcendental, and inconceivable. Synonymous with suchness, or emptiness.
2. Sambhogakaya: the "body of enjoyment", the celestial body of the Buddha. Personification of eternal perfection in its ultimate sense. It "resides" in the Pure Land and never manifests itself in the mundane world, but only in the celestial spheres, accompanied by enlightened Bodhisattvas.
3. Nirmanakaya: the "incarnated body" of the Buddha. In order to benefit certain sentient beings, a Buddha incarnates himself into an appropriate visible body, such as that of Sakyamuni Buddha. The incarnated body of the Buddha should not be confused with a magically produced Buddha. The former is a real, tangible human body which has a definite life span, The latter is an illusory Buddha-form which is produced with miraculous powers and can be withdrawn with miraculous powers

 (G.C.C. Chang).

 (See also: Three bodies of the Buddha, Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Nirmanikaya (Sanskrit) [from nirmana forming, creating + kaya body, robe, vehicle]

Appearance body; the lowest of the trikaya, followed by sambhogakaya and dharmakaya. A state assumed by a bodhisattva who, instead of entering nirvana, remains on earth to help inferior beings. "A Nirmanakaya is a complete man possessing all the principles of his constitution except the Linga-sarira, and its accompanying physical body. He is one who lives on the plane of being next superior to the physical plane, and his purpose in so doing is to save men from themselves by being with them, and by continuously instilling thoughts of self-sacrifice, of self-forgetfulness, of spiritual and moral beauty, of mutual help, of compassion, and of pity" (OG 114). Beings in this state make a wall of protection around mankind, which shields humanity from evils.

There are two kinds of nirmanakayas: the natural is the condition of a high initiate who reaches a stage of bliss second only to nirvana; the assumed is the self-sacrifice of one who voluntarily gives up the absolute nirvana in order to help and guide humanity. The nirmanakaya, then,

"is that ethereal form which one would assume when leaving his physical he would appear in his astral body -- having in addition all the knowledge of an Adept. The Bodhisattva develops it in himself as he proceeds on the Path. Having reached the goal and refused its fruition, he remains on Earth, as an Adept; and when he dies, instead of going into Nirvana, he remains in that glorious body he has woven for himself, invisible to uninitiated mankind, to watch over and protect it. . . . to be enabled to help humanity, an Adept who has won the right to Nirvana, 'renounces the Dharmakaya body' in mystic parlance; keeps, of the Sambhogakaya, only the great and complete knowledge, and remains in his Nirmanakaya body. The esoteric school teaches that Gautama Buddha with several of his Arhats is such a Nirmanakaya . . ." (VS 96-7).

See also TRAILOKYA; TRIKAYA; TRIRATNA; TRISARANA

(See also: Nirmanikaya, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)