Buddhakāya

buddhakāya (T. sangs rgyas sku; C. foshen 佛身), literally "buddha body."

The Princeton Dictionary states:

Throughout the history of the Buddhist tradition, there has been a great deal of debate, and a good many theories, over the exact nature of a buddha’s body.

In the Mahayana tradition, buddhakāya is another term for the state of buddhahood, which can be subdivided as follows:

• two kayas
• three kayas
• four kayas
• five kayas (in Buddhist tantra)

The early buddhist texts (the Pali Nikayas and the Sanskrit Agamas) refer to the following types of buddhakāya:

• pūtikāya - a corruptible body, which was born from the womb of his mother
• manomayakāya - mind-made body, which the buddha uses to visit the heavens
• dharmakāya - the buddhas’ corpus of unique qualities (āveṇika-buddha-dharma)

See also

• kāya

Further reading

• Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: 2014), s.v. Buddhakāya