DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0321
Mahayana Theology
assume a variety of forms: we read that though the
Buddha (a term which we must here understand as
impersonal) does not depart from his seat in the tower
(state of Dharmakaya), yet he may assume all and
every form, whether of a Brahma, a god, or a monk, or
a physician, or a tradesman, or an artist; he may reveal
himself in every form of art and industry, in cities or in
villages: from the highest heaven to the lowest hell,
there is the Dharmakaya, in which all sentient beings
are one. The Dharmakaya is the impersonal ground of
Buddhahood from which the personal will, thought and
love of innumerable Buddhas and Bodhisattvas ever
proceed in response to the needs of those in whom the
perfect nature is not yet realized. In some of the later
phases of the Mahayana, however, the Dharmakaya
is personified as Adi-Buddha (sometimes Vairocana)
who is then to be regarded as the Supreme Being, above
all other Buddhas, and whose sakti is Prajnaparamita.
Dharmakaya is commonly translated ‘ Body of the Law,’
but it must not be interpreted merely as equivalent to the
sum of the scriptures. The fathomless being of Buddha-
hood, according to the Mahayana, is something more
than the immortality of the individual in his doctrine;
we must understand Dharma here as the Oin or Logos.
To understand the meaning of Dharmakaya more fully
we must take into account also its synonyms, for
example, Svabhavakdya, or ‘ own-nature body ’ (like the
Brahmanical svarupa, ‘ own-form ’), Tattva, or ‘ such-
ness,’ Sunya, ‘the void’ or ‘abyss,’ Nirvana, ‘the eternal
liberty,’ Samadhikaya, ‘ rapture-body,’ Bodhi, ‘ wisdom,’
Prajnd, ‘divine knowledge,’ Tathdgata-garbha, ‘womb
of those who attain.’
Some of these terms must be further considered. The
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assume a variety of forms: we read that though the
Buddha (a term which we must here understand as
impersonal) does not depart from his seat in the tower
(state of Dharmakaya), yet he may assume all and
every form, whether of a Brahma, a god, or a monk, or
a physician, or a tradesman, or an artist; he may reveal
himself in every form of art and industry, in cities or in
villages: from the highest heaven to the lowest hell,
there is the Dharmakaya, in which all sentient beings
are one. The Dharmakaya is the impersonal ground of
Buddhahood from which the personal will, thought and
love of innumerable Buddhas and Bodhisattvas ever
proceed in response to the needs of those in whom the
perfect nature is not yet realized. In some of the later
phases of the Mahayana, however, the Dharmakaya
is personified as Adi-Buddha (sometimes Vairocana)
who is then to be regarded as the Supreme Being, above
all other Buddhas, and whose sakti is Prajnaparamita.
Dharmakaya is commonly translated ‘ Body of the Law,’
but it must not be interpreted merely as equivalent to the
sum of the scriptures. The fathomless being of Buddha-
hood, according to the Mahayana, is something more
than the immortality of the individual in his doctrine;
we must understand Dharma here as the Oin or Logos.
To understand the meaning of Dharmakaya more fully
we must take into account also its synonyms, for
example, Svabhavakdya, or ‘ own-nature body ’ (like the
Brahmanical svarupa, ‘ own-form ’), Tattva, or ‘ such-
ness,’ Sunya, ‘the void’ or ‘abyss,’ Nirvana, ‘the eternal
liberty,’ Samadhikaya, ‘ rapture-body,’ Bodhi, ‘ wisdom,’
Prajnd, ‘divine knowledge,’ Tathdgata-garbha, ‘womb
of those who attain.’
Some of these terms must be further considered. The
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