Dharmakāyā

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia
(Redirected from Dharmakaya)

By Jit Majumdar


  1. one whose body is the nature/ essence of Dharma; one with Dharma as his/her body or person
  2. the embodiment of righteousness/ morality; justice; the body of law/ justice; the body of Truth or Reality
  3. a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism, first expounded (probably) in the text Aşţasāhasrikā prajñapāramitā, which constitutes the unmanifested, inconceivable (acintya) aspect of a Buddha, out of which Buddhas and all other phenomena take birth, and return to after their dissolution, and which therefore is the most sublime, truest and most essential Reality and Singularity in existence. It forms the Trikāya or the “threefold reality” along with nirmānakāyā (the “created body” that manifests in time and space) and sambhogakāyā (the blissful body of mutual enjoyment).