Expert: Judy - 7/18/2010

Question
Hello Judy,

I am hoping that yoiu might be able to answer my question. In Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra Shakyamuni Buddha proclaimed himself as the Eternal Buddha having always exisisted for hundred of thousands of kalpas, so with that being said What do you think the Buddha's though was for explaining that fact to us? Also what purpose does the Trikaya or 3 Bodies of the Buddha serve in Buddhism. Basically I am trying to find the relation between the Eternal Buddha, Trikaya and our own innate Buddha Nature. Thank you very much for your time.

Chris

Answer
Hi, Chris,

Starting with Trikaya:

a Buddha is one with the Absolute but manifests in the relative appearances to work for the liberation of all sentient beings. To do this, it is said a buddha has three bodies: dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya.

The dharmakaya is the unmanifested true body that embodies the enlightenment without no boundary or limit.  We all possess it.  Once we are enlightened, we are the dharmakaya. The dharmakaya is beyond existence or nonexistence, and beyond concepts or forms.

Sambhogakaya is the body that experiences the result of Buddhist practice. It is sometimes explained as the communion of the dharmakaya with the relative nirmanakaya, which is the relative body experiences the bliss of realization of the Absolute.

Some explain that dharmakaya is like atmosphere, sambhogakaya is like clouds, and nirmanakaya is like rain. Clouds are a manifestation of atmosphere that creates rain.


The nirmanakaya is the physical body of a buddha, which manifests in a form/appearance to teach the dharma. For instance, the historical Buddha was a nirmanakaya buddha.  The nirmanakaya body is subject to change conditionally such as sickness, old age, and death as all the living living beings.

In Lotus Sutra, it is NOT stated directly that Shakamuni Buddha proclaims as the Eternal Buddha but yet the sutra portrays/indicates the Buddha became awakened countlessly or immeasurably.  Personally, I think that there is always a question rise when something is proclaimed, because you cannot proclaim something for yourself. Now, as you can see that the dharmakaya is beyond concept, time and space.  There had been Buddhas before Shakamuni Buddha and after him.  He could be one form this time but another the next time.  This is not all, there have been other Buddhas as well.  This is telling us that EVERYONE of us is capable of becoming a buddha.  The eternity occurs when there is no limit of time or space.  Once one is enlightened, time or space does not affect the true body (not the physical body).  The Buddha represents each one of us, and we are the Buddha.  "Truth-become" is "One who has become Truth."