[2024 December DCTB Mindfulness Tip]
There are innumerable pathways to Enlightenment, which gives us many options to explore. Spiritual shopping is fun and a necessary prerequisite to serious study. However, in order to successfully find our way through the confusion of Samsara – of cyclic existence, we need to pick one Path and follow it to the end. At Dharma Center of Trikaya Buddhism, the concept of the Trikaya guides us through the mire.
Tri-kaya means three bodies. There is no separation between these three bodies, and it is this realization which lays the groundwork for Awakening. The three bodies are the Dharmakaya, the Sambhogakaya, and the Nirmanakaya.
The Dharmakaya is the pure light of existence. It is quality-less and ineffable. We can call it Emptiness or Fullness or Suchness or That or the Clear Light of Reality. If we think we know what the Dharmakaya is, we have reduced the inexplicable to a concept and have missed the Truth. Just as we can point at the moon but never touch it from where we stand on earth, we can point towards the Dharmakaya but never fully explain it through words or concepts.
Out of the Dharmakaya arises formlessness and form.
The Sambhogakaya is the formless bliss body, the energetic subtle body of existence. The Nirmanakaya is the pure body of form – not only our own human bodies, but all physical manifestation.
The esoteric teachings direct us to contemplate these three bodies. We consider them in the abstract sense, and from a high level we can observe how the Trikaya encompasses both samsara – cyclic existence – and nirvana – the extinction of cyclic existence in pure and perfect peace. As we go deeper in our contemplation, we see that samsara is nirvana and nirvana is samsara. To reach this realization, we must first come to know the Trikaya is not outside of us.
Within our individual existence, beneath the defilements of confused thought and sensation, is the Dharmakaya of pure Awareness. This is most easily discovered within the silence of meditation, yet it is ever-present. Out of this inner awareness, a formless energy radiates: the Sambhogakaya. When the mind is clear, this bliss-body provides clarity and exists as purity. These subtle energies are often dormant, but the spiritual practitioner consciously taps into them. From the formless Sambhogakaya arises the Nirmanakaya, the manifestation of form as a Buddha-body.
Purity, in the formless state, is the strongest emanation in existence. Nothing can damage or impede it. When it becomes manifest as form, however, purity is fragile like glass. It can easily be stained or shattered in the confusion of samsara, creating endless suffering. We can cut ourselves trying to put together that which has been broken. We can spend lifetimes attempting to polish away the stains.
In the practice of Trikaya Buddhism, we use all experiences as the Path. We release the attachments and open to the Dharmakaya. We turn our focus to the natural rising of the purity and clarity of the Sambhogakaya and of the spontaneously occurring Nirmanakaya.
When we view ourselves and life through the lens of the Trikaya, we see how the three bodies are not separate from each other. We recognize we are the Trikaya. This is our path and practice of Trikaya Buddhism.
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