Trikaya
The Trikaya doctrine (Sanskrit, literally "Three bodies or personalities"; 三身 Chinese: Sānshén, Japanese: sanjin) is an important Buddhist teaching both on the nature of reality, and what a Buddha is. By the 4th century CE the Trikaya Doctrine had assumed the form that we now know. Briefly the doctrine says that a Buddha has three 'bodies': the nirmana-kaya or created body in which they manifest in time and space; the sambhoga-kaya or body of mutual enjoyment which is an archetypal manifestation; and the Dharma-kaya or 'Reality body' which 'embodies' the very principle of enlightenment.
Origins
Buddhism has always recognised more than one Buddha. In the Pali Canon twenty-eight previous Buddhas are mentioned, and Gautama Buddha, the historical Buddha, is simply the Buddha who has appeared in our world age. Even before the Buddha's Pali Canon The Buddha tells Vasettha that the Tathagata (the Buddha) was Dharma-kaya, the 'Truth-body' or the 'Embodiment of Truth', as well as Dharmabhuta, 'Truth-become', that is, 'One who has become Truth' (Digha Nikaya). On another occasion, the Buddha told Vakkali:'He who sees the Dhamma (Truth) sees the Tathagata, he who sees the Tathagata sees the Dhamma (Samyutta Nikaya). That is to say, the Buddha is equal to Truth, and all Buddhas are one and the same, being no different from one another in the Dharma-kaya, because Truth is one.'
After the Buddha's parinirvana a distinction was made between the Buddhas physical body, rupakaya; and his Dharmakaya aspect. This was an understandable and necessary development. As the Buddha told Vakkali, he was a living example of the 'Turth' of the Dharma. Without that form to relate to, the Buddha's followers could only relate to the Dharmakaya aspect of him. Despite the growth of the stupa cult in which the remains, or relics, of enlightened beings were worshipped, Buddhism sees such things as symbols of the Truth, rather than the Truth itself.
Trikaya
Later Mahayana Buddhists were concerned with the transcendent aspect of the Dharma. So therefore is the Dharma is transcendental, totally beyond space and time, then so is the Dharmakaya. One response to this was the development of the Tathagatagarbha Doctrine. Another was the introduction of the Sambhogakaya which conceptually fits between the rupakaya, now renamed nirmanakaya or created body, and the Dharmakaya.
The Sambhogakaya is that aspect of the Buddha, or the Dharma, that one meets in visions and in deep meditation. It couls be considered an interface with the Dharmakaya. What it does, and what the Tathagatagarbha doctrine also does, is bring the transcendental within reach, it makes it immanent.
The Sambhogakaya becomes the body which manifests the marks of the superior person. With the development of the Mahayana and the Vajrayana the number of sambhohakaya Buddhas and Bodhisattvas multiplied enormously. While some had historical antecedents (such as Gautama, or Padmasambhava) many new figures began to appear who had none: among the Boshisattvas there is Tara, Manjusri, Vajrapani, Avalokiteshvara.
Another development was placing Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in special environments called "Buddha fields" where everything has a perfected form, and where beings are not required to eat, do not reproduce sexually, and spend all their time sitting at the feet of the Buddha listening to them preach the Dharma.
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Trikaya was further developed into the concept of the Diamond Realm, where the qualities of the Buddha are split into five representations known as the Five Wisdom Buddhas.
Neoplatonism?
It has been suggested that there is a parallel here between the Trikaya doctrine and the Three Hypostases of Plotinus. Although the Dharmakaya and the Sambhogakaya certainly do bear some resemblance to The One and the Nous, the Nirmanakaya is hardly comprable to the World Soul, except for the fact that both exist within time rather than beyond it.
see also Five Wisdom Buddhas
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