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This body is the object of popular Buddhist devotion in Mahayana Buddhism, it is the Buddha as an omniscient transcendent being with immense powers, animated only by universal compassion for all living things. [39] The Buddha's enjoyment body also has a very unique appearance, made up of the 32 major marks of great man.
In the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism, the Dhammakāya (dharmakāya) is explained as a figurative term, meaning the "body" or the sum of the Buddha's teachings. [8] [9] The Canon does not invest the term dhammakāya with a metaphysical or unrealistic connotation. [10]
In Mahāyāna Buddhism, including the traditions of Esoteric Buddhism, the 32 major characteristics and 80 minor characteristics are understood to be present in a buddha's sambhogakāya, or reward-body. [3] In contrast, a buddha's physical form is understood to be a nirmāṇakāya, or transformation-body. [3]
Indian Mahayana Buddhist practice included numerous elements of devotion and ritual, which were considered to generate much merit (punya) and to allow the devotee to obtain the power or spiritual blessings of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. These elements remain a key part of Mahayana Buddhism today. Some key Mahayana practices in this vein include:
In the conception of the Five Jinas of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the centre and is often considered a Primordial Buddha. In East Asian esoteric Buddhism, Mahāvairocana is considered to be a cosmic Buddha whose body is the entire universe, the Dharmadhātu. [5]
A key element of the doctrine of the eternal buddha-body is a kind of Mahayana docetism, the idea that the Buddha's physical birth and death on earth was a mere appearance, a conventional show for the sake of helping sentient beings (a doctrine which was already found in the Mahāsāṃghika school). [16]
Triple body : This is the central Mahayana buddhological theory which states that a Buddha has three aspects, or functions (Sanskrit: vṛṭṭis): the Dharmakāya (Sanskrit; Dharma body, the ultimate reality, the true nature of all things), the Sambhogakāya (the body of self-enjoyment, a blissful divine body with infinite forms and powers ...
The sutra centers around a dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi.It discusses the three secrets of a Buddha's body, speech and mind, the Mahayana view of non-duality, the nature of the mind and how it relates to the Buddha.