Stupas are representations of the Buddha’s mind – the Dharmakaya

By: Steve Lee

According to the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, a fully enlightened Buddha is able to manifest in three forms. These three forms are called Trikaya or the three bodies of a fully enlightened Buddha, and are respectively called the Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya manifestation of a fully enlightened Buddha.

When a being achieves full enlightenment, it means that the being has realized Bodhicitta as well as achieving a direct perception of emptiness. Therefore, the primary manifestation of a fully enlightened Buddha is beyond the perception of the five senses and is of the nature of all the Buddhas – Absolute Reality or Emptiness. This primary manifestation of the Buddha is called the Dharmakaya.

The Dharmakaya is literally the Truth Body of a fully enlightened Buddha. This is basically the mind of a fully enlightened being and is therefore beyond physical appearance and sensory perception.

In order to benefit sentient beings, a Buddha emanates from the Dharmakaya into the Sambhogakaya form or the Enjoyment Body of a Buddha. In this form, the enlightened mind takes on physical attributes and usually appears beautifully; with a youthful body and limbs that display the spiritual qualities of the enlightened mind. In other words, the enlightened being would be ‘enjoying’ the spiritual accomplishments by manifesting it through a ‘celestial’ body.

Lord Manjushri in resplendent Sambhogakaya form

Meditational deities or yidams like Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani and so forth manifest in this form. It would take a highly evolved master to be able to perceive enlightened beings at this level. In the scriptures, it says that only a third level Bodhisattva and above can perceive the Sambhogakaya form of the Buddha. Lama Tsongkhapa is well known to have been able to perceive Manjushri directly and obtain teachings and profound advice from him.

Since most sentient beings are unable to perceive such a high level manifestation of an enlightened being, the Sambhogakaya form emanates into the Nirmanakaya form or Emanation Body. In this form, the Buddha actually appears in a gross physical body like a worldly god or a human being, which is in samsaric form. The purpose of this form is so that we, who are still in samsara, are able to connect with the enlightened Beings more easily.

There is actually no limit to the number of emanations that an enlightened being can manifest in. Examples of Nirmanakaya are Dorje Shugden and the Dalai Lama. Dorje Shugden appears as an emanation of Manjushri in worldly or mundane form, and the Dalai Lama is the emanation of Avalokiteshvara in human form.

Dorje Shugden is the nirmanakaya manifestation of Lord Manjushri

Due to their enlightened nature, these emanations can keep on incarnating in a successive line of incarnations like the Dalai Lama, who is considered to be one of the highest lamas with 14 recognized incarnations. In the Tibetan tradition, the incarnation of high lamas are recognized and are given a Rinpoche title, which means ‘precious one’. ‘Tulku’ is literally Tibetan for Nirmanakaya and High Tulku incarnations like Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Zong Rinpoche are customarily enthroned and bestowed the same respect and veneration as their previous lives. They are brought to the monastery from a very young age to be given a monastic education.

Therefore, Dorje Shugden and the Dalai Lama are both manifestations of enlightened beings. However, from the standpoint of practice, our lama is more important than a Dharma Protector by virtue of the lama’s kindness and his Dharma teachings. Even the very fact that we are propitiating Dorje Shugden is due to the kindness of our lama who introduced and taught us the practice along with the lineage lamas who carefully transmitted the teachings and practices.

Trikaya or the three bodies of a Buddha are just different ways in which a Buddha may appear to another being. Therefore, the Buddha would manifest according to the karma, affinity and spiritual-level of that particular being. In order to cater to the diverse tendencies of beings, the Buddha is able to emanate to as numerous forms as there are grains of sand by the River Ganges.

It is important to understand the different forms of the Buddhas so that we are able to discern how Dorje Shugden can be an enlightened Being yet manifest in a worldly form. Dorje Shugden is one of the main emanations of Manjushri and his appearance is due to the powerful aspiration of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen, combined with the affinity of the beings of this time. Dorje Shugden in his Kangsol is said to have the strength of a million Dharma Protectors, and when we propitiate him, we are also invoking the essence of Manjushri himself.