Analysis of the Relationship between “Dharma” as Doctrine and the Buddha's “Truth Body” (“Reality Body”)

Document Type : Scientific-research

Authors

1 PhD Student in College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Advanced Art Studies, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

This article presents a semantic and philosophical analysis of Dharmakāya—the most exalted and truth-body of the Buddha. The Trikāya doctrine (Three Bodies), rooted in Buddhist ontology and developed by Mahāyāna monks, aimed to articulate the relationship between the eternal Buddha and the historical Buddha within Buddhist thought. The study’s central question concerns the meaning of the term “body” and how Mahāyānists philosophical views on Buddha’s nature shaped the theorization of Dharmakāya, particularly in relation to Dharma as the Buddha’s teaching. Research data were collected from library sources and interpreted through a descriptive-analytical method. Findings suggest that Dharmakāya is equated with the ultimate, eternal truth of the Buddha and reflects the doctrine that seeing the Dharma is seeing the Buddha. Only in early Mahāyāna literature was Tathatā regarded as a point of access to the Tathāgata, and Dharmakāya endowed with philosophical, semantic, and ontological meanings. Thus, Tathatā was identified with Dharmakāya and, due to its all-encompassing presence, became the Buddha’s “cosmic body”.

Keywords

References

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