Saṃbhogakāya

The Saṃbhogakāya (Sanskrit: "body of enjoyment"[1][a], Tib: longs spyod rdzog pa'i sku) is the second mode or
aspect of the Trikaya.

Contents
Definition
Celestial manifestations
Access by advanced practitioners
Understanding in Buddhist tradition
Tibetan Buddhism
Chán Buddhism
See also
Notes
References
Sources

Definition

Celestial manifestations
The Sambhogakaya is a "subtle body of limitless form".[1] Both "celestial" Buddhas such as Bhaisajyaguru and
Amitābha, as well as advanced bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteśvara and Manjusri can appear in an "enjoyment-body."
A Buddha can appear in an "enjoyment-body" to teach bodhisattvas through visionary experiences.[1]

Those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas manifest themselves in their specific pure lands. These worlds are created for the
benefits of others. In those lands it is easy to hear and practice the Dharma. A person can be reborn in such a pure
land by "the transfer of some of the huge stock of 'merit' of a Land's presiding Buddha, stimulated by devout prayer.[1]

One of the places where the Sambhogakāya body appears is the extra-cosmic realm or pure land called Akaniṣṭha. This
realm should be not confused with the akanistha of the pure abodes, for is a realm that completely transcends it.

Absolutely seen, only the Dharmakāya is real; the Sambhogakāya and Nirmanakaya are "provisional ways of talking
about and apprehending it".[2]

Access by advanced practitioners

Sambhogakaya also refers to the luminous form of clear light the Buddhist practitioner attains upon the reaching the
highest dimensions of practice.

According to tradition, those skilled in meditation, such as advanced Tibetan lamas and yogis, as well as other highly
realized Buddhists, may gain access to the Sambhogakaya and receive direct transmission of doctrine.

Understanding in Buddhist tradition

Tibetan Buddhism
There are numerous Sambhogakāya realms almost as numerous as deities in Tibetan Buddhism. These
Sambhogakaya-realms are known as Buddha-fields or Pure Lands.

One manifestation of the Sambhogakaya in Tibetan Buddhism is the rainbow body. This is where an advanced
practitioner is walled up in a cave or sewn inside a small yurt-like tent shortly before death. For a period of a week or
so after death, the practitioners' body transforms into a Sambhogakaya light body, leaving behind only hair and nails.

Lopön Tenzin Namdak as rendered by John Myrdhin Reynolds conveyed the relationship of the mindstream
(Sanskrit: citta santana) of Sambhogakaya that links the Dharmakaya with the Nirmanakaya.[3]

Chán Buddhism
In the Chán (禪) (Jp. Zen) tradition, the Sambhogakāya (Chin. 報身↔baoshen, lit. "retribution body"), along with the
Dharmakaya and the Nirmanakaya, are given metaphorical interpretations.

In the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, Chan Master Huineng describes the Samboghakaya as a state in which
the practitioner continually and naturally produces good thoughts:

Think not of the past but of the future. Constantly maintain the future thoughts to be good. This is what
we call the Sambhogakāya.

Just one single evil thought could destroy the good karma that has continued for one thousand years;
and just one single good thought in turn could destroy the evil karma that has lived for one thousand
years.
If the future thoughts are always good, you may call this the Sambhogakāya. The discriminative thinking
arising from the Dharmakāya (法身↔fashen "Truth body") is called the Nirmanakāya (化身↔huashen
"transformation body"). The successive thoughts that forever involve good are thus the
Sambhogakāya.[4]

See also
Trikaya
Refuge tree
Thoughtform
Yidam

Notes
a. Sambhogakaya has also been translated as the "deity dimension", "body of bliss" or "astral body"

References
1. Harvey 1995, p. 126.
2. Harvey 1995, p. 128.
3. Namdak 1991.
4. Yampolski 1967.

Sources
 Harvey, Peter (1995), An introduction to Buddhism. Teachings, history and practices, Cambridge University Press
Namdak, Lopon Tenzin; Vajranatha (editor) (1991), The Attaining of Buddhahood (http://www.surajamrita.com/bo
n/buddhahood.html), retrieved March 18, 2009
Snellgrove, David (1987). Indo-Tibetan Buddhism (Vol.1). Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
ISBN 0-87773-311-2
Snellgrove, David (1987). Indo-Tibetan Buddhism (Vol.2). Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
ISBN 0-87773-379-1
Yampolski, Philip (1967), The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. Translated by Philip Yampolsk (http://www.the
zensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/Platform_Sutra_Yampolsky.pdf) (PDF)

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