Understanding the Concept of Dhammakāya in Buddhist Thought : หน้า 38/141

D.III.84 Vāsettha and Bhāradvāja, he whose confidence in the Tathāgata is settled, rooted, established, solid, irremovable by any ascetic or brahmin, any deva or Māra or Brahmā or anyone in the world, can truly say: ‘I am a son of the Blessed one, born of his mouth, born of dhamma, created by dhamma, an heir of dhamma.’ Why is that? Because, Vāsettha and Bhāradvāja, this designates the Tathāgata: ‘dhamma-bodied,’ ‘brahma-bodied,’ ‘(who) become dhamma,’ or ‘(who) become brahma.’21 The passage lists four words by which the Tathāgata may be denominated: ‘dhammakāya,’ ‘brahmakāya,’ ‘dhammadhuṭa,’ and ‘brahmhābuṭa.’ As the context of this passage is complicated, it requires a lengthy discussion. Previous Scholarly Interpretations Previous scholars interpret the term dhammakāya in this passage either as a substantive or an adjective. Most of them interpret the first component, i.e., dhamma, in the sense of ‘the Buddha’s teaching(s).’ For example, Dutt interprets the term as being a tappurisa compound referring to a ‘collection of the Buddha’s teachings and disciplines.’22 Reed interprets it in the same way that it refers to ‘the body of the Buddha’s verbal teachings.’23 Similarly, Kajiyama notes that the later expression of dhammakāya as a ‘collection of Buddhist sūtras’ agrees with its meaning in the Pāli Nikāya.24 Xing also interprets the term dhammakāya in this passage as ‘the Buddha’s collective teachings.’25 21 The two latter compounds are undoubtedly adjectives, as their last component ‘bhūta,’ which is a past participle modifying the subject, indicates. The first two compounds, each consists of two substantives, while being potential to be translated as one among the two alternative compounds, i.e., kammadhārayā (Skt.karmadhārayā), or tappurisa (Skt.tapturūṣa), seems more likely to be a bahubbihi,21 being a designation of the Tathāgata, as Harrison has suggested. Harrison, op. cit., p. 50. 22 Dutt, op. cit., p. 139. 23 Reed, op. cit., pp. 28-29. 24 Yuichi Kajiyama, “Stūpas, the Mother of Buddhas, and Dharma-Body,” in New Paths in Buddhist Research, ed. Anthony Kennedy Warder (Durham, N.C.: Acorn Press, 1985), p. 14. 25 Xing, op. cit., pp. 71, 74.