The Concept of Dhamma and Kāya in Buddhist Philosophy : หน้า 57/141

On the whole, it appears that the terms dhamma and brahma constituting four designations of the Tathāgāta are used in the sense of the ‘highest.’ It is most likely that they refer to Nibbāna. This is in line with our earlier proposed interpretation that the term dhamma in the designations of the Buddha refers to ‘transcendental realities’ (lokuttara dhammas), the highest of which is that the essence of the Buddha is Nibbāna. According to Buddhist philosophy, the dhammas that ‘create’ or ‘give birth’ to a Buddhist disciple could be referred to also as the ‘highest’ or ‘ultimate,’ as they transcend the realm of samsāra. These are systematized later as the ninefold transcendental dhamma (navadīgha lokuttaradhamma), subsuming the four supramundane paths, their corresponding fruits,and Nibbāna. Thus, from all the implications discussed above, the present study concludes that the term dhamma in the compound dhammakāya and dhammaBhūta refers to the ninefold transcendental dhamma in general.’ Next, we shall determine the meaning of the second component ‘kāya.’ **The Meaning of ‘Kāya’ in the Aṅgāṇṇa-sutta Passage** The term kāya may be translated into English either as ‘body’ or ‘collection,’ which sometimes can be used interchangeably.82 However, these English words have different senses in their main definitions. The word ‘body’ is used mainly in the sense of ‘the entire structure of an organism.’ But the word ‘collection’ merely provides the sense of ‘a number of things collected together.’ This suggests both their similarities and differences which may be considered in two aspects: ‘structure’ and ‘function.’ Structurally, both ‘body’ and ‘collection’ consist of a number of elements or individual members. A ‘body,’ as the ‘entire structure of an organism,’ consists of organs which are entitled ‘limbs and parts’ (aṅga-pacciṅga). A ‘collection’ also consists of several things which may be either similar or different. Thus, both ‘body’ and ‘collection’ can be reduced to individual members or elements. This may be regarded as their similarity.