Understanding Dhammakāya and its Significance in Buddhism : หน้า 80/141

mental qualities128 or purity,129 or identifies it with realities to be attained or experienced spiritually by noble disciples through the penetration of the noble paths.130 In one instance, he connects the term with the Buddha's teachings and disciplines collected together, i.e., the dhamma-vinaya which takes on the role of the teacher after his passing.131 In some explanations, Buddhaghosa uses the term dhammakāya as an adjective, qualifying the Tathāgata as ‘having dhamma as body.’ In this case, he identifies ‘the dhamma’ either as the ninefold transcendental reality132 or as the Buddha's verbal teaching.133 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 128 At Vism.I.227, Buddhaghosa explains the Buddha’s dhammakāya as being succeeded or prosperous with treasured qualities (guṇa-ratana) such as the body of virtue (silakkhandha) that is pure in all respects, “yopi so bhagavā… sabbākaraparisuddha- silakkhandhādiagunaratnasaṁmidha-dhammakāyo…” The ‘aggregate of virtue’ or silakkhandha could refer to the first member of either the three, four, or five dhamma-aggregates (dhammakkhandhas). See D.I.206, D.III.229, and D.III.279 for respective examples of these different enumerations of dhamma-aggregates. The five refers to virtue (sila), concentration (samādhi), wisdom (paññā), release (vimutti), and the knowing and seeing of one’s own release (vimuttiñāṇadassanā). The last one and two members are dropped out in the sets of four and three dhamma-aggregates respectively. In the Pali canon, these dhammas generally refer to qualities (to be) accomplished. It may be argued that, being qualities (to be) accomplished, these five dhammas may also be regarded in another aspect as being a set of ‘prescribed practices’ or the Buddha’s ‘verbal teachings’. Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine how a practitioner would actually ‘practise these dhammas,’ as they indeed arise as the ‘result of practice,’ rather than being the ‘practice’ itself. Overlooking this fine distinction, a reader may mistake these ‘qualities’ for ‘teachings’ in an exclusive sense. 129 Vism.I.204, VinA.I.124, KhpA.108. In these passages, Buddhaghosa relates the Buddha’s endowment of dhammakāya (dhammakāyasampatti) with his state of having all hatred destroyed (bhaggadosātāya). This connects the term dhammakāya with the Buddha’s destruction of defilements. 130 SnA.I.34, SnA.II.594. 131 DA.I.34. 132 SA.II.313, SnA.I.34. 133 DA.III.865.