仏身論をめぐりて

Abstract

The problem how and in what manner the Buddha is to be conceived was dealt with in what is called the "Doctrine of Buddha-body (Buddha-kāya), " which was variously formulated in early times and developed itself into various theories during the course of Buddhist history in India. Among these theories, the tri-kāya or triple-body theory, especially the one which was brought into completion by the Yogācāra-vijñāna school, may be the most systematic and perfect one. The relationship between these three kāyas, however, is not necessarily clear. The three kāyas enumerated by the Yogācāra-vijñāna school are: 1. svābhāvika-kāya (essence-body; almost equal to dharma-body), 2. sāmbhogika-kāya (enjoyment-body; or vipākastha-, nisyanda-buddha), and 3. nairmānika-kāya (apparitional body). The present author argues that within these three the sāmbhogika-kāya occupies a central position; it combines the other two kāyas and represents the charcteristics of them--the supramundane and noumenal aspects of the svābhāvika-kāya on the one hand, and the historical or corporeal aspects of the nairmānika-kāya on the other. However, it does not mean that the theory of one-body, the theory which recognizes only the sāmbhogika-kāya, should be maintained; rather the other two kāyas are indispensable for the sāmbhogika-kāya in that it depends upon the svābhāvika-kāya as its foundation and takes the nairmānika-kāya as its source of actuality. Thus, the system of the triple-body is perfect and sufficient; the one-body or two-body theories are insufficient for the purpose of explaining the essential virtues of the Buddhahood, while other theories that observe the four or more bodies assume more bodies than are required for the same purpose. The idea of the sāmbhogika-kāya is deeply associated with the bodhisattva career and accordingly it is the most important kāya from the soteriological viewpoint. Now, Mahāyāna Buddhism declares that every sentient being should finally attain the Buddhahood, which, according to this school, will be reached by "the turning round of one's own foundation" (āśrayaparāvrtti). But how is it possible? Probably in answer to this, it was taught that every being is the tathāgata-garbha (the embryo of tathāgata) and thus the mind of the ordinary being is the germ of Buddhahood. The tathāgata-garbha, however, is a fact that was intuited solely through the Buddha's eye; for us, the ordinary beings, it remains always a postulate and it remains to be realized only through vigorous pursuit. This is the reason why the Yogācāra-vijñāna school puts emphasis on the analysis of the human mind or vijñāna (knowing, consciousness) and through it on the analysis of the mundane world. The Buddha's three kāyas are no other than the result of the turning round of these vijñānas, the foundation of beings, into the four sorts of supreme wisdom, the essence of the Buddha. In the Tathāgatagarbha theory it seems that the word āśraya-parāvrtti orparivrtti denotes turning round from above, i. e. the emanation of the world from the Buddhahood itself. In the Yogācāra-vijñāna school it means to turn the contaminated round into the purified and consummated, i. e. to turn round from below. Here, the vijñānas, eight in number, include ālaya-vijñāna (receptacle-consciousness), klista-manas (stained ego-grasping), and six other ordinary sense-perceptions. And the system of the three Buddha-bodies seems to reflect, but in reverse, this system of eight vijñānas.