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The Sūtra on the Three Bodies

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Summary

As the title suggests, this sūtra describes the three bodies of the Buddha. While the Buddha is dwelling on Vulture Peak in Rājgṛha, the Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha asks whether the Tathāgata has a body, to which the Buddha replies that the Tathāgata has three bodies: a dharmakāya, a saṃbhogakāya, and a nirmāṇakāya. The Buddha goes on to describe what constitutes these three bodies and their associated meaning. The Buddha explains that the dharmakāya is like space, the saṃbhogakāya is like clouds, and the nirmāṇakāya is like rain. At the end of the Buddha’s elucidation, Kṣitigarbha expresses jubilation, and the Buddha declares that whoever upholds this Dharma teaching will obtain immeasurable merit.

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84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

First published 2013

Current version v 2.21.13

84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone.

This work is provided under the protection of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-commercial - No-derivatives) 4.0 copyright. It may be copied or printed for fair use, but only with full attribution, and not for commercial advantage or personal compensation. For full details, see the Creative Commons license.

འཕགས་པ་སྐུ་གསུམ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

’phags pa sku gsum zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo

The Noble ‌Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Three Bodies”

Ārya­trikāya­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra

· Toh 283 ·

Degé Kangyur, vol. 68 (mdo sde, ya), folios 56.a–57.a
For referencing Tibetan sources, please see our Scholar’s Edition

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

An Atlas introduction and connections. The linked source provides the translation.

Introductions, reflection questions and added section headings are editorial material, separate from the attributed translation.

The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork created for Buddhist Atlas. It is an evocative companion, not a depiction of the text’s historical setting.

Source link checked October 21, 2026. The linked publisher provides the text and its usage terms.

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The Sūtra on the Three Bodies