Trikāya

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Key Term	trikāya
In Tibetan Script	སྐུ་གསུམ།
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	sku gsum
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	त्रिकाय
Romanized Sanskrit	trikāya
Tibetan Phonetic Rendering	kusum
Chinese Script	三身
Chinese Pinyin	sānshēn
Richard Barron's English Term	three kayas
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term	the three exalted bodies
Ives Waldo's English Term	three buddha bodies
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Sanskrit
Basic Meaning	The three enlightened forms of a buddha one attains when one becomes fully enlightened. They include the truth body, enjoyment body, and the emanation body. The three bodies comprise the many qualities and powers associated with buddhahood and thus are the result sought through Mahāyāna Buddhist practice.
Has the Sense of	The three aspects of perfect enlightenment of a buddha: the enlightened state of one's mind after full transformation, the pure physical existence one attains as a result of inner perfection, and the myriad forms one can emanate from the enlightened state to help others.
Definitions

The three enlightened forms of a buddha one attains when one becomes fully enlightened. They include the truth body (dharmakāya), enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya), and the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya). The three bodies comprise the many qualities and powers associated with buddhahood and thus are the result sought through Mahāyāna Buddhist practice.

An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms.

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.