『섭대승론』의 삼신설(三身說)

Abstract

It does not need to empahasize the importance of the buddhakāya doctrine or buddhology in Buddhist tradition especially after Buddha Śākyamuni's entering to the nirvāṇa. And it is well known that the buddhakāya doctrine has been developed to or culminated in the trikāya doctrine which has appeared firstly in Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra(MSA), and has been inherited to Mahāyānasaṃgraha(MS). On the other hand, it is not so ascertained whether MS simply follows MSA or MS shows any kind of progressive differences in comparison with MSA. The main object of this essay lies in confirming this problem. To speak the result in advance, MS, especially in the problem of trikāya doctrine, has not duplicated that of MSA, though there are so many similarities between them. The basic difference between them can be said as follow; MSA has regarded trikāya as the threefold embodiment of dharmadhātu, and on the contrary MA as the three aspects of dharmakāya which is the result of nirvikalpajñāna. To say more exactly, the trikāyas in MSA are closely related with the fact that MSA has analyzed the vṛttis or the functions of dharmadhātu into svabhāva, saṃbhoga and nirmāṇa in kārikā Ⅹ.59. And after making these words into secondary derivatives which denote adjective forms as svābhāvika, sāṃbhogika, nairmāṇika, MSA in kārikā Ⅹ.60 has made them to modify kāya, which results threefold embodiment of the Buddhas in essence, in communal enjoyment and in manifestation respectively. Although it would be very logical to arrange the sequence as 'svābhāvikakāya→sāṃbhogikakāya→nairmāṇikakāya' in that respect, MSA starts the argument from the sāṃbhogikakāya and continues to the svābhāvikakāya and the nairmāṇikakāya in succession. This order of argument may be understood as follows; (1)MSA starts from the encounter with the objects of religious experience: the Buddhas in supernatural world who enjoying various mahāyāna dharmas and buddha lands, (2)then excavates the inner natures or the truths which make them as such Buddhas: dharmadhātu itself, (3)finally finds the various manifestations of the dharmadhātu: diverse creatures and the Buddha Śākyamuni in this world. On the contrary, because of the MS's understanding of the trikāya doctrine as the three aspects of dharmakāya which is the result of nirvikalpajñāna as mentioned above, the structure of the nirvikalpajñāna, which shows the three stages of procedure, has permeated into the trikāya doctrine. Among the three stages of nirvikalpajñāna which are named as the accumulative, the fundamental and the subsequent, the last two non-discriminative knowledges are interrelated deeply with the trikāya doctrine. The result is as follows; (1)svābhāvikakāya is the personal embodiment of the fundamental non-discriminative knowledge and it is recognised as dharmakāya which functions as a basis for the other two kāyas, (2)sāṃbhogikakāya is the embodiment of the subsequent pure knowledge which is resulted from the fundamental non-discriminative knowledge, and it is personified as various other worldly Buddhas, (3)nairmāṇikakāya is also the embodiment of the same subsequent pure knowledge but it is personified only as Buddha Śākyamuni in this world. To sum up these discussions, (1)svābhāvikakāya in MSA denotes　the dharma realm, the impersonal basis of sāṃbhogikakāya, though its nature is thought to be an enlightenment; on the other hand, that of MS is considered as the personal dharmakāya which is the result of the fundamental knowledge and the basis for two other kāyas at the same time. (2)Sāṃbhogikakāya in MSA is self-interested as is written explicitly in the text; but that of MS can be regarded as other-interested or altruistic according to the context. (3)Nairmāṇikakāya in MSA embraces many different figures such as Indra, devas and animals including the Buddha Śākyamuni; but in MS it is confined only to the historical Buddha Śākyamuni. These differences show the fact that trikāya doctrine has developed to the direction of unification of the three aspects of the Buddhas by the notion of dharmakāya. And according to this respect, it can be said that MS could prepare an important moment in the course of progressive development to the monism of dharmakāya.