Visualising the Dhammakāya through a Buddha Image: The Dhammakāya Text and Its Significance for Traditional Tai–Khmer Buddhist Practices

The Dhammakāya Gāthā, a Pāli Buddhist prose text circulated in Tai–Khmer Buddhism for over five centuries, has its earliest extant version on a 1549 CE stone inscription from Wat Suea, Thailand. The text identifies the Buddha's knowledge and virtues with his physical attributes, praises his resplendent body as the dhammakāya, and exhorts meditators to recollect the dhammakāya to attain Buddhahood. Though well-known pre-modernly, it is little used today. Analysis of textual and paratextual elements reveals a unique meditation practice called Dhammakāyānussati, or "Recollection of the Dhammakāya," involving reciting the text, constructing the Buddha image, and visualizing the dhammakāya embodied in it, contributing to Buddhānussati in Tai–Khmer Buddhism.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The Dhammakāya Gāthā is a Pāli Buddhist prose text that has been circulated within the cross-cultural/translocal sphere of Tai–Khmer Buddhism for over five centuries. Its earliest extant version appears on the “Braḥ Dhammakāya inscription”, an engraved stone slab from the Stūpa of Wat Suea, Phitsanulok, Thailand, dated to 1549 CE. The Dhammakāya text consists of three parts. The first part identifies the knowledge and qualities/virtues of the Buddha with physical attributes of his body. The second part is the verses in praise of the Buddha’s resplendent body qua the dhammakāya. The third section exhorts one in the yogāvacara lineage (a practitioner of spiritual discipline, i.e., a meditator) to recollect the dhammakāya, in order to attain the state of Buddhahood. The Gāthā was well known in the Tai–Khmer cultural sphere during the pre-modern period, but today, it is little used in modern practices. In this paper, I will analyse textual and paratextual elements of the Dhammakāya Gāthā to uncover the doctrinal meanings underlying the Gāthā and reveal the unique and unusual meditation practice called the Dhammakāyānussati, “Recollection of the Dhammakāya”. I argue that the study of the Dhammakāya Gāthā enables us to understand the unique Buddhist practice: reciting [the Dhammakāya text], constructing [the image of the Buddha] and visualising [the dhammakāya embodied in the image], contributing to what we call “Buddhānussati” in the context of Tai–Khmer Buddhism.