The Trikaya and the Trinity

The following is an assignment for my current ministerial study with Amida Academy:

I had always seen more similarities than differences in the Buddhist Trikaya and the Christian Trinity, and this lecture and discussion points only strengthened my view of the two concepts as parallel. A word of background of how I come to this understanding. Since studying and practicing Buddhism—and particularly since diving deeper into Pure Land / Shin study and practice—I have revisited Christianity and have come to embrace it in a non-dual way, bringing a Buddhist worldview that helped deepen my respect and understanding for it.

Prior to becoming a Buddhist, my favorite spiritual reading was Meister Eckhart and Thomas Merton, both of them bring a non-dual perspective to their theological understanding and religious expression. In more recent years, I have discovered other contemporary authors and theologians who reach out through their Christian faith with a broader perspective and non-dual lens. They are Paul Knitter, who wrote Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, and Richard Rohr, who has written many books from this perspective.

It is this non-dual Christian perspective that enables me to see God as the Eternal, or Dharmakaya. Not God as a hierarchal creator being, but God as the eternal, infinite, umanifested, inconceivable source of truth. God as inexpressible. God as not that, as Shunyata.

Continuing the comparison, I see the "Father" of the Trinity as Vairochana, the primordial Buddha who is the original body of all innumerable Buddhas. This to me speaks of the Father (or Father-Mother) who gives birth to beings. Having the "original body" of all Buddhas could be expressed as being the Father of the Buddhas.

The Sambogakaya, the enjoyment body or light body, represents the luminous clear light of spiritual realization and the source of Grace. I have always resonated with the Holy Spirit in the same way as Amida, as the source of Grace, the giver of the light of wisdom, of the promise of infinite life and love.

The earthly or physical body of a Buddha, the Nirmanakaya, who manifests in the physical world to help beings is, in our time, Shakyamuni Buddha. In Christianity, Jesus was a man who also was a Christ. Although generally "Christ" is used as part of the name of Jesus, to many Christians it refers to a spiritual existence that is also a body, not just Jesus. In Shakyamuni's case, he was a man who became a Buddha. In each case they served as teachers and representatives of a spiritual existence beyond the body.

I created a visual aid using Corel Draw software and embedded images found on the Internet that I hope illustrates my visualization of the Trikaya and the Trinity. From the top down, it starts with light, representing the eternal and infinite truth of Dharmakaya and God. Since both the Dharmakaya and God cannot be conceptualized, light is how I represented what cannot be represented.

At the base of the light is Vairochana, the "Father" of the Trinity and the primordial Buddha. The light of Dharmakaya forming the original body of all the Buddhas, is the Father "sending" the essence of spiritual experience to all beings through the Holy Spirit, represented on the left below Vairochana, as the dove symbol in blinding light. Parallel, on the right, is Amida, the Sambogakaya light body of the Trikaya. I selected a standing Amida figure because I feel it best represents the help and grace of Amida, standing and ready to help.

Just below is a human being in samadhi, who is being touched by the light of the eternal Dharmakaya through the grace of Amida and The Holy Spirit. He is taught and helped by Shakyamuni Buddha and Jesus Christ. Both Shakyamuni and Jesus Christ are mortal "sons" and our examples of the spiritual life. I selected an earth-touching representation of Shakyamuni, because he taught of how best to live on this earth.

 Below the seated human in samadhi, is a ball of light I used to represent the perfect "grounding" of spiritual practice, using prajna, samadhi, and sila. And that ball of light is given to us, or "handed to us" by the eternal and formless hands of Dharmakaya, or God.