Reward body
reward body
[報身] (Skt sambhoga-kaya; Jpn hoshin or hojin)
One of the three Buddha bodies, the other two being the Dharma body and the manifested body. The reward body means a body obtained as a reward of completing bodhisattva practices. As the concept of three bodies developed, questions arose as to which Buddha possessed which body. Amida Buddha and Medicine Master Buddha were categorized as Buddhas of the reward body. Amida, for example, was believed to have been the bodhisattva Dharma Treasury in a past existence, but was reborn as a Buddha in reward for his Buddhist practice. In contrast with this early stage of the doctrine of the three bodies, it was later held that a single Buddha possesses all three bodies; in this sense, the three bodies can be regarded as three properties inherent in a Buddha, the reward body representing the property of wisdom. The Sanskrit word sambhoga-kaya literally means body of enjoyment or bliss body. When sambhoga-kaya was translated into Chinese, it was rendered as "reward body."
See also three bodies.
