Kāya

Pāḷi Text Society
Pāḷi English Dictionary
Edited by T. W. Rhys Davids and William Stede
[EDITED ENTRY]

Note: PED devotes two and a half double column pages to this term. I have edited the entry back considerably. To see the full discussion just follow the link to the on line version at the end of this entry.

Kāya: [der. probably fr. ci, cinoti to heap up, cp. nikāya heaping up, accumulation or collection; Sk. kāya] group, heap, collection, aggregate, body.
Literal meaning.
1. mahājana-kāya a collection of people, a crowd S IV.191; V.170...
2. group or division: satta kāyā akaṭā, etc. (seven eternal groups or principles) D I.56=M I.517=S III.211; with reference to groups of sensations or sense-organs, as vedanā-kāya, saññā*, viññāṇa*, phassa*, etc. S III.60, 61; D III.243, 244; taṇhā* D III.244; appl. to hatthi*, ratha*, patti*, groups of elephants, carriages or soldiers S I.72. -- A good idea of the extensive meaning of kāya may be gathered from the classification of the 7 kāyas at J II.91, viz. camma*, dāru*, loha*, ayo*, vāluka*, udaka*, phalaka*, or "bodies" (great masses, substances) of skin, wood, copper, iron, sand, water, and planks. -- Var. other combns: Asura* A I.143; D III.7; Abhassara* ("world of radiance") D I.17=III.29, 84; Deva* S I.27, 30; D III.264 (*nikāya); dibbā kāyā A I.143; Tāvatiṅsa* D III.15.
Applied meaning.
I. Kāya under the physical aspect is an aggregate of a multiplicity of elements which finally can be reduced to the four "great" elements, viz. earth, water, fire, and air (D I.55). This "heap," in the valuation of the Wise (muni), shares with all other objects the qualities of such elements, and is therefore regarded as contemptible, as something which one has to get rid of, as a source of impurity. It is subject to time and change, it is built up and kept alive by cravings, and with death it is disintegrated into the elements. But the kamma which determined the appearance of this physical body has naturally been renewed and assumes a new form.
II. Kāya under the psychological aspect is the seat of sensation...and represents the fundamental organ of touch which underlies all other sensation...
I. (Physical).
(a) Understanding of the body is attained through introspection (sati). In the group of the four sati-paṭṭhanas, the foundations of introspection, the recognition of the true character of "body" comes first... The standing formula of this recognition is kāye kāy¢nupassī . . . contemplating body as an accumulation, on which follows the description of this aggregate: "he sees that the body is clothed in skin, full of all kinds of dirty matter, and that in this body there are hair, nails, teeth," etc...The conclusions drawn from this meditation give a man the right attitude...This accumulation is described in another formula...[thus] "this body has form (i. e. is material, visible), is born from mother and father, is a heap of gruel and sour milk, is subject to constant dressing and tending, to breaking up and decay," etc., with inferences D I.55=S III.207; S II.94; IV.194; V.282, 370; D I.76, 209; M I.144, 500; II.17; A IV.386=S IV.83.
(b) Various qualities and functions of the material body. As trunk of the body...S II.231...as depending on nourishment...A II.145...as needing attention...having consciousness A IV.53 = S II.252 = S III.80, 103, 136, 169...As in need of breathing...S V.330, 336; as tired, fatigued..." ti.ed in body, tired in mind these gods fall out of this assembly" . . . with a perfect body (of the Buddha) . . . The body of a Buddha is said to be endowed with the 32 signs of a great man. . . The Tathāgata is said to be dhamma-kāyo "author and speaker of Doctrine," in the same sense Brahma-kāyo "the best body" (i. e. of Doctrine) D III.84 (Dial. iii, 81).
(c) Valuation of physical body. From the contemplating of its true character (kāy¢nupassi) follows its estimation as a transient, decaying, and repulsive object...This body is eaten by crows and vultures after its death: S V.370. Represented as pūti* foul S I.131; III.120....
(d) Similes. The body is compared to an abscess...S IV.83=A IV.386; a city...S IV.194; a cart...S IV.292; an anthill ...M I.144; all in reference to its consisting of the four fundamental elements..."knowing that the body is like froth"...the body is as fragile as a water-pot.
(e) Dissolution of the body is expressed in the standard phrase: kāyassa bhedā param maraṇa . . ., i. e. after death . . . upon which usually follows the mention of one of the gatis, the destinies which the new kāya has to experience, e. g. D I.82, 107, 143, 162, 245, 247, 252; III.96, 97, 146, 181, 235; M I.22; S I.94; III.241...
II. (Psychological).--As the seat of feeling, kāya is the fifth in the enumeration of the senses (āyatanāni). It is ajjhattika as sense (i. e. subjective) and its object is the tangible (phoṭṭhabba). The contact between subject and object consists either in touching (phusitvā) or in sensing (viññeyya). The formulas vary, but are in essence the same all through, e. g. kāya-viññeyya phoṭṭhabba D I.245; . . . Best to be grouped here is an application of kāya in the sense of the self as experiencing a great joy; the whole being, the "inner sense," or heart. This realization of intense happiness (such as it is while it lasts), pīti-sukha, is the result of the four stages of meditation, and as such it is always mentioned after the jhānas in the formula: so imaṅ eva kāyaṅ vivekajena pīti-sukhena abhisandeti . . . "His very body does he so pervade with the joy and ease born of detachment from worldliness" D I.73 sq. = M I.277; A II.41, etc. -- A similar context is that in which kāya is represented as passaddha, calmed down, i. e. in a state which is free from worldly attachment (vivekaja). This "peace" of the body (may be translated as "my senses, my spirits" in this connection) flows out of the peace of the mind and this is born out of the joy accompanying complete satisfaction (pamuditā) in attaining the desired end. The formula is pamuditassa pīti jāyati pītimanassa kāyo passambhati, passaddhakāyo sukhaṅ vedeti, sukhino cittaṅ samādhiyati D III.241, 288; S IV.351; M I.37; A III.21, 285; IV.176; V.3, 333; Vbh 227. . . .
III. (Ethical).--Kāya is one of the three channels by which a man's personality is connected with his environment & by which his character is judged, viz. action, the three being kāya, vacī (vāca) and manas. These three kammantas, activities or agents, form the three subdivisions of the sila, the rules of conduct. Kāya is the first and most conspicuous agent, or the principle of action kat) e)coxh/n, character in its pregnant sense.
Kāya as one of a triad.--Its usual combination is in the formula mentioned, and as such found in the whole of the Pāḷi Canon. But there is also another combination, found only in the older texts, viz. kayenā vācāya uda cetasā: yañ ca karoti kāyena vācāya uda cetasā taṅ hi tassa sakaṅ hoti tañ ca ādāya gacchati S I.93 . . . The variations of k- in the ethics of the Dhamma under this view of k*. v*. m*. are manifold, all based on the fundamental distinctions between good and bad, all being the raison d'être of kamma . . . Passages with reference to good works are e. g. D III.245; A I.151; V.302 sq.; (see also Kamma II.2 b. c.). -- With reference to evil: S III.241, 247; A I.201; . . .
Kāya as one of a dyad: vācā and kāya: S I.172 (*gutta) M I.461 (rakkhita and a*);...
Kāya alone as a collective expression for the three: A I.54...
Kāya in combn with citta: . . . S V.74 . . .
IV. (Various).--Kāyena (i. e. "visibly")...A II.61; as nanatta* and ekatta* at A IV.39......K. is anattā, i. e. k. has no soul A V.109; S IV.166. n'¢yaṅ kāyo tumhākaṅ n'āpi paresaṅ, purāṇaṅ idaṅ kammaṅ . . . "neither is this body yours, nor anyone else's: it is (the appearance of) former karma" S II.64, 65...Manomaya-kāya a body made by the mind...according to Bdhgh only at the time of jhāna S V.282 sq.; manomaya pīti-bhakkha sayaṅpabha D I.17...D I.77;...Under the control of psychic powers (iddhi): kāyena va saṅvatteti he does as he likes with his body, i. e. he walks on water, is ubiquitous, etc. (yāva brahmalokā pi: even up to heaven) S V.265 = D I.78 = A I.170: see also S V.283, 284. -- In the various stages of Saṅsāra; kāyaṅ nikkhipati he lays down his (old) body S IV.60, 400; cp. S III.241 (ossaṭṭha-kāya); referring to continuous change of body during day and night..
-anga a limb of the body...
-¢nupassin in combn kāye kāy¢nupassī "realizing in the body an aggregate" D II.94, 100, 291 sq.; D III.58, 77, 141, 221, 276; M I.56; A I.39, 296; II.256; III.449; IV.300, 457 sq.; S IV.211; V.9, 75, 298, 329 sq.;...
-āyatana the sense of touch D III.243, 280, 290...
-indriya same D III.239...
-ūpaga going to a (new) body S II.24;
-kamma "bodily action," deed performed by the body in contradistinction to deeds by speech or thought...D I.250; III.191, 245, 279; M I.415; III.206; A I.104; III.6, 9, 141 sq.; V.289...
-kali "the misfortune of having a body" = this miserable body...
-kasāva bodily impurity or depravity A I.112;
-gata "relating to the body," always combined with sati in the same sense as *anupassin (see above) S I.188; M. III.92; A I.44...
-gantha bodily tie or fetter (binding one to sa?sara)...
-gutta one who guards his body, i. e. controls his action...S I.172=Sn 74;
-tapana chastisement of body, curbing one's material desires, asceticism...
-dukkha bodily pain...M III.288;
-duccarita misconduct by the body, evil deeds done through the instrumentality of the body...D III.52, 96, 111, 214; A I.48...
-dhatu the "element" of body, i. e. the faculty of touch, sensibility
-pariyantika limited by the body, said of vedana, sensation S V.320 = A II.198
-pasāda clearness of the sense of touch or sense in general...
-passaddhi serenity or quietude of the senses S IV.125...V.66, 104...
-bala physical strength...
-bhāvanā meditation or training with regard to action D III.219; M I.237...
-moneyya the true wisdom regarding the use of the body as an instrument of action...D III.220; A I.273...
-viÑÑatti intimation by body, i. e. merely by one's appearance, appl. chiefly to the begging bhikkhu...
-viññāṇa consciousness by means of touch, sensory consciousness D III.243;...*dhatu element of touch-consciousness...
-viññeyya to be perceived by the sense of touch...D I.245; II.281; III.234; M I.85, 144...
-viveka seclusion of the body, hermitism J I.289...
-sakkhin he who has realized and gained the final truth concerning the body (cp. *anupassin) D III.105, 254; M I.478...M II.113; III.45; A I.74; 118; IV.10, 451; V.23...
-saṅkhāra the material aggregate, substratum of body Vin III.71; S II.40; III.125; IV.293; A I.122; II.158, 231...
-sañcetana ...ground (for the rise of), material, i. e. impure thoughts A II.157...
-samphassa the sense of touch...D III.243; S V.351...; *ja arisen through touch or sensibility D III.244...
-suci purity of body, i. e. of action (+vaci*, ceto*) A I.273...