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

The <i>Dhammakāya Gāthā</i> 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 <i>Dhammakāya</i> 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 <i>dhammakāya</i>. The third section exhorts one in the <i>yogāvacara</i> lineage (a practitioner of spiritual discipline, i.e., a meditator) to recollect the <i>dhammakāya</i>, in order to attain the state of Buddhahood. The <i>Gāthā</i> 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 <i>Dhammakāya Gāthā</i> to uncover the doctrinal meanings underlying the <i>Gāthā</i> and reveal the unique and unusual meditation practice called the <i>Dhammakāyānussati</i>, “Recollection of the Dhammakāya”. I argue that the study of the <i>Dhammakāya Gāthā</i> enables us to understand the unique Buddhist practice: reciting [the <i>Dhammakāya</i> text], constructing [the image of the Buddha] and visualising [the <i>dhammakāya</i> embodied in the image], contributing to what we call “Buddhānussati” in the context of Tai–Khmer Buddhism.