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'''Nirmāṇakāya''' is a Buddhist term for a physical body of a [[Buddha]] created to be manifested in time and space. In the [[Theosophy|Theosophical]] view this concept refers to the [[Masters of Wisdom]]:
 
<blockquote>These Nirmanakayas are the Bodhisattvas or late Adepts, who having reached Nirvana and liberation from rebirth, renounce it voluntarily in order to remain invisibly amidst the world to help poor ignorant Humanity within the lines permitted by Karma.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'', vol. 12 (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1991), 31. </ref></blockquote>
 
== Theosophical view ==
 
[[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|H. P. Blavatsky]] wrote in her [[The Theosophical Glossary (book)|''Theosophical Glossary'']] the following:
 
<blockquote>Nirmânakâya (Sk.). Something entirely different in esoteric philosophy from the popular meaning attached to it, and from the fancies of the Orientalists. Some call the ''Nirmânakâya'' body “Nirvâna with remains” (Schlagintweit, etc.) on the supposition, probably, that it is a kind of Nirvânic condition during which consciousness and form are retained. Others say that it is one of the ''Trikâya'' (three bodies), with the “power of assuming any form of appearance in order to propagate Buddhism” (Eitel's idea); again, that “it is the incarnate avatâra of a deity” (ibid.), and so on. Occultism, on the other hand, says: that Nirmânâkaya, although meaning literally a transformed “body”, is a state. The form is that of the adept or yogi who enters, or chooses, that ''Post mortem'' condition in preference to the Dharmakâya or ''absolute'' Nirvânic state. He does this because the latter kâya separates him for ever from the world of form, conferring upon him a state of ''selfish'' bliss, in which no other living being can participate, the adept being thus precluded from the possibility of helping humanity, or even ''devas''. As a Nirmânakâya, however, the man leaves behind him only his physical body, and retains every other “principle” save the Karmic--for he has crushed this out for ever from his nature, during life, and it can never resurrect in his ''post mortem'' state. Thus, instead of going into selfish bliss, he chooses a life of self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only with the life-cycle, in order to be enabled to help mankind in an invisible yet most effective manner. (See ''The Voice of the Silence'', third treatise, “The Seven Portals”.) Thus a Nirmânakâya is not, as popularly believed, the body “in which a Buddha or a Bodhisattva appears on earth”, but verily one, who whether a ''Chutuktu'' or a ''Khubilkhan'', an adept or a yogi during life, has since become a member of that invisible Host which ever protects and watches over Humanity within Karmic limits. Mistaken often for a “Spirit”, a Deva, God himself, &c., a Nirmânakâya is ever a protecting, compassionate, verily a guardian angel, to him who becomes worthy of his help. Whatever objection may be brought forward against this doctrine; however much it is denied, because, forsooth, it has never been hitherto made public in Europe and therefore since it is unknown to Orientalists, it must needs be “a myth of modern invention”--no one will be bold enough to say that this idea of helping suffering mankind at the price of one's own almost interminable self-sacrifice, is not one of the grandest and noblest that was ever evolved from human brain.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 231.</ref></blockquote>
 
== Buddhist view ==
 
== Notes ==
<references/>
[[Category:Buddhist concepts]]
[[Category:Sanskrit terms]]
[[Category:Theosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Concepts in The Secret Doctrine]]

Latest revision as of 23:09, 13 July 2017

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