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