Five kayas

The five kayas (Skt. pañcakāya; Tib. སྐུ་ལྔ་, ku nga, Wyl. sku lnga) of Mahayoga as mentioned in the practice of Narak Kong Shak:

1. dharmakaya,
2. sambhogakaya,
3. nirmanakaya,
4. vajrakaya of the unchanging natural state and
5. abhisambodhikaya (or perfect kaya of complete awakening).

The vajrakaya of the unchanging natural state is the embodiment of the enlightened activity of all the buddhas and the perfect kaya of complete awakening is the embodiment of all the buddhas’ enlightened qualities.

Alternative Lists

1. dharmakaya
2. sambhogakaya
3. nirmanakaya
4. svabhavikakaya
5. unchanging vajrakaya (Tib. མི་འགྱུར་རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྐུ་, mi 'gyur rdo rje'i sku)

Further Reading

• Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche and Getse Mahapandita, Deity, Mantra & Wisdom, translated by Dharmachakra Translation Committee (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2007), pages 69-74.