The word kaya, usually translated as “body”, is a systematically ambiguous word in Pali and Sanskrit. This ambiguity is an important part of its range of uses in the Buddhist treatment of the Buddha himself. In the fifth century CE the Theravada commentator Buddhaghosa explained that the word could be used to refer in particular to a body, or to any group. Thus the word kaya when used of the Buddha can refer to his actual body, primarily the physical body, and also to any group or collection of elements which make up or in some sense to the Buddha.

    這個字kaya通常翻譯成「身」，在巴利文和梵文上都是一個模糊不清的字。這模糊不清的kaya在佛陀他自己的佛教論述中是一個它的使用的範圍的重要部份。在第五世紀小乘佛敎講評者，覺音解釋這個字可能被用來指涉特別一個身，或至任何的群體(團)。如此這個字kaya當佛佗使用能提及他的實際身體，主要地這個肉身，以及至任何的群體(團)或者收集元素組成或在某些意識對佛陀而言。

Throughout the Buddhist world the minimum for becoming a Buddhist is to “take refuge” from the depth of one’s heart in the Buddha, his Doctrine, and the Community. But what exactly is one taking refuge in when one takes refuge in the Buddha? This question was posed in particular by one of the non-Mahayana traditions of Buddhism, the Vaibhasika(Sarvastivada). A person should not take refuge in the physical body of the Buddha, it was argued, since the physical body is impure(oozing and smelly, a common Indian observation with extensive cultural implications).