ātman

From Buddha-Nature

< Key Terms(Redirected from Ātman)

Glossaryātman

Sanskrit Noun

ātman

self
आत्मन्
བདག་
我,灵魂

Basic Meaning

Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena.

Has the Sense of

The notion of ātman is often equated with the Western notions of an eternal soul.

On this topic
Article
A Self-Aggrandizing Vehicle: Tathāgatagarbha, Tīrthikas, and the True Self
Jones, Christopher V. "A Self-Aggrandizing Vehicle: Tathāgatagarbha, Tīrthikas, and the True Self." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 39 (2016): 115–70.
Jones, Christopher V. "A Self-Aggrandizing Vehicle: Tathāgatagarbha, Tīrthikas, and the True Self." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 39 (2016): 115–70.
PhD Diss
Affirmation in Negation: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in the Light of the Bodhisattva Practices
The Tathāgatagarbha theory, also known as the Buddha-nature theory, is one of the most influential Mahāyāna doctrines in the East Asian Buddhism. In 1989, it was severely criticized by some Japanese scholars, namely, Shiro Matsumoto and Noriaki Hakamaya, for being contradictory to the Buddha's teaching of non-self (anātman) and accused of being a non-Buddhist theory in disguise. The purpose of this study is to refute such an accusation and to demonstrate the relationship between this theory and the Bodhisattva practices which are the very core of the Mahāyāna Buddhism.

This dissertation begins with definitions of the term "tathāgatagarbha" and some of its synonyms which are followed by a brief review of the historical development of the Tathāgatagarbha theory from India to China. With these as the background knowledge, it is easier to point out the fallacies of the two Japanese scholars' criticism on this theory. A key issue in their criticism is that they viewed the Tathāgatagarbha theory as the ātman of the Upaniṣads in disguise. It is therefore necessary to discuss not only the distinction between the ātman mentioned in the Tathāgatagarbha theory and that in the Upaniṣads but also the controversy over the issue of ātman versus anātman among the Buddhist scholars.

In the discussion to clarify the issue of ātman in the Tathāgatagarbha theory, it is demonstrated that the ātman in the Tathāgatagarbha theory is not only uncontradictory to the doctrine of anātman in Buddhism but very important to the Bodhisattva practices in the Mahāyāna Buddhism. It functions as a unity for the Bodhisattvas to voluntarily return to the world of saṃsāra again and again. Furthermore, the purport of the entire theory, that all sentient beings are endowed with the essence of the Buddha, supports various Bodhisattva practices such as the aspiration to save all beings in the world, the six perfections, etc. In a word, the Tathāgatagarbha theory is an excellent representative of the soteriology of the Mahāyāna Buddhism. Included in the end of this dissertation is an annotated translation of the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra (Taisho nos. 666 and 667). (Source accessed May 26, 2020)
Chen, Shu-hui. “Affirmation in Negation: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in the Light of the Bodhisattva Practices.” PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998.
Video
Christopher V. Jones at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Christopher Jones discusses the development of the concept of buddha-nature in the first five hundred years of the Common Era. He postulates that the most likely trajectory of buddha-nature thought in India entailed a reimagining of the expression tathāgatagarbha away from its contentious "ātmavādin" origins.
Jones, Christopher V. "Selfhood, Secrecy, Singularity: Reassessing the Early Life of the Tathāgatagarbha in India." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 45:01. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARzGpIOwFYc.
Video
David Higgins at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
David Higgins explores the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje’s (1507–1554) prolific writings on tathāgatagarbha, which contain several extended discussions on the topic of how buddha-nature relates to different conceptions of selfhood.
Higgins, David. "Buddha-Nature and Selfhood." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 41:28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHzI1PxptpI.
Article
Fragments of a Commentary on the Tattvasaṅgraha, Part 2
This is part 2 of a report on the fragments of hitherto unknown commentary on the Tattvasańgraha.1 The folio we report on here, photographed in frames 32 (recto) and 33 top (verso), constitutes a part of the commentary on Tattvasańgraha stanzas 177–181. Tis is where various arguments for the existence of ātman is presented.
      Here, we give the tex of the Tattvasańgraha along with the Tattvasańgrahapañjikā in full. Unlike in the previous fragment, our commentary is brief, and due to its fragmentary nature, it is hard to understand. Having the Tattvasańgrahapañjikā next to our text greatly helps in reconstructing and understanding our text. (Harimoto and Kano, introduction, 5)

Notes:

1. For general introduction to the fragments, see Harimoto & Kano 2008.
Harimoto, Kengo, and Kazuo Kano. "Fragments of a Commentary on the Tattvasaṅgraha, Part 2." Journal of the Nepal Research Centre 14 (2012) 5–17.
Article
On the Problem of the Relation of Spiritual Practice and Philosophical Theory in Buddhism
Schmithausen, Lambert. "On the Problem of the Relation of Spiritual Practice and Philosophical Theory in Buddhism." In Vol. 2, German Scholars on India: Contributions to Indian Studies, edited by the Cultural Department of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, New Delhi, 235–50. Bombay: Nachiketa Publications, 1976. https://archive.org/details/germanscholarsonindiavolume2nachiketapublications_20200306_38/page/n307/mode/2up.
Schmithausen, Lambert. "On the Problem of the Relation of Spiritual Practice and Philosophical Theory in Buddhism." In Vol. 2, German Scholars on India: Contributions to Indian Studies, edited by the Cultural Department of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, New Delhi, 235–50. Bombay: Nachiketa Publications, 1976. https://archive.org/details/germanscholarsonindiavolume2nachiketapublications_20200306_38/page/n307/mode/2up.
Book
Selfless Persons
This book seeks to explain carefully and sypathetically the Buddhist doctrine of anatta ('not-self'), which denies the existence of any self, soul or enduring essence in human beings. The author relates this doctrine to its cultural and historical context, particularly to its Brahmanical background, and shows how the Theravāda Buddhist tradition has constructed a philosophical and psychological account of personal identity and continuity on the apparently impossible basis of the denial of self. (Source: Cambridge University Press) For relevance to the concept of buddha-nature, see chapter 8, "Momentariness and the bhavaṅga-mind."
Collins, Steven. Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravāda Buddhism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982. https://archive.org/details/thervadaselflesspersonsimagerythoughtintheravadabuddhismstevencollinsoup_564_z/mode/2up.
Article
Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman: Self Where There Is No-Self
Laughlin, Aaron Alexander. "Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman: Self Where There Is No-Self." IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Humboldt State University 3 (2019): 57–61. https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/ideafest/vol3/iss1/11
Laughlin, Aaron Alexander. "Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman: Self Where There Is No-Self." IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Humboldt State University 3 (2019): 57–61. https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/ideafest/vol3/iss1/11
Book
The Buddhist Self
The assertion that there is nothing in the constitution of any person that deserves to be considered the self (ātman)—a permanent, unchanging kernel of personal identity in this life and those to come—has been a cornerstone of Buddhist teaching from its inception. Whereas other Indian religious systems celebrated the search for and potential discovery of one’s “true self,” Buddhism taught about the futility of searching for anything in our experience that is not transient and ephemeral. But a small yet influential set of Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, composed in India in the early centuries CE, taught that all sentient beings possess at all times, and across their successive lives, the enduring and superlatively precious nature of a Buddha. This was taught with reference to the enigmatic expression tathāgatagarbha—the “womb” or “chamber” for a Buddha—which some texts refer to as a person’s true self.

The Buddhist Self is a methodical examination of Indian teaching about the tathāgatagarbha (otherwise the presence of one's “Buddha-nature”) and the extent to which different Buddhist texts and authors articulated this in terms of the self. C. V. Jones attends to each of the Indian Buddhist works responsible for explaining what is meant by the expression tathāgatagarbha, and how far this should be understood or promoted using the language of selfhood. With close attention to these sources, Jones argues that the trajectory of Buddha-nature thought in India is also the history and legacy of a Buddhist account of what deserves to be called the self: an innovative attempt to equip Mahāyāna Buddhism with an affirmative response to wider Indian interest in the discovery of something precious or even divine in one's own constitution. This argument is supplemented by critical consideration of other themes that run through this distinctive body of Mahāyānist literature: the relationship between Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachings about the self, the overlap between the tathāgatagarbha and the nature of the mind, and the originally radical position that the only means of becoming liberated from rebirth is to achieve the same exalted status as the Buddha. (Source: University of Hawai'i Press)
Jones, Christopher V. The Buddhist Self: On Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, forthcoming.
Video
The Debate over Buddha-Nature by Karl Brunnhölzl
Karl Brunnhölzl discusses why there has historically been such debate over the teaching of buddha-nature. He suggests that one of the main points of contention has not been whether buddha-nature is considered a Buddhist teaching or not. Rather, the debate has centered around interpretations of what buddha-nature actually means or implies. Does it imply a truly existent nature, or something that has always been there from the beginning? Or does it resemble something more akin to a nonaffirming negation that implies that buddha-nature is ultimately empty. Brunnhölzl explains that many Tibetan thinkers fall somewhere between these two poles.
Brunnhölzl, Karl. “The Debate over Buddha-Nature.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 4:21. https://youtu.be/jMV3uHDWg_o.
Term Variations
Key Term ātman
Topic Variation ātman
Tibetan བདག་  ( dak)
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration bdag  ( dak)
Devanagari Sanskrit आत्मन्
Chinese 我, 灵魂
Chinese Pinyin wǒ, línghún
Japanese Transliteration ga
Korean Transliteration a
Buddha-nature Site Standard English self
Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term identity
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term self
Gyurme Dorje's English Term "self"
Term Information
Source Language Sanskrit
Basic Meaning Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena.
Has the Sense of The notion of ātman is often equated with the Western notions of an eternal soul.
Related Terms anātman, svabhāva
Term Type Noun
Definitions
Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism See page 78: In Sanskrit, “self’ or “I,” with a similar range of meanings as the terms possess in English, but used especially to refer to a perduring substratum of being that is the agent of actions, the possessor of mind and body (nāmarūpa), and that passes from lifetime to lifetime.
Rangjung Yeshe Dictionary essence, self-entity, identity.
Retrieved from "https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php?title=Key_Terms/ātman&oldid=28753"