Anne Burchardi: Buddha-Nature in Practice: How the Notion of "Garbha" Can Be Applied to "Being in the World"
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Abstract from the Author
The ambiguity of the term garbha in the compound tathāgata-garbha seems to account for the different interpretations of Buddha-Nature in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition on the one hand, and East-Asian Buddhism on the other. The standard Tibetan translation of garbha as snying po (heart or essence) represent one possibility among several in the usage of the term in the group of scriptures classified as tathāgata-garbha sūtras.
If we reflect upon other layers of meanings of the term, and the variety of understandings that they give rise to, the multiple implications of the derived understandings of this point of doctrine become apparent.
What happens when we compare the double meaning of content-container, or essence-matrix, inherent in the term to frameworks of practices that illuminate the interplay between individual and environment?
I should like to explore "the creative power of tactical withdrawal" within the Buddhist tradition of meditative retreat, and the role of solitude as an "incubational space" for the practice of instructions of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition found in the Mahāyoga, Ātiyoga and Mahāmudra literature.
Such practices of the path represent alternative ways of "being in the world" that ultimately dissolves the separation between a perceiver and a perceived world, and as such they could be said to exemplify the resolution of the tension between the double notions of garbha.About the video
| Featuring | Anne Burchardi |
|---|---|
| Creator | Tsadra Foundation |
| Director | Perman, M. |
| Producer | Tsadra Foundation |
| Event | Old Topic, New Insights: Buddha-Nature at the Crossroads between Doctrine and Practice (, Prague) |
| Related Website | Buddha-Nature |
| Citation | Burchardi, Anne. "Buddha-Nature in Practice: How the Notion of 'Garbha' Can Be Applied to 'Being in the World'." Old Topic, New Insights: Buddha-Nature at the Crossroads between Doctrine and Practice. The 16th IATS Conference, Prague, July 3–9, 2022. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department. Video, 18:19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-e9mJqrZIc. |
