Buddha Nature and the Yogācāra Analysis of Mind in The Awakening of Faith

From Buddha-Nature

< Media

LibraryMultimediaBuddha Nature and the Yogācāra Analysis of Mind in The Awakening of Faith

Buddha Nature and the Yogācāra Analysis of Mind in The Awakening of Faith
Audio
Audio
Ven. Dhammadipa (“Island of Dharma”) is ordained in both Theravāda and Mahāyāna traditions and teaches śamatha and vipaśyanā meditation at monasteries and universities worldwide in addition to studying and translating Buddhist texts from Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese. He spoke with students at RYI on October 6, 2015 about the topic of Buddha-Nature in the text The Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna.

Sources Mentioned

Text
Aśvaghoṣa: Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra
The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna is an immensely important treatise popular in all traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. It was written in China in the middle of the sixth century, heavily influenced by Indian Yogācāra and tathāgatagarbha teachings, providing a scriptural foundation for both buddha-nature theory and the doctrine of original enlightenment. The text synthesized tathāgatagarbha and ālayavijñāna theories to explain how the mind is the source for both enlightenment and ignorance. A relatively short text at just nine pages, it lucidly, if densely, explains important topics such as the nature of mind and consciousness and the threefold bodies of the Buddha, concluding with elegant meditation instructions. Although traditionally said to have been composed by Aśvaghoṣa and translated by Paramārtha, contemporary scholarly consensus has raised doubts about this attribution, and the text's authorship is typically said to be unknown.

About the recording

Featuring Ven. Dhammadipa Thero
Creator Rangjung Yeshe Institute
Related Website https://www.ryi.org/
Citation Thero, Ven. Dhammadipa. "Buddha Nature and the Yogācāra Analysis of Mind in The Awakening of Faith." Recorded October 6, 2015 at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Nepal. Audio, 1:43:28. https://soundcloud.com/rangjung-yeshe-institute/ven-dhammadipa-buddha-nature-and-the-yogacara-analysis-of-mind-in-the-awakening-of-faith.

Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

original enlightenment - According to East Asian Buddhism, the intrinsic enlightenment of all sentient beings. This is obscured by the many stains present in the ālayavijñāna. When these are purified, the natural state of enlightenment is recovered, a status known as "actualized enlightenment." Ch. 本覺

ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 藏識,阿賴耶識

avidyā - Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors. Skt. अविद्या Tib. མ་རིག་པ་ Ch. 無明

sems nyid - Commonly found in Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā literature, this term denotes the true, natural state of mind as it is. Often used in these traditions as a synonym for buddha-nature. Skt. चित्तत्व Tib. སེམས་ཉིད་

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

actualized enlightenment - Actualized enlightenment is enlightenment that is attained through practice. It is contrasted with original enlightenment, which is the mind's innate purity in its natural state. Ultimately, there is no difference between them. Because of the presence of ignorance, sentient beings are blind to their true nature. By removing that ignorance, one actualizes enlightenment. Ch. 始覺

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

The Awakening of Faith is a key source text for buddha-nature theory in East Asian Buddhism.

Retrieved from "https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php?title=Media/Buddha_Nature_and_the_Yogācāra_Analysis_of_Mind_in_The_Awakening_of_Faith&oldid=48509"