Donald S. Lopez, Jr. - Keynote of the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
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Donald S. Lopez, Jr. - Keynote of the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
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In his keynote lecture to the Vienna Tathāgatagarbha Symposium, Donald Lopez provides an overview of the history and influence of tathāgatagarbha doctrine as well as its various interpretations across the Mahāyāna world.
Abstract from the Author
Tathāgatagarbha: A Brief History
A term of indefinite meaning and uncertain origin, tathāgatagarbha is one of the most inspiring, provocative, and controversial concepts in the vast literature of Buddhism. Variously interpreted as the promise of buddhahood for all, the promise of buddhahood for some, and a provisional teaching for those intimidated by emptiness, it has generated commentary from across the Mahāyāna world among many of the most influential masters of India, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. This lecture will seek to provide an overview of the history and influence of tathāgatagarbha.
Sources Mentioned
Laṅkāvatārasūtra
An important Mahāyāna sūtra that was highly influential in East Asia as well as in Nepal, where a manuscript was discovered that remains the only extant Sanskrit recension of this text. It is notable for its inclusion of many doctrinal features that would come to be associated with the Yogācāra philosophy of Mind-Only (Cittamātra), such as the ālayavijñāna, or store-house consciousness, that acts as a repository for the seeds of karmic actions. It also includes several lengthy discussions of tathāgatagarbha and, though it is never actually referenced in the Uttaratantra, it is often listed among the so-called tathāgatagarbha sūtras. While its lack of mention in the Uttaratantra has been interpreted by scholars as evidence that the sūtra postdates the treatise, it should be noted that the ways in which the tathāgatagarbha is discussed in the sūtra is often at odds with its presentation in the Uttaratantra.
Laṅkāvatārasūtra;Go Chodrub;འགོས་ཆོས་གྲུབ;'gos chos grub;Facheng; Bodhiruci;Guṇabhadra;Śikṣānanda;'phags pa lang kar gshegs pa'i theg pa chen po'i mdo;འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;Descent into Laṅka Sūtra;Laṅkāvatārasūtra;入楞伽經;लङ्कावतारसूत्र;འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Maitreya, Asaṅga: Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
The Ratnagotravibhāga, commonly known as the Uttaratantra, or Gyu Lama in Tibetan, is one of the main Indian scriptural sources for buddha-nature theory. It was likely composed during the fifth century, by whom we do not know. Comprised of verses interspersed with prose commentary, it systematizes the buddha-nature teachings that were circulating in multiple sūtras such as the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, and the Śrīmaladevisūtra. The Tibetan tradition attributes the verses to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the commentary to Asaṅga, and treats the two as separate texts, although this division is not attested to in surviving Indian versions. The Chinese tradition attributes the text to *Sāramati (娑囉末底), but the translation itself does not include the name of the author, and the matter remains unsettled. It was translated into Chinese in the early sixth century by Ratnamati and first translated into Tibetan by Atiśa, although this text is not known to survive. Ngok Loden Sherab translated it a second time based on teachings from the Kashmiri Pandita Sajjana, and theirs remains the standard translation. It has been translated into English several times, and recently into French. See the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, read more about the Ratnagotravibhāga, or take a look at the most complete English translation in When the Clouds Part by Karl Brunnholzl.
Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;byams chos sde lnga;Uttaratantra;Maitreya;བྱམས་པ་;byams pa;'phags pa byams pa;byams pa'i mgon po;mgon po byams pa;ma pham pa;འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ་;བྱམས་པའི་མགོན་པོ་;མགོན་པོ་བྱམས་པ་;མ་ཕམ་པ་;Ajita; Asaṅga;ཐོགས་མེད་;thogs med;slob dpon thogs med;སློབ་དཔོན་ཐོགས་མེད་;Āryāsaṅga;Sajjana;ས་ཛ་ན་;sa dza na;paN+Di ta sa dza na;sa dzdza na;པཎྜི་ཏ་ས་ཛ་ན་;ས་ཛཛ་ན་;Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab;རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;rngog blo ldan shes rab;rngog lo tsA ba;lo chen blo ldan shes rab;blo ldan shes rab;རྔོག་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་;ལོ་ཆེན་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་;Ngok Lotsāwa;Ngok Loden Sherab;Lochen Loden Sherab;Loden Sherab;Ratnamati;Rin chen blo gros;རིན་ཆེན་བློ་གྲོས;theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།;The Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna;Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra;究竟一乘寶性論;रत्नगोत्रविभाग महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्र;ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།
Tathāgatagarbhasūtra
The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra (TGS) is a relatively short text that represents the starting point of a number of works in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism centering around the idea that all living beings have the buddha-nature. The genesis of the term tathāgatagarbha (in Tibetan de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po, in Chinese rulai zang 如來藏, the key term of this strand of Buddhism and the title of the sūtra), can be observed in the textual history of the TGS. (Zimmermann, A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, p. 7)
Tathāgatagarbhasūtra;Amoghavajra; Buddhabhadra;Śākyaprabha;ཤཱཀྱ་འོད་;shAkya 'Od;Yeshe De;ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ye shes sde;sna nam ye shes sde;zhang ban+de ye shes sde;སྣ་ནམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ཞང་བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo;འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;Tathāgata Essence Sūtra;Tathāgatagarbhasūtra;大方廣如來藏經;तथागतगर्भसूत्र
Śrīmālādevīsūtra
One of the more prominent sūtra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga, this text tells of the story of Śrīmālādevī taking up the Buddhist path at the behest of her royal parents based on a prophecy of the Buddha. It includes mention of important concepts related to the teachings on buddha-nature, such as the single vehicle and the four perfections, or transcendent characteristics, of the dharmakāya. It also mentions the notion that buddha-nature, which is equated with mind's luminous nature, is empty of adventitious stains but not empty of its limitless inseparable qualities. In his commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga, Asaṅga quotes this sūtra more than any other source text. In particular, it is considered a source for the fifth of the seven vajra topics, enlightenment.
Śrīmālādevīsūtra;Bodhiruci; Jinamitra;ཇིནམིཏྲ;slob dpon dzi na mi tra;Surendrabodhi;lha dbang byang chub;Yeshe De;ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ye shes sde;sna nam ye shes sde;zhang ban+de ye shes sde;སྣ་ནམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ཞང་བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;Guṇabhadra;'phags pa lha mo dpal phreng gi seng ge'i sgra zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo;འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī Sūtra;Śrīmālādevīsūtra;勝鬘夫人會;श्रीमालादेवीसूत्र;འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Aṅgulimālīyasūtra
One of the tathāgatagarbha sūtras, this is the the Mahāyāna version of an earlier Pali sutta of the same name.
Aṅgulimālīyasūtra;Śākyaprabha;ཤཱཀྱ་འོད་;shAkya 'Od; Dharmatāśīla;d+harma tA shI la;chos nyid tshul khrims;Tong Ācārya;tong A tsar+ya;Guṇabhadra;Dharmarakṣa;Faju;Bo Faju;Fa-chü;'phags pa sor mo'i phreng ba la phan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo;འཕགས་པ་སོར་མོའི་ཕྲེང་བ་ལ་ཕན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;The Discourse for Aṅgulimāla;Aṅgulimālīyasūtra;央掘魔羅經;अङ्गुलिमालीयसूत्र
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.
There is no known Tibetan translation but the text is mentioned three times in Saṃdhigambhīranirmocanasūtratīkā written by the Chinese scholar Wan tshik (རྒྱའི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཝན་ཚིག་གིས་མཛད་པ་ འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ཟབ་མོ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་བའི་མདོ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།) and translated by Gö Chödrup.
The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna;History of buddha-nature in China;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Actualized Enlightenment;Original Enlightenment;Aśvaghoṣa;རྟ་དབྱངས་;rta dbyangs; Paramārtha;Śikṣānanda;ཏ་ཤེང་ཅི་ཟིན་ལུང་།(*ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མོས་པ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།);Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna;Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra;大乗起信論;ཏ་ཤེང་ཅི་ཟིན་ལུང་(*ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མོས་པ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།)
Butön Rinchen Drup: Ornament That Illuminates and Beautifies the Tathāgata Heart
Butön's study on the theory of the tathāgatagarbha written in 1359. In this text he argues that the teachings on buddha-nature are of an expedient or provisional meaning, which is a position that is typical of the Sakya view as set forth by Sakya Paṇḍita and others. He backs up this position with citations from the Ghanavyūhasūtra, the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, the Śrīmālādevīsūtra, the Aṅgulimālīyasūtra, and the Ratnagotravibhāga.
Bde gshegs snying po gsal ba'i rgyan;Provisional or definitive;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Sakya;Butön Rinchen Drup;བུ་སྟོན་རིན་ཆེན་གྲུབ་;bu ston rin chen grub;bu ston kha che;bu ston thams cad mkhyen pa;Buton Khache;Butön Tamche Khyenpa;Rinchen Drub;bde gshegs snying po gsal ba'i rgyan;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བའི་རྒྱན།;Ornament That Illuminates and Beautifies the Tathāgata Heart;བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བའི་རྒྱན།
Commonly referred to as the Lotus Sūtra, this text is extremely popular in East Asia, where it is considered to be the "final" teaching of the Buddha. Especially in Japan, reverence for this text has put it at the center of numerous Buddhist movements, including many modern, so-called new religions. The esteemed status of this scripture is epitomized in the Nichiren school's sole practice of merely paying homage to its title with the prayer "Namu myōhō renge kyō".
Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra;Surendrabodhi;lha dbang byang chub; Yeshe De;ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ye shes sde;sna nam ye shes sde;zhang ban+de ye shes sde;སྣ་ནམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;ཞང་བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ་;Kumārajīva;Dharmarakṣa;Dharmakṣema;Jñānagupta;Dharmagupta;Jiduo;dam pa'i chos pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo;དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།;White Lotus of the Excellent Doctrine Sūtra;Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra;妙法蓮華經;सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्र;དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
The *Vajrasamādhisūtra is a foundational scripture for Chan and buddha-nature theory.
Vajrasamādhisūtra;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;rdo rje'i ting nge 'dzin gyi chos kyi yi ge;རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཡི་གེ།;Adamantine Absorption Scripture;Vajrasamādhisūtra;金剛三昧經
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (McRae)
Taishō 2008
Volume 48
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch consists of a record of the teachings of Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch of the Chan School in China, recorded by his disciple Fahai, and is known by several abbreviated titles such as Platform Sūtra or Platform Sūtra of the Dharma Treasure. It proclaims the independence of the Southern School of Chan from the Northern School on such subjects as "sudden enlightenment" (Ch. dun-wu) and the external expression of one's real nature (Ch. jian-xing).
Source
McRae, John R., trans. The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. Translated from the Chinese of Zongbao (Taishō Volume 48, Number 2008). BDK English Tripiṭaka Series, vol. 73, no. 2. Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000. https://bdkamerica.org/product/the-platform-sutra-of-the-sixth-patriarch/.
McRae, John R., trans. The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. Translated from the Chinese of Zongbao (Taishō Volume 48, Number 2008). BDK English Tripiṭaka Series, vol. 73, no. 2. Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000. https://bdkamerica.org/product/the-platform-sutra-of-the-sixth-patriarch/.;The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (McRae);The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Zen - Chan;Huineng; John R. McRae;The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya
The Mūlasarvāstivāda (Sanskrit: मूलसर्वास्तिवाद; traditional Chinese: 根本說一切有部; ; pinyin: Gēnběn Shuō Yīqièyǒu Bù) was one of the early Buddhist schools of India. The origins of the Mūlasarvāstivāda and their relationship to the Sarvāstivāda sect still remain largely unknown, although various theories exist.
external link
Śūraṅgama Sūtra
The Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Sanskrit: शूरङ्गम सूत्र; traditional Chinese: 大佛頂首楞嚴經) (Taisho 945) is a Mahayana Buddhist sutra that has been especially influential in Chan Buddhism. The general doctrinal outlook of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is that of esoteric Buddhism and Buddha-nature, with some influence from Yogacara.
external link
Secondary Publications Mentioned
Apophatic and Kataphatic Discourse in Mahāyāna: A Chinese View
Gimello, Robert M. "Apophatic and Kataphatic Discourse in Mahāyāna: A Chinese View." Philosophy East and West 26, no. 2 (1976): 117–36.
Gimello, Robert M. "Apophatic and Kataphatic Discourse in Mahāyāna: A Chinese View." Philosophy East and West 26, no. 2 (1976): 117–36.
Gimello, Robert M. "Apophatic and Kataphatic Discourse in Mahāyāna: A Chinese View." Philosophy East and West 26, no. 2 (1976): 117–36.;Apophatic and Kataphatic Discourse in Mahāyāna: A Chinese View;Apophatic and Kataphatic Discourse in Mahāyāna: A Chinese View;History of buddha-nature in China;Robert M. Gimello; 
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism
Original enlightenment thought (hongaku shiso) dominated Buddhist intellectual circles throughout Japan’s medieval period. Enlightenment, this discourse claims, is neither a goal to be achieved nor a potential to be realized but the true status of all things. Every animate and inanimate object manifests the primordially enlightened Buddha just as it is. Seen in its true aspect, every activity of daily life—eating, sleeping, even one’s deluded thinking—is the Buddha’s conduct. Emerging from within the powerful Tendai School, ideas of original enlightenment were appropriated by a number of Buddhist traditions and influenced nascent theories about the kami (local deities) as well as medieval aesthetics and the literary and performing arts.
Scholars and commentators have long recognized the historical importance of original enlightenment thought but differ heatedly over how it is to be understood. Some tout it as the pinnacle of the Buddhist philosophy of absolute non-dualism. Others claim to find in it the paradigmatic expression of a timeless Japanese spirituality. According other readings, it represents a dangerous anti-nomianism that undermined observance of moral precepts, precipitated a decline in Buddhist scholarship, and denied the need for religious discipline. Still others denounce it as an authoritarian ideology that, by sacralizing the given order, has in effect legitimized hierarchy and discriminative social practices. Often the acceptance or rejection of original enlightenment thought is seen as the fault line along which traditional Buddhist institutions are to be differentiated from the new Buddhist movements (Zen, Pure Land, and Nichiren) that arose during Japan’s medieval period.
Jacqueline Stone’s groundbreaking study moves beyond the treatment of the original enlightenment doctrine as abstract philosophy to explore its historical dimension. Drawing on a wealth of medieval primary sources and modern Japanese scholarship, it places this discourse in its ritual, institutional, and social contexts, illuminating its importance to the maintenance of traditions of lineage and the secret transmission of knowledge that characterized several medieval Japanese elite culture. It sheds new light on interpretive strategies employed in pre-modern Japanese Buddhist texts, an area that hitherto has received a little attention. Through these and other lines of investigation, Stone problematizes entrenched notions of “corruption” in the medieval Buddhist establishment. Using the examples of Tendai and Nichiren Buddhism and their interactions throughout the medieval period, she calls into question both overly facile distinctions between "old" and "new" Buddhism and the long-standing scholarly assumptions that have perpetuated them. This study marks a significant contribution to ongoing debates over definitions of Buddhism in the Kamakura era (1185–1333), long regarded as a formative period in Japanese religion and culture. Stone argues that "original enlightenment thought" represents a substantial rethinking of Buddhist enlightenment that cuts across the distinction between "old" and "new" institutions and was particularly characteristic of the medieval period.
Stone, Jacqueline. Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Kuroda Studies in East Asian Buddhism 12. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003.
Stone, Jacqueline. Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Kuroda Studies in East Asian Buddhism 12. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003.;Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism;Original Enlightenment;History of buddha-nature in Japan;Tien Tai;Jacqueline Stone;Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism
People Mentioned
About the video
| Featuring | Donald S. Lopez, Jr. |
|---|---|
| Creator | University of Vienna, Tsadra Foundation |
| Event | Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia (16 July 2019, University of Vienna, Austria) |
| Related Website | Buddha-Nature Project |
| Video Web Location | Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia |
| Creation Date | 16 July 2019 |
| Citation | Lopez, Donald S., Jr. “Tathāgatagarbha: A Brief History.” Keynote lecture at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 40:17. https://youtu.be/0SSSdNNbeu8. |
