Old Topic, New Insights: Buddha-Nature at the Crossroads between Doctrine and Practice
From Buddha-Nature
Old Topic, New Insights
Buddha-Nature at the Crossroads between Doctrine and Practice
Panel Convenors: Karma Phuntsho and Gregory Forgues
Tsadra Foundation
Panel Description
Buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha, དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་) is an important topic for both philosophical discourse and spiritual practice in the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. In Tibet, this notion is foundational with regard to philosophical debate, religious hermeneutics, and spiritual practice. As a doctrinal marker, buddha-nature contributed to defining sectarian identities that shaped social and historical interactions between Tibetan Buddhist traditions.
Continued scholarly publications, Buddhist teaching events, the recent development of online buddha-nature resources, and the associated Tathāgatagarbha symposium in Vienna in 2019 have spurred greater interest in the topic both within Tibetan Buddhist traditions and among other spiritual traditions. This panel brings together experts to refine and deepen our understanding of buddha-nature both in terms of theoretical interpretations and practical applications in Tibetan Buddhist communities, past or present.
The main objective of the panel focuses on the interplay between points of doctrine and the practice of the path from the perspective of various Tibetan traditions and scholars. Contributions examine the interpretations of doctrines of tathāgatagarbha originally found in Indian scriptural sources. The methodological approach of these contributions range from historical-philological investigations to ethnographic research and comparative analysis.
Panelist Presentations
Karl Brunnhölzl
Presentation
Karl Brunnhölzl
Karl Brunnhölzl: Buddha-Nature Sings Its Song: Tathāgatagarbha and Its Equivalents in the Indian Dohā Tradition
Brunnhölzl, Karl. "Buddha-Nature Sings Its Song: Tathāgatagarbha and Its Equivalents in the Indian Dohā Tradition." 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, 15:31. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJJ98iRuBxU; Key Terms/tathāgatagarbha, Topics/The doctrine of buddha-nature in Indian Buddhism, Topics/Terminology
Anne Burchardi
Presentation
Anne Burchardi
Anne Burchardi: Buddha-Nature in Practice: How the Notion of "Garbha" Can Be Applied to "Being in the World"
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.; Key Terms/tathāgatagarbha
David Higgins
Presentation
David Higgins
David Higgins: The Eighth Karmapa and the Primacy of Tantric Buddha-Nature Views
Higgins, David. "The Eighth Karmapa and the Primacy of Tantric Buddha-Nature Views." 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, 20:38. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErPW8n0J9qM.; People/Karmapa, 8th
Christopher Jones
Presentation
Christopher V. Jones
Christopher Jones: Defining a "Buddha-Nature Discourse": The Case of the Mahāmeghasūtra (Sprin chen po'i mdo)
Jones, Christopher. "Defining a 'Buddha-Nature Discourse': The Case of the Mahāmeghasūtra (Sprin chen po'i mdo)." 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, 17:22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi7pzXbM4-c.; Key Terms/tathāgatagarbha, Texts/Mahāmeghasūtra
Casey Forgues
Presentation
Casey Forgues Kemp
Casey Kemp: Buddha-Nature as a Path of Means: The Influence of Buddha-Nature Theory on Eleventh-Century Tibetan Tantric Instructions
Kemp, Casey. "Buddha-Nature as a Path of Means: The Influence of Buddha-Nature Theory on Eleventh-Century Tibetan Tantric Instructions." 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, 18:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr8U2HiLpEE.; People/Yu mo mi bskyod rdo rje, People/Mar pa chos kyi blo gros, Topics/Buddha-nature as Luminosity, Topics/The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism
Klaus-Dieter Mathes
Presentation
Klaus-Dieter Mathes
Klaus-Dieter Mathes: Tibetan Traditions of Buddha-Nature in the Light of Its Complex Indian Background
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. "Tibetan Traditions of Buddha-Nature in the Light of Its Complex Indian Background." 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, 20:27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT6-yMGKrdA.; Topics/History of buddha-nature in Tibet
Karma Phuntsho
Presentation
Karma Phuntsho
Karma Phuntsho: Buddha-Nature and Dying: Clear Light at the Point of Death
Phuntsho, Karma. "Buddha-Nature and Dying: Clear Light at the Point of Death." 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, 15:47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3lOZAUfKi8.;
Gregory Forgues
Presentation
Greg Forgues
Gregory Forgues: A Reluctant Expression of the Inexpressible: Klong chen rab 'byams pa dri med 'od zer (1308–1364) on Sugatagarbha
Forgues, Gregory. "A Reluctant Expression of the Inexpressible: Klong chen rab 'byams pa dri med 'od zer (1308–1364) on Sugatagarbha." 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, 21:04. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa76N32sfUM.; Key Terms/sugatagarbha, People/Klong chen pa
Shenpen Hookham
Presentation
Shenpen Hookham
Shenpen Hookham: Trungpa Rinpoche's Teaching on Maṇḍala Principle in "Orderly Chaos" and the Innumerable, Inseparable Qualities in the RGV
Hookham, Shenpen. "Trungpa Rinpoche's Teaching on Maṇḍala Principle in Orderly Chaos and the Innumerable, Inseparable Qualities in the RGV." Old Topic, New Insights: Buddha-Nature at the Crossroads between Doctrine and Practice. The 16th IATS Conference, Prague, July 3–9, 2022. Video, 11:37. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=98nk8oY3kic.; People/Trungpa, Chögyam, Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Yaroslav Komarovski
Presentation
Yaroslav Komarovski
Yaroslav Komarovski: Shakya Chokden on Tathāgatagarbha in the Tantric Practice of the Two Stages
Komarovski, Yaroslav. "Shakya Chokden on Tathāgatagarbha in the Tantric Practice of the Two Stages." 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, 20:42. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_gwSb3n8nk.; Key Terms/tathāgatagarbha, People/ShAkya mchog ldan
