Property:PosEmptyLuminNotes
From Buddha-Nature
This is a property of type Text.
A
More specifically he asserts that buddha-nature is equivalent to the selflessness of the dharmatā. This is not exactly the same as buddha-nature = emptiness. Kano explains that this is a precursor to that position. [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 111 et passim. +
"Atisa explains “the innate śīla" abiding in every being as a cause that brings one attainment (i.e. nirvāṇa), but as being covered with defilements in the state of ordinary beings. He takes it as synonymous with Buddha-nature or the mahāyānagotra." [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 101. +
B
Specifically, he sees buddha-nature as referring only to the dharmakāya of a fully enlightened buddha.
*"Taking the reverse position of the Gelugpas on this, both Butön and his student and commentator Dratsépa Rinchen Namgyal (1318–1388) identify the actual tathāgata heart as being solely the final fruition of buddhahood." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 67.
*"Bu-ston and his disciple sGra-tshad-pa assert that Buddha-nature should be understood only in its resultant aspect, namely as only the dharmakāya of a buddha." [[Kano, K.]], ''[[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]]'', p. 343. +
"Thus, from the point of view of emptiness, buddha nature is the empty dharmadhātu (the object) and from the point of view of appearance, it is the wisdom (the subject) that is not empty of the inseparable qualities of a buddha. Both these aspects are inseparable and are empty of the adventitious stains that represent the delusive appearances of saṃsāra." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 75. +
C
"Buddha nature was taught merely as a means of temporarily easing ordinary persons of their fear of selflessness and of attracting non-Buddhists." [[Kano, K.]] [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 9. +
"Tathāgata-essence must not be connected to either the first reason—the notion that the resultant buddha-body pervades all beings—or the third reason which is that causal buddha-nature exists in all beings. Therefore, tathāgata-essence is neither the resultant buddha-body nor the causal buddha-nature, rather it is the ultimate nature of suchness." [[Wangchuk, Tsering]]. ''[[The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows]]'', p. 16. +
"In his commentary on RGV I.3, bCom-ldan-ral-gri defines Buddha-nature as “the natural luminous mind that is inseparable from ''dharmatā'',” and, glossing RGV 1.153, states: “the ultimate truth, which is unconditioned and primordially existent by itself, is the element (i.e. Buddha-nature).” [[Kano, K.]], ''[[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]]'', p. 342. (see also Ibid. p. 315.) +
D
*Bu-ston and his disciple sGra-tshad-pa assert that Buddha-nature should be understood only in its resultant aspect, namely as only the dharmakāya of a buddha." [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 343.
*[[Wangchuk, Tsering]], [[The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows]], p. 73.
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"Gro-lung-pa appears elsewhere in the same text to endorse rNgog’s idea of tathatā as emptiness, and follows rNgog’s position with regard to the ineffability of the ultimate." [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 340. +
"He typically describes both buddha nature and the dharmakāya as being ultimately really established, everlasting, eternal, permanent, immutable (''ther zug''), and being beyond dependent origination. He also equates the tathāgata heart with “ālaya-wisdom” as opposed to the ālaya-consciousness." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 68. +
F
Draszczyk, "A Eulogy of Mind’s Connate Qualities," 2015, p. 115 +
G
This is how buddha-nature is explained in the first chapter of the ''Jewel Ornament of Liberation''. +
"In the later Sakya School, it is the works of Gorampa Sönam Sengé (1429–1489) that are usually taken to be authoritative. According to him, the tathāgata heart refers to the nondual unity of mind’s lucidity and emptiness or awareness and emptiness free from all reference points. It is not mere emptiness because sheer emptiness cannot be the basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. However, it is not mere lucidity either because this lucidity is a conditioned entity and the tathāgata heart is unconditioned." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], [[When the Clouds Part]], p. 76. +
"In brief, Gyeltsap argues that buddha-nature, or tathāgata-essence, does not refer to a fully enlightened entity covered by adventitious defilements. Rather it is the same as the emptiness of inherent existence that is explicated in texts such as the ''Prajñāpāramitāsūtras'' and ''Madhyamakāvatāra''." [[Wangchuk, Tsering]], ''[[The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows]]'', p. 106. +
* "The tathāgata heart’s own essence is not a nonimplicative negation but is the element of basic awareness." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 69.
* "The determination of the ultimate as buddha nature or natural luminosity in the third dharmacakra is taken to be the direct mahāmudrā approach to the nature of mind. This approach is not really different from the emptiness of the second dharmacakra. While the analytical methods of the second dharmacakra deflate all concepts, coarse and subtle, about things, the third one purifies phenomenal appearances that hinder the proper perception of buddha nature." [[Mathes, K.]], ''[[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]]'', p. 373.
* "In the third dharmacakra, the scope of such a nonaffirming negation is restricted to the adventitious stains, whose lack of an own-being has been established by inferential valid cognitions. The ultimate that is beyond the intellect is taken to be the emptiness that is buddha nature, or the element of awareness." [[Mathes, K.]], ''[[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]]'', p. 374.
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J
"...He states that Buddha-nature was taught in order to attract those who fear emptiness. [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], pp. 150-151. +
"The [buddha] element in sentient beings makes enlightenment attainable. This enlightenment is attained gradually and not instantaneously..." [[Mathes, K.]], [[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]], p. 42. +
There are different takes on what is view was:
*Karl includes him in the category of those assert buddha-nature to be Mind's Luminous Nature. Stating, "Jñānaśrīmitra cites ''Uttaratantra'' I.154 and RGVV and explains that real aspects are mental forms that have the nature of being appearances of lucidity (''prakāśarūpa''), which he equates with buddha nature—the tathāgata element (''tathāgatadhātu'')." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'',pp. 57-58.
*However, Kano suggests his view is is that buddha-nature shares features (or coincides) with emptiness and is a property (''dharma'') of the image (''ākāra''), which in turn is its possessor (''dharmin''). In this he was a precursor to Ngok's innovative equation of buddha-nature = emptiness. See [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 61. +
K
Though he might be an early antecedent to the position that combines emptiness and luminosity, Brunnhölzl counts him among those that hold this position.
*"One should add here Kamalaśīla’s (c. 740–795) ''Madhyamakāloka'', which takes the tathāgata heart to be natural luminosity but defines the latter as the dharmadhātu characterized by twofold identitylessness: "This statement “All sentient beings possess the tathāgata heart” teaches that all are suitable to attain the state of unsurpassable completely perfect awakening since it is held that the term tathāgata expresses that the dharmadhātu, which is characterized by personal and phenomenal identitylessness, is natural luminosity." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], [[When the Clouds Part]], p. 56. +
*"The tathāgata heart is mind’s luminous ultimate nature or nondual wisdom, which is the basis of everything in saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Its essence is empty, its nature is lucid, and its display is unimpeded (this is also how the nature of the mind is presented in the Mahāmudrā tradition, and the Karmapa’s commentary on the ''Dharmadhātustava'' indeed equates the tathāgata heart with Mahāmudrā)." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 72.
*Another take on this is found in [[Mathes, K.]], ''[[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]]'', pp. 51-54, in which he seems to suggest that his views are more inclined to view it as the dharmadhātu, which is equivalent to dharmakāya.
*"This becomes clear from an answer to a rhetorical question in the autocommentary of the Zab mo nang gi don:
Question: How are the properties of purification produced?
They are supported by buddha nature, [in as much as] it is the dharmakāya of the above-mentioned purity of mind." [[Mathes, K.]], ''[[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]]'', p. 58.
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