- On the problem of the text's title see Hiromi Habata, Die zentralasialischen Sanskrit-Pragmente des Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra: Kritische Ausgabe des Sanskrittextes und seiner tibetischen Übertragung im Vergleich mit den chinesischen Übersetzungen, Indica et Tibetica 51 (Marburg : lndica et Tibetica, 2007), pp. xliii–li.
- (missing Chinese characters) Takasaki Jikidō, Nyoraizō shisō no keisei: Indo daijō bukkyō shisō kenkyū [Formation of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory: A Study on the Historical Background of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory of Mahāyāna Buddhism Based upon the Scriptures Preceding the Ratnagotravibhāga] (Tōkyō: Shunjūsha, 1974), pp. 128–190.
Buddhadhātu, Tathāgatadhātu and Tathāgatagarbha in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra
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Citation: | Habata, Hiromi. "Buddhadhātu, Tathāgatadhātu and Tathāgatagarbha in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra." Hōrin 18 (2015): 176–96. |
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Article Summary
Comparing the Sanskrit fragments and the Ratnagotravibhāga, which quotes the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra (that is the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra), the original Sanskrit word fóxìng is buddhadhātu, tathāgatadhātu or tathāgatagarbha. Takasaki Jikidō's research on the tathāgatagarbha theory led him to conclude that the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra is the first known text in which the word buddhadhātu is used in this meaning.[2]
I have been studying the original text of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra for some time, analyzing the Sanskrit fragments in comparison with the Tibetan and Chinese translations. From the viewpoint of the original text, the meaning of the formula "Every living being has the Buddha-nature" reveals nuances slightly different from the interpretations adopted in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. (Habata, introduction, 176–77)