Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i gdams pa

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Relevance to Buddha-nature

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As for the transmission of the Uttaratantra, this text (IM) says that Maitrīpa (referred to as Maitreyanātha), while staying in a monastery in Magadha, dreamt that he had put instructions on the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga and Uttaratantra in a four-storied sandalwood stūpa and then received pointing-out instructions on them directly from Maitreya in that dream. The next day, Maitrīpa found the instructions from his dream in a stūpa that he had circumambulated before.

      The actual instructions on the Uttaratantra in IM contain Maitreya’s very direct pointing-out instructions on the nature of the mind, which are based on first making Maitrīpa recognize that he is dreaming and then using his awareness of having a lucid dream. Generally, these pointing-out instructions are very similar to pointing-out instructions in the Mahāmudrā tradition, repeatedly advising Maitrīpa to look directly at the essence of his thoughts and discover their nature as being luminous self-arisen wisdom. IM also uses some typical technical terms, such as "mind as such" (Tib. sems nyid), "beyond mind" (Tib. blo 'das), "connate ignorance" (Tib. lhan cig skyes pa'i ma rig pa), and "imaginary ignorance" (Tib. kun brtags pa'i ma rig pa) in the same way as they are explained in the Mahāmudrā teachings.

      In more detail, first, Maitreya says that the Uttaratantra, which makes buddha nature a living experience, combines the triad of the cause (the tathāgata heart), the conditions (awakening, the qualities, and enlightened activity), and the results (the three jewels). In particular, he points out the tathāgata heart through the inconceivability of the last four vajra points as described in Uttaratantra I.24–25 in a very immediate experiential manner. This is followed by eight further guiding instructions closely based on the Uttaratantra. These instructions consist of identifying one’s own mind as a buddha, being mistaken as a sentient being through thoughts, there being no difference in terms of the benefit of natural luminosity during its three phases (in sentient beings, bodhisattvas, and buddhas), trusting that the guru who points out luminous self-arisen wisdom is a buddha, discussing the scriptural passages on the first three vajra points that are the results, discussing the naturally pure basic element that is the luminous dharmadhātu, being free from the stains of adventitious thoughts (which discusses the last three vajra points), and explaining great nonconceptual wisdom (which mainly consists of a discussion of the five flaws to be counteracted by teaching the tathāgata heart).

      These pointing-out instructions also contain typical Yogācāra elements, such as an explanation of the eight consciousnesses that echoes the one in verse 9 of Vasubandhu’s Trisvabhāvanirdeśa and the equation of saṃsāra with adventitious thoughts, which are nothing but the adventitious stains of mind’s luminosity. These teachings also refer to the vajrayāna instructions on "fourfold luminosity" (for details, see below). In typical vajrayāna and Mahāmudrā fashion, the guru is identified as being equal to a buddha due to being the key person who directly points out the nature of one’s mind.

      Furthermore, in agreement with the Uttaratantra, IM equates the tathāgata heart with mind’s ultimate true nature, mind’s natural luminosity, self-arisen nonconceptual wisdom, buddhahood, and the dharmakāya, all of which are said to exist already in sentient beings, but are merely obscured by imaginary adventitious stains. This is also fully in line with the Avataṃsakasūtra’s example of comparing the immeasurable buddha qualities within the mind streams of ordinary beings to a huge silk cloth with a painting of the universe inside a minute particle (see RGVV on I.25). Needless to mention, all of this is in accord with the Shentong view.

      Interestingly, IM also specifies that its instructions are very advanced teachings that should not be pointed out to four kinds of people: (1) those who cling to the illusionary appearances of saṃsāra as being real (those with great desire), (2) those who cling to the skandhas as being a real self (tīrthikas), (3) those who do not realize great bliss within saṃsāra and thus abandon it for their own benefit (śrāvakas), and (4) those who lack the compassion that benefit others (pratyekabuddhas). These four correspond to the ones that are identified as not being able to realize the tathāgata heart in Uttaratantra I.32–33ab and RGVV. This shows clearly that IM does not explain away positive descriptions of the ultimate as being teachings with only provisional meaning but takes them as definitive instructions for the most advanced practitioners on the Buddhist path. (pp. 315-317)

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

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Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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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

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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dharmadhātu - The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge. Skt. धर्मधातु Tib. ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ Ch. 法界

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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

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Vajrayāna - The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras. Skt. वज्रयान Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ། Ch. 金剛乘

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dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身

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RGVV - Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā

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According to the Tibetan tradition this is Asaṅga's commentary to the Uttaratantra.

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Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā - This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā. Skt. महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रव्याख्या Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt. नेयार्थ Tib. དྲང་དོན་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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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

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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