Media/Douglas Duckworth at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium

Douglas Duckworth at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium - 8 of 23

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Abstract from the Author

Sentient Beings Within: Buddha-Nature and the Great Perfection

This paper describes the status of a sentient being in the buddha rather than how the buddha, or buddha-nature, exists in sentient beings. It focuses in particular on how buddha-nature is interpreted by Mi pham (1846-1912) in light of his tradition of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen). The qualities of a buddha, as present or not at the time of a sentient being, is an issue closely associated with Madhyamaka debates in Tibet around “other-emptiness” (gzhan stong) and “self-emptiness” (rang stong). A position that accepts that the qualities of the buddha are primordially present, unconditioned, and thus not newly produced, is closely connected to the affirmation of an “other-emptiness” view. While Mi pham accepts this position, he also qualifies his assertion by emphasizing the way that the buddha-nature is also empty, and by making a distinction between the way things are (in which all of the buddha’s qualities are primordially present), and the way things appear (in which the qualities of a buddha are newly produced). This paper considers the way his unique treatment of buddha-nature reflects his legacy of the Great Perfection.

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Related Books and Articles

• Hookham, S.K. The Buddha Within: Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991.

• Kapstein, Matthew. "We are all gzhan stong pas: Reflections on the Reflexive Nature of Awareness: A Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence by Paul Williams." Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 7 (2000): 105–125.

• Pettit, John W, and Mi pham rgya mtsho. Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1999.

• Gimello, Robert M. "Apophatic and Kataphatic Discourse in Mahāyāna: A Chinese View." Philosophy East and West 26, no. 2 (1976): 117-136.

Related Texts

• Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
• Lion's Roar, Exposition of Buddha Nature (Bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng ge'i nga ro)
• Lion's Roar Proclaiming Extrinsic Emptiness (Gzhan stong khas len seng ge'i nga ro)
• Vajra Essence (Gnyug sems ’od gsal ba’i don rgyal ba rig ’dzin brgyud pa’i lung bzhin brjod pa rdo rje snying po)

People Mentioned

• Mipam Gyamtso
• Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab
• Tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho
• Khedrup Je
• Longchen Rabjam
• David Higgins
• Dorji Wangchuk

About the video

Featuring	Douglas Duckworth
Creator	University of Vienna, Tsadra Foundation
Event	Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia (17 July 2019, University of Vienna, Austria)
Related Website	Buddha-Nature Project
Video Web Location	Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia
Creation Date	17 July 2019
Citation	Duckworth, Douglas. "Sentient Beings Within: Buddha-Nature and the Great Perfection." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 42:46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slBWdnUfS8w.

Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

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

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་

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་

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

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

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་

Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘