Books/Fundamental Potential for Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism/The Nine Examples of Buddha Potential

The Nine Examples of Buddha Potential

Loden, Geshe Acharya Thubten. "The Nine Examples of Buddha Potential: Meaning of the Examples of the Obscured Objects and Their Obscurations." In Fundamental Potential for Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism, 118–31. Melbourne: Tushita Publications, 1996.

1. Meaning of the Examples of the Obscured Objects and Their Obscurations

1 Brief explanation
2 Extensive explanation

1.1 Brief Explanation

That existing within the enclosure of the delusions
Is known by these examples

Though the nature of the mind of sentient beings is pure, it nonetheless exists within the enclosure of the delusions. However, these delusions, which are merely adventitious stains, do not permeate the nature of the mind. This can be seen by examining the following nine examples.

Like a Buddha in a decaying lotus, honey amidst bees,
Grain within its husk, gold inside filth,
Treasure in the ground, and sprouts and so on arising from
the seeds (within fruits),
A Buddha's form in tattered cloth, and

Like a king in an ugly woman's womb,
A precious form existing within a clay (mould): similarly,
Obscured by the stains of the adventitious delusions,
This Buddha potential exists in all sentient beings.

What then are the nine examples? The first is the presence of a Buddha's form, complete with the major and minor marks, enclosed within a decaying lotus flower. The second is the presence of honey amid a swarm of bees. The third is a grain existing within its husk. The fourth is the presence of gold covered by filth. The fifth is the existence of a precious treasure under the ground. The sixth is the potential within the seed of a fruit to sprout into a tree. The seventh is a Buddha statue made from precious jewels covered by tattered rags. The eighth is the presence of a baby, who will become a great king, within the womb of an ugly woman. The ninth is the presence of a golden Buddha statue encased in a clay mould.
      As illustrated by these examples, Buddha potential exists within the continuum of sentient beings, obscured by the stains of nine types of adventitious defilements.

1.2 Extensive Explanation
The example of the lotus

Suppose abiding within an ugly-coloured lotus
Were a Tathagata shining with thousands of marks.
When perceived by a human with the pure divine eye,
It would be extracted from those 'water-born' petals.

Similarly, the Tathagata sees with his Buddha eye
The true nature of even those abiding in the lowest hells.
Unobstructed, and remaining through compassion till the
limit of the future,
He makes us free of obscurations.

Just as the Tathagata within the closed decaying lotus
Is seen inside by the divine eye and then the petals cut
away,
Likewise the completely enlightened essence is perceived
enclosed by the obscuring impurities of desire, hatred and
so forth,
And through compassion the Victor destroys such
obscurations.

āgantukamala - Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence. Skt. आगन्तुकमल Tib. གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་

bīja - A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth. Skt. बीज Tib. ས་བོན་ Ch. 無漏種

āgantukamala - Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence. Skt. आगन्तुकमल Tib. གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་

āvaraṇa - Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. Skt. आवरण Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་

Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་

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

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

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

prabhāsvaracitta - The luminous aspect of mind that is often contrasted with its empty aspect. It is often used figuratively to reference the cognizant, or knowing, aspect of mind and sometimes more literally as the natural luminosity of mind and luminous wisdom that is experienced in meditation. Skt. प्रभास्वरचित्त Tib. འོད་གསལ་གྱི་སེམས་ Ch. 光明心