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Affirmation in Negation: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in the Light of the Bodhisattva Practices

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The Tathāgatagarbha theory, also known as the Buddha-nature theory, is one of the most influential Mahāyāna doctrines in the East Asian Buddhism. In 1989, it was severely criticized by some Japanese scholars, namely, Shiro Matsumoto and Noriaki Hakamaya, for being contradictory to the Buddha's teaching of non-self (anātman) and accused of being a non-Buddhist theory in disguise. The purpose of this study is to refute such an accusation and to demonstrate the relationship between this theory and the Bodhisattva practices which are the very core of the Mahāyāna Buddhism.
      This dissertation begins with definitions of the term "tathāgatagarbha" and some of its synonyms which are followed by a brief review of the historical development of the Tathāgatagarbha theory from India to China. With these as the background knowledge, it is easier to point out the fallacies of the two Japanese scholars' criticism on this theory. A key issue in their criticism is that they viewed the Tathāgatagarbha theory as the ātman of the Upaniṣads in disguise. It is therefore necessary to discuss not only the distinction between the ātman mentioned in the Tathāgatagarbha theory and that in the Upaniṣads but also the controversy over the issue of ātman versus anātman among the Buddhist scholars.
      In the discussion to clarify the issue of ātman in the Tathāgatagarbha theory, it is demonstrated that the ātman in the Tathāgatagarbha theory is not only uncontradictory to the doctrine of anātman in Buddhism but very important to the Bodhisattva practices in the Mahāyāna Buddhism. It functions as a unity for the Bodhisattvas to voluntarily return to the world of saṃsāra again and again. Furthermore, the purport of the entire theory, that all sentient beings are endowed with the essence of the Buddha, supports various Bodhisattva practices such as the aspiration to save all beings in the world, the six perfections, etc. In a word, the Tathāgatagarbha theory is an excellent representative of the soteriology of the Mahāyāna Buddhism. Included in the end of this dissertation is an annotated translation of the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra. (Source Accessed May 26, 2020)

Citation	Chen, Shu-hui Jennifer. "Affirmation in Negation: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in the Light of the Bodhisattva Practices." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998.

ContentsSources

• Introduction1
  
  
• Chapter One: The Term Tathāgatagarbha and Some of Its Synonyms8
  • 1. Tathāgatagarbha8
    • A. Tathāgata8
    • B. Garbha16
    • C. Tathāgatagarbha17
  • 2. Tathāgatagotra20
    • A. Gotra20
    • B. Tathāgatagotra37
  • 3. Dharmadhātu and Buddhadhātu40
    • A. Dhātu40
    • B. Dharmadhātu45
    • C. Buddhadhātu50
  • 4.Dharmakāya55
  • 5. Prakṛtipariśuddhacitta65
    
    
• Chapter Two: The Development of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in India (1)
  —The Earlier Period74
  • 1. Sūtras:77
    • A. Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra77
    • B. Anūnatvāpūrṇatva-nirdeśa80
    • C. Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanāda-sūtra85
    • D. Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra95
    • E. Anuttarāśraya-sūtra103
    • F. Some Minor Sūtras104
  • 2. Śāstras:115
    • A. Ratnagotravibhāga-śāstra115
    • B. Mahāyānadharmadhātvaviśeṣa-śāstra126
  • 3. A Chart of the Chronological Order of these Works130
    
    
• Chapter Three: The Development of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in India (2)
  —The Later Period131
  • 1. Sūtras:143
    • A. Suvarṇaprabhāsa-sūtra143
    • B. Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra149
    • C. Ghanavyūha-sūtra156
  • 2. Śāstras:160
    • A. The Buddha Nature Treatise160
    • B. Mahāyānaśraddhotpāda-śāstra167
      
      
• Chapter Four: The Development of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in China173
  • 1. The Place of the Tathāgatagarbha theory in Different Kinds of P'an-chiao Systems174
  • 2. The Influence of the MPN in Chinese Buddhism181
    • A. The Issue of the Icchantikas181
    • B. Different Kinds of Buddha Nature184
    • C. The Direct Cause of Buddha Nature195
  • 3. The Buddha Nature in Some Chinese Buddhist Schools213
    • A. The Nieh-p'an School213
    • B. The T'ien-t'ai School219
    • C. The Hua-yen School225
    • D. The Ch'an School230
      
      
• Chapter Five: Refutation of Matsumoto's and Hakamaya's Criticism on the Tathāgatagarbha Theory241
  • 1. Fallacies Shared by Matsumoto and Hakamaya242
    • A. The Issue of Time versus Space243
    • B. The Issue of Unity versus Diversity247
    • C. The Issue of Permanence versus Impermanence250
  • 2. Extreme Views of Matsumoto's Criticism252
    • A. On the Concepts of Vimukti and Nirvāṇa252
    • B. On the Concept of Dharmakāya256
  • 3. Misconceptions of Hakamaya's Criticism261
    • A. On the Authoritarianism and the Lack of Real Altruism in the
      Theory of Fundamental Enlightenment263
    • B. On the Anti-religious Faith in the Theory of Fundamental
      Enlightenment270
      
      
• Chapter Six: A Comparison between the "Ātman" in the Tathāgatagarbha
  theory and That in the Upaniṣads277
  • 1. The "Ātman" in the Upaniṣads277
    • A. Ātman280
    • B. Brahman288
    • C. The Identification of Ātman and Brahman296
  • 2. Comparison of the Concept of Ātman in the Tathāgatagarbha Theory
    with That in the Upaniṣads303
    • A. Downward versus Upward303
    • B. Unitary Brahman versus Myriads of Buddhas307
    • C. Knowledge Leading to the Oneness with the Ātman/Brahman
      versus the Great Compassion for the Salvation of All315
      
      
• Chapter Seven: The Purpose of Postulating the Concept of Ātmapāramitā in
  the Tathāgatagarbha Theory329
  • 1. Controversy over the Concept of Anātman Depicted in the Early
    Canons330
    • A. The Doctrine of Anātman—the Negative Attitude towards the Idea
      of Ātman330
    • B. Having the Self for an Island—the Positive Attitude towards the
      Idea of Ātman335
    • C. The Silence of the Buddha—the Neutral Attitude towards the Idea
      of Ātman339
    • D. The Controversy over the Issue of Ātman versus Anātman in
      Buddhism345
      • (I)Those Who Maintain That There Is Absolutely No Self or Soul
        and Their Theories of Karman and Transmigration346
      • (II) The Other Side of the Controversy356
  • 2. The Absolute in the Mādhyamika and Yogācāra Schools366
    • A. The Concept of Anātman and the Absolute in the Mādhyamika
      School367
      • (I) The Concept of Anātman367
      • (II) Is the Supreme Truth the Absolute in the Mādhyamika
        Theory?375
    • B. The Concept of Ālayavijñāna and the Absolute in the Yogācāra
      School381
      • (I) The Substratum Consciousness—Ālayavijñāna383
      • (II) The Paramārtha-satya in the Yogācāra School391
  • 3. The Purpose of Postulating the Concept of Ātmapāramitā in the Tathāgatagarbha Theory395
    
    
• Chapter Eight: The Tathāgatagarbha Theory as a Support to the Bodhisattva
  Practices406
  • 1. The Tathāgatagarbha Theory and the Bodhisattva Path406
    • A. Buddhayāna Is the Only True Vehicle407
    • B. Bodhisattva Practices Are the Only Way to One's Salvation from the Saṃsāra422
  • 2. The Tathāgatagarbha Theory as a Support to the Bodhisattva Practices431
    • A. Tathāgatagarbha and the Bodhicittotpāda433
    • B. Tathāgatagarbha and the Bodhisattva Vows435
    • C. Tathāgatagarbha and the Six Pāramitās441
      
      
• Conclusion450
• Appendix A: Translation of the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra454
  • I. Introductory Remarks454
  • II. The Translation457
    • Introduction457
    • Parable of the Metamorphosed Buddhas inside Lotuses464
    • Parable of the Honey Guarded by Countless Bees468
    • Parable of the Grain inside Husks470
    • Parable of the Gold in Impurities472
    • Parable of the Treasure under the Ground475
    • Parable of the Seed inside a Fruit478
    • Parable of the Golden Statue Wrapped in Rags480
    • Parable of the Embryo of Cakravartin in the Womb of a Poor
      Woman484
    • Parable of the Golden Image inside the Earthen Mold487
    • Merits of Recitation of This Sūtra490
    • The Jātaka Story of Bodhisattva Aparyantaprabha494
    • Conclusion503
• Appendix B: Glossary of Selected Technical Terms504
  • I. Sanskrit-English504
  • II. Chinese-English506
  • Ill. Japanese-English509
• Bibliography511

1. Buddhabhadra, trans. 大方等如來藏 經 Dà fāng děng rú lái cáng jīng (Tathāgatagarbhasūtra), T666, 16: https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT2012/T0666.html.

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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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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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

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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

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anātman - The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity. Skt. अनात्मन् Tib. བདག་མེད་པ་ Ch. 无我

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anātman - The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity. Skt. अनात्मन् Tib. བདག་མེད་པ་ Ch. 无我

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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

Go to the page with the definition of 'tathāgatagarbha'

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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ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

Go to the page with the definition of 'ātman'

ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

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sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

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sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

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

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buddhadhātu - A synonym for tathāgatagarbha widely used throughout the East Asian Buddhist traditions, as found in its translations as the Chinese term fó xìng and Japanese term busshō. Skt. बुद्धधातु Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཁམས་ Ch. 佛性

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dhātu - A fundamental component or essential constituent. Skt. धातु Tib. ཁམས་ Ch. 界

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

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ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ātman'

ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

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Brahman - Brahman is the universal principle, supreme truth or ultimate reality in the Hindu religion considered to be absolute, eternal and blissful. A metaphysical concept, it is described as the single binding unity behind the diversity of all that exists. In Buddhism, while this metaphysical principle is not presented, one finds frequent mention of the deity named Brahmā, who is the personification of this principle. Skt. ब्रह्मन् Tib. ཚངས་པ།

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anātman - The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity. Skt. अनात्मन् Tib. བདག་མེད་པ་ Ch. 无我

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anātman - The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity. Skt. अनात्मन् Tib. བདག་མེད་པ་ Ch. 无我

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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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ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 阿賴耶識,藏識

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sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'