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The Active Self: A Philosophical Study of the "Buddha Nature Treatise" and Other Chinese Buddhist Texts

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        Buddha nature is the Thusness revealed by the twin
        emptiness of man and things. . . . If one does not
        speak of Buddha nature, one does not understand
        emptiness.[1]

The Buddhist notion of anātman, no self, has been a source of fascination and bewilderment to Western thinkers ever since the introduction of Buddhism to the West. Yet once we accept this notion and its centrality in Buddhist thought and practice, our bewilderment is redoubled when we learn that certain texts of the tathāgatagarbha/Buddha nature lineage speak in the most positive language of such things as a Buddha nature, a pure mind and even the perfection of selfhood. How can such language be used within a tradition which places so much importance on the anātman teaching? Similarly, we are at first puzzled by the Mādhyamika teaching that everything is empty (śūnya) and that the supreme truth is emptiness. This language is the product of a man, Nāgārjuna, who is regarded as second only to the Buddha by Mahāyāna Buddhists and whose thinking forms the core of Mahāyāna philosophy. How, then, do the Buddha nature theorists intend their remarks that the Buddha nature is revealed by emptiness and that the perfections of purity, self, bliss and eternity characteristic of the dharmakāya, with which the Buddha nature is identified, are not empty (aśūnya)? Such doctrines are astonishing in the context of Mādhyamika emptiness teachings.
      This study addresses these philosophical issues. What is the Buddha-nature? What is its ontological status? Why do certain texts speak of a Buddha nature? What is the place of a Buddha nature concept in the context of the history of Buddhist thought? In particular, can it be reconciled with the central teachings of anātman and śūnyatā? If so, how? In short, what does the term "Buddha nature" represent and how does it function?
      I shall approach these issues through an examination of the Buddha nature concept within the context of Chinese Buddhism. The Buddha nature idea achieved a popularity and an importance in China which greatly exceeded its importance in India. China was the site of the heated and sustained "Buddha nature controversy" which revolved around the issue of whether or not all beings possess a Buddha nature. Virtually all important Buddhist schools and thinkers were obliged to commit themselves to positions on this crucial issue of the time and these positions became one of the primary criteria by which they judged each other. As a result of its being made an object of such scrutiny, the importance of the Buddha nature concept for subsequent developments of Chinese Buddhism was assured. I shall therefore be concerned toward the end of the study to consider the influences the Buddha nature concept may have had on some of these subsequent developments. (King, introduction, 1–3)

Notes

1. Fo Hsing Lun, (Buddha Nature Treatise, BNT), attributed to Vasubandhu, translated by Paramārtha. T. 31, #1610, p. 787b.

Citation	King, Sallie B. "The Active Self: A Philosophical Study of the 'Buddha Nature Treatise' and Other Chinese Buddhist Texts." PhD diss., Temple University, 1981.

Contents

• Acknowledgmentsvii
• List of Abbreviationsix
• Chapter
• 1. Introduction1

•                                               Part One: The Texts14

• 2. The Buddha Nature Treatise24
  • A. Introduction and Refutation of Other Views30
    • 1. Introduction30
    • 2. Refutation of Other Views31
      • a. Refuting Hinayana Views: Buddha Nature Neither Exists Nor
        Does Not Exist32
      • b. Refuting Non-Buddhist Philosophies: Buddha Nature is Not an
        Own-Nature42
      • c. Clarification of Mahayana Views: The True Meaning of the Two
        Truths Doctrine48
    • 3. Evaluation56
  • B. The Essence of Buddha Nature: Bodhicitta, True Nature and
    Tathagatagarbha59
    • 1. Introduction59
    • 2. Analysis60
      • a. The Three Causes60
      • b. The Three Natures61
      • c. Tathagatagarbha68
    • 3. Evaluation77
  • C. Characteristics of Buddha Nature, I: Action and
    Non-Substantiality82
    • 1. Introduction82
    • 2. Analysis84
      • a. Transformation of the Basis84
      • b. Dharmakaya and Nirvana98
      • c. The Non-Substantiality of Self and Mind108
    • 3. Evaluation120
  • D. Characteristics of Buddha Nature, II: Soteriology122
    • 1. Introduction122
    • 2. Analysis122
      • a. The Man-Buddha Relationship122
      • b. The Middle Path127
      • c. The Trikāya144
    • 3. Evaluation161
  • E. Conclusion166
• 3. Two Other Texts172
  • A. The No Increase, No Decrease Sūtra172
    • 1. Introduction172
    • 2. Analytic Summary175
    • 3. Evaluation181
  • B. The Supreme Basis Sūtra189
    • 1. Introduction189
    • 2. Analysis192
    • 3. Concluding Evaluation212

•                                               Part Two: The Philosophy215
• 4. Ontology219
  • A. Introduction219
  • B. Contra Monism222
  • C. Nondualism—Other Aspects250
  • D. Conclusion258
• 5. Action261
  • A. Introduction261
  • B. Action262
    • 1. The Supreme Basis Sūtra262
    • 2. The Buddha Nature Treatise264
  • C. Non-Substantiality270
    • 1. Own-Nature270
    • 2. Mind274
    • 3. Consciousness -Only277
  • D. Conclusion279
• 6. Practice280
  • A. Introduction280
  • B. Analysis281
    • 1. The Buddha Nature Treatise281
    • 2. The Supreme Basis Sūtra289
  • C. Conclusion290

•                                               Part Three: The Influence293
• 7. The Influence of Buddha Nature Thought on Chinese Buddhism294
  • A. Introduction294
  • B. Ch'an299
  • C. Pure Land303
  • D. The Positive Valuation of Phenomenal Reality305
  • E. Conclusion317
• 8. Conclusion: The Significance of Buddha Nature Thought319
• Appendix: Buddha Nature Thought and Mysticism331
• Glossary349
• Bibliography357

śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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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

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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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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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śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt. बोधिचित्त Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch. 菩提心

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trikāya - The three enlightened forms of a buddha one attains when one becomes fully enlightened. They include the truth body (dharmakāya), enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya), and the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya). The three bodies comprise the many qualities and powers associated with buddhahood and thus are the result sought through Mahāyāna Buddhist practice. Skt. त्रिकाय Tib. སྐུ་གསུམ། Ch. 三身

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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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