The Buddhist Self

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|TileDescription=A methodical examination of Indian teaching about the ''tathāgatagarbha'' (“Buddha-nature”) and foundational Buddhist teachings about 'not-self' (''anātman''). In 2021 ''The Buddhist Self'' was awarded the Toshihide Numata Book Award.
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|BookToc=TITLE PAGE<br>
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DEDICATION<br>
|VideoId=Iu1YnEaEvWo
COPYRIGHT<br>
|BookToc=**{{i|ACKNOWLEDGMENTS|XI}}
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS<br>
**{{i|ABBREVIATIONS|VIII}}
ABBREVIATIONS<br>
**{{i|CONVENTIONS|XVII}}
CONVENTIONS<br>
 
*{{i|1 Introduction|1}}
**{{i|1.1 Self and Not-Self in Early Buddhism|1}}
**{{i|1.2 ''Tathāgatagarbha'' Literature in Overview|11}}
**{{i|1.3 Essences, Natures, Wombs, and Chambers|14}}
**{{i|1.4 Buddhist ''Ātmavāda:'' Preliminary Thoughts|21}}


1: Introduction<br>
1.1 Self and Not-Self in Early Buddhism<br>
1.2 ''Tathāgatagarbha'' Literature in Overview<br>
1.3 Essences, Natures, Wombs, and Chambers<br>
1.4 Buddhist ''Ātmavāda'': Preliminary Thoughts<br>
<br>
'''Part I: Buddha-Nature, the Self'''<br>
'''Part I: Buddha-Nature, the Self'''<br>
<br>
2: The ''Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra'' and the Buddhist Self<br>
2.1 The Text<br>
2.2 The Buddha as Self<br>
2.3 Buddha-nature and the Self<br>
2.4 Contentions and Clarifications<br>
2.5 The True Self and False Notions of It<br>
2.6 Self and Absence of Self<br>
2.7 Buddha-nature in Dharmakṣema's MPNMSD+ <br>
2.8 Conclusions<br>


3: The ''Aṅgulimālīyasūtra'' and the Essential Self<br>
*{{i|2 The ''Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra'' and the Buddhist Self|29}}
3.1 The Text<br>
**{{i|2.1 The Text|29}}
3.2 An "Essence" of One's Own<br>
**{{i|2.2 The Buddha as Self|33}}
3.3 What Buddha-nature Is Not: More False Notions of the Self<br>
**{{i|2.3 Buddha-nature and the Self|40}}
3.4 Perceiving Buddha-nature<br>
**{{i|2.4 Contentions and Clarifications|47}}
3.5 Essence, Action, and the Self<br>
**{{i|2.5 The True Self and False Notions of It|55}}
3.6 A "Single Essence"<br>
**{{i|2.6 Self and Absence of Self|59}}
3. 7 Buddhism contra Other Systems<br>
**{{i|2.7 Buddha-nature in Dharmakṣema's MPNMSD+ |62}}
3.8 Conclusions<br>
**{{i|2.8 Conclusions|67}}


4: The ''Mahābherīhārakasūtra'' and Liberation of the Self<br>
*{{i|3 The ''Aṅgulimālīyasūtra'' and the Essential Self|70}}
4.1 The Text<br>
**{{i|3.1 The Text|70}}
4.2 Continuity of the Self<br>
**{{i|3.2 An "Essence" of One's Own|74}}
4.3 The Sovereign Self<br>
**{{i|3.3 What Buddha-nature Is Not: More False Notions of the Self|77}}
4.4 Buddha-nature and Buddhist Practice<br>
**{{i|3.4 Perceiving Buddha-nature|79}}
4.5 Self, Not-Self, and Emptiness<br>
**{{i|3.5 Essence, Action, and the Self|83}}
4.6 Conclusions<br>
**{{i|3.6 A "Single Essence"|87}}
**{{i|3. 7 Buddhism contra Other Systems|91}}
**{{i|3.8 Conclusions|95}}
 
*{{i|4 The ''Mahābherīhārakasūtra'' and Liberation of the Self|97}}
**{{i|4.1 The Text|97}}
**{{i|4.2 Continuity of the Self|100}}
**{{i|4.3 The Sovereign Self|104}}
**{{i|4.4 Buddha-nature and Buddhist Practice|107}}
**{{i|4.5 Self, Not-Self, and Emptiness|109}}
**{{i|4.6 Conclusions|114}}


'''Part II: Buddha-nature, Not Self'''
'''Part II: Buddha-nature, Not Self'''


5: The ''Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra'' and the Perfection of Self<br>
*{{i|5 The ''Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra'' and the Perfection of Self|119}}
5.1 The Text<br>
**{{i|5.1 The Text|119}}
5.2 Reimagining ''Tathāgatagarbha''
**{{i|5.2 Reimagining ''Tathāgatagarbha''|122}}
5.3 The ''Dharmakāya'' and Its Qualities<br>
**{{i|5.3 The ''Dharmakāya'' and Its Qualities|129}}
5.4 On "Singularity"<br>
**{{i|5.4 On "Singularity"|132}}
5.5 Conclusions<br>
**{{i|5.5 Conclusions|136}}
|AddRelatedTab=No
 
*{{i|6 Other ''Tathāgatagarbha'' Sources|139}}
**{{i|6.1 The ''Anūnatvāpūrṇatvānirdeśaparivarta''|139}}
**{{i|6.2 The ''Tathāgatagarbhasūtra''|143}}
**{{i|6.3 The ''Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra''|148}}
 
*{{i|7 The ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' and the Self That Is No Self|154}}
**{{i|7.1 The Text|154}}
**{{i|7.2 Buddha-nature and the "Basic" RGV|158}}
**{{i|7.3 "Perfection of Self' in the RGVV|167}}
**{{i|7.4 ''Tathāgatagarbha'' as, Once Again, the Self|175}}
**{{i|7.5 Conclusions|178}}
 
*{{i|8 The ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'' and Rejecting the Buddhist Self|181}}
**{{i|8.1 The Text|181}}
**{{i|8.2 ''Tathāgatagarbha'' and Absence of Self|183}}
**{{i|8.3 The ''"Ālayavijñāna-Tathāgatagarbha"''|188}}
**{{i|8.4 Selfhood in the ''Sagāthaka''|191}}
**{{i|8.5 Conclusions|194}}
**{{i|8.6 Postscript: After the LAS|195}}
 
'''Part III: Buddha-nature Reconsidered'''<br>
 
*{{i|9 Recurring Themes and Motifs|203}}
**{{i|9.1 The Single Vehicle|203}}
**{{i|9.2 "Cryptic" Utterances|210}}
**{{i|9.3 The Intrinsically Pure Mind|214}}
**{{i|9.4 "Sarvalokapriyadarśana"|217}}
**{{i|9.5 Emptiness and Nonemptiness|218}}
**{{i|9.6 Non-Buddhists and Their Teachings|223}}
 
*{{i|10 Evolution of the Buddhist Self|229}}
**{{i|10.1 The Course of Buddha-nature Teaching|229}}
**{{i|10.2 Origins of the Buddha-nature Idea|237}}
**{{i|10.3 Liberation and the Self|245}}
**{{i|10.4 Buddhist Selfhood and the Mahāyāna|253}}
**{{i|10.5 Closing Thoughts|261}}
 
**{{i|REFERENCES|265}}
**{{i|INDEX|287}}
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Latest revision as of 11:41, 22 September 2021



The Buddhist Self
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The assertion that there is nothing in the constitution of any person that deserves to be considered the self (ātman)—a permanent, unchanging kernel of personal identity in this life and those to come—has been a cornerstone of Buddhist teaching from its inception. Whereas other Indian religious systems celebrated the search for and potential discovery of one’s “true self,” Buddhism taught about the futility of searching for anything in our experience that is not transient and ephemeral. But a small yet influential set of Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, composed in India in the early centuries CE, taught that all sentient beings possess at all times, and across their successive lives, the enduring and superlatively precious nature of a Buddha. This was taught with reference to the enigmatic expression tathāgatagarbha—the “womb” or “chamber” for a Buddha—which some texts refer to as a person’s true self.

The Buddhist Self is a methodical examination of Indian teaching about the tathāgatagarbha (otherwise the presence of one's “Buddha-nature”) and the extent to which different Buddhist texts and authors articulated this in terms of the self. C. V. Jones attends to each of the Indian Buddhist works responsible for explaining what is meant by the expression tathāgatagarbha, and how far this should be understood or promoted using the language of selfhood. With close attention to these sources, Jones argues that the trajectory of Buddha-nature thought in India is also the history and legacy of a Buddhist account of what deserves to be called the self: an innovative attempt to equip Mahāyāna Buddhism with an affirmative response to wider Indian interest in the discovery of something precious or even divine in one's own constitution. This argument is supplemented by critical consideration of other themes that run through this distinctive body of Mahāyānist literature: the relationship between Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachings about the self, the overlap between the tathāgatagarbha and the nature of the mind, and the originally radical position that the only means of becoming liberated from rebirth is to achieve the same exalted status as the Buddha. (Source: University of Hawai'i Press)

Citation Jones, Christopher V. The Buddhist Self: On Tathāgatagarbha and Ātman. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2020.


    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTSXI
    • ABBREVIATIONSVIII
    • CONVENTIONSXVII
  • 1 Introduction1
    • 1.1 Self and Not-Self in Early Buddhism1
    • 1.2 Tathāgatagarbha Literature in Overview11
    • 1.3 Essences, Natures, Wombs, and Chambers14
    • 1.4 Buddhist Ātmavāda: Preliminary Thoughts21

Part I: Buddha-Nature, the Self

  • 2 The Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra and the Buddhist Self29
    • 2.1 The Text29
    • 2.2 The Buddha as Self33
    • 2.3 Buddha-nature and the Self40
    • 2.4 Contentions and Clarifications47
    • 2.5 The True Self and False Notions of It55
    • 2.6 Self and Absence of Self59
    • 2.7 Buddha-nature in Dharmakṣema's MPNMSD+ 62
    • 2.8 Conclusions67
  • 3 The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra and the Essential Self70
    • 3.1 The Text70
    • 3.2 An "Essence" of One's Own74
    • 3.3 What Buddha-nature Is Not: More False Notions of the Self77
    • 3.4 Perceiving Buddha-nature79
    • 3.5 Essence, Action, and the Self83
    • 3.6 A "Single Essence"87
    • 3. 7 Buddhism contra Other Systems91
    • 3.8 Conclusions95
  • 4 The Mahābherīhārakasūtra and Liberation of the Self97
    • 4.1 The Text97
    • 4.2 Continuity of the Self100
    • 4.3 The Sovereign Self104
    • 4.4 Buddha-nature and Buddhist Practice107
    • 4.5 Self, Not-Self, and Emptiness109
    • 4.6 Conclusions114

Part II: Buddha-nature, Not Self

  • 5 The Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra and the Perfection of Self119
    • 5.1 The Text119
    • 5.2 Reimagining Tathāgatagarbha122
    • 5.3 The Dharmakāya and Its Qualities129
    • 5.4 On "Singularity"132
    • 5.5 Conclusions136
  • 7 The Ratnagotravibhāga and the Self That Is No Self154
    • 7.1 The Text154
    • 7.2 Buddha-nature and the "Basic" RGV158
    • 7.3 "Perfection of Self' in the RGVV167
    • 7.4 Tathāgatagarbha as, Once Again, the Self175
    • 7.5 Conclusions178

Part III: Buddha-nature Reconsidered

  • 9 Recurring Themes and Motifs203
    • 9.1 The Single Vehicle203
    • 9.2 "Cryptic" Utterances210
    • 9.3 The Intrinsically Pure Mind214
    • 9.4 "Sarvalokapriyadarśana"217
    • 9.5 Emptiness and Nonemptiness218
    • 9.6 Non-Buddhists and Their Teachings223
  • 10 Evolution of the Buddhist Self229
    • 10.1 The Course of Buddha-nature Teaching229
    • 10.2 Origins of the Buddha-nature Idea237
    • 10.3 Liberation and the Self245
    • 10.4 Buddhist Selfhood and the Mahāyāna253
    • 10.5 Closing Thoughts261
    • REFERENCES265
    • INDEX287

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 'the self'

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 'the self'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'ātman'

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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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

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

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Tathāgatagarbha'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ātman'

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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An important sūtra source for the Ratnagotravibhāga, particularly for its discussion of the nine examples that illustrate how all sentient beings possess buddha-nature.

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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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RGV - Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

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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.

Go to the page with the definition of 'RGV'

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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Descent into Laṅka Sūtra, a very influential text in East Asia and Nepal.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Laṅkāvatārasūtra'

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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LAS - Laṅkāvatārasūtra

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