People
The People
THIS ABOVE IS MORE FOR EXPLORE. DISCOVER COULD BE SOMETHING LIKE THIS:
According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha taught the doctrine of buddha-nature in a series of sermons that are preserved in what are known as "sūtras." These circulated widely in India and China, spreading the idea of buddha-nature to multiple streams of Buddhist thought. (You can read about this scriptures here [I think we could have a section on scripture for the Discover page, and do gentle introductions to the sūtras and the Gyulama].)
In the late Indian and Tibetan tradition, one of the most important books for buddha-nature teachings is called the Ratnagotravibhāga, or Gyulama in Tibetan. According to legend, the bodhisattva Maitreya gave the book to Asaṅga. The story goes that Asaṅga spent over a decade in a cave meditating day and night and praying to Maitreya to appear and teach him. He experienced several periods of doubt, each time leaving his cave and encountering examples of astonishing fortitude. One time he met a man polishing a massive iron bar with a clothe, intending to make a tiny needle. Another time he noticed that the sides of a cliff had been worn smooth by the countless touches of birds' wings. Rededicating himself to his meditation, he continued on for twelve years.
Finally, with no attainment, Asaṅga left his cave in despair. On his way he came across a dog with a broken back laying by the side of the path, with open wounds infested with maggots. Overcome with compassion Asaṅga cleaned the dog's wounds with his tongue, the better to avoid hurting both the dog and the worms. The dog was then revealed to be the bodhisattva Maitreya. Asaṅga, in a fit of pique complained: why have you not appeared to me before? Maitreya explained that only with his act of compassion was Asaṅga's ego dissolved sufficiently for him to see that Maitreya, like all the buddhas, was present all along. Although not classically read as a buddha-nature teaching, it is possible to interpret the presence of Maitreya in this story as Asaṅga's innate buddha-nature, which in his selfishness he was unable to recognize.
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
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
nirmāṇakāya - An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms. Skt. निर्माणकाय Tib. སྤྲུལ་སྐུ། Ch. 化身