Karl Brunnhölzl Interview on Buddha-Nature

Karl Brunnhölzl Interview on Buddha-Nature

Karl Brunnhölzl

2019/12/30

Interview

Interview

Listen to Audio Only or Download mp3:

About the interview

Karl Brunnhölzl discusses buddha-nature and it's related concepts in an interview with Marcus Perman of Tsadra Foundation.

Clips from the interview

What Is Buddha-Nature?

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1 of 13

0:46 min

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What Is the Purpose of Buddha-Nature Teachings?

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2 of 13

3:38 min

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Is Buddha-Nature a Radical Teaching?

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3 of 13

3:26 min

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On His Book When the Clouds Part

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4 of 13

4:12 min

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Vajrayana Practice & Buddha-Nature

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5 of 13

7:20 min

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On Chapter 1 Verse 28 of the Uttaratantra by Karl Brunnhölzl

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6 of 13

5:50 min

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The Debate over Buddha-Nature

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7 of 13

4:21 min

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What Is Luminosity?

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8 of 13

4:21 min

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Emptiness or Luminosity: What's the Deal?

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9 of 13

2:09 min

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Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature?

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10 of 13

6:58 min

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On the Future of Buddha-Nature Studies

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11 of 13

1:33 min

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On the Origins and Authorship of the Uttaratantrashastra

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12 of 13

4:31 min

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Why Study Buddha-Nature?

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13 of 13

2:07 min

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In this interview, Karl Brunnhölzl discusses buddha-nature and the key ideas behind it, the controversies it generates, and some of the related Buddhist philosophy in comparative perspective.

Clips from the Interview

Clips from the Interview

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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Is Buddha-Nature a Radical Teaching?

Brunnhölzl, Karl. "Is Buddha-Nature a Radical Teaching?" Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 3:26. https://youtu.be/l86nQ9ac58M.; Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, Key Terms/āgantukamala, Topics/Defining buddha-nature, Topics/Sentient beings

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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On His Book When the Clouds Part

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “On His Book When the Clouds Part.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 4:12. https://youtu.be/PrMMjo6fDwg; Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, Key Terms/Kagyu, People/Sgam po pa, People/Maitrīpa, Key Terms/Tsen Tradition

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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On the Future of Buddha-Nature Studies

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “On the Future of Buddha-Nature Studies.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 1:33. https://youtu.be/ex_6hi_58YY.; Key Terms/gzhan stong, Key Terms/Sakya, People/Klong chen pa, Topics/History of buddha-nature in Tibet

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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On the Origins and Authorship of the Uttaratantrashastra

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “On the Origins and Authorship of the Uttaratantrashastra.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 4:31. https://youtu.be/uzRwoCR-85Y.; Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, Texts/Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, Topics/History of buddha-nature in Tibet, Topics/History of buddha-nature in India

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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The Debate over Buddha-Nature

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “The Debate over Buddha-Nature.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 4:21. https://youtu.be/jMV3uHDWg_o.; Key Terms/ātman, Topics/Defining buddha-nature, Topics/Disclosure model, Topics/Debate(s)

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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Vajrayana Practice & Buddha-Nature

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “Vajrayana Practice & Buddha-Nature.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 7:20. https://youtu.be/fEwwwz_dmx8.; Key Terms/āgantukamala, Key Terms/tha mal gyi shes pa, Topics/Mahamudra, Topics/Dzogchen, Topics/Disclosure model, Topics/Vajrayana, Topics/Potential or already-perfected

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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What Is Buddha-Nature?

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “What Is Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 00:46. https://youtu.be/RmB7lZm3jBc.; Topics/Defining buddha-nature

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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What Is Luminosity?

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “What Is Luminosity?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 4:21. https://youtu.be/pOeoZJIHdL8.; Topics/Buddha-nature as Luminosity

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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What Is the Purpose of Buddha-Nature Teachings?

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “What Is the Purpose of Buddha-Nature Teachings?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 3:58. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVUa8LOb_4Q.; Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, Key Terms/āgantukamala, Topics/Disclosure model

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature?

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “Which Tibetans Wrote about Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 6:58. https://youtu.be/wWzrtDltUwE.; Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, People/'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal, People/'jam mgon kong sprul, People/Karmapa, 3rd, People/Dol po pa, People/Mi pham rgya mtsho, People/Karmapa, 8th, People/ShAkya mchog ldan, People/Klong chen pa, People/TA ra nA tha, Topics/The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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Why Study Buddha-Nature?

Brunnhölzl, Karl. “Why Study Buddha-Nature?” Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 2:07. https://youtu.be/ucYPoDioF_U.; Topics/Defining buddha-nature, Topics/Christian thought and Buddha-Nature

Karl Brunnhölzl

Excerpt

Karl Brunnhölzl

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Emptiness or Luminosity: What's the Deal?

Brunnhölzl, Karl. "Emptiness or Luminosity: What's the Deal?" Interview by Marcus Perman. Tsadra Foundation Research Department, December 3, 2018. Video, 2:09. https://youtu.be/5ColQ_xRPYo.; Key Terms/śūnyatā, Key Terms/prabhāsvaratā, Topics/Disclosure model

References

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra'

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་

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Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

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Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib. ས་སྐྱ་

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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

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Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

Go to the page with the definition of 'Luminosity'

prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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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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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

Go to the page with the definition of 'prabhāsvaratā'

prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

Go to the page with the definition of 'prabhāsvaratā'