Ghanavyūhasūtra

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Relevance to Buddha-nature

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Description from When the Clouds Part

Similar to the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, this text mainly discusses Yogācāra themes (such as the three natures and the related threefold lack of nature). Despite its not being mentioned in the Uttaratantra, RGVV, or the above lists of tathāgatagarbha sūtras, it contains some brief references to tathāgatagarbha. Like several of the above sūtras, the sūtra says that the Tathāgata is permanent, eternal, everlasting, peaceful, blissful, unconditioned, and indestructible. What is called "tathāgata heart" is the dhātu of nirvāṇa or the dharmadhātu, which is indestructible like space. No matter whether buddhas appear or not, this is the abiding true nature.

Similar to the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, the Ghanavyūhasūtra relates tathāgatagarbha to the ālaya-consciousness. Though it does not always clearly distinguish between ālaya-consciousness, ālaya, and tathāgatagarbha, it sometimes differentiates the defiled ālaya-consciousness from the pure ālaya. This pure ālaya is then described as being naturally luminous, the object of those skilled in yoga, and a synonym of tathāgatagarbha. Both the ālaya-consciousness and the pure ālaya/tathāgatagarbha abide together in sentient beings but are, respectively, like dirt and gold covered by dirt.

What is luminous and always pure

Is the ālaya of all living beings.

.. .

Likewise, mentation, mind, and consciousness

Cycle in the dhātus of sentient beings,

But there is neither increase nor decrease—

Natural luminosity always shines.

No matter how ignorant beings think

About the moon’s arising and waning,

The moon itself lacks any arising and waning.

.. .

Likewise, naive ignorant beings

Always think about the arising and waning

Of the ālaya-consciousness,

But it is uncontaminated buddhahood.

No matter how it may arise, this ālaya

Does not become different through that.

Being the matrix from which the active consciousnesses come,

It is like the moon due to the [waxing and waning of] latent tendencies.

The sūtra continues that the ālaya is the cause of afflicted and purified phe- nomena alike—the cause of all saṃsāric forms of existence, of the medi- tative equipoise of the noble ones who see the dharma, and the beautiful realms of all buddhas. When it is realized, buddhahood, the disposition, and the yāna are not different. The pure natural state of the ālaya is seen and heard by bodhisattvas—the supreme purity of the ālaya is seen as adhering to the bodies of all beings, as being endowed with the thirty-two major marks, as buddhas in all kinds of forms, and as the turning of the wheel of dharma. Just as the moon abides in the sky together with the multitude of stars, the ālaya and the consciousnesses abide together in the body. All bodhisattvas who are and will be prophesied as buddhas will become tathāgatas by virtue of the merit of the stainless ālaya.

Some further examples among the many that this sūtra presents of the purity of the ālaya-consciousness in the sense of tathāgatagarbha ’s being enclosed in its obscurations are as follows. Just as pure gold does not shine in its ore but shines when it is cleansed, the ālaya-consciousness within the seven consciousnesses is seen by yogins who purify it through samādhi. Since butter exists in milk but is not seen, those who know that churn the milk to obtain butter. Likewise, the ālaya-consciousness within the seven consciousness is seen by the sages who churn and process it. Just as pure sun and moon crystals reveal their qualities through being hit by sun and moon rays, the uncontaminated ālaya-consciousness—the pure tathāgata heart— reveals its qualities, when it has undergone the fundamental change. Similarly, the sūtra says:

O king, the mind is inconceivable,

Always being naturally luminous.

It is the tathāgata heart,

Which abides like gold in rocks.

.. .

Together with the mind of latent tendencies,

The ālaya of all seeds

Is always the luminous nature

Of what is afflicted and what is pure.

Thus, the disposition of the tathāgatas

.. .

Just as the waves of the ocean,

The ālaya likewise pervades

What is inferior, medium, and supreme.

And:

The ālaya with all kinds of seeds

Is also the splendid sugata heart.

The Tathāgata has taught

This heart through the term ālaya.

The heart that is also known as the ālaya

Is not understood by those of weak insight .. .

Likewise, the purity within the ālaya of consciousness

Is the sphere of the noble ones—

It always shines like gold.

The ālaya that is known as the heart

Is not an object of the conceptual mind.

The imaginary natures

Cannot be conceived,

While the perfect nature

Is always seen by those capable of yoga.

The subject that is the mental consciousness

Is the entity that fetters childish beings.

What appears [for them like] mirages and clusters of hairs

Is seen by the noble ones as what is stainless.

Thus, similar to the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, this sūtra implicitly equates the tathāgata heart even with the perfect nature. One even finds Mahāmudrā-like statements about this ālaya:

Through not knowing one’s own thoughts, They arise similar to waves. Being liberated from thoughts and what is thought of Is the ālaya of all sages.

Interestingly, the main interlocutor in this sūtra has the name Vajragarbha and the same term is also used in the text as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and the pure ālaya. In the same vein, the sūtra also speaks of "the indestructible vajra mind." (pp. 38-41)

Philosophical positions of this text

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?

  

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Does this text belong to definitive or provisional meaning?

  

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Do all beings have buddha-nature?

  

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To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?

  

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Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?

  

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Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?

  

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Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?

  

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Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?

  

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What is Buddha-nature?

  

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Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?

  

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

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

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Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

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RGVV - Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā

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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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According to the Tibetan tradition this is Asaṅga's commentary to the Uttaratantra.

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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

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

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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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kun gzhi - Although it is commonly used as an abbreviation of ālayavijñāna (kun gzhi'i rnam shes), in later Tibetan traditions, particularly that of the Kagyu and the Nyingma, it came to denote an ultimate or pure basis of mind, as opposed to the ordinary, deluded consciousness represented by the ālayavijñāna. Alternatively, in the Jonang tradition, this pure version is referred to as ālaya-wisdom (kun gzhi'i ye shes). Skt. आलय Tib. ཀུན་གཞི་

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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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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āvaraṇa - Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. Skt. आवरण Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་

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Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

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Taishō - Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō, Chinese Tripiṭaka

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neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt. नेयार्थ Tib. དྲང་དོན་

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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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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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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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