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From Buddha-Nature
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''Creation and Completion'' represents some of the most profound teachings of Jamgön Kongtrul (1813-99), one of the true spiritual and literary giants of Tibetan history. Though brief, it offers a lifetime of advice for all who wish to engage in-and deepen-the practice of tantric Buddhist meditation.
The original text, beautifully translated and introduced by Sarah Harding, is further brought to life by an in-depth commentary by the contemporary master Thrangu Rinpoche. Key Tibetan Buddhist fundamentals are quickly made clear, so that the reader may confidently enter into tantra’s oft-misunderstood “creation” and “completion” stages.
In the creation stage, practitioners visualize themselves in the form of buddhas and other enlightened beings in order to break down their ordinary concepts of themselves and the world around them. This meditation practice prepares the mind for engaging in the completion stage, where one has a direct encounter with the ultimate nature of mind and reality. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/creation-and-completion/ Wisdom Publications]) +
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the relative calm world of Japanese Buddhist scholarship was thrown into chaos with the publication of several works by Buddhist scholars Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shiro, dedicated to the promotion of something they called Critical Buddhism (hihan bukkyo). In their quest to re-establish a "true" - rational, ethical and humanist - form of East Asian Buddhism, the Critical Buddhists undertook a radical deconstruction of historical and contemporary East Asian Buddhism, particularly Zen. While their controversial work has received some attention in English-language scholarship, this is the first book-length treatment of Critical Buddhism as both a philosophical and religious movement, where the lines between scholarship and practice blur. Providing a critical and constructive analysis of Critical Buddhism, particularly the epistemological categories of critica and topica, this book examines contemporary theories of knowledge and ethics in order to situate Critical Buddhism within modern Japanese and Buddhist thought as well as in relation to current trends in contemporary Western thought. (Source: [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315574912 Taylor & Francis]) +
Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson discuss Critical Buddhism, a trend in Japanese Buddhist scholarship associated primarily with the work of Hakamaya Noriaki and Matsumoto Shiro. +
Wŏnhyo (617–686) is the dominant figure in the history of Korean Buddhism and one of the most influential thinkers in the Korean philosophical tradition. Koreans know Wŏnhyo in his various roles as Buddhist mystic, miracle worker, social iconoclast, religious proselytist, and cultural hero. Above all else, Wŏnhyo was an innovative thinker and prolific writer, whose works cover the gamut of Indian and Sinitic Buddhist materials: Some one hundred treatises and commentaries are attributed to him, twenty-three of which are extant today. Wŏnhyo’s importance is not limited to the peninsula, however. His writings were widely read in China and Japan, and his influence on the overall development of East Asian Mahāyāna thought is significant, particularly in relation to the Huayan, Chan, and Pure Land schools.
In ''Cultivating Original Enlightenment'', the first volume in The International Association of Wŏnhyo Studies’ Collected Works of Wŏnhyo series, Robert E. Buswell Jr. translates Wŏnhyo’s longest and culminating work, the ''Exposition of the Vajrasamâdhi-Sûtra (Kŭmgang Sammaegyŏng Non)''. Wŏnhyo here brings to bear all the tools acquired throughout a lifetime of scholarship and meditation to the explication of a scripture that has a startling connection to the Korean Buddhist tradition. In his treatise, Wŏnhyo examines the crucial question of how enlightenment can be turned from a tantalizing prospect into a palpable reality that manifests itself in all activities. (Source: [https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/cultivating-original-enlightenment-wonhyos-exposition-of-the-vajrasamadhi-sutra-kumgang-sammaegyong-non/ University of Hawai'i Press]) +
Soon after the inception of Buddhism in the sixth or fifth century B.C.E., the Buddha ordered his small band of monks to wander forth for the welfare and weal of the many, a command that initiated one of the greatest missionary movements in world religious history. But this account of a monolithic missionary movement spreading outward from the Buddhist homeland of India across the Asian continent is just one part of the story. The case of East Asian Buddhism suggests another tale, one in which the dominant eastward current of diffusion creates important eddies, or countercurrents, of influence that redound back toward the center. These countercurrents have had significant, even profound, impact on neighboring traditions.</br>
In East Asia perhaps the most important countercurrent of influence came from Korea, the focus of this volume. Chapters examine the role played by the Paekche kingdom in introducing Buddhist material culture (especially monastic architecture) to Japan and the impact of Korean scholiasts on the creation of several distinctive features that eventually came to characterize Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. The lives and intellectual importance of the monks Sungnang (fl. ca. 490) and Wonch’uk (613–696) are reassessed, bringing to light their role in the development of early intellectual schools within Chinese Buddhism. Later chapters discuss the influential teachings of the semi-legendary master Musang (684–762), the patriarch of two of the earliest schools of Ch’an; the work of a dozen or so Korean monks active in the Chinese T’ient’ai tradition; and the Huiyin monastery. [https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/currents-and-countercurrents-korean-influences-on-the-east-asian-buddhist-traditions Source: University of Hawai'i Press] +
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Anthology of articles covering such topics as the early history of the ''Awakening of Faith'', the influence of its doctrine of original enlightenment on early Chan, Fazang's commentary, the rhetoric of the text, and the concept of the "one vehicle" (''ekayāna''). ([https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0170.xml Source Accessed July 3, 2020]) +
Cultural and doctrinal study of the ''Awakening of Faith'''s distinctive concepts as products of the larger indigenization of Buddhism in China, and of the influence of the text on later Chinese Buddhist and Confucian thought and modern Chinese thought, including New Confucianism. Reprint of author’s 1993 Wuhan University doctoral dissertation. ([https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0170.xml Source Accessed July 3, 2020]) +
Karma Phuntsho and David Germano discuss buddha-nature in Dzogchen, early Nyingma tantras, termas, Nyingtik Teachings, and touch on the commentarial writings of Longchenpa and others.
David Germano is the Executive Director of the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. He has taught and researched Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia since 1992. He is currently focused on the exploration of contemplative ideas, values, and practices involving humanistic and scientific methodologies, as well as new applications in diverse fields; he also holds a faculty appointment in the School of Nursing. He has been a leader in the field of Tibetan Buddhist studies for many years and has long immersed himself in Dzogchen teachings and texts. +
This is a PhD dissertation on Buddha-Nature in Tibetan traditions written in Tibetan by Rinchen Dorje in 2010 in Lanzhou, Gansu Province.
'''Abstract'''
The Tathāgatagarbha in Tibetan Buddhism.
The Tathāgatagarbha concept is a fundamental philosophical question of Buddhism. Tathāgatagarbha (Sanskrit) has the original contextual meaning of "embryonic Buddha" (Tib: ''bade gashegas snginga po'') or "Buddha heart". Mahāyāna Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and particularly the Prāsangika school expresses the term as "Buddha nature". Within the three surviving nikayas[1] of Theravada Buddhism, there are several ways of understanding tathāgatagarbha and according to different sutras. The most significant doctrines lie in the ''Tathāgatagarbha'', ''Lankavatara'', ''Mahaparinnirvana'', ''Maharatnakuta'', ''Mahabheri Haraka Parivarta'', and ''Angulinalya'' sutras, which define tathāgatagarbha as a monism and something permanent. Prāsangika and Tibetan Buddhism schools (Nyingma, New Bön, Kadam,
Sakya, Jonang, Gelug, Kagyu) meanwhile, see tathāgatagarbha as an expression of the concepts of pratīyasamutpāda (dependent arising) and sūnyatā (emptiness). Many researchers believe that the Tibetan Buddhist practice of ''mahasampanna'' (Eng: ''Dzogchen'', Tib: ''rdzogas chena'') and Mahamudra (Eng: the Great Seal, Tib: ''phyga rhy chen mo'') are based on the concept of an "absolute" tathāgatagarbha.
In this paper I focus on the Tibetan Buddhist interpretation of tathāgatagarbha and argue that its concept concerns "emptiness" and "dependent arising" but nothing else. I have five main arguments: 1) All Tibetan Buddhist schools, in theory and practice, assert that they follow Mahāyāna Buddhism and its Prāsangika school; Tibetan Buddhism is enshrined in the doctrines of both Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti who both stated that ultimate truth is ''sūnyatā'' but not ''atman'' (infinite, ego-less, ''svabhava''); 3) Nagarjuna’s ''Mūlamadhyamakakārika'' declares: "whatever is relational origination [pratītyasamutpāda] is sūnyatā" which means that all phenomena (dharmas) are sūnyatā including Buddha nature; 4) The Tibetan Buddhist schools insist that all Buddhist sutras be explained in terms of Nāgārjuna’s theory and wisdom. The Buddha himself prognosticated Nāgārjuna as his re-disseminator and this is recorded in several scriptures, for instance Tsongkhapa's ''In Praise of Dependent Arising''; and 5) Tibetan Buddhist schools agree on the tathāgatagarbha concept and this understanding corresponds with the principles of Buddhist scripture, in particular the "revelation of the whole truth" and "partial revelation of the truth", the four seals of Buddha truth (''chatur udan'') and the four reliances (''catrari pratisaranan'').
Tibetan Buddhist schools stress that in the three turnings of the wheel of the Buddha's doctrine (''tridharmachakra''), the second teaching of the "perfection of wisdom" (''prajna'') or "wisdom of emptiness" is central, the Heart Sutra (''Prajnapramit-hridaya Sutra'' ) containing the wisdom of salvation.
Tathāgatagarbha is the main teaching of third of the tridharmachakra and should be combined with the wisdom of emptiness. Hopkins [1973:p323] states: "The prasangikas say that this teaching [of the concept of tathāgatagarbha] is an example of giving to the cause the name of effect; for, the emptiness of the mind of each sentient being is what allows for change of that sentient being’s mind, and this emptiness if being called a fully enlightened Buddha".
In conclusion, I am arguing that the concept of tathāgatagarbha in the Tibetan Buddhist schools – being simply emptiness and dependent arising – includes the view of the Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen school and its ''gazhanastaonga'' (Eng: wrong view concerning unrealness of the attributes) text and tradition. In this vein, Tibetan Buddhist sects also contend that several Mahayana Buddhist scriptures such as the ''Mahaparinirvana'', ''Tathāgatagarbha'', ''Srimladevimhanada'' and ''Mahayana Angulimaliya'' sutras, which describe tathāgatagarbha as omniscient, eternal, infinite, pure, benevolent, nurturing, ultimate nature, unconditioned, changeless, virtuous or ineffable are to be understood as only "partial revelation of the truth" and not "revelation of the whole truth". After all, tathāgatagarbha in Tibetan Buddhism is emptiness or wisdom of emptiness but nothing else. In fact, according to Tibetan Buddhism, the two-in-one (''yuganaddha'', Tib: ''zunga ''vajuga;) of emptiness and bodhicitta, means that we can attain the final Buddhist goal of enlightenment. This is why tathāgatagarbha is the cornerstone of all Buddhist teaching.
<h5>Notes</h5>
# The three nikayas or monastic fraternities are Theravada, in Southeast Asia; Dharmaguptaka in China, Korea and Vietnam; and Mulasarvastivada in the Tibetan
tradition.
Depression is very common, even if many people don't talk about it. What can we do when we're depressed? How can we pick ourselves up when we've been in the depths of despair? Outstanding Buddhist teacher Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo offers us some advice: to understand our full potential and see how jewel-like and beautiful we all are. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0ChZpIBgSo Source Accessed July 16, 2020]) +
Buddhism began gradually to be introduced to Tibet in the seventh century C. E., more than a thousand years after Shākyamuni Buddha's passing away (''circa'' 483 B. C.).[1] The form Buddhism took in Tibet was greatly influenced by the highly developed systemization of the religion that was present in India through the twelfth century (and even later). The geographic proximity and relatively undeveloped culture of Tibet provided conditions for extensive transfer of scholastic commentaries and systems of practice, which came to have great influence throughout a vast region stretching from Kalmuck Mongolian areas in Europe where the Volga River empties into the Caspian Sea, Outer and Inner Mongolia, and the Buriat Republic of Siberia as well as Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, and Ladakh. The sources for my discussion are
drawn primarily from two of the four major orders of Tibetan Buddhism:<br>
* the old order called Nying-ma-ba,[2] which reached its full development in the fourteenth century with the scholar-yogi Long-chen-rap-jam[3]
* a highly scholastic order called Ge-luk-ba,[4] founded by the fourteenth century scholar-yogi Dzongka-ba.[5]<br>
Long-chen-rap-jam was born in 1308 Do-drong[6] in south central Tibet, received ordination at Samyay[7] Monastery, and studied the doctrines of both the old and new schools. A great scholar, he became abbot of Sam-yay Monastery early in his life but retired from that position to live in the mountains. Receiving the full corpus of the teachings of the Old Translation School of Nying-ma, he wrote prolifically, and even when he was exiled for a decade to Bhutan for his closeness with the opponents of the ruling power, he established and restored monasteries.[8]<br>
Dzong-ka-ba was born in 1357 in the northeastern province of Tibet called Am-do,[9] now included by the occupying Chinese Communists not in the Tibetan Autonomous Region but in Ch'ing-hai Province. He studied the new and old schools extensively, and developed his own tradition called Ge-luk-ba. Dzongka- ba and his followers established a system of education centered especially in large universities, eventually in three areas of Tibet but primarily in Hla-sa, the capital, which in some ways was for the Tibet cultural region what Rome is for the Catholic Church. For five centuries, young men came from all over the Tibetan cultural region to these large Tibetan universities to study (I say "men" because women were, for the most part, excluded from the scholastic culture). Until the Communist takeovers, these students usually returned to their own countries after completing their degrees.<br>
My presentation on the mind of clear light is largely from standard Nying-ma-ba and Ge-luk-ba perspectives on the two basic forms of what Tibetan tradition accepts as Shākyamuni Buddha's teaching—the Sūtra Vehicle and the Tantra Vehicle, also called the Vajra Vehicle.[10] (Hopkins, background, 245–46)
Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson take a crack at a definition for buddha-nature. +
The theme of the dissertation is the idea of Buddha-nature of the insentient (''wuqing you xing'' 無情有性) as presented in the most prominent work of the Tang Dynasty (618−907) Tiantai 天 台 monk, Zhanran 湛 然 (711−782), ''The Diamond Scalpel'' (''Jin’gang bei'' 金 剛 錍 ; T46:1932) treatise. The objective of the dissertation is a new translation of ''The Diamond Scalpel'', completed with translations from commentaries written to it, a thorough and detailed analysis and explanation of the text, including a definition of the notions and ideas presented in it, furthermore a study of the idea of Buddha-nature former to Zhanran, a definition of its role and interpretations in Chinese Buddhism, essential to understanding the treatise itself.<br> The dissertation includes four main chapters, these are: I. Zhanran's biography; II. The idea of Buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism; III. Demonstration of the Buddha-nature of the insentient in Zhanran’s ''The Diamond Scalpel'' treatise; IV. Summary.<br> In the first chapter Zhanran’s life is presented through a translation, comparison and analysis
of the chapters dealing with Zhanran’s life from the biographies of monks written in the Song
Dynasty (960−1279). Biographies besides historical data also contain several miraculous elements, thus, this first chapter also provides a glimpse into the world of Buddhist biographies. This chapter also briefly introduces the reader into the history of Tiantai school before Zhanran, therefore this is placed at the beginning of the dissertation.<br> Because the main theme of Zhanran’s treatise is the Buddha-nature of the insentient, the translation and analysis of the text is preceded by a chapter on the idea of Buddha-nature, focusing on its apparition, evolution an interpretations in Chinese Buddhism. This chapter is divided into two major parts, the first part gives a presentation of those ''sūtras'' and treatises, which had the greatest influence on the formation of Chinese interpretations of the notion. The second part deals with those Chinese traditions and schools, thinkers and ideas, which had great impact on the formation of the Chinese Buddha-nature theory. While presenting certain writings, schools and thinkers a greater emphasis is laid on those ideas, which appear in ''The Diamond Scalpel'', or can be proven to have influenced Zhanran’s philosophy. Thus, both the premises for Zhanran’s conclusion and the ideas to be refuted clear out. The objective of this chapter is to place Zhanran’s work in a greater context, and to determine those antecedents, that lead Zhanran towards the formulation of his ideas.<br> The third, most important and most extensive chapter is the translation of ''The Diamond Scalpel'', complemented with translations from commentaries written to it, detailed analysis and interpretation of the text divided into sixty separate chapters. One of the most important objectives is to grasp the main ideas, and provide this difficult text a clear and easily understandable interpretation.<br> The fourth chapter consists of a summary of the main ideas presented in ''The Diamond Scalpel'', and an overall analysis of the text. (Pap, "Theme and Objective of the Research," 1–3)
'''FROM ARNE SCHELLING IN BERLIN: '''
Dhungsey Asanga Vajra Rinpoche has kindly accepted to teach on “Buddha Nature” on
Monday, the 7. March, 3:30 pm (CET, i.e. Berlin), which equals 8pm in Delhi or 10:30 pm
in Singapore.
Dhungsey Rinpoche will teach in English. There will be simultaneous translation into French, Chinese, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Russian and Portuguese.
Rinpoche was born in Seattle in 1999 and is a wonderful and very learned Tibetan master of
the Sakya tradition, being a direct descendant of the illustrious Khön family. You can find
more details on Dungse Rinpoche [https://www.asangasakya.com/about/ here] and [https://sakyaheritage.org/about-us/asanga-rinpoche/ here].
Rinpoche will teach on the very core topic of Buddhism, the Buddha Nature based on the first chapter of Sakya Pandita's famous “Clarifying the Sages Intent”, which includes wonderful and practical verses by the future Buddha Maitreya.
'''To receive the zoom link to participate, please register by writing an email to buddhismus@berlin.de'''.
To ensure your participation, please register before the 6. March.
The Zoom link will be sent to the registered participants two hours prior to the teaching on
the 7. March.
Your Buddhism in Berlin Team
(www.berlin-buddhismus.de) +
With Mathes' article―the last one in our volume―we move on to a "hot issue" of 15th-century scholastic philosophy, namely the contested view of "emptiness-of-other" (''gzhan stong''). The article investigates 'Gos Lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal's analysis of Buddha nature and pursues the question of whether this master advocated a ''gzhan stong'' view. Mathes faces a difficult situation regarding sources, since no philosophical work by 'Gos Lo tsā ba has come down to us apart from a commentary on the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' (in which the term ''gzhan stong'' is not mentioned). Therefore, Mathes makes use of "secondary sources" such as the Eighth Karma pa's polemical review of 'Gos Lo tsā ba's lost Kālacakra commentary and a biography composed by the Fourth Zhwa dmar pa. As Mathes is able to show, 'Gos Lo tsā ba's position on Buddha nature differs sharply from the position held by the Eighth Karma pa, who (like the Third and Seventh Karma pas) supported a type of ''gzhan stong'' view. It is, moreover, obvious that 'Gos Lo tsā ba was influenced, to a certain extent, by Tsong kha pa's scholastic exegesis and thus attempted to harmonize the latterʼs view of emptiness with the ''mahāmudrā'' approach of the bKa' brgyud pas. In the end, Mathes comes to the conclusion that it is problematic to describe 'Gos Lo tsā ba's position as ''gzhan stong'', although the Eighth Karma pa (ironically) terms it as "great ''gzhan stong''." +
The doctrine of ''tathāgatagarbha'' as the element inherent in every sentient being is a central concept within Mahāyāna Buddhism. Presenting this Buddha nature as the absolute in positive terms, as a state of gnosis with inconceivable qualities, is the core of the so-called ''gzhan stong'' view. Mind as such is understood to be empty of other (''gzhan stong''), i.e. empty of incidental stains, which are not mind’s nature; but mind is seen to be not empty of its enlightened qualities. Yet, as long as sentient beings are deluded by their incidental or superficial stains, they are incapable of directly relating to these inherent enlightened qualities. According to the relevant texts, this constitutes the only difference to the awakened ones, the buddhas, who, having removed the incidental stains, have actualized their inherent Buddha nature. From the perspective of the doctrine of ''tathāgatagarbha'' in general, and from the ''gzhan stong'' view in particular, Buddhist philosophy and any spiritual training in ethics, view, and meditation has as its goal the removal the incidental stains so that the buddha qualities can develop or manifest themselves. The book ''Die Anwendung der Tathāgatagarbha-Lehre in Kong spruls Anleitung zur gZhan stong-Sichtweise'' deals with the interpretation of Buddha nature in contexts of view and meditation advanced by the scholar monk ’Jam mgon Kong sprul Blo gros mtha’ yas (1813–1899). The introductory section of the book sketches Kong sprul’s historical context. This is followed by a short overview of the topic of Buddha nature from the perspective of its sources in Mahāyāna-sūtras and Indian treatises. Special attention is given to the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' and its relevance to the Mahāmudrā teachings of the bKa’ brgyud pa-tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The book then examines the development of the ''gzhan stong'' view in Tibet. In light of this historical and doctrinal background, attention turns to Kong sprul’s treatment of the ''gzhan stong'' position based on his text ''The Immaculate Vajra Moonrays, an Instruction for the View of Gzhan stong, the Great Madhyamaka''. The main focus is on how Kong sprul guides a Buddhist yogin through the process of realization: The analysis of the correct mundane and supramundane view plays just as an important role as the question of which of the Buddha’s teachings are to be understood in a provisional sense (''drang don'', ''neyārtha'') and which in a definitive sense (''nītārtha'', ''nges don''). Kong sprul recommends for this analysis in particular the models of the Niḥsvabhāvavāda-Madhyamaka and the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka which to him are synonymous with ''rang stong''- and ''gzhan stong''-Madhyamaka respectively. The book concludes to show how according to Kong sprul the spiritual path which is based in the ''gzhan stong''-view culminates in actualizing ''tathāgatagarbha''. A critical edition of the text and its translation into German form the final part of the book. ([https://www.istb.univie.ac.at/cgi-bin/wstb/wstb.cgi?ID=91&show_description=1 Source Accessed Nov 14, 2019])
In this short teaching, Mingyur Rinpoche describes buddha-nature with the metaphor of a diamond covered in mud, explaining how the innate purity of awareness can be obscured, but never changed. +
A three-year study and practice curriculum of Buddha Dharma created by
His Holiness Tai Situ Rinpoche. Learn more at https://www.palpung.org.uk/discovering-the-buddha-within-curriculum +
The Buddhist masterpiece ''Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature'', often referred to by its Sanskrit title, ''Dharmadharmatāvibhaṅga'', is part of a collection known as the Five Maitreya Teachings, a set of philosophical works that have become classics of the Indian Buddhist tradition. Maitreya, the Buddha’s regent, is held to have entrusted these profound and vast instructions to the master Asaṅga in the heavenly realm of Tuṣita. Outlining the difference between appearance and reality, this work shows that the path to awakening involves leaving behind the inaccurate and limiting beliefs we have about ourselves and the world around us and opening ourselves to the limitless potential of our true nature. By divesting the mind of confusion, the treatise explains, we see things as they actually are. This insight allows for the natural unfolding of compassion and wisdom. This volume includes commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, whose discussions illuminate the subtleties of the root text and provide valuable insight into the nature of reality and the process of awakening. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/distinguishing-phenomena-from-their-intrinsic-nature-2781.html Shambhala Publications]) +
Tenshin Reb Anderson gives a dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm on the topic of buddha-nature, later addressing the question, "Does a dog have buddha-nature?" +
