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From Buddha-Nature
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In this video, part of a four-part lecture on the nature of mind given at the Kamalashila-Institut in Wachendorf, Germany, in 1982, Kalu Rinpoche explains the nature of mind vis-a-vis the concept of ''tathāgatagarbha'', or buddha-nature, and speaks of the mind's innate luminosity. Lama Chökyi Nyima (Richard Barron) translates the talk into English. For the entire four-part series of lectures, visit [https://shangpakagyu.org/kalu-rinpoche-1982-the-nature-of-mind/ shangpakagyu.org] +
[http://www.berlin-buddhismus.de/ Learn more here.]
We feel very honored and happy that Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl - a wonderful teacher, translator and physician - has accepted our request to teach on the Buddha-Nature, based on the authoritative text taught by Buddha Maitreya: The Mahayana-Uttaratantra-Shastra. With his very clear, humorous and interactive style, Karl will lead us through this precious and celebrated treatise verse by verse.
Dates: The course has started 1st April 2021, but everyone is still very welcome to join. The next sessions will be 28th of April 7:30 pm (CEST, e.g. Berlin) and 6th of May 7:00 pm (CEST). The entire course might last for approximately 18 months, consisting of two sessions (plus one review session) per month. The upcoming dates will be always announced 2-3 months in advance.
Language: '''English only'''
Any Questions & Registration: Buddhismus[at]Berlin.de or www.berlin-buddhismus.de +
Karl Brunnhölzl is one of the most prolific translators of Tibetan texts into English and has worked on all of the ''Five Treatises of Maitreya''. He was originally trained as a physician and then studied at Kamalashila Institute, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso's Marpa Institute, and Hamburg University. Since 1989, Karl has served as a translator, interpreter, and Buddhist teacher mainly in Europe, India, and Nepal. Since 1999, he has acted as one of the main translators and teachers at Nitartha Institute (director: Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche) in the USA, Canada, and Germany. He has translated and written about buddha-nature extensively and he is the author of several books on Buddhism, such as ''The Center of the Sunlit Sky'', ''Luminous Melodies'', ''Milarepa's Kungfu'', and ''The Heart Attack Sutra''. He has also completed several ground-breaking translations in the Tsadra Foundation series, including a three-volume work on the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra''. He has also completed the work ''Prajñāpāramitā, Indian "gzhan stong pas", and the Beginning of Tibetan gzhan stong'' in the Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde series. ''When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra'', formed the basis for the Buddha-Nature website project. In 2019 his translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha with Indian and Tibetan commentaries was published and won the Khyentse Foundation Prize For Outstanding Buddhist Translation. +
We were live with Karma Lekshe Tsomo on Saturday, February 27th at 9:30 PM Eastern Standard Time (6:30 PM Pacific Standard Time)
Venerable Tsomo is an inspiration to all Buddhists interested in living a socially conscious life and is known around the world for her warmth, knowledge, and clear approach to teaching and speaking about life, Buddhism, and social activism. She co-founded Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women, which hosts the Sakyadhita Conference, the largest and most important meeting of Buddhist women in the world. +
Lopon Karma Phuntsho introduces the Buddha-Nature Conference by pointing out the auspicious circumstances for the event. The auspicious venue (གནས་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) is the glorious temple of Shechen monastery, next to the Bouddha Stūpa, where the three great figures of Padmasambhava, Trisong Detsen, and Śāntarakṣita are said to have made the first prayers to spread the Buddha's teachings in Tibet, and in a country where the Buddha was born. The auspicious time (དུས་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) is the holy fourth month in the Himalayan Buddhist calendar, the auspicious teachers (སྟོན་པ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) are the brilliant khenpos, lopens, and geshes chosen by the Tibetan Buddhist leaders to represent their respective traditions, and the auspicious retinue (འཁོར་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) includes the great scholars and monks from Shechen and representatives from some 32 monastic centers in Kathmandu and the virtual audience from all over the world. The auspicious dharma (ཆོས་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) is buddha-nature, the essence of the ground, path, and fruition of the Mahāyāna spiritual system.
He then briefly explains the project of Tsadra Foundation to spread the Tibetan Buddhist message of wisdom and compassion across the globe and the five main programs carried out to this effect. The five programs include grants for the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism, funding translations and scholarly work, support for Tibetan Buddhist publications, organizing conferences, trainings, and workshops, and building IT infrastructure and tools to promote Buddhist teachings. The buddha-nature website, which was launched in 2020, falls within the fifth program.
Having built the web resources, he explains that Tsadra hosted three scholarly events on buddha-nature: an academic conference in Vienna in 2019, an online conversation series with distinguished scholars and practitioners in 2020 (an ongoing series), and a panel on buddha-nature in Prague in 2022. These meetings and conversations were conducted in English. Seeing the great need to introduce the web resource to the Tibetan Buddhist centers in the Himalayas and to engage traditional scholars, the conference in Kathmandu was planned.
Furthermore, he explains why Tsadra built the buddha-nature web resource by citing the verse from the ''Ultimate Continuum'' in which Maitreya presents the five flaws which the buddha-nature teachings help overcome. First is the sense of diffidence and timidity to do good or seek enlightenment. He points out that people today, more than ever before, are stressed, confused, and mentally vulnerable. Many suffer from depression, struggle even to live their life, and engage in self-harm. The second is the problem of contempt toward other beings. Despite globalization and enhanced interaction through technological advancement, people still remain insular and biased, leading to serious contempt and mistreatment of others, who are perceived as inferior or less privileged. The third flaw is of holding onto the misconception. The world is rife with misinformation, fake news, and commercial and political deception, and most people are engrossed in what is vain and popular. They do not see the real or the truth, which is the fourth problem. People do not understand the theory of cause and effect and the importance of inner wellbeing, let alone the ultimate nature of reality. The fifth problem Maitreya points out is self-love or attachment to one's own creed, race, color, or group. Lopon Karma Phuntsho says that efforts to promote the teachings on buddha-nature is an attempt to overcome these problems by highlighting the point that all beings are by nature good and, in fact, are pure and compassionate like the Buddha.
He then goes on to describe how the presenters have been chosen by the leaders of the respective Tibetan Buddhist teachings, the mode of the presentations and discussions, and the schedule. He ends with a prayer that the teachings of buddha-nature reach far and wide and help people reveal their innate good nature.
Join us as we restart our "Conversations on Buddha-Nature" series! We will be discussing a special publication about a group of rare manuscripts from a fascinating and influential, yet mostly unknown master of the Kadam Lineage. Gregory Forgues will interview Karma Phuntsho and other scholars will also join in with responses and questions. This special publication was a collaboration between The Loden Foundation of Bhutan and the Tsadra Foundation. ''The Life and Works of Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim'' publishes the collected works of the early Kadam master Kyoton in clear uchen type based on the rare manuscripts in the ''bka gdams gsung 'bum'', which are very difficult to decipher in the old Ume scripts. The book contains many short works on buddha-nature, Shantideva's texts, and several other important subjects. It also includes a detailed introduction in English from Karma Phuntsho about the life and works of Kyotön. We will discuss the creation of the book as well as its content. The book is available for free download as a [https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/images/1/15/Phuntsho-2023-The_Life_and_Works_of_Kyoton_Monlam_Tsultrim_REDUCED.pdf PDF here]. +
A commentary across lifetimes. H.H. the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, comments on a quote of the [[Karmapa, 3rd|3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje]]: "The nature of all beings is always Buddha" (འགྲོ་བའི་རང་བཞིན་རྟག་ཏུ་སངས་རྒྱས་). +
His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje, gave a speech in celebration of the launch of the Buddha-Nature website by the Tsadra Foundation and he discussed the connection of the Karma Kagyu lineage with Buddha-Nature teachings, as well as his thoughts on the term "Buddha-Nature School." +
[START at 6 min 45 secs]. On the morning of January 3, 2013, the Gyalwang Karmapa gave an impromptu teaching on the nature of mind to a large group of international students gathered at the Root Institute for Wisdom Culture, Bodhgaya. Teaching in a mixture of Tibetan and English, he began the session by inviting questions from the students gathered. The first question was soon put forward: How do we experience Buddha-nature on a practical level? "I thought that if you asked me questions it would make it easier for me," he joked in English in response to the depth of the question, adding, "But this question makes it more complicated for me!"
As the laughter died down, the Gyalwang Karmapa delivered a profound and reasoned teaching on Buddha-nature and the nature of mind. "All sentient beings are endowed with the potential for complete Buddhahood," he began.
They are inherently Buddhas, and inherently that Buddha-nature is completely free of any stains -- it is stainless, and perfect. Yet, at the level of relative or immediate experience, our experience is not this way. Our experience is that this perfectly pure Buddha-nature is veiled by our confused outlook.
Shifting the teaching to a deeper level, the Gyalwang Karmapa then described the dharmakaya, or the Buddha's enlightened mind. "Lord Gampopa said that the nature of thoughts is dharmakaya," he explained.
Thoughts and dharmakaya are inseparable. We have this dualistic approach of seeing dharmakaya as pure and thoughts as impure, but we need to understand the inseparability of thoughts and dharmakaya.
The Gyalwang Karmapa spoke directly in English as he continued:
Every moment that we have thought, every moment that thought arises, we have the opportunity to recognize the nature of thought as emptiness or dharmakaya, whatever you want to call it. Thought and the emptiness of its nature are inseparable. We can't make them separate; there's no separation. Because thought itself is emptiness that means actually in everyday life we have lots of opportunity to recognize and realize the nature of thought, or nature of emptiness, or dharmakaya. But we just follow the appearances, the illusions -- we don't look deeper.
The Gyalwang Karmapa then responded to several more questions from the audience, teaching briefly on the progressive views of emptiness within Tibetan Buddhism which culminate in the final Madhyamaka view. The final questioner echoed the thoughts of many gathered when she asked the Gyalwang Karmapa how his students could help and support him. "I feel energized and inspired by all the love and the support that I receive from all of you. That really is sufficient. I don't need anything more than your love and support," he replied, to resounding applause.
Continuing an annual tradition, the teaching took place at the request of the Root Institute for Wisdom Culture. The Gyalwang Karmapa taught to an overflowing gompa, with hundreds of students spilling out into the surrounding balconies and gardens. In addition to mostly international students, the audience also included local Indian children from the Root Institute's school.
The final talk in a six-part series on the Dharma. In this installment Ken discusses the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma with a special focus on the third turning and the associated topic of buddha-nature. +
Khenpo Chöying Dorje is teaching the text based on Jamgon Kongtrul's commentary on the Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra.
For a review of the text and program, see [[Media/About_the_Mahayana_Uttaratantra_Shastra_with_Arne_Schelling|Arne Schelling's YouTube video here]] or learn more about this program on the official website here: https://www.rigpa.de/zentren/dharma-mati-berlin/kalender-berlin/eventdetails/?cal-id=16363 +
'''རོང་སྟོན་ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་རིག་གི་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་དགོངས་བཞེད།'''<br>'''Rongtön Sheja Kunrig’s Understanding of Buddha-Nature'''
Khenpo begins by stating that he will be mainly explaining the position of Rongton Sheja Kunrig, whose understanding of buddha-nature is further clarified by Gorampa Sonam Senge, although the two do not always completely concur. Explaining the Sanskrit words ''kulla'' and ''gotra'', he highlights how without the Buddha element, or spiritual gene, it is not possible to wish for happiness and grow tired of suffering and seek the state of enlightenment. However, all sentient beings possess the buddha-nature, which Khenpo identifies as the union of emptiness and appearance.
The element, in the lower Buddhist philosophical schools, is considered as a conditioned seed for liberation. However, in the Mādhyamika school according to the Sakya tradition, buddha-nature is the union of the subtle intrinsic luminous nature of the consciousness and its ultimate nature, which is emptiness free from all elaborations. Khenpo lists the five positions on buddha-nature which Gorampa refuted, including the assertion that (1) buddha-nature is a nonimplicative negation, (2) there are two types of buddha-nature, one which is conditioned and the other which is unconditioned, (3) beings are without buddha-nature, (4) the two phases of buddha-nature are contradictory, and (5) buddha-nature is the truly existent intrinsic nature.
Khenpo further explains the difference between Rongton and Gorampa in explaining the verse presenting the three arguments for the presence of buddha-nature in all beings. This led to an intense discussion on whether one of the arguments is a sufficient reason on its own to prove the existence of buddha-nature in all beings or whether all three are required to make it a complete and valid argument. +
'''དམ་ཆོས་དགོངས་གཅིག་གཞིར་བཟུང་ནས་དཔལ་འབྲི་གུང་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་པའི་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་དགོངས་བཞེད་བཤད་པ།'''<br>'''Explaining the Drigung Kagyu Understanding of Buddha-Nature Based on the Single Intent'''
Khenpo Dawa Tsering starts by mentioning how buddha-nature is a profound and difficult topic to fathom even by enlightened beings, and he can merely make an attempt. In his presentation, Khenpo presents the theory and practice of buddha-nature in the Drigung Kagyu tradition, primarily based on the two verses on buddha-nature found in the ''Single Intent'' of Drigung Kyobpa Jikten Gönpo. To put it in historical context, he shares that Jikten Sumgon lived in the 12th century and the ''Single Intent'' has since had commentaries written on it not only by Drigung masters but also by Kagyu and Nyingma masters.
Based on the ''Single Intent'', he confirms that the Drigung understanding of buddha-nature aligns with the direct experiential meditative tradition rather than the inferential and exegetical tradition. Out of many verses comprising 150 points in the ''Single Intent'', there are only two lines explicitly mentioning buddha-nature. Like the Kagyu and Nyingma schools, the Drigung school also accepts that buddha-nature has the sublime qualities of the Buddha latent in it. These sublime qualities are, however, obscured by the impurities, which do not really penetrate or contaminate the actual state of buddha-nature.
In this respect, the term ''glo bur'', or adventitious, does not have a temporal connotation of something happening suddenly and temporarily. The impurities have been around since the beginning. Rather, the term refers to the removable or separable nature of the impurities which cover buddha-nature. Following the Kagyu tradition originating in Dvagpopa, or Gampopa Sonam Rinchen, the Drigung school asserts that buddha-nature avoids the problems of denial and exaggeration. Because buddha-nature is free from or empty of impurities, it avoids the problem of imposition or exaggeration. Because buddha-nature primordially possesses noble qualities, it avoids the problem of denial or rejection.
Buddha-nature endowed with all sublime qualities of enlightenment is presented as being unconditioned and eternal, and three names of the impure, partially pure, and fully pure are used to refer to it in three stages. Just like Devadatta is known as a gardener for gardening, cook while cooking, etc., buddha-nature is also given three different titles at three stages, although it is one and the same in its essence.
According to the ''Single Intent'', the third wheel of dharma on buddha-nature is said to be clearly definitive, while the middle wheel is not fully definitive, as it also teaches emptiness which is a nominal ultimate. Khenpo also adds that the two truths are perspectives and not two different ontological states and that the sūtras often classed as Mind Only-sūtras are considered as ultimately Mādhyamika. Sūtras themselves cannot be classed as Mind Only or Middle Way sūtras. While the three wheels of dharma are considered as progressive teachings for a person to follow gradually, the ''Single Intent'' also claims that the three wheels of dharma differ in focus and emphasis and they share all aspects with varying stress.
'''མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེའི་དགོངས་པ་ལྟར་སྒྲུབ་བརྒྱུད་ཀམ་ཚང་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་ལ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་གི་བཞེད་ཚུལ།'''<br>'''Explaining the Karma Kagyu Understanding of Buddha-Nature through the 8th Karmapa Mikyo Dorje's Works'''
Khenpo starts with the claim that in the midst of the diverse interpretations of buddha-nature, the understanding of buddha-nature among the different Karmapa incarnations has been consistent. From among them, his presentation focuses on the theory of buddha-nature in the writings of the 8th Karmapa Mikyo Dorje. Mikyo Dorje, like many other Kagyu elders, considered Gampopa to have said that the text for our Mahāmudrā is the ''Ultimate Continuum'' of Buddha Maitreya.
According to Mikyo Dorje, the middle wheel and the final wheel teach buddha-nature, with middle wheel teaching the temporary definitive and the final wheel being the ultimate definitive point. Many sūtras and tantras present buddha-nature, but it is the ''Ultimate Continuum'' which contains a concise presentation of buddha-nature through ten aspects of its formulation. In his presentation, Khenpo lists six points for discussion:
:1. The reasons for the presence of buddha-nature in all sentient beings<br>2. The characteristics of buddha-nature<br>3. Analogies to demonstrate how impurities obscure buddha-nature<br>4. Engaging in the path to cleanse the impurities obscuring buddha-nature<br>5. The purpose of buddha-nature teachings<br>6. The works of Mikyo Dorje on buddha-nature
Khenpo discusses the three reasons in the ''Ultimate Continuum'' and underscores that the sphere of reality and pristine wisdom are nondual, and when this becomes manifest, it is said that the ''dharmakāya'' radiates or becomes evident. The point about the reality of sentient beings and the Buddha being identical also refers to sentient beings possessing buddha-nature which is pure by nature and is not tainted by temporary afflictions.
Buddha-nature is eternal, permanent, unconditioned reality which transcends thought and mind. It possesses both the ''dharmakāya'' and its manifestations latent in its nature. Thus, Khenpo points out the unique position in Mikyo Dorje's writings that even the embodied forms of the buddha are active in sentient beings. He concludes by showing the Kagyu practice for revealing the buddha-nature and its qualities through nonmentation, nondistraction, and noncontrivance, by remaining in the ordinary awareness and natural state.
'''གོ་བོ་རབ་འབྱམས་པས་སྡོམ་གསུམ་ཁ་སྐོང་ལ་གསུངས་པའི་གཤེགས་སྙིང་གི་དགག་བཞག་སྐོར།'''<br>'''Gorampa's Refutations of Some Interpretations of Buddha-Nature'''
Khenpo starts by saying how the conference is a wonderful opportunity to get exposure to and learn from each other, unlike other times when we are mostly stuck within the individual systems. He also mentions that as a senior figure he is very encouraged by younger participants and pleased to learn that the general state of Buddhist scholarship is very strong and that everyone must strive for the greater welfare of Buddha's teachings. He says that the topics were distributed among three Sakya scholars. While his two colleagues chose to speak on Rongtön and Śākya Chokden, he chose to speak about Gorampa, on whom he also did his PhD dissertation, although he has not written anything in Tibetan.
The main topic of Khenpo’s presentation is Gorampa's work on Sakya Paṇḍita's ''Distinguishing Three Vows''. Although called ''A Supplement to Distinguishing Three Vows'', Khenpo explains that it is not really a supplement to add something to make the former text complete but rather a sequel to it in order to continue the discussion. Gorampa presents the text in the framework of ground, path, and result, of which the ground refers to buddha-nature.
Claiming to carry on the traditions of Nāgārjuna as well as Maitreya and Asaṅga, whose thoughts converge on the ultimate point, Gorampa identifies the ultimate point to be the unconditioned, luminous, constant, unceasing union. Thus, buddha-nature in Gorampa's view is the unconditioned union of emptiness and luminosity. Gorampa refutes other scholars who he thinks failed to understand the teachings on buddha-nature.
Khenpo explains the verses in Gorampa's work about the reason for composition. Khenpo reads out the passages showing Gorampa's reasons for the refutation. The teachings, according to Gorampa, were misinterpreted in the centuries following Sapan, and his main reason for the composition of the text is to clarify things and dispel the misunderstanding.
The opponents whom Gorampa refutes were not identified in his own work, but the names were given in another work entitled ''Blooming Lotus''. Gorampa's first refutation is of the Jonangpa interpretation, which Khenpo says he has already presented in another conference in English. The second opponent is Gyaltshab Je, who has written a commentary on the ''Ultimate Continuum'' and is the main source for the Geluk understanding of buddha-nature. Gyaltshab asserted a nonimplicative negation of mere absence of inherent existence to be buddha-nature. Gorampa refutes this, saying that such negation cannot be the ground for spiritual practice, the path of practice, and the resultant state of the Buddha.
The second opponent is Śākya Chokden, and the third opponent who Gorampa refutes is Dratsepa Rinchen Namgyal, the student of Buton Rinchen Drub. Refuting the positions espoused by these scholars, Gorampa formulated a definition of buddha-nature as a union of emptiness and luminosity, which is unconditioned and permanent, but one which transcends the ordinary sense of permanence and impermanence. Khenpo's presentation generated a lively discussion on the nature of union and how the union can be seen as unconditioned and permanent if one aspect of it is the subtle form of conditioned impermanent consciousness.
'''ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་དང་མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་སོགས་རྙིང་མ་བའི་གཤེགས་སྙིང་གི་དགོངས་བཞེད་བཤད་པ།'''<br>'''The Understanding of Buddha-Nature among Longchenpa, Mipam Gyatso, and other Nyingmapas'''
Khenpo Ngawang Lodoe delivers a presentation on buddha-nature in the Nyingma tradition following the works of Longchenpa and Mipam Namgyal Gyatso. Discussing verses from different sūtras on buddha-nature, Khenpo Ngawang Lodoe carries out the identification of the "element" or "spiritual gene" as a pure, clear, luminous, unadulterated, and unconditioned nature according to Longchenpa and Mipam Namgyal Gyatso. He discusses the reasoning and evidence provided by the Nyingma scholars to establish the universal presence of buddha-nature in all sentient beings.
In the course of his presentation, he mentions the theories of the fourfold correct cognition and the fourfold modes of validation. He highlights how ''dharmakāya'', in the case of Nyingma understanding, is not a true result conditioned by and arising from impermanent causes but rather considered a result for becoming free from adventitious features due to the agency of the path. He also classifies the buddha-nature element into two types corresponding to the two types of Buddha bodies and argues that both the middle and the last turning of the wheel are teachings of definitive nature. He also points out in his closing remarks that the innate mind taught in the tantras is identical to buddha-nature taught in the sūtras. +
'''ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་གྱི་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་དགོངས་པ་བཞེས་ཚུལ་ཐུན་མོང་མིན་པ།'''<br>'''Śākya Chokden’s Unique Understanding of Buddha-Nature'''
Stating that his presentation will be on Śākya Chokden, Khenpo gives a brief introduction to the figure of Śākya Chokden, who was a brilliant scholar with many unique interpretations and explanations of many topics. Although a Sakyapa, he posed questions about some points made by Sakya Paṇḍita in his ''Distinguishing Three Vows''. This spurred an explanation from other Sakya scholars, which led to much greater clarity in understanding this work and the issues it raised.
Regarding buddha-nature, Śākya Chokden held a very unique position in the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist world, asserting that buddha-nature, or ''tathāgatagarbha'', is synonymous with buddha and that it is only fully present in the state of buddhahood. Buddha-nature is equivalent to resultant ''dharmakāya'' according to Śākya Chokden, and it exists only after someone reaches the stage of being a sublime being on the Mahāyāna path. Khenpo points out that Śākya Chokden also argued that buddha-nature is a conscious awareness or cognition, not a mere emptiness which is a non-implicative negation.
In connection to buddha-nature, Śākya Chokden also argued that the False Aspectarian school is not part of the Mind Only school but rather a Middle Way school. Śākya Chokden saw Nāgārjuna as highlighting the ''rangtong'' view and Maitreya as underscoring the ''zhentong'' system, and they are ultimately the same. He took the five writings of Maitreya as texts propounding Middle Way thought. Among twenty-four volumes of his writings, he has four commentaries on the ''Ornament of Realization'' in which he discusses buddha-nature in the section on ''gotra'', or spiritual gene.
Śākya Chokden was emphatic in claiming that sentient beings do not possess buddha-nature, as buddha-nature is the sphere of reality which is endowed with inseparable qualities such as ten powers, and such qualities cannot coexist with the impurities of the ordinary beings. He argued that the three reasons presented by Maitreya only proves that sentient beings have the possibility to attain buddha-nature, not that they already have it. He rejects buddha-nature being a non-implicative negation and asserts that the final wheel shows buddha-nature fully, while the first and middle wheels only help overcome the clinging to self.
'''སྒྲུབ་བརྒྱུད་ཀམ་ཚང་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་དུ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་སྐོར་དགོངས་བཞེད་དང་ཉམས་བཞེས་སྐོར།'''<br>'''Understanding and Application of Buddha-Nature in the Karma Kagyu Tradition'''
Khenpo gives a clear explanation of the buddha-nature as understood in the Karma Kagyu tradition based on the teachings on the 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. He breaks down his presentation into three parts:
:1. Literature on buddha-nature in Kagyu tradition in general and the Karma Kagyu subschool in particular<br>2. Rangjung Dorje's formulation of buddha-nature through 15 distinct points<br>3. The practical application of buddha-nature.
Khenpo skips the detailed listing of the works on buddha-nature in the Kagyu tradition, which he lists in his long article. Explaining Rangjung Dorje's formulation of buddha-nature, Khenpo says that Rangjung Dorje is a leading voice on buddha-nature, final wheel and tantras, and perhaps the first Tibetan to compose independent texts on buddha-nature, with his ''Treatise on Tathāgata Heart'' and ''Distinguishing Consciousness and Pristine Wisdom''. He also wrote his commentary on Nāgārjuna's ''In Praise of Dharmadhātu'', which mainly discusses the buddha-element. Although the writings of many later scholars such as Longchenpa, Jonangpa, et. al., are similar to Rangjung Dorje's understanding, he stands out as a clear and pioneering Tibetan thinker on buddha-nature.
Rangjung Dorje presents a clear definition of buddha-nature as possessing four characteristics of a union: indivisibility of emptiness and appearance like a reflection of the moon in water, indivisibility of emptiness and luminosity like a reflection in a mirror, indivisibility of emptiness and awareness like a rainbow, and indivisibility of emptiness and bliss like the taste of mute person. The definition is further clarified by his disciple Sherab Rinchen. Buddha-nature is thus the luminous nature of mind which has these four characteristics of union and is the natural ordinary consciousness.
Khenpo explains that Rangjung Dorje accepted both middle wheel and final wheel as definitive and concurring on the same point that is buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is the reality, ultimate truth, and ''dharmakāya''. It is the ground for all existence, eternal, permanent, and unconditioned. It is pure by nature and not stained by impurities, but it is obscured by temporary impurities which do not corrupt its nature. Such buddha-nature is emptiness free from conceptual and linguistic elaborations. It is the innate mind or ground tantra taught in the tantric literature.
Explaining how the various Buddhist schools of thought view phenomena such as a flower or vase, Khenpo explains that the great middle way of ''zhentong'' is the ultimate way of grasping the nature of the flower as being identical with the nature of the mind. A flower is a projection of the mind, and the mind, by nature, is not only empty but also luminous, and it is the union of luminosity and emptiness which forms the ultimate truth. In this respect, Khenpo points out that there is nothing so surprising or unacceptable in seeing a vase, flower, or other objects as possessing buddha-nature. He elaborates the 15 points to demonstrate the essence of buddha-nature.
Khenpo Sherab Sangpo offers teachings and guided meditation on the topic of buddha-nature during a retreat on February 15, 2020 at Bodhicitta Sangha: Heart of Enlightenment Institute in Minneapolis Minnesota. +
'''སྔ་འགྱུར་རྙིང་མ་བའི་བཀའ་འཁོར་ལོ་གསུམ་དང་གཤེགས་སྙིང་གི་དགོངས་བཞེད།'''<br>'''Nyingma Interpretation of the Three Wheels and Buddha-Nature'''
Buddha-nature is a central topic in the Nyingma tradition and very important for study and practice. Of the two transmissions of Maitreya's works, i.e. of the intellectual exegetical transmission based on inferential understanding passed down from Ngok Lotsāwa and the mystical meditative transmission based on direct experience passed down from Tsen Khawoche, the Nyingma tradition is more aligned to the latter tradition. Of the two schools of thought focusing on luminosity or emptiness, Khenpo explains that the Nyingma tradition puts equal emphasis on both aspects of reality. The emptiness aspect of buddha-nature is taught in the middle wheel and the luminosity of buddha-nature is taught explicitly in the final wheel of dharma. Although the middle wheel presents luminosity, it does not do so explicitly or in detail. For this reason, both the middle wheel and the final wheel of dharma are considered as definitive in the Nyingma tradition.
Although Longchenpa does not clearly state that the middle wheel is definitive, this can be inferred from his words. In his ''Treasury of Wish Fulfilling Jewel'', Longchenpa explains how buddha-nature is also free from all elaborations in the ultimate sense. In his commentary on the ''Relaxation in the Nature of Mind'', Longchenpa also explains how the buddha-nature teachings are definitive as buddha-nature is the ultimate truth and all other phenomena are illusory.
The theory of buddha-nature being empty of its nature, or ''rangtong'', is presented in the context of two truths of emptiness and appearance. In this context, the Middle Wheel focusing on the concept of emptiness is the definitive teaching and buddha-nature, like all phenomena, lacks true existence. Thus, it is empty. However, in the context of the two truths of ontic existence and appearance associated with the Final Wheel, buddha-nature is presented as the ultimate. Thus, the final wheel is considered as the definitive teaching. Some sūtras such as the ''Laṅkāvatāra'', which present the philosophical position of Mind Only, are, however, not considered definitive.
Khenpo then mentions that the presentation of this nature of buddha-nature which is the union of emptiness and luminosity varies from sūtra to tantra. What is emptiness and luminosity in the sūtra system is presented as purity and equality in Mahāyoga, Samantabhadra and Samantabhadri in Anuyoga and primordial purity and spontaneity in Atiyoga. The luminosity presented in these systems refers to the Buddha's pristine wisdom and not to any state of the ordinary mind. Ordinary mental states are impure, illusory, deceptive, and not worthy of being objects of refuge. The luminous nature is Buddha's pristine wisdom which is eternal and unconditioned. Such buddha-nature also has all the sublime qualities of the Buddha, including the three bodies. However, the three bodies latent in buddha-nature refer to the emptiness, luminosity, and nonduality and should not be understood as the Buddha bodies perceived by sentient beings.
In the state of buddhahood, all ordinary senses of individuality and phenomena are exhausted. That is why the state of ultimate enlightenment is called ''chos zad'', or exhaustion of phenomena, in the Nyingma tradition. Only the latent sublime qualities of the Buddha remain.
