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Investigating the most famous koan of all time, Buddhadharma‘s deputy editor Koun Franz helps us to understand buddhanature. +
Buddha-nature is the spark of buddhahood in every sentient being. It is the teaching that all people are fundamentally good and that all of us have the potential to attain the complete realization of buddhahood. Two frequently used metaphors to describe this universal nature are a golden statue encased in muck and the seed of a mango tree. The first suggests that our buddha-nature is already perfect and only needs to be revealed in order to manifest our enlightenment. The second presents buddha-nature as a potential that must be cultivated in order to attain enlightenment. A third, less common interpretation is that we somehow produce buddhahood and thus acquire buddha-nature at a certain stage of religious accomplishment. These three models—disclosure, transformation, and production—are used by different traditions to define buddha-nature and describe the methods to fully actualize enlightenment. +
Remembering her beloved childhood pet, Andrea Miller ponders one of Zen’s most famous questions. +
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:<br><br>
Valley sounds are the long, broad<br> tongue.<br>Mountain colors are not other than<br> the unconditioned body.<br>Eighty-four thousand verses are<br> heard through the night.<br>What can I say about this in the<br> future?<br><br>
This poem is almost a thousand years old. It was presented to a Chinese Zen master by a follower, Su Shi, who went on to become one of China's greatest poets. In Zen these four lines are considered to be Su's enlightenment verse. In addition to being a poet, Su Shi (1037–1101) was a statesman, an essayist, a painter, and a calligrapher. He practiced Zen as a layperson, not a monk, receiving instruction from Donglin Changcong, a leading master. In China, Su is still honored as one of "the four greats" in several fields, including cooking.<br> Let’s take a look at the poem, using the above translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi (''Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dōgen’s Shōbō Genzō'' [Shambhala, 2012], 86)<br> ''Valley sounds are the long, broad tongue''. "Valley sounds" are the sounds of a stream.<br> "Long, broad tongue" refers to the Buddha and his teachings, known as the Dharma. Restated unpoetically: natural phenomena such as streams are capable of expressing the highest truth. (Read entire article [https://rk-world.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DW18_7-12.pdf here]) +
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?" +
Articles/Does a Dog See into Its Buddha-Nature? Re-posing the Question of Animality-Humanity in Zen Buddhism +
Using as his point of departure the well-known koan that asks whether or not a dog has Buddha-nature, Bret Davis traces the background of this question in his demonstration of the complexity of the relation between humans and animals as conceived during the development of East Asian Buddhism. In his analysis, he argues that on the one hand, Buddha-nature becomes ever more inclusive in this history, while on the other, it tends to remain firmly, albeit somewhat paradoxically, anthropocentric with regard to the capacity to "realize" this spiritual inclusivity. The issue arising from this analysis in Davis' chapter, "Does a Dog See Into its Buddha-Nature? Re-posing the Question of Animality in Zen Buddhism," is whether only humans have the potential to "see into" their Buddha-nature. His project throughout is to show how the question of animality is inseparable from the question of humanity, and how it emerges continuously and in various intertwined ways for those who inherit the weave of Buddhist texts and contexts for thought and practice. (Jones, ''Buddha Nature and Animality'', 9) +
In "The Way of the Dialetheist: Contradictions in Buddhism," Yasuo Deguchi, Jay Garfield, and Graham Priest (hereafter DGP) claimed that in certain parts of the Buddhist tradition contradictions are to be accepted as literally true. I shall confine my remarks to the case of Indian Madhyamaka, more specifically the Madhyamaka of the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' of Nāgārjuna (''MMK'') and its four extant Indian commentaries. About East Asian Buddhism I am not qualified to speak. The DGB thesis might also be thought to apply to Indian Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha thought, but those cases would require separate treatment. What I shall claim is that the Madhyamaka of Nāgārjuna and his commentators is best interpreted as rejecting the claim that a contradiction might be true. More recently DGP seem to have conceded that the interpretation of Madhyamaka that I favor is "orthodox" while their own is "heretical." So apparently we do not disagree as to which interpretation was more commonly accepted in the tradition. There remains a disagreement as to which is the more philosophically defensible. In defending the view I favor I shall be engaging in a considerable amount of textual exegesis, for which I feel I should apologize in advance. What I seek to show is not only that no Madhyamika accepted the dialetheist view that contradictory statements can be true, but also that their position makes good philosophical sense when understood within the confines of classical logic. My working assumption (which I believe I share with DGP) is that the Madhyamikas under discussion were astute philosophers who were well aware of the further implications of the methods they used. Given this assumption, textual exegesis becomes an important component in the investigation of the question at issue between us. +
Articles/Does a Table Have Buddha-Nature? A Moment of Yes and No. Answer! But Not in Words or Signs! A Response to Mark Siderits +
Siderits argues that Nāgārjuna is not committed to the paradoxical claim that emptiness is the lack of intrinsic nature and that it is the intrinsic nature of all things, on the ground that the apparently paradoxical claims Nāgārjuna makes are simply admonitions to recuse oneself from the project of ontology. We argue that to recuse oneself from that project is to do ontology and so is no route out of paradox. We dispute Siderits' reading of several crucial passages, demonstrating that his readings are unattested in the commentarial literature and that they are implausible. Siderits argues on the basis of these readings that Candrakīrti and Nāgārjuna are not committed to paradoxes. We show that more plausible readings that are better attested in the commentarial literature do so commit them. Siderits and we agree that the ultimate nature of reality is to lack any ultimate nature. He thinks that this is consistent; we think that it is paradoxical. +
Edited translations of teachings given by Thrangu Rinpoche in Keystone, Colorado in Summer 2006. +
Articles/Dolpopa and Gyaltsab Debate Tathāgatagarbha: Two Distinct Interpretations of Buddha-Nature in Tibet +
Buddhists have discussed the concept of enlightenment since the time of the Buddha, but the notion that all sentient beings have buddha-nature is found in Mahāyāna Buddhism. For the Mahāyāna thinkers, one of the crucial questions at the center of how all beings can achieve enlightenment is this apparent paradox: frailty, ignorance, and delusions presumably exist concomitantly with buddha-nature in all sentient beings. This article provides a brief survey of the textual history of the buddha-nature literature followed by an in-depth discussion of buddha-nature in the terms set out by two influential Tibetan thinkers, Dolpopa and Gyaltsab; the debate between these thinkers is set in relation to extant discourses of Buddhist ontology, epistemology, and enlightenment within the Tibetan Buddhist scholastic tradition. +
In his keynote lecture to the Vienna Tathāgatagarbha Symposium, Donald Lopez provides an overview of the history and influence of tathāgatagarbha doctrine as well as its various interpretations across the Mahāyāna world. +
Dorji Wangchuk discusses critiques of Buddha-nature theory as non-Buddhist and as opposed to the Buddha's teaching on dependent arising. In particular, he looks at how Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo interprets the tathāgatagarbha theory in relation to the pratītyasamutpāda theory. +
Media/Dorji Wangchuk: Buddha by Nature or Buddha by Nurture? On the Views of Rongzompa, Longchenpa, and Mipam +
''Wangchuk, Dorji. "Buddha by Nature or Buddha by Nurture? On the Views of Rongzompa, Longchenpa, and Mipam." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, July 31, 2021. Video, 10:19. https://youtu.be/zWtzs-1-S4Q.'' +
''Wangchuk, Dorji. "How Can Ordinary Buddhists Access the Profound Teachings on Buddha-Nature?" Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, July 31, 2021. Video, 3:17. https://youtu.be/RkpIR_cTmpA.'' +
Media/Dorji Wangchuk: How Were Rongzompa's Works Received and Integrated in the Nyingma Tradition? +
''Wangchuk, Dorji. "How Were Rongzompa's Works Received and Integrated in the Nyingma Tradition?" Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, July 31, 2021. Video, 4:26. https://youtu.be/QnNTq24E1fk.'' +
Media/Dorji Wangchuk: Is "Other-Emptiness" Taught as Part of the Curriculum in Nyingma Shedras Today? +
''Wangchuk, Dorji "Is "Other-Emptiness" Taught as Part of the Curriculum in Nyingma Shedras Today?" Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, July 31, 2021. Video, 3:54. https://youtu.be/visvFgxXkUw.'' +
''Wangchuk, Dorji. "Longchenpa and His Position on Buddha-Nature." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, July 31, 2021. Video, 3:28. https://youtu.be/BKbGrmfa0kk.'' +
''Wangchuk, Dorji. "On His First Encounter with the Concept of Buddha-Nature." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, July 31, 2021. Video, 2:38. https://youtu.be/okzqa9D7l8s.'' +
Media/Dorji Wangchuk: On How Buddha-Nature Theory May Be Shaped by Western Studies and Practice and the Implications of Tathāgatagarbha Theory +
''Wangchuk, Dorji. "On How Buddha-Nature Theory May Be Shaped by Western Studies and Practice and the Implications of Tathāgatagarbha Theory." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, July 31, 2021. Video, 8:15. https://youtu.be/NHy4sKZoc_k.'' +
''Wangchuk, Dorji. "On the Impact of Rongzompa, Longchenpa, and Mipam on the Nyingma Tradition." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, July 31, 2021. Video, 8:44. https://youtu.be/pEES25DoqyM.'' +
