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From Buddha-Nature
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The Buddhist schools are rich and varied in their perspectives, but these many points of view all advance the Buddhist concept of the middle view (''madhya-drshti'' in Sanskrit and ''ume tawa'' in Tibetan). +
Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo wrote this treatise in the eleventh century during the renaissance of Buddhism in Tibet that was spurred by the influx of new translations of Indian Buddhist texts, tantras, and esoteric transmissions from India. For political and religious reasons, adherents of the “new schools” of Tibetan Buddhism fostered by these new translations cast the older tradition of lineages and transmissions as impure and decadent. Rongzompa composed the work translated here in order to clearly and definitively articulate how Dzogchen was very much in line with the wide variety of sutric and tantric teachings espoused by all the Tibetan schools. Using the kinds of philosophic and linguistic analyses favored by the new schools, he demonstrates that the Great Perfection is indeed the culmination and maturation of the Mahāyāna, the Great Vehicle.
The central topic of the work is the notion of illusory appearance, for when one realizes deeply that all appearances are illusory, one realizes also that all appearances are in that respect equal. The realization of the equality of all phenomena is said to be the Great Perfection approach to the path, which frees one from both grasping at and rejecting appearances. However, for those unable to remain effortlessly within the natural state, in the final chapter Rongzompa also describes how paths with effort are included in the Great Perfection approach. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/entering-the-way-of-the-great-vehicle-3656.html Shambhala Publications]) +
''Henkel, Kokyo. "Entire Being Is Buddha-Nature: Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō Busshō." 7 pts. Recorded at the Santa Cruz Zen Center October–December 2012. Audio, pt. 1, 49:15, http://archives.sczc.org/wp-content/uploads/dharma-talks/2012_12_06%20Sesshin%201%20-%20Bussho.mp3; pt. 2, 1:10:25, http://archives.sczc.org/wp-content/uploads/dharma-talks/2012_12_07%20Sesshin%202%20-%20Bussho.mp3; pt. 3, 51:29, http://archives.sczc.org/wp-content/uploads/dharma-talks/2012_12_08%20Sesshin%203%20-%20Bussho.mp3; pt. 4, 1:17:00, http://archives.sczc.org/wp-content/uploads/dharma-talks/2012_12_09%20Sesshin%204%20-%20Bussho.mp3; pt. 5, 1:07:11, http://archives.sczc.org/wp-content/uploads/dharma-talks/2012_12_10%20Sesshin%205%20-%20Bussho.mp3; pt. 6, 1:20:35, http://archives.sczc.org/wp-content/uploads/dharma-talks/2012_12_11%20Sesshin%206%20-%20Bussho.mp3; pt. 7, 1:11:22, http://archives.sczc.org/wp-content/uploads/dharma-talks/2012_12_12%20Sesshin%207%20-%20Bussho.mp3.'' +
This volume, ''Esoteric Instructions'', deals with meditation—specifically tantric meditation. ''Esoteric Instructions'' is a collection of intimate records of personal teachings by masters that simplify tantric meditations by providing pertinent examples and very personal and helpful hints to disciples based on the master's own experience. Although originally oral in nature, they have been codified and passed down through specific lineages from teacher to student. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/treasuryofknowledge.html Shambhala Publications]) +
In this video segment B. Alan Wallace talks about buddha-nature and the concept of ''tathāgatagarbha''. This talk was part of a Spring 8-week retreat on Shamatha, Vipashyana, and Mahamudra, based upon two texts: Panchen Lozang Chökyi Gyaltsen’s ''Highway of the Jinas: A Root Text on the Precious Geluk-Kagyü Mahamudra Tradition'', and Karma Chagmé’s ''Naked Awareness: Practical Teachings on the Union''. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHMFbgfX6ys Source Accessed Nov 17, 2020]) +
Original sin vs. original goodness: Mahayana Buddhism offers a more hopeful view of human nature. Zen teacher Melissa Myozen Blacker reveals how nondual practice frees us from our temporary obscurations and reveals our true, awakened nature. +
''Fischer, Norman. “Everything's Made of Mind” ''Lion's Roar'', February 27, 2019. https://www.lionsroar.com/everythings-made-of-mind/.'' +
[[Gyatrul Rinpoche]] is a famed modern Tibetan teacher of the [[Nyingmapa school]] and holder of the Dudjom Tersar Lineage. This short teaching is a clear and pithy presentation of the Tibetan Buddhist view of buddha-nature from the Nyingma viewpoint that reminds us not only that it is obvious that all sentient beings have buddha-nature, but also that recognizing our buddha-nature depends upon learning in a deep way. We must "chew" on what we have learned and really take it to heart: "If you don’t know your buddhanature, learn about it! Don’t just complain that you don’t understand, or say it is too difficult. How can you see it? How can you recognize it? By learning." +
The ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' (abbr. ''RGV'') was very likely composed around the 4th or 5th century in India. But traces of the ''RGV'' fell into obscurity after the late 6th century, and again begin to appear after the early 11th century. The teaching relating to the RGV was transmitted from India to Tibet mainly via two routes: one from Vikramaśīla through Atiśa (ca. 982–1054) and the other from Kashmir through Sajjana, rNgog Blo-ldan-shes-rab (ca. 1059–1109) and others. rNgog is one of the most influential masters who established exegetical traditions of the ''RGV'' in Tibet, and his understanding of the ''RGV'' is strongly influenced by the Kashmiri tradition, for he studied it in Kashmir. In this regard, the Kashmiri tradition of the ''RGV'' is crucial to learn the foundation of the Tibetan development of the ''RGV'''s exegesis. Fortunately, we have some materials to learn about how Kashmiri Buddhists understood the ''RGV'', but they have not been systematically studied in this regard. I have focused on Sajjana's ''Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa'' in my previous paper in 2015, and in the present paper, I shall extend the range of target to wider context in Kashmir tradition in 11th to 12th century focusing on works by Sajjana, Mahājana, Amṛtākara, and Jayānanda. (Kano, "Exegeses", 1) +
This book offers a systematic analysis of one of the most important concepts characterizing the Yogācāra School of Buddhism (the last creative stage of Indian Buddhism) as outlined and explained in one of its most authoritative and influential texts, ''Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra''. Compiled in the second half of the fourth-century A.D., this sūtra not only represents a comprehensive synthesis of both early and late religio-philosophical ideas crucial to the understanding of Buddhism in India, but it also provides an insight into the very early roots of the Japanese Zen Buddhism in the heart of the South Asian esotericism.<br>
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The first part of the book outlines the three-fold nature of Being, as conceptualized in Buddhist metaphysics. The author uses an interpretive framework borrowed from the existentialist philosophy of Heidegger, in order to separate the transcendental Essence of Being from its Temporal manifestation as Self, and from its Spatial or Cosmic dimension. The second part clarifies the Buddhist approach to knowledge in its religious, transcendental sense and it shows that the Buddhists were actually first in making use of dialectical reasoning for the purpose of transcending the contradictory dualities imbedded in the common ways of perceiving, thinking, and arguing about reality. (Source: [https://www.sunypress.edu/p-234-existence-and-enlightenment-in-.aspx SUNY Press]) +
“If you believe there is a thing called mind, it is just a thought. If you believe there is no thing called mind, it’s just another thought. Your natural state, free of any kind of thought is buddhanature.” Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche gives a teaching on the existence and nonexistence of mind. +
''Drolma, Lama Palden. "Experiences of Buddha-Nature." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, November 27, 2021. Video, 1:14:45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeGAGXrU6mE.'' +
This volume has much to offer to students and practitioners of Buddhism in the English-speaking world. First and foremost, it contains the first scholarly translation of the full Mahāyāna ''Sutra of Brahmā's Net'' into English. Of greatest interest to most, of course, will be the "Mahāyāna Prātimokṣa" ("Precepts Manual") that comprises the second half of the sutra; but the sutra as a whole represents the documentation of a vitally important stage in the development of Mahāyāna thought. At the same time, the reader will have access to the magisterial commentary on this sutra by Taehyeon. Taehyeon's was the only major commentary to treat the entire sutra, and was regarded by a large swath of East Asian Vinaya experts as being the most thorough and balanced exegesis ever written on the text. The ''Beommanggyeong gojeokgi'' was taken as the definitive work on the sutra in the Japanese Ritsu school, where it was the subject of more than sixty subcommentaries. At the same time, readers will be presented with the largest single work to be rendered in English to date by the eminent Silla exegete Taehyeon, a scholar who went far beyond his primary field of Yogācāra to write on virtually every facet of the Mahāyāna Buddhist system. (Muller, preface, xxvii) +
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Filippo Brambilla examines how a broad range of philosophical views translated to Tsoknyi Gyatso's (1880–1940) position on buddha-nature. On the basis of key passages from two of his major philosophical works, Brambilla argues that Tsoknyi Gyatso sought to harmonize the orthodox perspective of his own (Jonang) tradition on this subject with that of the Gelukpas. +
Longchenpa’s classic Buddhist manual for attaining liberation teaches us how to familiarize ourselves with our most basic nature—the clear, pristine, and aware mind. Written in the fourteenth century, this text is the first volume of Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Rest, a work of the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. This profound and comprehensive presentation of the Buddhist view and path combines the scholastic expository method with direct pith instructions designed for yogi practitioners.
This first part of the Trilogy of Rest sets the foundation for the following two volumes: ''Finding Rest in Meditation'', which focuses on Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice, and ''Finding Rest in Illusion'', which focuses on post-meditation yogic conduct. The Padmakara Translation Group has provided us with a clear and fluid new translation to ''Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind'' along with selections from its autocommentary, ''The Great Chariot'', which will serve as a genuine aid to study and meditation.
Here, we find essential instructions on the need to turn away from materialism, how to find a qualified guide, how to develop boundless compassion for all beings, along with the view of tantra and associated meditation techniques. The work culminates with pointing out the result of practice as presented from the Dzogchen perspective, providing us with all the tools necessary to traverse the Tibetan Buddhist path of finding rest.
[https://www.shambhala.com/finding-rest-in-the-nature-of-the-mind-14951.html Shambhala Publications] +
No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:<br><br>
For over thirty years I have been encountering a motif or set of motifs in Japanese culture that is, outside of folklore and the children's story, virtually unheard of in European literature. Japanese literature and theater are rife with stories in which the protagonists are not human but are, rather, plants, trees, animals, or supernatural beings. For many Westerners, such tales seem indicative of some kind of arrested development in the Japanese psyche, as if their culture had failed to become modern or, worse, "grow up."<br> When I ask my Japanese colleagues about this, most see no problem at all: both Shinto and Buddhism acknowledge that sentience can exist across a broad spectrum of life, from the simplest organic structures to supernatural entities that, though invisible, may direct our lives in ways we still don’t understand. Arguably, the Japanese themselves feel a kinship with these other entities to a degree that many people in Europe or North America do not, though such a sensibility is common among indigenous peoples around the world. As unique as they are, human beings do not occupy any God-given, privileged place in this scheme. Th e word animism is brought out to explain much of this, though the term itself is vaguely used.<br> I began to realize that a radically different metaphysical construct of the world gives rise to a distinctive poetics and dramaturgy, and that typical EuroAmerican critical tools fail to adequately interpret even Japanese discursive texts, to say nothing of many of their greatest works of poetry, fiction, and drama. (Poulton, "Flowers of Sentience," 20) (Read the entire article [https://rk-world.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DW18_7-12.pdf here]) +
In this article, I hope to suggest (1) a fertile ground for human rights and social ethics within Japanese intellectual history and (2) a possible angle for connecting Dōgen's ethical views with his views on private religious practice. I begin with a review of the attempts to found the notion of rights within Buddhism.
I focus on two well-argued attempts: Damien Keown's foundation of rights on the Four Noble Truths and individual soteriology and Jay Garfield's foundation of rights on the compassionate drive to liberate others. I then fuse these two approaches in a single concept: Buddha-nature. I analyze Dōgen's own view on the practice-realization of Buddha-nature, and the equation of Buddha-nature with being, time, emptiness, and impermanence. I end with tentative suggestions concerning how Dōgen's particular view on Buddha-nature might affect any social ethics or view of rights that is founded on it. +
Before you fully embark on the path of the bodhisattvas and buddhas, says Chan master Sheng Yen, you must first practice the four steps to magical powers. What are these steps and what are the magical powers you need? +
Kazuo Kano, an assistant professor at Koyasan University in Japan, joins forces with Kengo Harimoto, of the NGMCP in Hamburg, to present an early manuscript fragment of an otherwise unknown commentary on the ''Tattvasaṅgraha'' of Śāntarakṣita. Identified some twenty years [ago] by Prof. Kazunobu Matsuda, the well-known ‘manuscript-hunter’, this fragment has never before been studied in detail or published. Here Harimoto and Kano edit and translate the first of two surviving folios, with material which they show to be important for our understanding of the history of the Sāṃkhya system. (Isaacson, editorial, 1) +
This is part 2 of a report on the fragments of hitherto unknown commentary on the Tattvasańgraha.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000001-QINU`"' The folio we report on here, photographed in frames 32 (recto) and 33 top (verso), constitutes a part of the commentary on Tattvasańgraha stanzas 177–181. Tis is where various arguments for the existence of ''ātman'' is presented.<br> Here, we give the tex of the Tattvasańgraha along with the Tattvasańgrahapañjikā in full. Unlike in the previous fragment, our commentary is brief, and due to its fragmentary nature, it is hard to understand. Having the Tattvasańgrahapañjikā next to our text greatly helps in reconstructing and understanding our text. (Harimoto and Kano, introduction, 5) +
