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From Buddha-Nature
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Ringu Tulku talks about how beginning students might start to orient themselves toward buddha-nature teachings in practice. He explains that it is important to recognize that everybody has the seed of wisdom and compassion within them, which can develop over time. The development of this wisdom through education, training, etc., is the practice of Buddhism and is what the path is all about. +
Venerable Dhammadipa describes how he came to study the Yogachara tradition, having been first ordained in the Theravada tradition. +
In this video Tokpa Tulku begins by describing the difficulty inherent in understanding the unity of emptiness and luminosity, or appearance, an understanding made more difficult by our habitual patterns of thinking. He goes on to describe how buddha-nature is considered the ground of one's practice, as it is concerned with the view and the possibility of becoming a buddha. Gaining certainty that one has buddha-nature aids in one's practice. It is especially important in modern times, where people are looking elsewhere for security and happiness. Buddha-nature, in contrast, is that which is always within you, as a refuge. +
Media/On Jamgon Kongtrul and the Different Approaches to Understanding Buddha-Nature by Ringu Tulku +
Ringu Tulku discusses Jamgön Kongtrul's ''Rime'', or nonpartisan, approach to buddha-nature as opposed to the typical three-fold Tibetan approach of negating others' views, positing one's own view, and engaging in further debate. Such an approach, he suggests, while important, tends to lead to dogmatic views. He goes on to describe how the differences in views of buddha-nature are generally subtle differences, different ways to talk about the same thing. He continues by explaining how, according to Kongtrul, if one is engaged in analyzing reality, then the rangtong approach is best. And if one is trying to describe the ''experience'' of buddha-nature, then the zhentong approach works to accomplish this. In this way Kongtrul brings these two approaches together and sees them as two different ways of describing the same thing. +
Media/On Learning about the Uttaratantrashastra in the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Shedra by Tokpa Tulku +
Tokpa Tulku discusses his experiences learning about the ''Uttaratantrashastra'', or ''Gyü Lama'', in the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling shedra. This is a topic, he explains, that comes later on in the eighth year of studies, after the the study of the sūtras. He describes how the text acts as a bridge between sūtra and tantra, as there is a certain transition that one goes through when moving from one to the other. The text aids in this transition. +
Wulstan Fletcher discusses Mipham's view of buddha-nature. He describes how he was influenced by Longchenpa's view of the inseparability of the second and third turnings of the wheel of the Dharma. He goes on to discuss Mipham's approach to the two truths (conventional and ultimate), in particular the way in which ultimate reality is described as the union of the two truths. Buddha-nature, he explains, is that which transcends the duality of permanence and impermanence. It is a permanence that transcends this binary. However, for Mipham, and more generally for the Nyingma, buddha-nature is not to be understood as a "real" substantive thing. Nor is it to be understood as a nonaffirming negation, as a mere emptiness. +
Tokpa Tulku describes the differences between the rangtong and shentong views of buddha-nature. He follows Mipam rinpoche in describing these seemingly opposing views as two different ways of describing the same buddha-nature. While many scholars have emphasized the emptiness aspect or the luminous or permanent aspect of buddha-nature, both, he suggests, need to be brought together in order to go beyond extremes and dualistic thinking. +
'''Abstract'''<br>
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This thesis explores the development of an important Indian Buddhist scripture. the ''Cakrasaṃvara Tantra'', and the tradition of exegesis and practice based upon it. It consists of an edition and translation of the first four chapters of the ''Cakrasaṃvara Tantra'', as well as a translation of the corresponding portion of Tsongkhapa's ''Total Illumination of the Hidden Meaning'', a Tibetan commentary on this scripture. These texts are contextualized via efforts to define "Tantric Buddhism" as it is understood by the tradition itself, and via explorations of both the intellectual and socio-historical contexts within which Tantric Buddhism developed, and the ways in which different subtraditions within it were elaborated and categorized.<br>
It is argued that a common element of Tantric traditions is their resistance to the hegemonic ideology of caste. An exploration of this ideology and Buddhist resistance to it is undertaken. Tantric discourse was deployed as a form of resistance against caste ideology, but also constituted a counter ideology, which centered around the figure of the ''guru'' as a nexus of power and authority, and articulated in the model of the ''maṇḍala''.<br>
The ''Cakrasaṃvara Tantra'', is notable for the strong presence of "non-Buddhist elements." The ''Cakrasaṃvara Tantra'', is a composite text drawing from diverse sources, and while it probably reached its final form in a Buddhist monastic context, there is significant textual evidence suggesting that it was the product of a non-monastic, renunciant milieu in which sectarian identification was not particularly relevant. The ''Cakrasaṃvara Tantra'', is, in Levi Strauss' terms, a ''bricolage''. It provides a particularly striking example of the processes of adaptation and reinterpretation which have continually led to the development of religious traditions. The ''Cakrasaṃvara'''s identification as a Buddhist tradition was the result of the efforts of commentators in India who constructed it as such, and by Tibetan commentators, who completed this process of adaptation.
Ringu Tulku talks about how the most important thing that Western students should understand about buddha-nature teachings is that buddha-nature refers to one's basic goodness. One always retains this sense of basic goodness, an idea that he places in contrast to the notion of Original Sin. He points out that Gampopa's text ''Jewel Ornament of Liberation'' teaches buddha-nature right from the beginning, an approach which he suggests makes sense for Westerners. +
Media/On Their Book Pruning the Bodhi Tree and Responses to Critical Buddhism by Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson +
Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson discuss their book Pruning the Bodhi Tree and the scholarly responses to Critical Buddhism. +
Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson discuss their own personal relationship to the material in their book Pruning the Bodhi Tree and Critical Buddhism. +
Ringu Tulku discusses the various texts that teach about buddha-nature beyond the ''Uttaratantraśāstra''. He points to Nāgārjuna's praises, sūtras that are considered to be part of the third turning of the wheel of Dharma, Gampopa's ''Jewel Ornament of Liberation'', Tāranātha's Jonang teachings, and works by Śākya Chokden, Longchenpa, and Mipam Rinpoche. +
Media/On Yogachara, Shamatha and Vipashyana Meditation, and Tathāgatagarbha as Skillful Means by Venerable Dhammadipa +
Venerable Dhammadipa discusses the Yogachara tradition and some of its main texts, touching upon the importance of Shamatha and Vipashyana meditation. +
Venerable Dhammadipa discusses the significance of the text ''Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna'', a text which he has translated into Czech. +
Media/On the Concepts of Presence and Absence as a Means for Understanding Buddha-Nature by Douglas Duckworth +
Douglas Duckworth discusses the concepts of presence and absence as a means for understanding buddha-nature and touches on his work on Mipam Gyatso. +
Media/On the Dialectical Relationship between Presence and Absence in Discussions on Buddha-Nature by Douglas Duckworth +
Douglas Duckworth talks about the dialectical relationship between the notions of presence and absence in discussions on buddha-nature. +
Karl Brunnhölzl lays out the areas that are yet to be explored within buddha-nature studies. Among the areas he suggests are ripe for exploration are Longchenpa's writings on buddha-nature, the many types of shentong views that exist, as well as the views of various Sakya authors. +
Media/On the Issue of Buddha-Nature and Practice in East Asian Buddhist Traditions by Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson +
Jamie Hubbard discusses how one of the critical features of East Asian Buddhist traditions consists of reconciling the concept of buddha-nature with the reality of everyday life. This situation has, he argues, opened up new avenues for practice. +
Ringu Tulku explains the three reasons that are posited for why sentient beings have buddha-nature in chapter 1, verse 28 of the ''Ratnagotravibhāga''. He explains that the first verse is referring to the notion that all beings have the same consciousness, a consciousness that is, at its core, luminous and clear. The second verse is referring to the idea that all phenomena are the same; it is appearance and emptiness. There is no differentiation between phenomena; hence the notion that, in reality, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are the same. It is only that a person experiencing nirvana is experiencing reality in an undeluded way, whereas a saṃsāric being sees reality in a deluded way. The difference is in perception. The third verse is referring the fact that everyone possesses some seed of wisdom that can develop. For these reasons all beings are said to have buddha-nature. In his concluding remarks he discusses the relationship between a sentient being and a buddha. +
Ringu Tulku continues his discussion of buddha-nature by further distinguishing what Buddha nature means. He explains that buddha-nature is not something external or something that is in our bodies to be located. Rather, buddha nature describes the way we are. He explains that the consciousness of the Buddha, which is clear and luminous, is the same as every other consciousness, but we do not recognize this as such. We instead tend to react to our experiences with dualistic thinking, which leads to negative emotions and to saṃsāric experience. Given that our minds share the same capacity for enlightenment as the Buddha, the task is then to recognize this and transform our experience. +
