Property:Description
From Buddha-Nature
This is a property of type Text.
T
Books/The Awakening of Faith in Mahayana (Ta-ch'eng ch'i-hsin lun): A Study of the Unfolding of Sinitic Mahayana Motifs +
China, the country traditionally ruled by the Confucian literati, has prided herself in being moderate, rational and agnostic. So prevalent is this self-image, projected by her cultural elite and enhanced by Sinology itself, that to many, China is still the paradigm of la vie de la moderation, or, in Chinese, of chung-yung (the mean).<br> However, historically, China did mysteriously seem to lose her sense of proportion in what may be regarded as her "medieval", or, better, Buddhist period, roughly from the fourth to the tenth centuries A.D. At that time, China showed she was capable of all the extravagance of the spirit that one, for better or for worse, still associates with the word "religious."<br> By the twelveth or thirteenth century, during the Sung period (960-1279 A.D.), China regained her sense of proportion and came down to earth once more. The Sung Neo-Confucian triumph was not simply due to the institutional strength of the literati alone, as has been so often argued. The same literati only a short while earlier embraced wholeheartedly the Buddhist mysteries. The Neo-Confucian triumph was due to new spiritual insights into the nature and destiny of man and the priorities of life. It is the Neo-Confucian polemics against the Buddhist that still cloud modern Chinese views of the Buddhist tradition. The anticlerical attitude of modern Western humanism introduced into China during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries does not help much to correct these long-cherished Neo-Confucian opinions. Even the more objective Sinologist still follow
Dr. Hu Shih's interpretation that Buddhism was ultimately an alien plague or anomaly that led China astray from her "predestined" humanism.<sup>1</sup><br> In many studies on Chinese Buddhism, the emphasis has been put on the so-called "Sinicization" process and on the confrontation between Chinese and Indian "essences." For example, emphasis has been placed on how "otherworldly" Indian Buddhism was transformed by the Chinese "essence" of "worldliness." The assumption that cultures may be described in terms of "essences" oversimplifies the complex human issues. Additionally, too strong a focus on the dynamics of "acculturation" can misconstrue the religious elements involved. I would prefer to look at the issue from
a slightly different perspective. The question I raise is not how China was "Indianized'", as Hu Shih would put it, but how the Chinese were converted to the Buddhist Dharma (Law) and came to recognize the truth in it.<sup>1</sup> Nor is it a question of how an Indian religion was "Sinicized" but how the Buddhist sangha (fellowship) in China underwent self-transformation, drawing upon inspirations from within the Buddhist tradition itself. For example, the turn towards the world or the rejection of otherworldliness or, better, "othershoreliness" was already in the Mahayana tradition itself as in the dictum "Samsara is nirvana, nirvana is samsara." The Buddhist tradition is never simply "otherworldly mystical"
but contains within itself a wealth of teachings providing a whole range of orientations towards the world. As the Buddhist sangha matured in China, the Chinese Buddhists merely developed those elements in the Mahayana tradition closest to her "native" heart.<br> The phenomenon of "Sinitic Mahayana" should therefore be objectively analyzed as a cultural phenomenon and also sympathetically appreciated in its own religious terms. Just as Christianity is considered to be a creative synthesis of the Classical and the Hebraic tradition, Sinitic Mahayana should also be seen as a proud and independent offspring of the Indian and Chinese confluence. The Hebraic concept of the Messiah and the Greek idea of the Logos merged into the Christian notion of Christ as the Word of God. Similarly, it can be shown that the mature Chinese Buddhist concept of li (principle) as it was used by the Hua-yen school, was a union of the Buddhist Dharma and the Chinese Tao. Li synthesized the original meanings of Dharma and Tao, both symbols for "Transcendence", and articulated their structural interrelationship in a manner unknown before in India or China. The Sinitic understanding of the Mahayana Dharma is comparable to the Christian Church's proclamation (kerygma) concerning God—it is a new insight into an eternal truth.<br> The approach outlined above· would seem to be the natural and proper approach in the understanding of Chinese Buddhism. However, for some reasons, scholars have not yet followed such paths of investigation. I hope the thesis' attempt to combine the traditional sectarian Buddhological approach (which sees all Chinese Buddhist innovations to be solidly grounded in sacred Indian scriptures) and the modern critical historical analysis can reveal more faithfully the dynamics of the Buddhist faith in Chinese history.<sup>1</sup> The larger issues mentioned in the preface here form the backdrop for the more specific study of one Chinese Buddhist text in the body of the thesis. I am interested in the "emergence of Sinitic Mahayana" ca. 600 A.D. in China and in the role the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana (Ta-ch'eng ch'i-hsin lun) played in bringing it about.<sup>1</sup> (Lai, preface, i–v)<br><br>
<h5>Notes</h5>
(As numbered in the original manuscript)<br>
1. Hu Shih, "The Indianization of China: A Case Study in Cultural Borrowings," Independence, Convergence and Borrowing in Institutions, Thought and Art (Cambridge: .
Harvard Tercentenary Publication, 1937). Kenneth Ch'en, in his book The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism (Princeton: 1973) follows explicitly Hu Shih's approach.<br>
1 See Wilfred Cantwell Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion (New York: 1972). The Dharma is "Truth" and it is no more Indian than the Christian God is Jewish.<br>
1. For a review of the limitations of sectarian scholarship, see Kamata Shigeo's critical resume (in English) in his Chūgoku Bukkyō shisō shi kenkyū (Tokyo: 1969).
(From the translator's introduction, v–vi)<br>
This is the title of one of the most important books in the world. A Japanese scholar has translated it ''The Awakening of Faith''. It might also be rendered ''The Mahayana Faith'' or ''The Faith of the New Buddhism''.
Its importance is apparent when we consider the fact that of the 26,000 Buddhist monks and nuns in Japan no less than 17,000 of them belong to the Pure Land School and the True School, which regard this book as their fountain and origin.<br> Its importance is still more apparent when we consider that its doctrines are the fundamental ones of the Mahayana Faith, which is by far the chief school of Buddhism, not only in Japan, but also in China, where are the great majority of the Buddhists of the world. If we estimate the value of books by the number of adherents to their doctrines, then, after the Bible, the Koran, the Confucian Classics, and the Vedas, this volume, about the size of the Gospel of Mark, ranks next, or fifth, among the sacred books of the world.<br> The great value of the book is also apparent when we remember that the Eastern world had been driven to general despair by the atheistic doctrines of primitive Buddhism, called the Hinayana School, and that it was by the doctrines of this book, which gave rise to the Mahayana School of New Buddhism, that a gospel of great hope was preached to the greater part of the Eastern Asiatic continent. Its new doctrines were that of the One Soul immanent for good in all the universe, that of a Divine Helper of men, of individual immortality and growth in the likeness of God, of the importance of faith in God to produce good works and that of the willingness of the best spirits to make sacrifices to save others—the very subjects which in these modern days still occupy the attention of the most thoughtful men of the world. The book is Brahministic and Buddhistic, Indian and Western in some aspects of philosophic thought. It is profoundly philosophic, reminding one strongly of Hegel, Berkeley and G. Gore in the earlier part, and is as hard to understand as Bishop Butler's famous Analogy; yet very practical in the latter part, therefore it has great importance arising from its high and extensive range of view.<br> If it be, as it is more and more believed that the Mahayana Faith is not Buddhism, properly so-called, but an Asiatic form of the same Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in Buddhistic nomenclature, differing from the old Buddhism just as the new Testament differs from the old, then it commands a world-wide interest, for in it we find an adaptation of Christianity to ancient thought in Asia, and the deepest bond of union between the different races of the East and the West, viz., the bond of a common religion. Both Christianity and the New
Buddhism hold to the transcendent and the immanent forms of God; but the East emphasises more of the immanent form while the West emphasises more of the transcendent. The almost universal reception of the
doctrines contained in this book by both the East and the West constitutes to my mind its highest claim to our attention; for thereby we are brought face to face with a solution of the stupendous practical problem of uniting all races in one bond of religious charity!
For the text of these three<sup>1</sup> nipâtas of the Aṅgutara Nikâya I have made use of the following manuscripts:<br>
1. T. = Turnour MS. (written in Siṅhalese character)* in the India Office Library.<br>
2. Ba. = No. 2276 (in Siṅhalese writing) of the Oriental MSS. in the Library of the British Museum.<br>
3. Bb.= No. 2412 (in Siṅhalese character) of the same collection.<br>
4. Ph = Phayre MS. (in Burmese writing), in the India Office Library.<br>
5. Com. (1.) Buddhaghosha's Commentary (Turnour collection), in the India Office Library.<br>
6. ,, (2.) A manuscript of the above work in my own collection. It is of the same type as the Turnour copy.<br>
7. Corn. (3.) Buddhaghosha's Commentary), prepared for me with great care by Subhûti Unnânsê. It is a very valuable and accurate manuscript, and contains many variations from (1.) and (2.).<br>
8. D. = A MS. in my own collection purchased from Dr. Rhys Davids.<br>
9. Tr. = A transcript (unpunctuated) of the Copenhagen MS. by Dr. Trenckner.<br>
10. P = Paris MS. used only in the Uddânas.<br>
Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are all in Siṅhalese writing.<br>
11. There is a ṭīka or subcommentary in the British Museum collection but it has not afforded me any help in
settling the text of the Aṅguttara. It contains the first nipâta and the beginning of the second.<br><br>
There is a very close agreement between the Siṅhalese and Burmese versions of the Aṅguttara-Nikâya; but where they essentially differ, I have, in nearly every case, given the preference to the Siṅhalese readings.<br> The Siṅhalese manuscripts, as Professor Fausböll long ago pointed out (Ten Jātakas, p. x), often retain older
forms and expressions, which the Burmese replace by more modern, more common, and more regular ones. A few instances of this kind occur in the Aṅguttara.- Thus, for bhecchati (I. v. 1}, Ph. reads bhijjissati, and for paligheda (II. iv. 6) cleverly substitutes baligedha, in which ball gives some sense, though not the exact meaning required.<br> In one instance I have found in the Phayre MS. a reading borrowed from the explanation in the Commentary (See III, 65, 3, footnote 5).<br> In difficult or doubtful passages the Burmese manuscripts
rarely render us any trustworthy assistance. Thus, for saṅkasâyanti (III. iv. 9) the reading of all the Siṅhalese copies, and sanctioned by the Saṃyutta-Nikâya, Pk reads saṅghâmayanti. l venture to think that the Siṅhalese reading is the correct one, and that it is not a mistake for saññâyanti <br> In some few cases the Commentary differs from the received text as in the reading atīthâtuṃ for atīyātum (II. iv. 9), and okkâcita for ukkâcita (II. v. 7). In
other cases it has given us a better reading than that of the received text. See saṅkhepa, III. 62, 3.<br> The Chinese are said to have a work answering to the
Aṅguttara-Nikâya, which Professor Beal calls the "Add-0ne-Āgama."<sup>1</sup> We have, however, no means of verifying this statement, as we have no published specimens of a Chinese Aṅguttara to compare with the Pāli version.<br> In Professor Beal's "Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese," we have some quotations from a work called the "Sian-chi-Kwan," written by Chi-kai, the founder of the Tian-tai sect. The extract on p. 258, entitled "On Chiding the Evil Desires," resembles very closely the first ten suttas of the Paṭhana-vagga (pp. 1, 2) mixed up with some commentator's remarks and illustrative stories; but the Chinese stories are not the same as those told by
Buddhaghosha. The chapter on p. 261, "Casting Away Hindrances," looks much like an expansion of the Nirvāṇapahâna-vagga (I. ii. 1-10).<br> The Chinese may have had an Aṅguttara, but it probably bore no closer likeness to the Pāli work so called than the Dhammapada translated by Professor Beal resembles the text edited by Professor Fausböll.<br> In the Samacitta-vagga (II. iv. 2) of the Aṅguttara there is a very interesting little sutta on filial piety in which it is insisted that no adequate return can be made by children to their parents, even though they should perform for them the most menial offices. The sutta also points out the duty of children to look after the spiritual welfare of their parents. (see also III. 31). There seems to be some reminiscence of a northern version of this sutta in Japanese Buddhist books. The San-kai-ri quotes the Bussetsu Ko-ko-kio as the authority for the following piece of advice to dutiful children:—"Although a man should provide for his parents a hundred kinds of the choicest food suited to the palate, and though he caused their bodies to be arrayed in magnificent garments, and though he bear them on his
shoulders from place to place, and furnish them with every sort of amusement and happiness, . . . beyond all this they should ever seek to induce them to render due homage to the three precious things—Buddha, Buddhist rites, and the priests—and also realize clearly their future destination."<br> In regard to this subject the Fubo-on Ju-kió has a remark that I have met with somowhere in Pāli, "that if one were to estimate the value of one sho (about a quart and a half) of the mother's milk, it would be more than ten thousand eight hundred and fifty kokus of rice; and if estimated in rice stalks, it would make twenty-three thousand bundles; and if calculated in linen cloth, it would be more than three thousand three hundred and seventy steps or measure" (The Chrysanthemum, a monthly magazine for Japan and the Far East, April 1882 pp. 172, 173).<br> In the Pāli Text Society's Journal for 1885 I have
discussed the modern versions of the interesting story of "Death's Messengers" in the Devadûta-vagga III. 35, 1–4.<br> But of these and other interesting matters I shall have more to say when the Aṅguttara-Nikâya is completed ; the present installment, however, will show the necessity of publishing the whole as soon as possible.<br> The Siṅhalese MSS. contain, at the end of the Tika-nipâta, Uddânas for the first three nipâtas. The Phayre MS.
has an Uddânas only for the Tika-nipâta.<br> The text of these Uddânas is corrupt in many places, and though it has been compared with the vaggas themselves, it is still not free from error.<br> The Tika-nipâta Uddâna does not go beyond the Maṅgala-vagga.<br> The Acelaka-vagga probably included only suttas 151, 152; so that the ten suttas 153-162 made a second vagga, while No. 163 constituted a third vagga, a mere "tag", as at the end of the Atthavasa-Vagga, II. xvii, 3, 4, 5, p. 100. (Morris, preliminary remarks, vii–xii)<br><br>
[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.9169/page/n9/mode/2up Read more here . . .]
<h5>Notes</h5>
1. An edition of the first ''two'' nipātas was issued by the Pāli Text Society among the publications of 1883; but it was not well received on account of the numerous contractions used in the text. In the present work only a few ''po's'' or . . . . have been employed.<br>
1. Bunyin Nanjin, in his "Catalog of the Chinese Buddhist Canon," No. 543, gives a description of a work called T(illegible)an-yi- chān-chin (Add-one-āgama-book), which he tranlates Ekottarāgama sūtra. It was translated into Chinese by Dharmanandin, A.D 385. Judging from the titles of each chapter (varga?) it is ''unlike'' the Pāli Aṅguttara-Nikâya. It is, however, worth noting that in the Milinda-Pañba (p. 352) the Aṅguttara is alluded to as the Ekuttara-Nikâya.
Media/The Basis for Buddhahood: The Naturally Luminous Mind and Buddha-Nature in the Early Mahāmudrā Tradition by Casey Forgues +
Why are we able to attain enlightenment? Is buddha-nature merely a metaphor for emptiness or something more? Is buddhahood something that is produced or uncovered? In this conversation, Casey Forgues explores these questions and more with Lopen Karma Phuntsho by referencing some of the earliest Mahāmudrā masters, including Nāropa, Marpa, and Gampopa. This discussion focuses on how the luminous mind (also sometimes known as clear light) was emphasized in terms of the basis, path, and fruition in this tradition, and how the three can be merged through meditative practices on luminosity.
In the recent publication ''Buddha Nature Across Asia'', edited by Klaus-Dieter Mathes and Casey Forgues (Kemp), Casey contributes a chapter focused on an important concept related to buddha-nature and our innate propensity for buddhahood—natural luminosity (''prakṛtiprabhāsvaratā''), the theory that the inherent condition of mind is luminous and pure, and afflictions (''kleśa'') are merely adventitious. While this idea is found in the Pāli canon, it came to be particularly thematized as the basis for buddhahood among the various Mahāyāna traditions. The natural luminosity of mind is a central topic in the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' and came to be understood by some commentators to be synonymous with buddha-nature, especially within the Tibetan Kagyü Mahāmudrā tradition. Casey provides a semantic gloss of the term among key Indian canonical texts, including sūtra, tantra, and dohā sources, that directly influenced the doctrine of natural luminosity among the early Mahāmudrā teachings. She looks into how Maitrīpa (986–1063), Nāropa (1016–1041), and Marpa (1012–1097) in particular understood the luminous mind to be inseparable from the ''dharmakāya'', which led to later traditional Mahāmudrā understandings of buddha-nature. While buddha-nature sources are not extensively referenced in the earliest available Mahāmudrā teachings, Casey demonstrates how the doctrine of natural luminosity directly influenced teachings on buddha-nature, and vice versa, in the tradition.
You can download the PDF of the book for free online here: https://wstb.univie.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/WSTB_103.pdf
Casey Forgues (Kemp) is a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna and editorial director of Khyentse Vision Project. Casey received her MPhil in Tibetan Studies at the University of Oxford and has translated sūtras for 84000. Her research focuses on tantric philosophical views of the luminous nature of mind in the early Mahāmudrā tradition (eleventh-thirteenth centuries). She is the coeditor of ''Buddha Nature Across Asia'' and has published on topics including death and dying in tantric Buddhism, buddha-nature, the six yogas of Nāropa, and the Kalācakra tradition.
The Blue Annals is a landmark in the historical literature of Tibet composed by a well known scholar and translator Gos lo-tsa-ba-gZon-nu dpal (1392-1481 A.D.). It is the main source of information for all later historical compilations in the ''Land of Snows''. This work is invaluable inasmuch as it establishes a firm chronology of events of Tibetan history and works out in detail the list of the names of famous religious teachers and their spiritual lineage. The work is divided into fifteen chapters, each dedicated to the history of a particular school or sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It provides a comparative study of the chronological data given by T`ang Annals, Blue Annals, and Tunhuang chronicles. The Blue Annals appears to be a faithful reproduction of the list given in the T`ang Annals with minor differences. The book concludes with the portrayal of the origin, etc. of the communities of the four schools. It contains indexes for Sutras and Sastras, Personal Names and Book Titles and Personal Names (Tibetan), etc. ([https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Annals-Pt-George-Roerich/dp/8120804716 Source]) +
''The Brahmā’s Net Sutra'' is the primary extant vinaya text that articulates a set of precepts from a Mahayana perspective, mainly intended for "bodhisattva practitioners" primarily householders, rather than renunciant monks or nuns. Before the appearance of this text the monastic rules and regulations in East Asian Buddhism were defined fully by the "Hinayana" vinaya, most importantly the Four-part Vinaya associated with the Dharmaguptaka school in India. With the appearance of the Brahmā’s Net Sutra many East Asian schools diversified their precept practices, with some groups of practitioners taking up either set of precepts, often utilizing both.
Composed in China around 420, the ''Brahmā’s Net Sutra'' is based on various contemporary Mahayana and Hinayana vinaya writings and includes extensive discussion of indigenous Chinese moral concepts such as filial piety, etc. The text is based in the same mainstream Mahayana thought of the ''Flower Ornament Sutra'' (''Huayan jing''), the ''Nirvana Sutra'' (''Niepan jing''), and the ''Sutra for Humane Kings'' (''Renwang jing''). In fact, the extent of the ''Brahmā's Net Sutra'''s agreement with the ''Flower Ornament Sutra'' is so pronounced that it is regarded as the "concluding sutra" of the latter.
Long thought to be the Skt. ''Brahmajāla-sūtra'' translated by Kumārajīva into the Chinese as ''Fanwang jing'' (梵網經), the work is now seen within modern scholarship as composed in China around 420, based on various Mahayana and Hinayana vinaya writings available at that time. 2 fascicles. (Source: [https://bdkamerica.org/product/the-brahmas-net-sutra/ BDK America]) +
One of the fundamental tenets of Mahayana Buddhism animating and grounding the doctrine and discipline of its spiritual path, is the inherent potentiality of all animate beings to attain the supreme and perfect enlightenment of Buddhahood. This book examines the ontological presuppositions and the corresponding soteriological-epistemological principles that sustain and define such a theory. Within the field of Buddhist studies, such a work provides a comprehensive context in which to interpret the influence and major insights of the various Buddhist schools. Thus, the dynamics of the Buddha Nature, though non-thematic and implicit, is at the heart of Zen praxis, while it is a significant articulation in Kegon, Tendai, and Shingon thought. More specifically, the book seeks to establish a coherent metaphysics of absolute suchness (''Tathatā''), synthesizing the variant traditions of the Tathagata-embryo (''Tathāgatagarbha'') and the Storehouse Consciousness (''Ālayavijñāna'').
<br><br>
The book's contribution to the broader field of the History of Religions rests in its presentation and analysis of the Buddhist Enlightenment as the salvific-transformational moment in which ''Tathatā'' 'awakens' to itself, comes to perfect self-realization as the Absolute suchness of reality, in and through phenomenal human consciousness. The book is an interpretation of the Buddhist Path as the spontaneous self-emergence of 'embryonic' absolute knowledge as it comes to free itself from the concealments of adventitious defilements, and possess itself in fully self-explicitated self-consciousness as the 'Highest Truth' and unconditional nature of all existence; it does so only in the form of omniscient wisdom. (Source: Book jacket inside cover) +
'''Abstract'''<br><br>
The present dissertation identifies the ontological presuppositions and the corresponding soteriological-epistemological principles that sustain and define the Mahāyāna Buddhist belief in the inherent potentiality of all animate beings to attain the supreme and perfect enlightenment of Buddhahood. More specifically, the study establishes a coherent metaphysic of Absolute Suchness (''Tathatā''), synthesizing the variant traditions of the Tathāgata-embryo (''Tathāgatagarbha'') and the Storehouse Consciousness (''Ālayavijñāna'').<br> The dissertation interprets the Buddhist enlightenment as the salvific-transformational moment in which ''Tathatā'' "awakens" to itself,
comes to perfect self-realization as the Absolute Suchness of reality, in and through phenomenal human consciousness. It is an interpretation of the Buddhist Path as the spontaneous self-emergence of "embryonic" absolute knowledge as it comes to free itself from the concealments of adventitious defilements, and possess itself in fully self-explicitated self-consciousness as the "Highest Truth" and unconditional nature of all existence; it does so only in the form of omniscient wisdom.<br> Aside from Ruegg's ''La Theorie du Tathāgatagarbha et du Gotra'' and Verdu's study of the ''Ālayavijñāna'' in ''Dialectical Aspects in Buddhist Thought'', Western scholarship treating of the subject is negligible. And while both sources are excellent technical treatises, they fail to integrate in any detailed analysis the dual concepts as complementary modes of each other. Thus, the dissertation, while adopting the
methodology of textual analysis, has as its emphasis a thematic-interpretive study of its sources. Conducting a detailed analysis into the structure of the texts, the dissertation delineates and appropriates the inherent ontological, soteriological and epistemological foci which they themselves assume as their natural form.<br> Structurally, the dissertation is divided into three major parts. The first focuses on the ''Tathāgatagarbha'', the second on the ''Ālayavijñāna'', the third on their relation and deeper significance in the human thought tradition. The first two parts are sub-divided into seven and four chapters respectively. The former seven chapters establish the ontological identity of the Tathāgata-embryo (''Tathagātagarbha'') through a critical examination of the major sūtral authority for the concept, i.e., the ''Śrī-Mālā-Sūtra'', and the primary śāstral elaboration inspired by it, viz., the ''Ratnagotravlbhāga''.<br> Following the same pattern, the four chapters of part 2 note the role of the ''Laṅk¯āvatāra Sūtra'' as a principal scriptural advocate for the theory of the Storehouse Consciousness (''Ālayavijñāna''), while detailing the scholastic amplification of it in Hsüan Tsang's ''Ch'eng Wei-Shih Lun''. Part 3 concludes the study by recapitulating the principal developments in the emergent complementarity of the two concepts, arguing that any adequate
discussion of the Buddha Nature must be informed on the one hand by the theory of the ''Tathāgatagarbha'' which grounds and authenticates its ontological status, and on the other by the ''Ālayavijñāna'', its noetic-cognitive determination. While the former tends to elucidate the
process towards, and experience of enlightenment as a function of Absolute Suchness (''Tathatā''), the latter adopts the reciprocal perspective and examines the subject in the light and function of phenomenal consciousness.<br> By way of comparison with Western thought, the chapter likewise demonstrates the analogous dynamic in the bilateral theory of the ''Tathāgatagarbha-Ālayavijñāna'' and the Hegelian Absolute Spirit in-and-for-itself. Focusing upon ''The Phenomenology of Spirit'', the chapter notes that the self-becoming process in and through which consciousness realizes its own plenitude is strikingly homologous to the theory of Buddhist enlightenment presented through the concept of the ''Tathāgatagarbha-Ālayavijñāna''. It suggests that these two representative thought systems
mutually illumine each other, and together illustrate a correspondent framework within which the relationship of the Absolute and relative may gain a more universal conception and therefore, a more comprehensive resolution.
This text consists of edited transcripts from a 1996 interview which Dr. Peter Michel conducted with the Dalai Lama in German and was later translated into English. It is unclear if the translation is accurate and should be read carefully with a critical eye as it may not represent the opinion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Foreword by Vaclav Havel.
'''From the Back Cover:''' Buddha Nature is a very complex topic in Tibetan Buddhism. Not many books deal with this topic and an even smaller number present this concept in perspective to Christian ideas of self, immortality, and eternal soul.
For the first time, the Dalai Lama presents views concerning the Self in Buddhism. In the process, he explains how Buddhist teachings differentiate the person and the eternal soul. At the same time, he explains his ideas of Nirvana. A fascinating synthesis of individuality and universality arises, one that could only be formed by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama.
An inspiring book that encourages religious and spiritual dialogue. +
Tathagatagarbha—Buddha Nature—is a central concept of Mahayana Buddhism crucial to all the living practice traditions of Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. Its relationship to the concept of emptiness has been a subject of controversy for seven hundred years. Dr. Hookham's work investigates the divergent interpretations of these concepts and the way the TIbetan tradition is resolving them.
In particular she does this with reference to the only surviving Indian commentary on the Tathagatagarbha doctrine, the ''Ratnagotravibhaga''. This text addresses itself directly to the issue of how to relate the doctrine of emptiness (the illusory nature of the world) to that of the truly existing, changeless Absolute (the Buddha Nature).
This is the first work by a Western writer to present an analysis of the Shentong tradition based on previously untranslated sources. The Shentong view rests on meditative experience that is inaccessible to the conceptualizing mind. It is deeply rooted in the sutra tradition of Indian Buddhism and is central to an understanding of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions and Tantric practice among the Kagyupas and Nyingmapas.
(Source: [https://www.sunypress.edu/p-1029-the-buddha-within.aspx SUNY Press]) +
In this evening talk, Khenpo Kunga shares his insights about Buddha nature and the path of meditation and how we can apply them in everyday life. ([https://soundcloud.com/tergar/the-buddha-within-buddha-nature-and-the-path-of-meditation Source Accessed August 14, 2020]) +
''The Buddha from Dölpo'' is a revised and enlarged edition of the only book about the most controversial Buddhist master in the history of Tibet, Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292-1361), who became perhaps the greatest Tibetan expert of the Kālacakra, or Wheel of Time, a vast system of tantric teachings. Based largely on esoteric Buddhist knowledge from the legendary land of Shambhala, Dölpopa's insights have profoundly influenced the development of Tibetan Buddhism for more than 650 years.
Dölpopa emphasized two contrasting definitions of the Buddhist theory of emptiness. He described relative phenomena as "empty of self-nature," but absolute reality as only "empty of other," i.e., relative phenomena. He further identified absolute reality as the buddha nature, or eternal essence, present in all living beings. This view of an "emptiness of other," know in Tibetan as ''shentong'', is Dölpopa's enduring legacy.
''The Buddha from Dölpo'' contains the only English translation of three of Dölpopa's crucial works. ''A General Commentary on the Doctrine'' is one of the earliest texts in which he systematically presented his view of the entire Buddhist path to enlightenment. ''The Fourth Council'' and its ''Autocommentary'' (which was not in the first edition of this book) were written at the end of his life and represent a final summation of his teachings. These translations are preceded by a detailed discussion of Dölpopa's life, his revolutionary ideas, earlier precedents for the ''shentong''view, his unique use of language, and the influence of his theories. The fate of his Jonang tradition, which was censored by the central Tibetan government in the seventeenth century but still survives, is also examined. (Source: [https://www.shambhala.com/the-buddha-from-dolpo-2349.html Shambhala Publications]) +
In clear language, James William Coleman guides us through the ancient sutras that preserve the Buddha’s message, illuminating their meaning for today’s world and tying the Buddha’s wisdom together for us. The book concludes with chapters from two great teachers, Reb Anderson from the Zen tradition and Lama Palden from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, on how to use meditation to bring the Buddha’s wisdom into our daily lives. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/buddhas-dream-liberation/ Wisdom Publications]) +
This book presents an influential and extraordinary teaching of the Kagyü tradition of Tibetan Buddhism known as the Single Intention by the master Drigung Kyobpa Jikten Sumgön (1143–1217), along with its chief commentaries, principally the Light of the Sun by Rikzin Chökyi Drakpa (1595–1659).<br/>
<br/>
Early in the history of the Kagyü school, the teachings of Jikten Sumgön were condensed into 150 core formulations called vajra statements. These pithy, revelatory statements comprise the Single Intention (Dgongs gcig), which presents the thought of the Buddha and the nature of the ineffable (brjod du med pa) in concise and direct expression. The Single Intention weaves the thread of ineffable mahāmudrā through the entire fabric of Buddhism. It presents mahāmudrā as pervading disciplined conduct, meditative concentration, and discriminative knowledge; ground, path, and result; view, practice, and conduct; and the “three vows” of prātimokṣa, of the bodhisattvas, and of mantra. Jikten Sumgön teaches how the fundamental values and insights revealed by the Buddha are woven into reality and therefore accessible to all.<br/>
<br/>
Jan-Ulrich Sobisch manages to convey the unity of the Buddha’s message both in its particulars and in its scope. His deep and authoritative skill makes this the definitive presentation of one of the most unique and compelling works of classical Tibetan literature. [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/buddhas-single-intention/ (Source: Wisdom Publications)] +
This book contains many valuable contributions. It places the ''Śrīmālādevīsūtra'' in the early development of the Mahāyāna and includes surveys of earlier translations of key terms and an overview of tathāgathagarbha theory. Paul points out the key role that the bodhisattvas play for sentient beings as guides in the transition from ordinary being to buddha. The ''Śrīmālā'', although it affirms that all beings share the same buddha-nature and emphatically embraces the idea of a Single Vehicle, nevertheless asserts that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cannot comprehend the needed steps to shed adventitious stains and reveal the intrinsic purity of mind; only bodhisattvas can. Paul notes that while the ''Lotus Sūtra'' proclaimed the universal salvation via the Single Vehicle, and the ''Tathāgathagarbhasūtra'' proclaimed universal buddha-nature, it was the ''Śrīmālā'' that first combined those concepts. (Alex Gardner, 2018) +
Madhyamaka, the "philosophy of the middle," systematized the Buddha's fundamental teaching on no-self with its profound non-essentialist reading of reality. Founded in India by Nāgārjuna in about the second century C.E., Madhyamaka philosophy went on to become the dominant strain of Buddhist thought in Tibet and exerted a profound influence on all the cultures of East Asia. Within the extensive Western scholarship inspired by this school of thought, David Seyfort Ruegg's work is unparalleled in its incisiveness, diligence, and scope. ''The Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle'' brings together Ruegg’s greatest essays on Madhyamaka, expert writings which have and will continue to contribute to our progressing understanding of this rich tradition. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/buddhist-philosophy-middle/ Wisdom Publications]) +
The assertion that there is nothing in the constitution of any person that deserves to be considered the self (''ātman'')—a permanent, unchanging kernel of personal identity in this life and those to come—has been a cornerstone of Buddhist teaching from its inception. Whereas other Indian religious systems celebrated the search for and potential discovery of one’s “true self,” Buddhism taught about the futility of searching for anything in our experience that is not transient and ephemeral. But a small yet influential set of Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, composed in India in the early centuries CE, taught that all sentient beings possess at all times, and across their successive lives, the enduring and superlatively precious nature of a Buddha. This was taught with reference to the enigmatic expression ''tathāgatagarbha''—the “womb” or “chamber” for a Buddha—which some texts refer to as a person’s true self.<br><br>
''The Buddhist Self'' is a methodical examination of Indian teaching about the ''tathāgatagarbha'' (otherwise the presence of one's “Buddha-nature”) and the extent to which different Buddhist texts and authors articulated this in terms of the self. C. V. Jones attends to each of the Indian Buddhist works responsible for explaining what is meant by the expression ''tathāgatagarbha'', and how far this should be understood or promoted using the language of selfhood. With close attention to these sources, Jones argues that the trajectory of Buddha-nature thought in India is also the history and legacy of a Buddhist account of what deserves to be called the self: an innovative attempt to equip Mahāyāna Buddhism with an affirmative response to wider Indian interest in the discovery of something precious or even divine in one's own constitution. This argument is supplemented by critical consideration of other themes that run through this distinctive body of Mahāyānist literature: the relationship between Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachings about the self, the overlap between the ''tathāgatagarbha'' and the nature of the mind, and the originally radical position that the only means of becoming liberated from rebirth is to achieve the same exalted status as the Buddha. (Source: [https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-buddhist-self-on-tathagatagarbha-and-atman/ University of Hawai'i Press])
Whether one approaches the Buddhist tradition from a historical, cultural, or philosophical perspective, scholarship in this area of study has largely been the province of individuals possessing some degree of proficiency in one, or a number of, various Asian languages. Obviously, the first challenge facing the scholar is simply that of determining exactly what Buddhism was and, to some extent, continues to be. However, the intellectual tradition of Western civilization has developed virtually in total isolation from this religion. Thus, the ultimate, and perhaps most difficult, challenge is that of pointing out the merits of Buddhism to a largely unfamiliar Western audience. The person who is unversed in any of the canonical languages
of Buddhism only has access to Buddhist literature through the writings that are available in a Western language. And, at present, this body of writings does not provide anything like a complete and thorough representation of Buddhist literature. Consequently, in addition to those who are well-versed in Buddhist ideology, this dissertation is also intended for individuals who have little familiarity with this subject.<br> More specifically, my objective has been to make a contribution to the ongoing investigations into the history of Buddhist philosophy by focussing on one Buddhist author's interpretation of a specific topic— the doctrine of ''anātma''— and providing an analysis of it in relation to the views of several other Buddhist schools. I have attempted to demonstrate how Acarya Candrakirti's theory of self is significantly different from the generally accepted Buddhist explanation of this topic. In doing so, several relevant areas of Candrakirti's overall system are also examined. With regard to his Prasangika views on logic, I have introduced new material from the writings of Svatantrika scholars for the purpose of further clarifying the nature of the differences between these two Madhyamika schools of thought.<br> Part Two consists of a translation of Candrakirti's most comprehensive discussion of his views on the self. This text was not previously available in English. In several instances my translation also corrects misinterpretations that occur in the incomplete French translation of Professor Louis de la Vallée Poussin. The text consists of a section of the sixth chapter from Acarya Candrakirti's ''Madhyamakāvatārabhāṣya''. Since the original Sanskrit is not extant, my translation is based on the Tibetan translation. For a manuscript I have used the 1912 edition prepared by Professor Poussin and published by the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences as Volume IX of the Bibliotheca Buddhica series. In preparing the English translation, Professor Poussin's French translation as well as a partial Sanskrit reconstruction by N. Aiyaswami Sastri were consulted; however the most useful aid proved to be the Tibetan translation of a 12th century Indian commentary to Candrakirti's text composed by a certain Jayānanda and entitled ''Madhyamakāvatāratīka''. This work provides a literal explanation for almost every word of Candrakirti's text and was extremely helpful for understanding numerous obscure passages.<br> Although several of the texts cited in Part One of the dissertation can be found in translations prepared by other scholars, I have presented my own version for all these quotations in order to maintain a consistency of style and terminology. The one exception occurs in the chapter on Prasangika logic, for which ample explanation is given there. (Engle, preface, iii–v)
This is the story of fifth century CE India, when the Yogacarin Buddhists tested the awareness of unawareness, and became aware of human unawareness to an extraordinary degree. They not only explicitly differentiated this dimension of mental processes from conscious cognitive processes, but also offered reasoned arguments on behalf of this dimension of mind. This is the concept of the 'Buddhist unconscious', which arose just as philosophical discourse in other circles was fiercely debating the limits of conscious awareness, and these ideas in turn had developed as a systematisation of teachings from the Buddha himself. For us in the twenty-first century, these teachings connect in fascinating ways to the Western conceptions of the 'cognitive unconscious' which have been elaborated in the work of Jung and Freud.<br> This important study reveals how the Buddhist unconscious illuminates and draws out aspects of current western thinking on the unconscious mind. One of the most intriguing connections is the idea that there is in fact no substantial 'self' underlying all mental activity; 'the thoughts themselves are the thinker'. William S. Waldron considers the implications of this radical notion, which, despite only recently gaining plausibility, was in fact first posited 2,500 years ago. (Source: [https://www.routledge.com/The-Buddhist-Unconscious-The-Alaya-vijnana-in-the-context-of-Indian-Buddhist/Waldron/p/book/9780415406079 Routledge]) +
Books/The Cakrasamvara Tantra (The Discourse of Sri Heruka) - A Study and Annotated Translation (2007) +
This is the first complete, critical English translation of the ''Cakrasamvara Tantra'', also known as the ''Śrīherukābhidhāna'' and ''Laghusamvara''. Composed in India during the eighth century, this text is a foundational scripture of one of the most important Indian Buddhist tantric traditions, as evidenced by the vast number of commentaries and ritual literature associated with it. Along with the ''Hevajra Tantra'', it is one of the earliest and most influential of the Yoginī Tantras, a genre of tantric Buddhist scripture that emphasizes female deities, particularly the often fiercely depicted Yoginīs and Ḍākinīs.<br>
<br>
The author’s introductory essay provides an analysis of the historical and intellectual contexts in which the text was composed, including its complex interrelationship with Hindu Śaiva traditions, and investigates the history of its adaptation by Buddhists. The translation was made on the basis of the surviving Sanskrit manuscripts of the Tantra and its commentaries, as well as parallel passages in related explanatory tantras (''vyākhyātantra''). It is also takes into consideration two different Tibetan translations of the root text, and several Tibetan commentaries. The translation itself is heavily annotated, with extensive translations from the Indian and Tibetan commentaries on the text. Includes a trilingual glossary and index. (Source: [http://aibs.columbia.edu/books.html The American Institute of Buddhist Studies]) +
