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''Brunnhölzl, Karl. "On the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje's View of Buddha-Nature." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, February 26, 2022. Video, 4:59. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mzukFaO-No.'' +
''Brunnhölzl, Karl. "On the Title of His Talk: What Is My Mind without Me?" Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, February 26, 2022. Video, 2:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ0rt0izSzI.'' +
Media/Karl Brunnhölzl: On the Views of Dolpopa, the 3rd Karmapa, and Different Views within the Kagyu School +
''Brunnhölzl, Karl. "On the Views of Dolpopa, the 3rd Karmapa, and Different Views within the Kagyu School." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, February 26, 2022. Video, 5:43. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLF_ye2wOEg.'' +
''Brunnhölzl, Karl. "What Can We Learn from Buddha-Nature Teachings?" Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, February 26, 2022. Video, 2:31. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCS6hnWk1o4.'' +
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.
''Phuntsho, Karma. "Buddha-Nature and Dying: Clear Light at the Point of Death." Old Topic, New Insights: Buddha-Nature at the Crossroads between Doctrine and Practice. The 16th IATS Conference, Prague, July 3–9, 2022. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department. Video, 15:47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3lOZAUfKi8.'' +
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.
Katrin Querl presents an overview of Jikten Gonpo's position on Buddha-nature as outlined in the textual corpus known as the ''Single Intention'' (''Dgongs gcig'') and in two of this work's earliest commentaries. +
Kazuo Kano discusses the term ''tathāgatagarbha'' and its appearance in tantric scriptures and commentaries composed by Indic authors and shows how and for what purposes this term has been integrated into tantric contexts. In terms of precursors to the tantric usages, he notes mentions such as that found in the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'', in which practitioners are taught to think of themselves as a stūpa—that is, a reliquary that contains a buddha within it and as such are objects of worship. As for Indian authors, he discusses the views of Ratnākaraśānti as representative of the Yogācāra school and the notion of the three vehicles (''triyāna''), and he discusses Abhayākaragupta as representative of the Madhyamaka school and the notion of a single vehicle (''ekayāna''). Some brief mention is also made of Kamalaśīla, who represents a synthesis of the two schools. +
Articles/Kaḥ thog Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita's Doxographical Position: The Great Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness (gzhan stong dbu ma chen po) +
This paper cxplores the doctrinal position of Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita ’Gyur med tshe dbang mchog grub'"`UNIQ--ref-00000001-QINU`"' (1761-1829) namely, the Great Madhyamaka of other-emptiness (''gzhan stong dbu ma chen po''). Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita was the first of the Dge rtse reincarnation lineage, and served as an abbot of the Kah thog monastery of the Rnying ma school of Tibetan Buddhism in Khams, in eastem Tibet.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000002-QINU`"' Apart from the fact that Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita edited the Sde dge edition of the ''Rnying ma rgyud ’bum'','"`UNIQ--ref-00000003-QINU`"' little is known of him or his own works.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000004-QINU`"'<br> This paper will examine Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita’s doxography, considering the way in which he attempts to demonstrate that the Great Madhyamaka of other-emptiness is ultimate within the Buddhist doctrinal history originating from India. According to Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita, the Great Madhyamaka of other-emptiness is said to have been the intent of the Last Tuming of the Wheel of the Dharma which is of definitive meaning, teaches the Buddha-nature (''tathāgatagarbha''), and, as pointed out by Duckworth, "accords with the Great Perfection"'"`UNIQ--ref-00000005-QINU`"' (''rdzogs chen''). Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita’s ''gzhang stong'' view is explicitly taught in the following doxographical texts: the ''Bde gshegs snying po'i rgyan'', the ''Grub mtha'i rnam gzhag nges don dgongs gsal'', the ''Rton pa bzhi ldan gyi gtam'', the first chapter of the ''Rnying ma rgyud 'bum dkar chag lha'i rnga bo che'','"`UNIQ--ref-00000006-QINU`"' and the ''Sangs rgyas gnyis pa'i dgongs pa'i rgyan'','"`UNIQ--ref-00000007-QINU`"' which is Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita's commentary on the ''Gsang sngags lam gyi rim pa sal ba'i sgron me'', a ''gter ma'' of Nyang ral Nyi ma 'od zer (1124/1136-1192/1204).<br> This paper will also suggest that Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita should be recognized as a forerunner of the ''ris med'' movement in Khams, as supported by the following facts: his view on the Great Madhyamaka of other-emptiness embraces the major practice lineages (''sgrub brgyud'')—Jo nang pa, Bka' brgyud pa, Sa skya pa, early Dge lugs pa, Rnying ma pa, and Zhi byed—within a single overriding intent of the Buddha’s teachings;'"`UNIQ--ref-00000008-QINU`"' Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita as the teacher of Zhe chen dbon sprul ’Gyur med mthu stobs rnam rgyal, also known as Zhe chen Mahāpaṇḍita (b. 1787), who was a ''gzhan stong pa'','"`UNIQ--ref-00000009-QINU`"' and who in tum was the teacher of the three masters Kong sprul (1813-99), Mkhyen brtse'i dbang po (1820–2), and Dpal sprul (1808-87).'"`UNIQ--ref-0000000A-QINU`"' Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita’s ''Legs bshad gser gyi thur ma'', which is his response to the ''Lta ba'i gsung mgur'' by Lcang skya Rol pa'i rdo rje (1717-86),'"`UNIQ--ref-0000000B-QINU`"' would hint at the seeds of the ''ris med'' movement which grew up among the three schools, the Sa skya, Bka' brgyud, and Rnying ma.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000000C-QINU`"' With this paper, then, I hope to add to our understanding of the practice lineages of Indo-Tibetan Madhyamaka. (Makidono, introduction, 77–80)
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. +
'''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. +
Khenpo Dawa Paljor's Teaching on Buddha-Nature following Mipham Rinpoche's Word-by-Word Commentary on the Uttaratantra Shastra. Recorded in Tibetan with English Translation. +
'''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.
''Khenpo Namdrol. "Oral Teachings on Mi pham rgya mtsho's ''Bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng+ge'i nga ro''." 15 pts. English translation by Gyurme Avertin. Audio recorded during Shedra East 2008–2009 in Pharping, Nepal. http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenpo_Namdrol_2008_Teachings_on_Buddha_Nature.'' +
Khenpo Ngawang Jorden discusses Gorampa’s interpretation of the concept of buddha-nature presented in his ''Supplement to the Three Vows''. In particular his presentation is focused on Gorampa's refutation of the Jonang view of buddha-nature, as represented by the writings of Dolpopa and his zhentong philosophy. +
'''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.
