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The potential for perfect awakening. According to Rongtön, and following the exposition of Ngog Loden Sherab, three types of buddha-nature can be distinguished: ''causal buddha-nature'', which is the spiritual potential present in all beings; ''natural buddha-nature'', equated with suchness; and ''resultant buddha-nature'', which is the dharmakāya or resultant state of perfect awakening. See the introduction and the commentary on RGV 1.27-28 for a discussion. +
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The third of the five stages of the path to awakening. This path consists of the direct, nohconceptual realisation ofemptiness and the accomplishment of the seven limbs of awakening. On this stage, the veil of afflictions is removed and one reaches the first bodhisattva ground (''bhūmi, sa''), thus becoming an ārya. +
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also selflessness.</br> The absence of an inherent identity. Two types of no-self or selflessness are distinguished: the selflessness of the individual (''pudgala-nairātmya'', ''gang zag gi bdag med'') and the lack of inherent identity in phenomena (''dharma-nairātmya'', ''chos kyi bdag med''). The focus on the paths of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas is the realisation that an individual is composed of nothing but the five skandhas—which are momentary processes—and lacks a self, that is, a permanent, independent, and unitary identity. Bodhisattvas further realise that all phenomena without exception are devoid of inherent identity. The inseparable qualities the tathāgatagarba is endowed with are precisely these two types of selflessness. +
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Mental events that disrupt the mind's natural peace, causing unrest and preventing it from seeing ultimate reality. The ''Abhidharmakośa'' lists six root afflictions (desire, hatred, ignorance, pride, doubt, and wrong views) and twenty secondary afflictions derived from these six. +
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An individual who has attained liberation from samsara by eliminating the veil of mental afflictions from the mind stream. Having attained the fruition of the vehicle of śrāvakas, arhats are no longer propelled into a new samsaric existence after death. Since the realisation of fully awakened buddhas and bodhisattvas on the stages of awakening (''bhūmi'') includes this attainment, they are also referred to as arhats. (The Tibetan rendering of the term, ''dgra bcom pa'', literally means ''foe destroyer''.) +
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A synonym for what Rongtön calls ''causal buddha-nature'', the potential for awakening present in all beings. It comprises two aspects: the mind's cognitive aspect and its ultimate nature or emptiness. Two types of gotra are distinguished in this text: the gotra naturally present in all beings (''prakṛtiṣṭha'') and the gotra developed in those who are actively engaged in the path (''samudānīta''). +
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An individual who has made the resolve to attain the perfect awakening of a buddha for the benefit of all beings and follows the Mahāyāna path for that purpose. +
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The mental afflictions and their residues that temporarily cover the mind's true nature, thus preventing the attainment of buddhahood. Liberation is said to be possible precisely because these defilements are not inherent to the nature of the mind and can be removed by means of the path. +
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The Buddha's discourses are divided into two categories: those of provisional meaning and those of definitive meaning (''nīartha; nges don''). Sūtras of provisional meaning are expedient means designed to lead students temporarily on the path. Their purport should not be taken as definitive. In this text, the teaching that there are beings with a cut-off gotra is a statement of provisional meaning meant to shake up the minds of certain disciples who would otherwise make no effort on the path. Sutras of definitive meaning express the final intention of the Buddha. Here, the teachings that all beings have buddha-nature or that emptiness is the true nature of all phenomena are of definitive meaning. The ''Saṃdhinirmocanasutra'', a foundational text for the Yogācāra tradition, addresses this question explicitly, attempting to resolve apparent contradictions in the teachings. Which statements are to be classified as provisional and which as definitive remains a point of contention between the various schools of thought. +
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"Middle Way," one of the two philosophical systems of the Mahāyāna, the other being Cittamātra. As a school of thought, Madhyamaka is based on the sūtras of the second turning of the Dharma wheel, in particular the ''Prajñāparamitāsūtras'', and the writings of Nāgārjuna and his followers. The principal assertion of this system is that all phenomena without exception are devoid of true existence and that there is nothing that can be apprehended as being ultimately real. +
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The wisdom mind of a buddha. A synonym for ''dharmakāya''. +
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Literally, "buddha-element," a synonym for what Rongtön calls natural ''buddha-nature'' or undefiled suchness. It is the empty nature of the mind, identical in both sentient beings and buddhas. +
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Literally, "essence or womb of the Victorious One," a synonym for buddha-nature. +
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The "Blessed One," epithet of the Buddha. The Tibetan term literally means conquering (''bcom''), possessing [qualities] (''ldan''), and being transcendent ('''das''). +
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The nature of the mind. The mind's nature comprises two aspects, which are in fact inseparable: luminosity, which is the cognitive aspect of the mind, and emptiness, which is its ultimate nature. The union of these two is the ''gotra ''or ''causal buddha-nature''. +
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The real nature of things, usually a synonym for ultimate reality. In this text two types of suchness are distinguished: defiled suchness (''samalā-tathatā, dri bcas de bzhin nyid''), equated with the dhatu, causal buddhanature, and the spiritual potential (''gotra, rigs'') naturally present in all beings; and undefiled suchness (''nirmalā-tathatā, dri med de bzhin nyid''), which refers to the dharmakāya, resultant buddha-nature, or perfect awakening. +
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The first four of the five stages of the path to awakening: path of accumulation (''saṃbhara-mārga, tshogs lam''), path of joining (''bhāvanā-mārga, sgom lam''), path of seeing (''darśana-mārga, mthong lam''), and path of cultivation (''bhavana-marga, sgom lam''). The fifth stage, the path of no further training (''aśaikṣa-mārga, mi slob lam''), is synonymous with buddhahood. +
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Literally, "dharma expanse" or"expanse ofphenomena." The unchanging level of fundamental reality within which the phenomena of conventional reality appear and disappear. A synonym for ultimate reality or emptiness. +
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Literally, "those upholding autonomous syllogism." A branch of the Madhyamaka school going back to the writings of the sixth century Indian scholar Bhavaviveka. The peculiarity of this system lies in its use of autonomous syllogisms to establish ultimate reality. The other main branch of the Madhyamaka school is the Prasaṅgika system (Tib. ''thai 'gyur ba''; lit., "consequentialist"), which restricts itself to refuting any assertion concerning the ultimate by pointing out the undesired logical consequences inherent to any such position. According to the scholars of the Sakya tradition, the difference between these two approaches is merely a didactic one, the ultimate view of the proponents of both systems being identical. +
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The fourth of the five stages of the path to awakening. After perceiving emptiness directly on the path of seeing, this path consists of deepening that realisation through meditation and through the application of the eightfold ārya path. In this way, one gradually removes the cognitive veils, thereby attaining increasingly higher levels of realization (that is, the second to the tenth bodhisattva grounds). +
