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From Buddha-Nature
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Media/Buddha-Nature according to Zhiyi and the T'ien T'ai Tradition by Jamie Hubbard and Paul Swanson +
Paul Swanson discusses the way in which Zhiyi understood the concept of buddha-nature and goes on to place that theory in the broader context of T'ien T'ai Buddhism. +
Does your mind feel cluttered? Unable to think clearly? Find it difficult to get the creative juices flowing? Buddhist teacher and meditation master Mingyur Rinpoche looks at the close connection between Buddhism and creativity, and how calming down our minds generates space for creativity in our lives. +
An essential study of a key text that presents buddha-nature theory and its transmission from India to Tibet, this book is the most thorough history of buddha-nature thought in Tibet and is exceptional in its level of detail and scholarly apparatus. It serves as a scholarly encyclopedia of sorts with extensive appendices listing every existent commentary on the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' (''Uttaratantraśāstra''), as well as covering Ngok Lotsawa's commentarial text and his philosophical positions related with other Tibetan thinkers. +
Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho discusses themes of social justice and buddha-nature with the venerable Buddhist nun, activist, professor, writer, and teacher, Dr. Karma Lekshe Tsomo. Venerable Tsomo is an inspiration to all Buddhists interested in living a socially conscious life and is known around the world for her warmth, knowledge, and clear approach to teaching and speaking about life, Buddhism, and social activism. She co-founded Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women, which hosts the Sakyadhita Conference, the largest and most important meeting of Buddhist women in the world. Along with teaching for twenty years at the University of San Diego, she also created the Jamyang Foundation to support the education of women in the Himalayas. +
'''Abstract'''<br><br>
This dissertation addresses the relationship between metaphysical presence and absence (emptiness) in Buddhism through a focus on the Nying-ma tradition as articulated in the works of Mi-pham ('' 'ju mi pham rgya mtsho'', 1846-1912), a great synthesizer of Buddhist doctrine and Nying-ma philosophy. I draw widely from his writings on Yogācāra, Madhyamaka, and tantra to discuss the significance of an ontological "ground" (''gzhi''), or Buddha-nature, as the central theme in his overall interpretative scheme. Mi-pham was a prolific writer on a variety of topics, and had a remarkable ability to synthesize diverse strands of thought. The tradition of the Nying-ma is a complex one, and there are many divergent and competing voices that lay claim to the tradition. I will try to present important facets of this central theme in Mi-pham’s philosophy of Nying-ma, and show how he uses a dialectic of presence and absence around which he discusses a unified ground.<br>
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Mi-pham was a prominent figure in the Tibetan non-sectarian (''ris med'') movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He most notably brought esoteric Nying-ma doctrines into conversation with the exoteric scholastic discourses of his day. Mi-pham formulates the Nying-ma tradition of his predecessors Long-chen-pa (''klong chen rab 'byam'', 1308-1364) and Rong-zom (''rong zom chos kyi bzang po'', ca. 11th c.) in response to traditions of "other-emptiness," through which he distinguishes his Nying-ma tradition.<br>
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Buddha-nature is a theme in Mi-pham's work that has a strong association with tantra in the Nying-ma tradition. His affirmation of the presence of Buddha-nature as intrinsic within the ground of existence shares predominant characteristics of the discourses of tantra in the Nying-ma tradition and, in particular, the Great Perfection (''rdzogs chen''). The Great Perfection is an antischolastic textual and meditative tradition that consistently evades systematic analysis, and in a fundamental way is antithetical to abstract conceptual determination. Mi-pham creatively formulates the esoteric discourses that have defined the Nying-ma tradition—the Great Perfection and the tantric tradition of the ''Guhyagarbha''—in terms of central exoteric discourses of Buddhism: Buddha-nature, the Middle Way, and Buddhist epistemological systems. This dissertation explores a range of topics within Mi-pham's thought to underscore Buddha-nature and a dialectic of presence and absence as a central thread that runs through his interpretative system.
Karma Phuntsho and David Germano discuss buddha-nature in Dzogchen, early Nyingma tantras, termas, Nyingtik Teachings, and touch on the commentarial writings of Longchenpa and others.<br><br>David Germano is the Executive Director of the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. He has taught and researched Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia since 1992. He is currently focused on the exploration of contemplative ideas, values, and practices involving humanistic and scientific methodologies, as well as new applications in diverse fields; he also holds a faculty appointment in the School of Nursing. He has been a leader in the field of Tibetan Buddhist studies for many years and has long immersed himself in Dzogchen teachings and texts. +
Buddha-nature (''tathāgatagarbha'') is a central topic the in Mahāyāna Buddhist thought. As the pure nature of mind and reality, it conveys the nature of being and the relationship between the buddha(s) and sentient beings. Buddha-nature is that which allows for sentient beings to become buddhas. It is the living potential for awakening.<br>
In this chapter I will look into interpretations of buddha-nature starting with the ''Sublime Continuum'' (''Uttaratantra'', ca. fourth century), the first commentarial treatise focused on this subject. I will then present its role(s) in Mahāyāna Buddhism in general, and in the interpretations of Yogācāra and Madhyamaka in particular. Next I will discuss the role of buddha-nature as a key element in the theory and practice of Buddhist tantra, which will lead into a discussion of this doctrine in light of ''pantheism ''("all is God"). Thinking of buddha-nature in terms of pantheism can help bring to light significant dimensions of this strand of Buddhist thought. (Duckworth, introduction, 235) +
Articles/Buddha-Nature in Early Chan and Japanese Zen by Rev. Kokyo Henkel: Conversations on Buddha-Nature +
In this video, part of the ongoing series entitled "[[Conversations on Buddha-Nature]]" produced by the Tsadra Foundation, Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho and Rev. Kokyo Henkel discuss buddha-nature in early Chan and Japanese Zen and comparisons with Tibetan Dzogchen. They also discuss some Koans, [[Dōgen]], and many textual sources from Indian sutras in Tibetan and Chinese translation to sources for key schools of Buddhism in China and Japan up to more modern texts.
Kokyo Henkel has been practicing Zen since 1990 in residence at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (most recently as Head of Practice), Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, No Abode Hermitage in Mill Valley, and Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan. He was ordained as a priest in 1994 by [[Anderson, R.|Tenshin Anderson Roshi]] and received Dharma Transmission from him in 2010. Kokyo is interested in exploring how the original teachings of Buddha-Dharma from ancient India, China, and Japan can still be very much alive and useful in present-day America to bring peace and openness to the minds of this troubled world.
Kokyo has also been practicing with the Tibetan Dzogchen ("Great Completeness") Teacher [[Tsoknyi Rinpoche]] since 2003, in California, Colorado, and Kathmandu. +
This week's topic is Buddha Nature, in Sanskrit: ''tathāgatagarbha'' (如来藏). All sentient beings are considered to be in possession of the Buddha Nature, the potential to attain enlightenment. In this episode we discuss a bit about how to understand this concept, and compare it to philosophical ideas of human nature and its connection with morality. +
Khenpo Tshewang Sonam, the lama of Tharpaling monastery, explains in this video what is buddha-nature or tathāgathagarbha by mentioning the sources of buddha-nature teachings and identifying it with the nature of the mind which is free from conceptual fabrications. He mentions that the practice of recognizing the nature of the mind is a direct way of accessing the buddha-nature latent in all sentient beings. When the pristine nonconceptual nature of the mind is fully realized, such nature is termed as dharmakāya from which emanates all the embodied forms of buddhahood, just like the reflections of the moon appearing in different water bodies.
བཀའ་ཆོས་འདིར་ཐར་པ་གླིང་གི་བླ་མ་མཁན་པོ་ཚེ་དབང་བསོད་ནམས་ནས་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཁུངས་བཀའ་བསྟན་བཅོས་ངོས་འཛིན་དང་། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་པ་སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་ལུགས་འོད་གསལ་མི་རྟོག་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ཡིན་པར་་ངོས་འཛིན་དང་། དེ་ཉིད་སེམས་ངོ་སྤྲོད་པའི་གདམས་པ་དང་ཉམས་ལེན་གྱི་སྒོ་ནས་མངོན་བུ་བྱེད་ཚུལ་དང་། སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་སྐབས་རྣམ་རྟོག་གི་བསྒྲིབས་པའི་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ཉིད། རྣམ་རྟོག་ཞི་ནས་སངས་རྒྱས་པའི་སྐབས་ཆོས་སྐུ་ཡིན་པ་དང་། དེ་ལས་འགྲོ་བའི་བློ་ངོར་གཟུགས་སྐུའི་བཀོད་པ་ཤར་ཚུལ་གནམ་གྱི་ཟླ་བ་ཆུ་ལ་གཟུགས་བརྙན་ཤར་བའི་དཔེའི་སྒོ་ནས་བསྟན་ཡོད་པ་ཡིན། +
Arya Maitreya’s Mahayana-Uttaratantra-Shastra is one of the most important teachings on buddhanature and enlightenment. It is revered by buddhist masters as a very special text, one of the five great teachings given by Lord Maitreya to Asanga, and part of the third turning of the wheel of the Dharma. Within the traditional buddhist shedras for monastic education, it is often taught as the final text in the curriculum, and many masters say it can be considered a bridge between the sutras and tantra. It provides an important philosophical foundation for understanding the workings of the buddhist path, particularly for Vajrayana practitioners. We are particularly fortunate to have these teachings by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, rich with his usual clarity, warmth, humour and wisdom because, despite its beauty and profundity, this text is rarely taught in the West, and there are few translations.
Rinpoche gave these teachings on the Uttaratantra at the Centre d’Etudes de Chanteloube in Dordogne, France during the summers of 2003 and 2004, after completing a four-year teaching cycle on Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara. He has often emphasised the value of a grounding in the Madhyamika or ‘Middle Way’ philosophy of emptiness, as without this foundation beginners can easily misunderstand Buddha’s teaching that all sentient beings have buddhanature. For example, many of us who have grown up in a Western cultural context can easily confuse buddhanature with ideas like God or a personal soul or essence. These teachings allow us to dispel these kinds of misunderstanding. And despite their very different presentations, both the Madhyamika and Uttaratantra are teachings on the buddhist view of emptiness. As Rinpoche says, “You could say that when Nagarjuna explains the Prajñaparamita, he concentrates more on its ‘empty’ aspect (“form is emptiness” in the Heart Sutra), whereas when Maitreya explains the same thing, he concentrates more on the ‘ness’ aspect (emptiness is form).” In showing us how emptiness and buddhanature are different ways of talking about the same thing, this text gives us the grounding we need to understand buddhanature.
In this way, the Uttaratantra gives us another way to understand the Four Seals that comprise the buddhist view, which Rinpoche teaches in his book “What Makes You Not a Buddhist.” It also offers a way to make sense of what modern physics has discovered about the magically “full” quality of “empty” space (e.g. vacuum particles and quantum optics). But like all buddhist philosophy, it is not intended simply to provoke an academic discussion that we leave behind as we return to our everyday lives. It is taught as a path for us to attain liberation. For practitioners, the Uttaratantra clearly explains what it means to accumulate merit and purify defilements, and it offers a safety net to protect our path from falling into all-too-common eternalist or nihilist extremes. It also tackles many of the basic questions that practitioners ask as they consider the nature of the path, questions like: What is the ultimate destination of this path? Who is this person travelling on the path? What are the defilements that are eliminated on the path? What is experience of enlightenment like? Rinpoche answers these questions and many others in this commentary on the Uttaratantra-Shastra. (Source: [https://siddharthasintent.org/publications/buddha-nature/ Siddhartha's Intent])
Cortland Dahl teaches a four-part series on buddha-nature during the month of October 2019 at the Tergar Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Each talk begins with a brief 15–20 minute meditation session. +
Khenpo Dudjom Dorjee Rinpoche speaks on the inherent buddha-nature of beings using traditional metaphors: like a jewel, free from any impurities and powerful to relieve suffering; like the sky, unchanging and free from clouds; and like water, naturally pure. +
This is a transcription of a series of teachings on the ''Uttaratantrashastra'' from a somewhat traditional Geluk teacher, the 13th Zasep Tulku Rinpoche. The teaching is focused on Maitreya’s root text and Asaṅga’s commentary, which he gave during a retreat at Lake Cowichan, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, from May 10-17, 1985. The text is based on the translation by E. Obermiller, chapter 1, "On the Essence of Buddhahood," verses 1-165 and covers the first Four Vajra Topics. Hosted by Zuru Ling (formerly Gaden Rimé Zong Ling) Dharma Centre. +
'''Abstract'''<br>
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This dissertation explores the evolving interpretation and understanding of the Buddha-nature in Fifteenth-Century Tibet, through the eyes of Go rams pa Bsod nams seng ge (1429-1489), a prominent scholar of the Sa skya school of Tibetan Buddhism. The previous work of European and American scholars in this field have led to our general understanding of Buddha-nature as an innate potential for enlightenment that lies within all sentient beings. The concept of Buddha-nature provides the primary answer to a question with which all Mahāyānists have been philosophically concerned, throughout history: are all sentient beings capable of attaining Buddhahood? The Mahāyāna, more specifically, Madhyamaka theory of Buddha-nature answers the question unequivocally: "Since all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature they are guaranteed to achieve the state of Buddhahood." This research has been mostly limited to the interpretations of Indian and Chinese texts and to a study of only certain Tibetan schools. This dissertation seeks to fill the gap in present scholarship by analyzing the systematic thought of Go rams pa, who set out to provide a critical analysis, explain the internal coherence, and map out the organization of diverse Indian and Tibetan interpretations of this complex idea. I demonstrate in two fundamental ways that Go rams pa developed an unique view of Buddha-nature in two ways: First, I explore the facts Go rams pa's interpretation of Buddha-nature that contribute to his unique perspective. Second, I analyze his opponents' views on the subject thereby illuminating its distinctive features in an historical context. Throughout this study, I deploy a comparative apparatus considering the different views that Go rams pa thought was wrong. Given this fifteenth-century debate, we realize that the understanding of Buddha-nature is subtle and complicated; yet this study is vital to explicate its implications. I conclude that according to Go rams pa, Buddha-nature is to be understood as unity of the emptiness of the mind and clarity which is the nature of mind.
Extensive typological and structural studies in Indian religions and philosophies, or in the traditions of Buddhism, have been few. Little attention has been given to the problems in intercultural transmission raised by the spread of Indian thought and civilization northwards and eastwards, and even less to discovering comparable elements in the different Indian religious and philosophical traditions.
In this book the author investigates a pair of themes in Buddhist thought by considering, in historical and comparative outline, their treatment in some traditions of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. He refers also to parallels in non-Buddhist Indian thought and in Chinese Buddhism. The two themes are 'nature' and 'nurture' in the twin realms of soteriology and gnoseology. (Source: inside jacket) +
ln the original of its so-called Mahāyāna version the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra bears the Sanskrit title Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra. The Sanskrit original of this text has come down to us only in fragments. For the reconstruction of the Sanskrit text from these fragments, it is essential to compare the text with the word-for-word Tibetan translation completed at the beginning of the 9th century by Jinamitra, Jñānagarbha and Devacandra. Fǎxiǎn 法顯 translated it into Chinese under the title ''Dà bānnihuán jīng'' 大般泥洹經 in 6 fascicles (''juàn'' 卷), and Dharmakṣema 曇無讖 translated it as ''Dà bānnièpán jīng'' 大般涅槃經 in 40 fascicles. Both translations were completed at the beginning of the 5th century. The Chinese translations of this sūtra played an important role in the history of Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. The sūtra is famous especially for the formula "切眾生西有佛性 ''yíqiè zhongshēng xī yǒu fóxìng''," "Every living being has the Buddha-nature." The skill of the Chinese translators is evident from their use of the word ''fóxing'' 佛性, which is commonly translated into English as "Buddha-nature." While the underlying Sanskrit term and its intended meaning poses difficulties, as will be shown below, the Chinese term ''fóxing'', although not resulting from a very literal translation, has been accepted in dogmatical and philosophical interpretations in China and Japan.<br>
Comparing the Sanskrit fragments and the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'', which quotes the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra'' (that is the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra''), the original Sanskrit word ''fóxìng'' is ''buddhadhātu'', ''tathāgatadhātu'' or ''tathāgatagarbha''. Takasaki Jikidō's research on the tathāgatagarbha theory led him to conclude that the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra'' is the first known text in which the word ''buddhadhātu'' is used in this meaning.<br>
I have been studying the original text of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra'' for some time, analyzing the Sanskrit fragments in comparison with the Tibetan and Chinese translations. From the viewpoint of the original text, the meaning of the formula "Every living being has the Buddha-nature" reveals nuances slightly different from the interpretations adopted in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. (Habata, introduction, 176–77)
''Buddhahood Without Meditation'', widely known by its subtitle, ''Nang-jang'' (''Refining Apparent Phenomena''), presents the view of the Great Perfection through the approach known as ''t'hreg-chhod'' (cutting through solidity). It is a direct transmission so powerful that just hearing it read aloud ensures that the listener will escape the suffering of cyclic existence. The nineteenth-century master Dudjom Lingpa received these teachings in visionary dialogue with fourteen enlightened beings, including Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, Longchenpa, and Saraha.
The Dudjom lineage, based on the terma, or hidden treasures, revealed by Dudjom Lingpa and his immediate rebirth, His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche (1904–1987), late head of the Nyingma school of
Buddhism, is one of the principal modern lineages of Dzogchen transmission.
This new paperback edition includes the Tibetan text as edited by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche and features an expanded glossary that incorporates equivalent English terms of present-day teachers and translators of Dzogchen. (Source: Back Cover) +
An article on buddha-nature by a contemporary Tibetan teacher. +
Buddhism's buddha-nature and Confucianism's idea of inherent goodness are different in that Buddhism's "nature" is emptiness while that of Mencius and Xunzi means a person's character or disposition, which is something substantial. Buddhism teaches us to engage in spiritual practice in order to rid ourselves of vexations, thereby manifesting our original buddha-nature, while Mencius and Xunzi both advocated the importance of education: Education can turn good into evil and evil into good. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv2qlACVB8I Source Accessed Nov 17, 2020]) +
