Buddha-nature is the spark of buddhahood in every sentient being. It is the teaching that all people are fundamentally good and that all of us have the potential to attain the complete realization of buddhahood. Two frequently-used metaphors to describe this universal nature are a golden statue encased in muck and the seed of a mango tree. The first suggests that our buddha-nature is already perfect, and only needs to be revealed in order to manifest our enlightenment. The second presents buddha-nature as a potential that must be cultivated in order to attain enlightenment. A third, less common interpretation is that we somehow produce buddhahood and thus acquire 'buddha-nature' at a certain stage of religious accomplishment. These three models, 'disclosure', 'transformation', and 'production', are used by different traditions to define buddha-nature and describe the methods to fully actualize enlightenment.
What buddha-nature actually is, and how it can be described accurately, is a major topic in Buddhist philosophy. In general Buddhists employ one of two main approaches to describe reality: positive language which asserts the qualities of enlightenment and buddha-nature, and negative language which attempts to avoid the traps of dualism. From these two approaches come two common definitions of buddha-nature: that it is none other than the natural luminosity of the mind or that it is the universal truth of emptiness. "Emptiness" refers to a theory of radical selflessness, in which all phenomena are understood to lack independent existence. It also refers to a specific way of using language to avoid implying such an existence, in which reality is consistently described by what it is not. The "natural luminosity of mind" is the idea that the fundamental nature of all sentient beings is nondual wisdom, a phenomenon also known as reflexive awareness--awareness that is aware of itself, free of the duality of subject and object that infects all forms of consciousness. Advocates of this view describe buddha-nature as fundamentally real, permanent, and unchanging, and this use of positive language puts it in conflict with emptiness theory, and so has led to centuries of sometimes contentious debates. You will find information about all these fascinating debates on the pages of this website.
Indian and Tibetan philosophers have also debated whether buddha-nature is a definitive teaching--one given by the Buddha to describe things as they are--or a provisional teaching--not true but valuable for encouraging a student to move in the right direction. A famous parable of this sort of teaching from the Lotus Sutra describes a group of children unaware that the building in which they play is burning; their father, unable to convince them to leave, tells them, falsely, that a marvelous chariot is outside the house, which they run to see, thereby surviving the fire. Like the father who tells his children an untruth in order to benefit them, the Buddha is said to have taught many doctrines that are not strictly accurate, but which benefit disciples by encouraging them to get on the path. For many philosophers, the doctrine of buddha-nature is like this--the idea that we possess this spark of enlightenment inspires us to practice, but such a thing cannot be actually said to exist because of the fundamental truth of emptiness. Others, however, take the position that the mind's natural luminosity is self-evident, and need not be explained as a rhetorical trick.
The methods of practice relating to buddha-nature naturally reflect the theory that is used to describe it. If buddha-nature is already complete and perfect, then one need not do anything to attain it. Mahāyāna meditation and virtuous deeds become something one does to display one's enlightenment, as in the case of Zen and Japanese Shingon rituals, or one need only rest in the natural purity of mind, as in Tibetan Dzogchen or Mahāmudrā. If buddha-nature is a potential that must be developed and perfected, then one has a lot of work to do and those same practices are described as necessary in order to accumulate merit and purify the obscurations, such as are described in both Tantra and Sūtra-based path structures embraced by the Geluk and other Tibetan traditions.
Buddha-nature is taught in a wide range of scriptures, both those said to be the word of the Buddha and commentaries by Indian, Chinese, and Tibetan masters. A group of early Indian sūtras introduced the theory around the third or fourth century of the common era. The diverse views presented in this literature were first systematized in a treatise known as the Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, a title that roughly translates as “The Superior Continuum (uttaratantra) of the Mahāyāna, A Treatise (śāstra) Analyzing (vibhāga) the Source (gotra) of the Three Jewels (ratna).” In Tibet this text is divided into root verses and commentary which are separately attributed to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the great Indian master Asaṅga, while in East Asia the entire text is believed to have been written by a north Indian named Sāramati. Popularly known in Tibet as the Gyulama (Uttaratantra in Sanskrit), the treatise has been widely taught and written about by all traditions of Buddhism there. The treatise was less influential in East Asia, where the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra was of much greater importance for the spread of buddha-nature theory.
avidyā - Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors. Skt. अविद्या Tib. མ་རིག་པ་ Ch. 無明
bīja - A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth. Skt. बीज Tib. ས་བོན་ Ch. 無漏種
prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明
śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門
anātman - The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity. Skt. अनात्मन् Tib. བདག་མེད་པ་ Ch. 无我
advaya - Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two. Skt. अद्वय Tib. གཉིས་མེད་ Ch. 不二
neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt. नेयार्थ Tib. དྲང་དོན་
Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘
Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།
Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།
āvaraṇa - Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. Skt. आवरण Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་
tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗
sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经
Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་
These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.
These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.
Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論
Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論
gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性
Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩
Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論
Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論
These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.
Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論
Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論
These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.
"This sūtra became an important scriptural source for the discussion of buddha-nature in China and is famous for associating the term buddhadhātu with tathāgatagarbha.
