Buddha Nature: Ten Teachings on the Uttaratantra Shastra

 Search online

Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected.">

[ Read Online ]

Citation

ContentsSourcesQuotes

• Foreword7
• Introduction9

• The Buddha21
• The Dharma37
• The Sangha47
• Buddha Nature47
• Enlightenment91
• Qualities105
• Buddha Activity121

• Conclusion133
• Glossary137

The body of complete enlightenment is all-pervasive; Suchness is undivided; All beings possess the potential; Therefore, all beings possess the buddha-nature.  

~ in Buddha Nature: Ten Teachings on the Uttaratantra Shastra, page(s) 56

In general, this treatise may be explained through either the Rangtong system, which emphasizes the empty aspect of the enlightened essence, or the Shentong system, which stresses the wisdom aspect of the enlightened essence.  

~ in Buddha Nature: Ten Teachings on the Uttaratantra Shastra, page(s) 16

The Rangtong system follows the avenue of reasoning by which the real condition is easily resolved through logic. Because it is more convenient, many masters follow the Rangtong method. But when actually putting the teachings into practice, overstressing the empty aspect sometimes creates problems. Contemplating emptiness in the analytical style of a pandita, one merely thinks, "This is emptiness," or "Emptiness is such and such," which is a mere mental construct. One has not actually perceived emptiness and therefore Rangtong is a stage on the gradual path.  

~ in Buddha Nature: Ten Teachings on the Uttaratantra Shastra, page(s) 16

In the Shentong system, the practitioner is urged to rest in the natural state, the luminous nature of mind. Therefore, the wisdom or wakefulness aspect is emphasized.

In terms of scholarship, the pandita method, or the Rangtong system, is said to be rapid, but in terms of actual practice the Shentong is faster. This second method is called the technique of a simple meditator, a kusulu. Since the Kagyu tradition stresses the meditation technique of a simple meditator, the view of Shenton is regarded as more profound.  

~ in Buddha Nature: Ten Teachings on the Uttaratantra Shastra, page(s) 17

[[Category:]][[Category:]][[Category:]]<ul><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not recognized as a Boolean (true/false) value.</li> <!--br--><li>Property "Frontcoverimg" (as page type) with input value "Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.</li> <!--br--><li>Property "BuNayAuthor" (as page type) with input value "Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.</li> <!--br--><li>Property "Translator" (as page type) with input value "Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.</li> <!--br--><li> "Lua error in Module" has not been listed as valid URI scheme.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (Definitive, Provisional) of allowed values for the "PosBuNayDefProv" property.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (Yes, No, Qualified Yes, Qualified No) of allowed values for the "PosAllBuddha" property.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (First Turning, Second Turning, Third Turning, (Fourth Turning)) of allowed values for the "PosWheelTurn" property.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (Yogācāra, Madhyamaka) of allowed values for the "PosYogaMadhya" property.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (Zhentong, Rangtong) of allowed values for the "PosZhenRang" property.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) of allowed values for the "PosVehicles" property.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (Analytic Tradition, Meditative Tradition) of allowed values for the "PosAnalyticMedit" property.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is a Non-implicative Negation (without enlightened qualities), Tathāgatagarbha as the Emptiness That is an Implicative Negation (with enlightened qualities), Tathāgatagarbha as Mind's Luminous Nature, Tathāgatagarbha as the Unity of Emptiness and Luminosity, Tathāgatagarbha as a Causal Potential or Disposition (gotra), Tathāgatagarbha as the Resultant State of Buddhahood, Tathāgatagarbha as the Latent State of Buddhahood that is Obscured in Sentient Beings, There are several types of Tathāgatagarbha, Tathāgatagarbha was Taught Merely to Encourage Sentient Beings to Enter the Path) of allowed values for the "PosEmptyLumin" property.</li> <!--br--><li>"Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." is not in the list (Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་), Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་)) of allowed values for the "PosSvataPrasa" property.</li> <!--br--><li>Property "BuNayPublisher" (as page type) with input value "Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.</li> <!--br--><li>Property "BuNayTopicTags" (as page type) with input value "Lua error in Module:GetBookValue at line 1: Module:BookData returned boolean, table expected." contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.</li></ul>

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Uttaratantra'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Uttaratantra'

rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Rangtong'

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Shentong'

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Shentong'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'emptiness'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'luminous'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'luminous'

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Kagyu'

Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

Go to the page with the definition of 'Yogācāra'

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

Go to the page with the definition of 'Madhyamaka'

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Zhentong'

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Zhentong'

tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

Go to the page with the definition of 'Tathāgatagarbha'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Luminosity'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'Luminosity'

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

Go to the page with the definition of 'gotra'