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Buddha Nature (Geshe Sonam Rinchen)

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Do all living beings ultimately become enlightened? Do we have Buddha nature, the seed of enlightenment? These questions concerning an ordinary living being's potential to become a Buddha, the purest form of existence, are the main topic of this book. Based on the views of the three major Buddhist schools of Buddhist philosophy — Vaibhasika, Cittamatrin and Madhyamaka — Geshe Sonam Rinchen explains how our minds, though stained by temporary defilements, are innately pure, luminous and cognizant and how we can become aware of the mind's clear light nature. (Source: back cover)

Citation	Sonam, Ruth, trans. and ed. Buddha Nature: Oral Teachings by Geshe Sonam Rinchen. New Delhi: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2003.

The Clear Light Nature of the Mind

Book Excerpt

Table of Contents About the Book Texts Translated Quotes

• Translator's Preface vii
• Publisher's Note ix

• 1. Our Precious Disposition 1
• 2. Understanding our Disposition 7
• 3. The Clear Light Nature of Mind 19
• 4. The Reality of the Mind 29
• 5. Uncovering our Hidden Treasure 37
• 6. Overcoming Obstacles 47

• Notes 51

When the Mahayana disposition is awakened, it eventually gives rise to the ten powers and four kinds of fearlessness of a fully enlightened Buddha, which constitute extraordinary virtue and are radiantly pur in that they are free from the two obstructions.  

~ in Buddha Nature (Geshe Sonam Rinchen), page(s) 8

No matter how muddy and polluted the water is, those pollutants do not affect the actual nature of the water. When the water is muddy, a reflection will not appear clearly in it. Similarly, while our minds are affected by these temporary stains, nothing can appear to them very clearly. The pollutants are extraneous to the water. just so, the mental stains are extraneous to the clear and cognizant nature of our minds. That clarity is its natural condition.  

~ in Buddha Nature (Geshe Sonam Rinchen), page(s) 19

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

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

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་

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

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