Buddha-Nature Timeline

By 100 BCE

Aṅguttaranikāya mentions the luminous nature of the mind.

By 100 CE

Aṣṭasahāsrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra states that the mind is luminous by nature.

c.100 CE

Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (which Michael Radich dates as early as the 2nd Century) mentions tathāgathagarbha and used the term ātman to describe buddha-nature.

c.200 CE

Tathāgatagarbhasūtra (as dated by Michael Zimmermann) and other scriptures later considered as sūtras teaching tathāgathagarbha were circulating and promoted the concept of buddha-nature.

c.200 CE

Nāgārjuna wrote Dharmadhātustava and praised the sphere of reality as the basis of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. He called it 'the element' and 'luminous mind' and claimed emptiness does not negate this nature.

c.300 CE

Tathāgathagarbhasūtra was perhaps translated into Chinese by Faju.

c.320 CE

Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādanirdeśa (which may have been circulating as one of the most influential sūtras on buddha-nature) is said to have been translated into Chinese by Seng Fani. It claims buddha-nature 'is empty of adventitious stains but not empty of its limitless inseparable qualities'.

By 400 CE

Mahābherīsūtra (which was translated into Chinese by Guṇabhadra) equates buddha-nature with dharmakāya. Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta (which Jonathan Silk dates at least before the earliest 5th century) mentions how sentient beings, bodhisattvas and buddhas are three phase of the buddha-nature being impure, partially obscured and fully pure.

c.417 CE

Buddhabhadra and Faxian translates Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra into Chinese.

By 433 CE

According to Takasaki, Ratnagotravibhāga, which Central Asian and Tibetan sources attribute to Maitreya and Chinese sources attributed to Sāramati, was composed.

c. 500 CE

Ratnamati, who translated the Ratnagotravibhāga into Chinese, travelled to China.

c.550 CE

Paramārtha translated the Awakening of Faith attributed to Aśvaghoṣa into Chinese and thereby promoting the concept of Original Enlightenment.

580 CE

Tanyan wrote the first commentary on the Awakening of Faith, which was followed by some 170 other commentaries written in China, Japan and Korea.

c. 800 CE

Yeshe De and others translate major Buddha-Nature sūtras such as the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra and Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra into Tibetan.

792-794 CE

The Great Samye Debate between the Indian gradualists led by the Mādhyamika master Kamalaśīla and Chinese subitist led by Chan monk Mahāyāna.

By 1063 CE

Maitrīpa (986-1063) is said to have discovered the texts of Ratnagotravibhāga and Dharmadharmatāvibhāga in a stupa.

Buddha-Nature Timeline

ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

prabhāsvaracitta - The luminous aspect of mind that is often contrasted with its empty aspect. It is often used figuratively to reference the cognizant, or knowing, aspect of mind and sometimes more literally as the natural luminosity of mind and luminous wisdom that is experienced in meditation. Skt. प्रभास्वरचित्त Tib. འོད་གསལ་གྱི་སེམས་ Ch. 光明心

āgantukamala - Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence. Skt. आगन्तुकमल Tib. གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་

dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身