Difference between revisions of "Dzogchen and Buddha-Nature"
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| + | |''*sugatagarbha'', the nature of mind, appears in each and every mind-stream that grasps a 'self' among the long-deluded sentient beings while its very nature remains one with the dharmakāya of the victorious ones." | ||
| + | |Higgins, David. ''The Philosophical Foundations of Classical rDzogs chen in Tibet: Investigating the Distinction Between Dualistic Mind (sems) and Primordial Knowing (ye shes)''. Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien, 2013, p. 174. | ||
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| + | |...consider the nature of bodhicitta: all phenomena, outer and inner, appearance and existence, are nondual bodhicitta—the primordial nature of the quintessence of awakening (''*bodhigarbha, snying po byang chub'') is primordially perfected (''yas nas sangs rgyas ba''), not something refined and corrected through a path, and is accomplished spontaneously, without effort. | ||
| + | |Sur, Dominic, trans. Entering the Way of the Great Vehicle: Dzogchen as the Culmination of the Mahāyāna. Boulder: Snow Lion, 2017: p. 129. | ||
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Revision as of 11:17, 26 June 2019
~ Yangthang Rinpoche, Introduction to the Nature of Mind, 1994
Watch & Learn
In English with his direct, characteristic humor, Khenpo Rinpoche presents the "shining star" of buddha-nature in the minds of sentient beings as the same nature as the buddhas. He says, "We are always guided by this nature all the time whether we realize it or not."
From the Masters
Nyenchen Palyang
*sugatagarbha, the nature of mind, appears in each and every mind-stream that grasps a 'self' among the long-deluded sentient beings while its very nature remains one with the dharmakāya of the victorious ones."~ Higgins, David. The Philosophical Foundations of Classical rDzogs chen in Tibet: Investigating the Distinction Between Dualistic Mind (sems) and Primordial Knowing (ye shes). Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien, 2013, p. 174.
Rongzompa
...consider the nature of bodhicitta: all phenomena, outer and inner, appearance and existence, are nondual bodhicitta—the primordial nature of the quintessence of awakening (*bodhigarbha, snying po byang chub) is primordially perfected (yas nas sangs rgyas ba), not something refined and corrected through a path, and is accomplished spontaneously, without effort.~ Sur, Dominic, trans. Entering the Way of the Great Vehicle: Dzogchen as the Culmination of the Mahāyāna. Boulder: Snow Lion, 2017: p. 129.
Longchenpa
The primordial, luminous nature of the mind is self-arisen primordial wisdom, empty and clear. By nature, it is empty like space, yet its character is luminous like the sun and moon. And the radiance of its cognitive potency manifests unceasingly and unobstructedly like the surface of a limpidly clear mirror, free from stain. Having thus the nature of the dharmakāya, saṃbhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya, the sugatagarbha is unconfined and is not limited either to saṃsāra or nirvāṇa. Its empty nature provides the open arena necessary for the manifestation of all things; its luminous character allows the five self-arisen lights to appear as sense-objects; and its cognitive potency—self-cognizing primordial wisdom—manifests as the detecting cognition owing to which, delusion is said to occur.~ Longchenpa. Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind. Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group. The Trilogy of Rest Volume 1. Boulder: Shambhala, 2017: pp. 235-236.
Jikme Lingpa
In the context of the ground of Dzogchen, Jigme Lingpa begins chapter 11 with a clear statement about the importance of buddha-nature, given in the text as bde gshegs snying po (sugatagarbha):
- །།རྒྱལ་བས་འཁོར་ལོ་བར་པར་རྣམ་ཐར་གསུམ།
།བསྟན་བྱའི་ངོ་བོ་སོ་སོ་རང་རིག་ཉིད།
།སེམས་ཅན་ཁམས་ལ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་རུ།
།རང་བཞིན་བཞུགས་ལ་རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོར་གྲགས།- In the second turning of the Dharma wheel,
The Conqueror explained three doors of perfect liberation,
The essence of this teaching is awareness that is self-cognizing,
Which, celebrated as the Great Perfection,
Naturally resides in beings as their buddha-nature.~ English: pg. 113. Tibetan: pg. 118, lines 2-3
In the context of Refuge in the Dharma, of which there are two types, that of realization and that of transmission, the Dharma of realization is buddha-nature:
- །རྟོགས་པའི་ཆོས་ནི་་་་ །འཕགས་པའི་སྤངས་རྟོགས་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན།
- The Dharma, then, of realization...
It is the primal wisdom of elimination and realization
Possessed by Noble Beings, it is the buddha-nature.~ English: pg. 33.(Note: apparently this translation is coming from an explanation from Kanjur Rinpoche's commentary to clarify this odd phrasing...) Tibetan: pg. 40, line 3
In the context of the Vow of Bodhichitta, the cause of bodhichitta is buddha-nature.
- རྒྱུ་ནི་ཀུན་ཀྱང་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན།
རྐྱེན་ནི་དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་ལ་རབ་བརྟན་པས།
ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་ལྟ་བུའི་བླ་མ་མཆོག།
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱི་ཐུགས་རྒྱུད་གང་བ་དེས།- Its cause is buddha-nature found within the minds of all;
Its condition is attendance on a virtuous friend:
The perfect teacher who is like a wishing-gem,
Whose mind and heart are filled with bodhichitta.~ English: pg. 45, verse 18 Tibetan: pg. 51, line 1. Padmakara Translation Group. 2018 reprint. The Treasury of Precious Qualities called The Rain of Joy. New Delhi: Shechen Publications. Tibetan Text: རིག་འཛིན་འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ། ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛོད་དགའ་བའི་ཆར་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ༎ New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2018.
Dudjom Lingpa and Sera Khandro
The following is extracted from Refining Our Perception of Reality: Sera Khandro's Commentary on Dudjom Lingpa's Account of His Visionary Journey. Here we see buddha-nature (sugatagarbha, bde gshegs snying po) mentioned in apposition to several key terms that are common to the Dzogchen tradition, such as the nature of mind (sems nyid), the ground of being (gzhi), the ultimate body of enlightenment (dharmakāya, chos sku), and the nature of reality (dharmatā, chos nyid).
The main presentation of pervasive insubstantial evenness has three parts: pervasive insubstantial evenness of the ground of being, of the spiritual path, and of the result.
First, the ground of being is the nature of mind endowed with buddha nature. Before sentient beings became deluded, no faults, defilements, or habitual patterns whatsoever stained them. Thus, this is the pervasive insubstantial evenness of the ground of being.
Second, during the circumstance of sentient beings’ delusion, that delusion’s power prevents them from seeing the characteristics of the ground of their being. Nevertheless, the nature of that ground is pure; the fact that that enlightenment’s supreme bodies and wisdoms naturally dwell there is the pervasive insubstantial evenness of the spiritual path.
Third, at the time of final enlightenment, the ground of being (the lord that no faults, defilements, or habitual patterns have ever stained since primordial time) becomes manifest, without the addition of any new qualities. For instance, the sun’s essence during three circumstances—before clouds cover it, during its covering, and once it is free from clouds—has no change whatsoever, positive or negative. Lord Bodhisattva Maitreya states:
- As it was before, so it is later:
- it is the changeless nature.
The Ornament of Manifest Realization states:
- There is no difference between former and latter:
- the nature is pure.
It is as stated here.
- The nature of mind, called "buddha nature," is pervasive
insubstantial evenness that faults do not stain. For instance,
if it were possible for buddhas to fill open space, their wisdom
and qualities could not find an object to benefit within this
nature; thus, it is pervasive insubstantial evenness. If it were
possible for sentient beings with an autonomous mind-stream
to equal the bounds of space, there would be no object within
this nature for them to harm; thus, it is pervasive insubstantial
evenness.
- The ground of being’s body of ultimate enlightenment,
buddha nature, has neither any place, object, or agent
of birth; thus, it is free from the extreme of origin.
It transcends a time or agent of cessation; thus,
it is free from the extreme of cessation. It does not
fall into the category of existent substance; thus,
even the Victor’s eyes have not seen it—it is free from
the extreme of permanence. Its nonexistence has not lapsed
into void nonexistence; thus, it forms the general basis for
the wheel of life and transcendent states—it is free from the
extreme of nihilism. It transcends any location, object, or
agent of going—it is free from the extreme of going. Since
its location, object, and agent of coming do not exist, it is free
from the extreme of coming. Within the expanse of the ground
of being, buddha nature, all phenomena of the wheel of life and
transcendent states, like planets and stars upon the ocean, arise
unmixed and distinct—it is free from the extreme of unity. Just as
the reflection of the ocean’s planets and stars are not other than the
ocean, in whatever ways the forms of the wheel of life and
transcendent states arise, they remain of a single flavor within the
ground of being, buddha nature—it is free from the extreme of multiplicity.
- Since pervasive insubstantial evenness does not fall into any
of these eight extreme formulations, faults do not stain it.Likewise, this nature of mind, called "buddha nature," is the epitome of suchness unstained by the fault of emptiness; it is pervasive insubstantial evenness, unstained by faults.
Although there is definitely no autonomous buddha apart from intrinsic awareness, let us imagine that there is one. In that case, if it were possible for buddhas to fill open space, we would have to think of their ground of being, buddha nature, as positive due to their wisdom and qualities; yet, because no object to benefit exists within buddha nature, emptiness, pervasive insubstantial evenness, is unstained by faults.
Although there is definitely no autonomous sentient being apart from self-manifest apparent phenomena, let us imagine that there is one. If it were possible, in the same way, for autonomous sentient beings to equal the bounds of space, we would have to think of their ground of being, buddha nature, as negative due to their karma, afflictive emotions, negative acts, obscurations, and habitual patterns; yet, because no object to harm exists within buddha nature, emptiness, pervasive insubstantial evenness, is unstained by faults.
This ground of being’s body of ultimate enlightenment, buddha nature, is free from the eight extreme formulations and is endowed with the three doors to liberation.
Freedom from the Eight Extreme Formulations:
First is the manner in which this nature is free from the eight extreme formulations. The illustrious lord, exalted Nagarjuna, states in the Fundamental Sublime Insight of the Middle Way:
What arises in interdependent arising
is unceasing, unborn,
not finite, not permanent,
not coming, not going,
not single, not unified.
It is the complete pacification of formulations, peaceful, and stable.
The perfect Buddha expressed this:
to that holy one, I pay homage.As stated here, the ground of being, buddha nature, is the epitome of freedom from place, object, or agent of birth. You might wonder whether the basis, buddha nature, originates from earth (or water, fire, or wind).[1]The answer is no. The ground of being, buddha nature, appears as earth (water, fire, wind); earth (water, fire, wind) is buddha nature’s display.
Likewise, you might wonder whether the basis, buddha nature, originates from space. The answer is no. Space appears from buddha nature; space is buddha nature’s display. Those elements appear from buddha nature; those elements are buddha nature’s display. Therefore, buddha nature has not originated from the constituents of the outer five elements.Moreover, if any apparent phenomena is examined and analyzed, it does not originate in the present. If we take a flower, for instance, you might think that the time of its first full growth is the present time of its coming into being, but that is not so. Its growth so far is its past coming into being; what growth it has left is its future coming into being. Between them, there is no present coming into being. Réchungpa [1085–1161] states:
- Past thoughts have ceased and gone;
- future thoughts have not emerged;
- the present cannot be identified.
As he stated, buddha nature does not fall into the extreme of having a point of origin: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults. The nature of mind, buddha nature, transcends a time or an agent of cessation. In general, any phenomenon you might examine and analyze has no present cessation. If we take a flower, for example, you might wonder if its first completion of growth is present cessation, but it is not so. Its completed growth so far is past cessation. The growth it has left is future cessation. Between them, there is no present cessation. Therefore, buddha nature is free from cessation: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults.
You might wonder whether the nature of mind, buddha nature, is subsumed in existent substance, but that is not so. It does not fall into the category of existent substance, thus even the eyes of the victors, perfect buddhas, transcendent conquerors, have not seen it, do not see it, and will not see it. Thus, it is free from the extreme of permanence: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults.
You might wonder whether the ground of being, buddha nature, is void nonexistence, but this is not the case. It has not lapsed into void nonexistence—it forms the general basis for all phenomena of appearing existence, the wheel of life and transcendent states. It does not fall into the category of the extreme of nihilism: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults. It is as awareness-holder Jikmé Lingpa states:
- It is not existent:
- even the victors do not see it.
- It is not nonexistent:
- it is the basis for the wheel of life and transcendent states.
Buddha nature is an essence that transcends any location, object, or an agent of going. You might wonder whether the body of ultimate enlightenment, buddha nature, has gone east (south, west, north), but this is not the case. East (south, west, north) appears as such from buddha nature. East (south, west, north) is buddha nature’s display. For instance, worldly phenomena have no present going. You might wonder whether the moment of a foot lifted upward in a step is present going, but the ground covered so far is past going. What must be traveled now is future going. Between the two, there is no present going. Therefore, buddha nature does not fall into the extreme of going: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults.
The ground of being, buddha nature, has no existent location, objects, or agent of coming. You might wonder whether buddha nature has come from the east (south, west, north), but this is not the case. East (south, west, north) appears as such from buddha nature; east (south, west, north) is buddha nature’s display. If you examine and analyze worldly phenomena as well, there is no present coming. You might wonder whether the foot lifted upward in a step is present coming, but this is not the case. The ground covered so far is past coming. What must be traveled now is future coming. Between the two, there is no present coming. Therefore, the ground of being, buddha nature, is free from the extreme of coming: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults.
You might wonder whether the body of ultimate enlightenment, buddha nature, is an entity of unity, but this is not the case. Within the expanse of the ground of being, buddha nature, all phenomena of appearing existence, the wheel of life and transcendent states, like planets and stars reflected upon the ocean, arise unmixed, clear, and distinct from one another. Therefore, it is free from the extreme of unity: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults.
However vast and numerous the appearing aspects of the wheel of life and transcendent states arise, they remain of a single flavor within the ground of being, buddha nature, just as the planets and stars reflected in the ocean are nothing other than the ocean. Therefore, buddha nature is free from the extreme of multiplicity: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults.
Therefore, the nature of mind, buddha nature, does not fall into any of the eight extreme formulations: its pervasive insubstantial evenness is untouched by faults.
Endowment with the Three Doors to Liberation:
- Further, buddha nature transcends time, and space—above,
below, main and intermediate direction or interval: it is empty.
It pervades all and encompasses all: it is empty. Externally, all
apparent phenomena have no existent substance, characteristics,
or reality: it is outwardly empty. Internally, your
own mind transcends all foundation or root: it is inner
emptiness. Between, it is not divided into dualistic clinging: it is
great encompassing pervasiveness, emptiness without
anything being rejected. This is emptiness, a door to liberation.
- The ground of being’s body of ultimate enlightenment, buddha nature,
is free from characteristics that can be expressed in words;
it transcends the similitude or likeness of metaphors, and
is empty of any substance that can be ultimately revealed.
This is absence of characteristics, a door to liberation.
- You might think of the nature of reality, buddha nature, the
movement to bliss in the three times, as the result of mere
physical and verbal virtuous practice, a liberation in which you go
to a realm elsewhere. You might think of this encompassing
pervasiveness, the panorama of space, as a domain of going and
coming, or as an agent. Such ideas are very deceptive and foolish.
- What is the spiritual path? It is to hold to your own ground within
your own nature. What is realization? It is exact knowledge of
your own nature’s abiding nature. What is liberation?
It is enlightenment in your own nature. To grasp the place of
liberation and the object of liberation to be otherwise and to strive
for them is to be very deluded. Ultimately, in the result, there
is no place to formulate even mere mental aspirations.
This is lack of aspiration, a door to liberation.
Further, buddha nature transcends time, and space—above, below, main and intermediate direction or interval: it is empty. The power of human beings’ delusion makes them grasp such locations as above, below, main or intermediate directions, but ultimately, such places as above, below, main or intermediate directions do not exist. For instance, when you reach the mountain summit of what is called"eastern," that eastern mountain has now become the central mountain. From that vantage point, there is another eastern mountain; from that vantage point, what was the central mountain has become the western mountain. The same is true for all main and intermediate directions, above, and below. Therefore, all locations—above, below, and main or intermediate directions—cannot be identified. To cling to an identification of what cannot be identified is to tell oneself lies. The great master from Oddiyana states:
- Beings who cling to directions where there are none
- bind themselves in delusion: how pitiful!
Emptiness pervades and encompasses the entire wheel of life and transcendent states; therefore, they are empty.
Designations of all external, nonexistent apparent phenomena as existent cannot ultimately have substance, characteristics, or reality; therefore, buddha nature is outwardly empty. If you examine what is"internal," the nature of your mind, it is free from points of origin, cessation, or dwelling, and transcends any foundation or root. Therefore, it is inner emptiness.
Apart from mere designations of "outer apparent phenomena" and "inner grasping" as separate, dualistic clinging is indivisible or nonexistent. It is great encompassing pervasiveness; therefore, it is emptiness without anything being rejected. This is emptiness, a door to liberation.
The ground of being’s body of ultimate enlightenment, buddha nature, does not have existent identifiable attributes of form, shape, or color. It is free from characteristics that can be expressed in words; it is indescribable, inconceivable, and inexpressible; it transcends the similitude or likeness of metaphors. It is empty of any ultimate substance that can be shown. This is absence of characteristics, a door to liberation.
The nature of reality, buddha nature, has never experienced delusion in the past. In the present, the nature of reality, buddha nature, does not dwell within delusion. In the future, it is impossible that the nature of reality, buddha nature, become deluded: in the three times, it is the movement to bliss. You might wonder whether mere physical prostrations and circumambulations, verbal recitations of prayers, texts, or mantras, or mental cultivation of good thoughts, mental training, worldly states of concentration, or virtuous meditative states will result in travel to a pure realm elsewhere, where you will gain liberation. You might think of encompassing pervasiveness, the panorama of space, as a domain of going and coming, or as an agent. Such ideas are very deceptive and foolish.
What is the spiritual path? It is to hold to your own ground within your own nature. What is realization? It is a definitive conclusion concerning all phenomena gathered within appearing existence, the wheel of life and transcendent states, gained through discerning sublime insight, which leads to manifest sublime insight of nonself. This knowledge of the nature of reality, your own essence, abiding nature, and true state, is itself realization. What is liberation? It is enlightenment in your own nature. To not hope for transfer or travel to another place, and for liberation elsewhere, is definite liberation. To grasp the place of liberation and the object of liberation to be otherwise and to strive for them is to be very deluded. For this reason, to commit to the result on one’s own ground, without formulating even mere mental aspirations for another result, is lack of aspiration, a door to liberation.
~ Zangpo, Ngawang (Hugh Thompson), trans. Refining Our Perception of Reality: Sera Khandro's Commentary on Dudjom Lingpa's Account of His Visionary Journey. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2013: pp. 148-155.
Mi pham rgya mtsho
In his Trilogy of Innate Mind, Mipam states:
- གཤེགས་སྙིང་ནི་སྟོང་ཀྱང་ཙམ་མིན་ཏེ། སྟོང་ཉིད་འོད་གསལ་ཡིན།
དེ་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡེ་ཐོག་གཞི་ཡི་གནས་ལུགས་ཡིན།
ཟུང་འཇུག་བདེན་པ་དབྱེར་མེད་ཀྱི་གནས་ལུགས་རྣམ་ཀུན་མཆོག་ལྡན་གྱི་སྟོང་ཉིད་ཡིན་ལ་- Buddha-nature is not a mere absence; it is emptiness and luminous clarity.
It is the abiding reality of the ground of the primeval beginning of all phenomena,
the abiding reality that is the indivisible truth of unity—emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects.~ Duckworth, Douglas S. Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2008: p. 105.
Shechen Gyaltsap Gyurme Pema Namgyal
Buddha-nature is immaculate. It is profound, serene, unfabricated suchness, an uncompounded expanse of luminosity; nonarising, unceasing, primordial peace, spontaneously present nirvana.~ The Great Medicine: Steps in Meditation on the Enlightened Mind by Shechen Rabjam, p. 4.
G.yu khog bya bral chos dbying rang grol
In regards to the lama's introduction Yukhok Chatralwa states:
- སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་རྒྱུད་ལ་བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་ཡེ་ནས་བཞུགས་པ་ལ་ཆོས་སྐུ་གཞི་གནས་ཀྱི་རིག་པ་ཟེར། དེ་བླ་མའི་མན་ངག་གི་ངོ་སྤྲོད།
དེ་ལ་གོམས་ནས་སྒྲིབ་པ་ཅི་རིགས་པ་དག་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ལམ་གྱི་ལྟ་བ་ཡིན། ངོ་སྤྲད་པ་དེ་ནི་གཞིའི་འོད་གསལ་དེ་ལས་གཞན་མ་ཡིན་པས་འདི་ཁོ་ནའོ།
- To say that which we call the awareness (rigpa) that abides within the ground of the dharmakaya dwells from time immemorial as buddha-nature (sugatabarbha) in the mind-streams of all sentient beings, that is the introduction of the lama’s pith instructions. It is the view of the path of yogis that have purified all manner of obscurations through familiarization with that. Since that which is introduced in none other than the luminosity of the ground, there is only this.
~ G.yu khog bya bral chos dbying rang grol. Tshig gsum gnad brdeg gi zin bris kyi don bkrol ba. In G.yu khog bla ma bya bral chos dbyings rang grol gyi gsung 'bum. Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2007: Vol 2, p. 198.
Dudjom Jikdral Yeshe Dorje
In the mind of everyone, of every living, sentient being, there is a fundamental nature or ground, the so-called sugatagarbha. This is the seed of Samantabhadra, the seed of buddhahood. Although this is something we all have, we do not recognize it. It is unknown to us. This ground, which is our spontaneous awareness, has been with us "from the beginning." It is like a mirror. When someone with a happy face looks in a mirror, the reflection of a happy face appears. When someone with a sad face looks into it, a sad face appears. The primordial ground is just like a mirror. The reflection of a person with a happy face looking into a perfectly clear mirror, the primordial ground, is like Samantabhadra, who awoke to his ultimate nature. Samantabhadra, it is said, "captured the citadel of the primordial ground, awoke, recognized his own nature, and was free." But we ordinary beings fail to recognize this nature, the mirrorlike primordial ground. For us, the situation is like someone with a downcast face looking into the mirror: a sad reflection appears!~ Counsels from My Heart, Shambhala Publications: 2003, p. 17.
Dilgo Khyentse Tashi Paljor
As you progress through these three steps, spiritual qualities will naturally arise, and you will see the truth of the teachings. Those qualities will bloom spontaneously because the buddha nature within you is being revealed. The buddha nature, or tathagatagarbha, is present in all beings, but is hidden by obscurations, in the same way that buried gold is hidden by the earth under which it lies. As you listen to, reflect, and meditate on the Dharma, all the inherent qualities of your buddha nature will be actualized.~ The Heart of Compassion (2006), Wikiquote.org.
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
If you believe there is a thing called mind, it is just a thought. If you believe there is no thing called mind, it’s just another thought. Your natural state, free of any kind of thought about it—that is buddha-nature. In ordinary sentient beings, this natural state is carried away by thinking, caught up in thought. Involvement in thinking is like a heavy chain that weighs you down. Now it is time to be free from that chain. The moment you shatter the chain of thinking, you are free from the three realms of samsara.
[...]
Our enlightened essence, the buddha-nature, is like the sun itself, present as our very nature. Its reflection can be compared to our thoughts—all our plans, our memories, our attachments, our anger, our closed-mindedness, and so on. One thought arises after the other, one movement of mind occurs after the other, just like one reflection after another appears. If you control this one sun in the sky, don’t you automatically control all its reflections in various ponds of water in the whole world? Why pay attention to all the different reflections? Instead of circling endlessly in samsara, recognise the one sun. If you recognise the nature of your mind, the buddha-nature, that is sufficient.~ "As the Clouds Vanish", Tricycle, Winter 1999 [1]
Empty cognizance is our nature. We cannot separate aspect of it from the other. Empty one aspect of it from the other. Empty means "not made out of anything whatsoever"; our nature has always been this way. Yet, while being empty, it has the capacity to cognize, to experience, to perceive. It's not so difficult to comprehend this; to get the theory that this empty cognizance is buddha nature, self-existing wakefulness. But to leave it at that is the same as looking at the buffet and not eating anything. Being told about buddha nature but never really making it our personal experience will not help anything. It's like staying hungry. Once we put the food in our mouth, we discover what the food tastes like. This illustrates the dividing line between idea and experience.
[...]
We must grow up, just like a new-born baby. The infant born today and the adult 25 years later is essentially the same person, isn't he? He is not someone else. Right now, our nature is the buddha nature. When fully enlightened, it will also be the buddha nature. Our nature is unfabricated naturalness. It is this way by itself: like space, it does not need to be manufactured. But we do need to allow the experience of buddha nature to continue through unfabricated naturalness.~ Excerpt from As It Is by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999. Accessed in "Dzogchen, by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche", Buddhism now, 3 July 2013 [2]
Yangthang_Rinpoche
In our present circumstances we can also consider, first, that the mind of all sentient beings is buddha, that all sentient beings possess the buddha nature, which is their very essence, and second, that we have all obtained the precious human rebirth. With these two things together the teachings are allowed to be transmitted and received.
[...]
The "mind nature teaching", the "practice experience", and the "meditation" are all different names for the same thing, which essentially is that all sentient beings possess the foundational buddha nature. How is it that they have come to possess this buddha nature, which is, in fact, their innate presence, their inherent essence? How is it that this is the fundamental nature of all living beings? This is what the lama reveals to the disciples in what is called the "sem tri", which is an introduction to the mind's nature. After receiving this introduction, through training and through one's ability to naturally comprehend, when one ascertains the nature as it is, this ascertainment is called "the view". The view is then the primary practice. Maintaining the view for months and years, with enthusiastic effort, is called "meditation". While one is engaged in meditation, the unfailing ability to observe one's behavior according to cause and result is called the "conduct". When view, meditation, and conduct reach their resultant stage through the effort of the practitioner, then in dependence upon the capabilities of the practitioner—be they superior, mediocre, or inferior—the corresponding result will occur. In the superior case the result will be the dharmakaya realization, in the mediocre case realization will occur at the moment of death, and so forth. The threefold practice of view, meditation, and conduct, and the results achieved thereby, are the subject of this type of mind nature teaching.~ Introduction to the Nature of Mind, Yeshe Melong Publications, 1994
Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje
Buddha-nature is pure, undefiled, unelaborated, unconditioned, transcending all concepts. It is not an object of dualistic thought and intellectual knowledge. It is, however, open to gnosis, intuition, the nondual appercception of intrinsic awareness itself, prior to or upstream of consciousness. Adventitious obscurations temporarily veil and, like clouds, obscure this pristine, sky-like, luminous fundamental nature or mind essence- also known as tathagatagarbha, buddha-nature.~ Natural Great Perfection: Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1995: p. 79.
Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
We are sentient beings. This means that our mind's fundamentally confused. Still at the essence level, we are buddhas because our essence is the buddha-nature which is always free of causes and conditions. Our buddha-nature can never be dissected into many parts and it cannot be said to be singular. It is beyond singularity and plurality. It is uncompounded like the sky and never changes. Therefore, there is no way for suffering to arise within the experience of the buddha-nature.
[...]
The solution is to realize our buddha-nature, the esence of our mind, the undeluded state that never leaves us even for a single moment. But, even though we can understand that this is the solution, we still have a problem because our confused mind cannot recognize our buddha-nature. And why is that? It's simply because confused mind doesn't believe in buddha-nature. It believes in itself, in its own power, and in the power of circumstances. If it tries to see the buddha-nature, it says do it this way, don't do it that way; this is right, this is wrong. Using this approach, no matter how hard confused mind tries to see the buddha-nature, it never will because it is fundamentally confused and deluded. Of course, confused mind can create temporary happiness and success but that will, sooner or later, become suffering. So, to solve the problem, what must be identified, one way or the other, is the unchangeable, uncompounded buddha-nature, the essence of deluded mind.~ Guru Yoga In the Foundational Practices, Austin, Texas 2009, Scribd.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
When you have completely accomplished the shamatha-vipashyana practice, you have a sense of reward. You experience joy in the possibility of buddha nature, but you may still feel skeptical. Although you begin to feel that buddha nature is a possibility, you think the whole thing may be a hoax. You begin to doubt the teachings. The idea that you already have a built-in buddha in you is something that you cannot quite imagine. It seems to be too good to be true, and you begin to feel that maybe it is not true. You think that the whole thing may be a big put-on, a big joke, a lie. The birth of mahayana spirit begins with a combination of distrust and the possibility of good news. It is a very powerful emotional experience, a sweet-sour feeling. That quality of joy and delight is wisdom, or jnana, and the doubt or distrust is compassion. Doubt and compassion are both very direct. Compassion is somewhat more spacious, but the pain of doubt and compassion is the same. There is a sense of something touching your heart, and it is painful. At this point, you have the possibility of wisdom and compassion, but they are not completely finalized. It is like a fetus whose limbs are not quite formed. It is as though you are pregnant with buddha nature: you realize that something is happening even before the baby begins to kick. However, this pregnancy is different from ordinary pregnancy. Unlike a fetus, buddha nature is not a foreign body, it is a part of your whole being. You cannot have an abortion because it is too powerful to get rid of. You have to accept the whole thing.~ The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion (2014). "Quotes by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche", Tzal.org.
Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche
One should first recognize the Buddha-Nature, then train in it, and finally attain stability. In order to recognize the Buddha-Nature, we must identify exactly what is preventing us from realizing it now and what needs to be cleared away - all the passing stains of confusion. Where did these passing stains come from? The ground itself, the Buddha-Nature, is without impurity or confusion, but the temporary defilements, the stains of confusion, result from not having recognized the state of the ground.~ "Quotes by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche", Tzal.org.
Dzongsar Khyentse
When we talk about emptiness, something beyond fabrication, we immediately think of a state of being that has no function, like a couch potato or piece of stone, but that is absolutely not correct. It is not merely a negation, elimination, or denial. It is not like the exhaustion of a fire or the evaporation of water. It is full of function, and we call this function buddha activity, which is one aspect of buddhanature. This buddhanature has an aspect of uninterrupted wisdom. This is the difficulty, because as soon as we talk about wisdom, we think in terms of cognition and the senses and their sense objects. We are curious about how a buddha perceives things. But although buddhanature is seemingly a cognizer, it has no object, and therefore it cannot be a subject. Furthermore, it’s not inanimate, nor is it animate, in the sense of mind. This is why the Uttaratantra Shastra is really complementary to the Mahasandhi (Dzogchen) teachings, which always say that mind and wisdom are separate—the dualistic mind of subject and object is separate from the nondual wisdom, which is not other than buddhanature.~ "Spotless from the Start", Lion's Roar, 2008 [3]
Further Readings
[Dzogchen Explained]
The key to ascending through the eight phases [of Dzogchen practice] is to appreciate and settle into the Dzogchen perspective on reality, according to which the fundamental nature of ourselves—and the cosmos—is our inner pristine awareness (rikpa), also described by terms such as buddhanature, the dharma-body of a buddha, or pure, absolute space.
[...]
Dzogchen asserts, with other Mahayana traditions, not only that we all have within us the capacity to become fully enlightened buddhas but also that in some sense we already are buddhas, in that pristine awareness is the fundamental nature of ourselves and the world simply waiting to be rediscovered. This sort of "gospel of buddhanature," running counter to the "tragic sense of life" influential in traditional European culture, is more appealing to many Western seekers, accustomed as they are to the psychological lingo of self-improvement, than are accounts of Buddhism that dwell on our delusion and the sufferings they incite and emphasize that attaining enlightenment is a process requiring years, and perhaps lifetimes, of effort.
[The Life of Shabkar]
"Pure vision," the extraordinary outlook of the Vajrayana or Adamantine Vehicle, is to recognize Buddha-nature in all sentient beings and to see primordial purity and perfection in all phenomena. Every sentient being is endowed with the essence of Buddhahood, just as oil pervades every sesame seed. Ignorance is nothing more than lack of awareness of this very Buddha-nature, as when a pauper does not see the golden pot buried beneath his own hut. The spiritual path is thus a rediscovery of this forgotten nature, just as one sees again the immutable brilliance of the sun once the clouds that were masking it have been blown away.
~ Translator's Introduction, pg. xvii
The Vajrayana path is based on pure perception and is motivated by the aspiration to free swiftly oneself and others from delusion through skillful means. The Mahayana chiefly considers that the Buddha nature is present in every sentient being like a seed, or potentiality. The Vajrayana considers that this nature is fully present as wisdom or pristine awareness, the undeluded aspect and fundamental nature of the mind. Therefore, while the former vehicles are known as "causal vehicles," the Vajrayana is known as the "resultant vehicle." As it is said, "In the causal vehicles one recognizes the nature of mind as the cause of Buddhahood; in the resultant vehicle one regards the nature of mind as Buddhahood itself." Since the "result" of the path, Buddha hood, is primordially present, one only needs to actualize it or divest it of its veils.
~ pg. 551
The fruit of the Great Perfection
Is primordially present as the Buddha nature.
It does not need to be obtained:
It is ripe within oneself.
~ pg. 554
[Grounds of Buddha-Nature in Tibet]
The distinction that Śākya Chokden makes between two types of self-awareness reflects the distinction Longchenpa made between self-awareness (rang rig) in Yogācāra (or "Mind-Only") and the gnosis of self-awareness (so sor rang rig pa'i ye shes) in the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen). Longchenpa's distinction between the basic consciousness (kun gzhi) and the Truth Body (chos sku) similarly conveys this fundamental difference between distorted and undistorted worlds. In fact, Longchenpa distinguished his view of the Great Perfection from that of "Mind-Only" in terms of buddha-nature, expressed as the "basic element" (khams):
- Proponents of Mind-Only assert a changeless permanence and mere [ordinary] awareness as self-illuminating, but this position differs because we assert the unconditioned spontaneous presence beyond permanence and annihilation, and the spontaneously present qualities of the basic element."
[Approaching the Great Perfection]
The conflict between immanence and distinction is present within the scriptural texts of the Seminal Heart, from the Seventeen Tantras down to the Longchen Nyingtig's treasure texts. And it is in the Longchen Nyingtig's treasure texts themselves that some attempt to reconcile that conflict can be detected in the frequent appearance of the buddha nature model. (keep reading here)
