User:Dorje108/Buddha nature research

Rupert Gethin

Overview

For the ordinary unawakened person the root causes of suffering, the defilements (kleśa/kilesa) of greed, aversion, and delusion, do battle with the root causes of awakening, the good qualities of wisdom, loving kindness, and generosity: we are internally in conflict. But this does not mean that we should conceive of ourselves as merely a battleground for a conflict that may go either way. For, although this may be how things appear in the short term, it is, according to the teaching of the Buddha as presented in the Nikāyas/Āgamas, our better nature that reflects our true nature: the mind is naturally radiant but becomes defiled by adventitious defilements (see p. 175). At heart we are not Maras but buddhas, and this is true of the being that is Mara himself. This way of thinking is part of the common heritage of all Buddhism, but in Mahāyāna sutras it finds expression and is developed in the notion of the tathagata-garbha: the ‘womb’ or ‘embryo’ (the Sanskrit garbha connotes both) of the Tathagata. Thus in the Mahayana Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, the Buddha observes:

[W]hen I regard all beings with my buddha eye, I see that hidden within the klesas of greed, desire, anger and stupidity there is seated augustly and unmovingly the tathāgata’s wisdom, the tathāgata’s vision, and the tathāgata’s body … [A]ll beings, though they find themselves with all sorts of klesas, have a tathagatagarbha that is eternally unsullied, and that is replete with virtues no different from my own.49

The basic treatise of the tathāgatagarbha tradition of thought is the Ratnagotravibhāga (also known as the Uttaratantra) attributed to Maitreya/Asaṅga. The tathāgatagarbha is an element of Buddhahood (buddha-dhātu) at the heart of our being, our intrinsic ‘buddha nature’. Although some Mahayanist writings acknowledged the possibility of beings who are eternally cut off from the possibility of buddhahood, the prevailing tradition, particularly important in East Asian Buddhism and reaching its most developed statement in Dōgen’s Zen, is that all beings are intrinsically Buddhas.

Gethin, Rupert (1998-07-16). The Foundations of Buddhism (pp. 251-252). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

Philosophical schools

Talk of the tathāgatagarbha as our eternal and true nature in contrast to illusory and ultimately unreal defilements leads to a tendency to conceive of it as an ultimate absolutely existing thing. The Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṅa Sūtra, especially influential in East Asian Buddhist thought, goes so far as to speak of it as our true self (ātman). Its precise metaphysical and ontolo-gical status is, however, open to interpretation in the terms of different Mahāyāna philosophical schools; for the Madhyamikas it must be empty of its own existence like everything else; for the Yogacarins, following the Laṅkāvatāra, it can be identified with store consciousness, as the receptacle of the seeds of awakening. Yet the problem of the metaphysics of the tathāgatagarbha persisted and is perhaps most clearly exemplified in the rang-stong/gzhan-stong debate in Tibet (see Chapter 10).

Gethin, Rupert (1998-07-16). The Foundations of Buddhism (p. 252). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

Paul Williams

Overview

Broadly speaking, the teaching of the tathagatagarbha in Indian Mahayana is concerned with that factor possessed by each sentient being which enables him or her to become a fully enlightened Buddha. It is, as the leading contemporary scholar of the tathagatagarbha David Seyfort Ruegg has put it, 'the "buddhamorphic" Base or Support for practice of the Path, and hence the motivating "cause" (hetu: dhatu) for attainment of the Fruit (phala) of buddhahood' (1989a: 18-19). The earliest sources strongly advocating the possession of the tathagatagarbha appear to be sutras such as the short and appropriately named Tathagatagarbha Sutra. According to its recent translator this sutra may well have been composed in the mid-third century CE. This century corresponds with one estimate of the date of another crucial tathagatagarbha sutra, the Srimaladevisimhanada Sutra ('Discourse that is the Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala', trans. Wayman and Wayman: 1-4).

Williams, Paul (2002-12-07). Buddhist Thought (p. 160). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.

Madhyamaka and Yogacara

We can willingly understand, starting with the distinction between conceptual construct and primary existent, how some might argue that complete letting-go and philosophical consistency required that literally all things are conceptual constructs (Madhyamaka). We can also understand how some others (Yogacara) might feel that this in fact collapses into nihilism and there must actually be a primary existent that is the non-dual flow of experience itself (which after all, cannot be denied even if we can deny certain things about it). While not exclusively so, nevertheless these are very much ontological issues. It is clear from our earliest sources such as the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, on the other hand, that the topic of the tathagatagarbha is more to do with specifically religious issues of realising one's spiritual potential, exhortation, and encouragement, not ontology. We are not as such in an Abhidharma world. Our context, our immediate conceptual world, is quite different. It is perhaps rather the world of advocating the supremacy of the Mahayana against rival 'lower' paths, for if the tathagatagarbha - the Buddha-nature - is in all sentient beings, all sentient beings should, and presumably in the end will, follow the path to a supreme Buddhahood. This path will leave the arhats and pratyekabuddhas far

Williams, Paul (2002-12-07). Buddhist Thought (pp. 161-162). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.

Tathagatagarbha sutra

The Tathagatagarbha Sutra consists mainly of a series of examples showing that even though one is in the midst of defilements there dwells within all sentient beings a tathagatagarbha. This tathagatagarbha is a tathagata-womb, or a tathagataembryo, or a tathagata-calyx, or a tathagata-inner sanctum, or a tathagata-husk, or a tathagata-seed, or a tathagata-interior (trans. Grosnick 1995: 92-3). In other words something supremely valuable is contained within all this dross. The sutra even goes so far as to have the Buddha state that hidden within the defilements is 'the tathagata's wisdom, the tathagata's vision, and the tathagata's body . . . eternally unsullied, and . . . replete with virtues no different from my own. . . . the tathagatagarbhas of all beings are eternal and unchanging' (op. cit.: 96). The Buddha exhorts people, 'do not consider yourself inferior or base. You all personally possess the buddha nature' (op. cit.: 101). This short sutra is a cry of encouragement, not a philosophical treatise. [...] the message of the sutra is that we all have a tremendous and probably unrealised spiritual potential.(33)

Williams, Paul (2002-12-07). Buddhist Thought (pp. 162-163). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.

Mahaparinivarna sutra

Problems might start to arise, however, with the actual choice of terms used to refer to this tathagatagarbha in some other sutras, notably perhaps the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, a sutra which is boldly prepared to use the term atman, Self, for the tathagatagarbha. Perhaps it was this that began the attempt to clarify or explain the nature and ontological status of the tathagatagarbha given the difficulties that would inevitably arise through using such a problematic term in a Buddhist context. The Mahaparinirvana Sutra is a long sutra with a complex textual history. It does not always appear to be very consistent. But it is obvious that the Mahaparinirvana Sutra does not consider it impossible for a Buddhist to affirm an atman provided it is clear what the correct understanding of this concept is, and indeed the sutra clearly sees certain advantages in doing so. For example, since non-Buddhists are portrayed as considering the Buddha a nihilist due to his teaching of Not-Self, provided there is no compromise of Buddhist tenets - and there does not have to be such a compromise - portraying the tathagatagarbha as atman might help convert non-Buddhists to Buddhism. It might thus help them to realise that Buddhism is not a form of spiritual nihilism. After all, if there is a tathagatagarbha that serves as the very foundation for attaining Buddhahood then Buddhism could not be nihilism. No questions have to be begged on what actually corresponds to the term tathagatagarbha. Moreover adherents of the tathagatagarbha argued that by structural opposition, if samsara is, as Buddhists say, impermanent, not-Self, suffering and impure then Buddhahood (i.e. the tathagatagarbha) as the negation of samsara can indeed be portrayed without further commitment as permanent, Self, bliss, and purity. Furthermore the tathagatagarbha is by definition that very thing within sentient beings which enables them to become Buddhas, which means that the spiritual path is not impossible, and which shines forth in Buddhahood. Thus it does indeed fit some of the characteristics associated with a Self. Nevertheless the sutra as it stands is quite clear that while for these reasons we can speak of it as Self, actually it is not at all a Self, and those who have such Self-notions cannot perceive the tathagatagarbha and thus become enlightened (see Ruegg 1989a: 21-6).

Williams, Paul (2002-12-07). Buddhist Thought (pp. 163-164). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.

Peter Harvey

Brief explanation

The first word in the term Tathgata-garbha literally means ‘Thus-gone’ or ‘Thus-come’, a term for a Buddha as one who is attuned to reality, while the second basically means either an embryo, or a womb or other container. Tibetan translations are based on the first meaning of garbha, while Chinese ones are based on the second. Tathgata-garbha thus means something like ‘embryonic Buddha’ or ‘matrix of a Buddha’, though the earliest meaning may have been a reference to beings as ‘containing a Buddha’. This ‘embryo’ is seen as existing within all living beings, indicating that, however deluded or defiled they are, they can mature into Buddhas. The Tathgata-garbha, then, represents the ‘Buddha-potential’ within all beings. In the Tathgata-garbha Stra, it is affirmed by the Buddha to be ‘complete with virtues and not different from myself  ’. It is an emptiness which is itself full of possibilities; it is resplendent with the qualities of Buddhahood, beginningless, unchanging and permanent (Rv. vv. 51, 84). It is beyond duality, having the nature of thought and the intrinsic purity of a jewel, space or water (Rv. vv. 28, 30, 49). It is brightly shining with lucid clarity (Rv. v. 170) and is ‘by nature brightly shining and pure’ (Lanka. 77). Beings are seen as ignorant of this great inner treasure, but the Buddha reveals it to them so as to encourage them in spiritual development. Moreover, it is the Tathgata-garbha which responds to spiritual teachings and aspires for Nirva (Srim. ch. 13; EB. 4.3.5).

Harvey, Peter (2012-11-30). An Introduction to Buddhism (Introduction to Religion) (p. 139). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.