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Discover

New to Buddhism or to the concept of buddha-nature? Discover how buddha-nature is articulated in various Buddhist traditions by exploring multimedia, articles, books, and translations of primary sources from leading Buddhist teachers and academics. This page brings together a collection of curated resources designed to make the concept of buddha-nature understandable and accessible to a general audience.

Buddha-Nature in East Asia

Multimedia

Complete Site Guide

Audio

Buddha-Nature by Rev. George Kosho Finch

This week's topic is Buddha Nature, in Sanskrit: tathāgatagarbha (如来藏). All sentient beings are considered to be in possession of the Buddha Nature, the potential to attain enlightenment.

Video

It Is Your Buddha-Nature That Sees, Hears, and Speaks!

Daehaeng Kun Sunim, a Seon (Zen) master and Buddhist nun from Korea, responds to questions about the concept of Juingong (the underlying mind) from an audience member.

Audio

Trusting in Our Own Buddha-Nature

Rinso Ed Sattizahn gives a dharma talk at San Francisco Zen Center's City Center on the topic of buddha-nature. He touches on selections from Dōgen's Genjōkōan to illustrate this Buddhist teaching

Video

One's True Mind and Inherent Nature by Sheng Yen

Our true mind is the pure mind of wisdom free of defilements. Our inherent nature refers to the nature of our being something common, which is also called the Buddha-nature.

Audio

The Cloudless Sky of Buddha-Nature

Rev. Kokyo Henkel teaches on "The Cloudless Sky of Buddha Nature" at the San Francisco Zen Center on September 6, 2011.

Featured Articles

Article

On Buddhanature—and What It Is Not, by Khandro Rinpoche

"Buddhism must always be seen as a skillful means for realizing the most basic aspect of human life: one's inherent buddhanature."

Article

Emptiness–Buddhanature, by Traleg Kyabgon

"Our true nature is buddhanature and that buddhanature is the nature of all sentient beings."

Article

Lasting Happiness, by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

"... We don’t have to look outside the present moment to experience wisdom, compassion, and the boundless purity of our true nature."

Article

This Is My Mind, Luminous and Empty, by Tsoknyi Rinpoche

"That something, when I was old enough to fit words to it, is a kind of spark that lights the lives of all living beings.... In many Buddhist teachings, it’s known as buddhanature."

Article

The Example of the Buddha: Relating the Life of the Buddha to Our Own, by Joseph Goldstein

"Another level on which we can relate is to view the Buddha as a fundamental archetype of humanity; that is, as the full manifestation of buddha-nature, the mind that is free of defilement and distortion..."

Article

The Sky Dragon's Profound Roar, by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso

"We practice the genuine dharma because it is a method for clearing away the temporary stains that obscure our vision of the true nature of mind."

Books

14th Dalai Lama & Peter Michel

14th Dalai Lama & Thubten Chodron

Saṃsāra, Nirvāṇa, and Buddha Nature

Shenpen Hookham

The Buddha Within

Thubten Loden

The Fundamental Potential for Enlightenment

Study the sources

The seeds of buddha-nature teachings are sprinkled throughout the sutras and tantras of the Buddhist canon. A core group of scripture that initially taught buddha-nature known as the tathāgatagarbha sūtras date between the second and fourth centuries. These include the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, the Śrīmālādevīsūtra and several others. The famous Laṅkāvatārasūtra was also important for buddha-nature theory. In Tibetan Buddhism the late-Indian treatise Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, or "Gyu Lama" as it is known in the Tibetan, serves as a major source for buddha-nature. In East Asia the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna (大乗起信論) was the most influential treatise in spreading buddha-nature theory.

The Ratnagotravibhāga

Source Text

Verse I.28

Point of Interest

Buddha-Nature in Translation—East Asia

Waddell & Abe

The Heart of Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō

Red Pine

The Lankavatara Sutra: A Zen Text

Jorgensen & Lusthaus, et al.

Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith

Blum

The Nirvana Sutra, Vol. 1

Buswell

The Formation of Ch'an Ideology in China and Korea

Alex Wayman & Hideko Wayman

The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā

Zimmermann

A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra

Buddha-Nature in Translation—Tibet

Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen

The Jewel Ornament of Liberation

Rosemarie Fuchs

Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra

Pettit

Mipham's Beacon of Certainty

From the experts

Klaus-Dieter Mathes

A Direct Path to the Buddha Within

Book

Mi bskyod rdo rje on Buddha Nature and its Adventitious Stains

Article

Buddha-Nature in Comparative Perspective

In this interview Professor Klaus-Dieter Mathes discusses buddha-nature and the key ideas behind it, the controversies it generates, and some of the related Buddhist philosophy in comparative perspective.

Interview with Wulstan Fletcher on Buddha-Nature

In this video interview Wulstan Fletcher discusses Mipham's and Longchenpa's approach to buddha-nature as well as his personal experiences with buddha-nature teachings and how they have influenced his practice.

On Mipham and the Nyingma Approach to Buddha-Nature

Clip 1 of 4

19:04 min

On His Personal Encounter with Buddha-Nature Teachings

Clip 3 of 4

7:39 min

Wulstan Fletcher

Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind

Book

Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two

Book

Elizabeth Callahan

Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy

Book

Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā

Book

Interview with Elizabeth Callahan on Buddha-Nature

In this video interview Elizabeth Callahan discusses the key terminology that is used when speaking of buddha-nature. She explains the term ordinary mind and elaborates on the meaning of buddha-nature.

On the Term Ordinary Mind

Clip 1 of 3

2:16 min

What Is Buddha-Nature?

Clip 3 of 3

3:00 min

First Writer-In-Digital-Residence: Alex Gardner On the Ratnagotravibhāga

Alex Gardner

On the Ratnagotravibhāga

Article

A History of Buddha-Nature Theory: The Literature and Traditions

Article

Other Interviews

Ringu Tulku

Interview

Ringu Tulku

Ringu Tulku Interview on Buddha-Nature

Tokpa Tulku

Interview

Tokpa Tulku

Tokpa Tulku Interview on Buddha-Nature

I.28

རྫོགས་སངས་སྐུ་ནི་འཕྲོ་ཕྱིར་དང་། །
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དབྱེར་མེད་ཕྱིར་དང་། །
རིགས་ཡོད་ཕྱིར་ན་ལུས་ཅན་ཀུན། །
རྟག་ཏུ་སངས་རྒྱས་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན། །

Since the perfect buddhakaya radiates,
Since suchness is undifferentiable,
And because of the disposition,
All beings always possess the buddha heart.

French

संबुद्धकायस्फरणात् तथताव्यतिभेदतः
गोत्रतश्च सदा सर्वे बुद्धगर्भाः शरीरिणः

佛法身遍滿真如無差別
皆實有佛性是故說常有

(The Chinese translation collapses verses I:27 and I:28 into one verse. See Takasaki, page 197 note #2, for his speculation on this verse in the various languages.)

Verse page

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Select a language to view commentary on this verse.

[edit]

Brunnhölzl, Karl. When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, 2015: pp. 331-460.

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Asaṅga (thogs med). Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā, (theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa). Translated by Sajjana and rngog blo ldan shes rab. In Derge Tengyur (sde dge bstan 'gyur), (D 4025) sems tsam, phi 74b1-129a7, Vol. 123 pp. 148-257.

BDRC

།དེ་ལ་དྲི་མ་དང་བཅས་པའི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་དབང་དུ་མཛད་ནས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ནི་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན་ནོ་ཞེས་གསུངས་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེ་དོན་གང་གི་ཡིན་ཞེ་ན། རྫོགས་སངས་སྐུ་ནི་འཕྲོ་ཕྱིར་དང་། །དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དབྱེར་མེད་ཕྱིར་དང་། །རིགས་ཡོད་ཕྱིར་ན་ལུས་ཅན་ཀུན། །རྟག་ཏུ་སངས་རྒྱས་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན། །མདོར་བསྡུ་ན་དོན་རྣམ་པ་གསུམ་གྱིས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ནི་རྟག་ཏུ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན་ནོ་ཞེས་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱིས་གསུངས་ཏེ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས་སེམས་ཅན་ཚོགས་ཞུགས་ཕྱིར། །རང་བཞིན་དྲི་མེད་དེ་ནི་གཉིས་མེད་དེ། །སངས་རྒྱས་རིགས་ལ་དེ་འབྲས་ཉེར་བརྟགས་ཕྱིར། །འགྲོ་ཀུན་སངས་རྒྱས་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན་དུ་གསུངས། །དོན་དེ་རྣམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དོན་གང་གིས་གསུང་རབ་ཐམས་ཅད་དུ་ཁྱད་པར་མེད་པར་བསྟན་པར་འགྱུར་བ་དེའི་དབང་དུ་བྱས་ཏེ་བཤད་པར་

བྱའོ། །འདི་ལྟ་སྟེ། སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུས་འཕྲོ་བའི་དོན་དང་། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་དབྱེར་མེད་པའི་དོན་དང་། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་རིགས་ཡོད་པའི་དོན་གྱིས་སོ། །དོན་གྱི་གནས་གསུམ་པོ་འདི་དག་ཀྱང་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོའི་རྗེས་སུ་འབྲངས་ཏེ་འོག་ནས་སྟོན་པར་འགྱུར་རོ།

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Johnston, E. H. and Chowdhury, T. The Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānanottaratantraśāstra. Patna: Bihar Research Society, 1950. Digital input provided by the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Project, Miroj Shakya proof reader. University of the West, 2007.

tatra samalāṃ tathatāmadhikṛtya yaduktaṃ sarvasattvāstathāgatagarbhā iti tat kenārthena/

buddhajñānāntargamāt sattvarāśe-

stannairmalyasyādvayatvāt prakṛtyā/

bauddhe gotre tatphalasyopacārā-

duktāḥ sarve dehino buddhagarbhāḥ//27//

saṃbuddhakāyaspharaṇāt tathatāvyatibhedataḥ/

gotrataśca sadā sarve buddhagarbhāḥ śarīriṇaḥ//28//

samāsatastrividhenārthena sadā sarvasattvāstathāgatagarbhā ityuktaṃ bhagavatā/ yaduta sarvasattveṣu tathāgatadharmakāyaparispharaṇārthena tathāgatatathatāvyatibhedārthena tathāgatagotrasaṃbhavārthena ca/ eṣāṃ punastrayāṇāmarthapadānāmutaratra tathāgatagarbhasūtrānusāreṇa nirdeśo bhaviṣyati/ pūrvataraṃ tu yenārthena sarvatrāviśeṣeṇa pravacane sarvākāraṃ tadarthasūcanaṃ bhavati tadapyādhikṛtya nirdekṣyāmi/

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Unknown (credited in East Asian Buddhist traditions to Jianyi 堅意, or *Sāramati). Ratnagotravibhāga (Jiu jing yi cheng bao xing lun). Translated by Ratnamati (Lenamoti 勒那摩提). Taishō no. 1611. CBETA, SAT.

論曰自此已後餘殘論偈次第依彼四句廣差別說應知此以何義向前偈言

真如有雜垢及遠離諸垢佛無量功德及佛所作業如是妙境界是諸佛所知依此妙法身出生於三寶此偈示現何義如向所說一切眾生有如來藏彼依何義故如是說偈言

佛法身遍滿真如無差別皆實有佛性是故說常有

此偈明何義有三種義是故如來說一切時一切眾生有如來藏何等為三一者如來法身遍在一切諸眾生身偈言佛法身遍滿故二者如來真如無差別偈言真如無差別故三者一切眾生皆悉實有真如佛性偈言皆實有佛性故此三句義自此下論依如來藏修多羅我後時說應知如偈本言

一切眾生界不離諸佛智以彼淨無垢性體不二故依一切諸佛平等法性身知一切眾生皆有如來藏

The Root Verses

Study the Uttaratantra's root verses in multiple languages.
Click to view all verses

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Traditional expositions

The Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso

Teaching

The Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso

Discourse on the Uttaratantra by The 14th Dalai Lama in Holland

Ringu Tulku

Teaching

Ringu Tulku

Buddha Nature: A Talk by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

Kirti Tsenshab

Teaching

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche

Buddha Potential 1: Uttaratantra by Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche at Land of Medicine Buddha, 2003

Khenpo Sodargye

Teaching

Khenpo Sodargye

Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra: Taught by Khenpo Sodargye, May 2019

Teaching

Khensur, Gyumed

Teachings on the Uttaratantra by Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche

Orgyen P'huntsok

Teaching

Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok

Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok Buddha Nature Class: Teachings on the Uttaratantra

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