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Study & Practice

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Analysis of the obscurations and the methods of realizing buddha-nature

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DEFINE BUDDHA-NATURE FOR TRADITIONAL/DHARMA AUDIENCE

The 'naturally present potential' (Skt. prakṛtistha-gotra; Wyl. rang bzhin gnas rigs) is the essence of the tathagatas. In essence, it is naturally arising and uncompounded wisdom, the union of awareness and emptiness, the dharmadhatu which has always been inseparable from the kayas and wisdoms. It is naturally pure, the nature of things, just as it is, pervading all phenomena, beyond any transition or change, like space. Although it is within this context that the ordinary aggregates, elements and faculties of beings are born and die, this nature itself remains beyond birth and death. It is through the realization of this nature that the Three Jewels come into being. This immaculate 'element' (Wyl. khams) is present in all beings without exception as the very nature of their minds, just like the example of a treasure beneath the earth and so on. Nevertheless, for those in whom this nature remains veiled by the four stains, and who have not activated their potential, despite its presence, it does not function in an apparent way [rather like a candle kept inside a jar]. And although they are naturally pure, because they are obscured by temporary veils, this nature is beyond most people's imagination. If the veils that obscure the potential are reduced, it serves to inspire us with a longing to leave samsara behind and attain nirvana.

IDEA: ADD CONTENT HERE SIMILAR TO http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Buddha_nature

COLLABORATION!

• This is where we hope there can be integration with other Tsadra projects - For instance: This amazing outline content and any other project
• Traditions - Present approaches to studying BN that different Buddhist traditions engage in
• Article Study Group and Book Study Group Ideas
• Ongoing Teachings on Uttaratantrashastra around the world
  • Karmapa?
  • Shedra teachings in a traditional way (how to get subtitles?)
    • Connect with Tsadra Scholarship Recipients like Gerd to help connect to classes that khenpos are currently giving in Nepal or India?
    • Western teachings on BN in different sanghas or at Universities?

HOW DO PEOPLE STUDY?

• Listening to Teachings
• Reading Texts
• Debate

Shedra study and Debate

DEBATE VIDEO FROM IBD:

“Dhih” The subject in just the way (Manjushri debated)

Taking the “Mind-Only” school as the basis(sic)

You can not posit their definition of the naturally-present lineage.

That’s incorrect!

Can you posit it?

Yes

Posit it!

Something which is suitable to transform into the body of a Buddha but,(sic) which is not sustained by the conditions of hearing and contemplation(sic)

Are you positing that as being obtained by its very nature and differentiated as one of the six sources?

Yes

Then, does this naturally-abiding lineage which is differentiated as one of the six sources and not sustained by hearing and contemplation exist from beginningless(sic) time to the present?

Yes

For this naturally-present lineage, as accepted by the division which doesn’t accept a foundational consciousness (sic)

Does this lineage necessarily have to be a continuum stretching from beginning less time until the present?

WHAT DO PEOPLE STUDY?

• LIST OF KEY STUDY TOPICS
  • Three Reasons
  • Nine Examples

• CORE TEXTS
  • Sutra Sources
  • Uttaratantrashastra itself
  • Indian Commentaries
  • Tibetan Commentaries
  • Modern Scholarship

WHAT WE ARE STUDYING

The Three Reasons are an important area of study for understanding and interpreting buddha-nature doctrine. The particular verse expressing these three reasons has become a site for doctrinal debate, conflict, and resolution within and among Tibetan Buddhist traditions. It appears in verse 27 or 28 of chapter 1, depending on the text version you refer to, and has been commented on by many teachers and writers from India and Tibet from ancient times up until now. For example, the Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche gave this teaching in recent times:

Why are all sentient beings endowed with the enlightened essence? A four-line verse appears in the Uttaratantra listing three reasons why all sentient beings are never apart from the buddha nature:

Because the body of complete buddhahood is all pervasive,

Because the suchness is indivisible,

And because of possessing the potential,

All beings constantly have the buddha essence.

Other religions and belief systems describe the final fruition of practice as the attainment of something new which arises from some other source. In Buddhism, this is not the case. Because dharmakaya is all-pervasive, the end result of complete enlightenment is already present within oneself. The bodies of complete enlightenment, dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya originate from oneself and not from any place outside. When attaining enlightenment, these two latter bodies are manifested from dharmakaya. Right now, we may doubt the possibility of someday possessing the same vast enlightened capacity and unfathomable qualities as Buddha Shakyamuni, but since we do, in fact, possess the same enlightened essence, when evolving the body of complete enlightenment we will automatically manifest all of these wondrous attributes. Next, suchness is indivisible. There is no difference whatsoever between the suchness, or dharmadhatu nature, that is present at the time of complete enlightenment and the suchness that we possess at this moment. In essence, they are identical. The suchness of fully enlightened buddhas and the suchness of ordinary beings, like ourselves, is exactly the same. If the suchness of complete enlightenment were very exalted and the suchness of sentient beings were inferior, it would then appear as though we lacked the sugata-essence, the buddha nature, but this is not the case. There is not the slightest difference. Hence, the qualities which will manifest at the time of reaching complete enlightenment are spontaneously present within oneself right now. Finally, each sentient being naturally possesses this enlightened potential. Of any hundred beings, all one hundred have the potential for enlightenment. We cannot say that only ninety-five of the hundred will attain enlightenment while the remaining five have no chance, no matter how hard they try. Each and every being has this potential for enlightenment. These three reasons explain why all sentient beings are endowed with the enlightened essence. It is crucial to acknowledge what we naturally possess. Why? In terms of Dharma, the major obstacles to practice and accomplishments are laziness and discouraging oneself. ‘Discouragement’ includes putting oneself down, thinking, “I can’t practice. People like Milarepa can attain enlightenment, but someone like me has no such capacity. I’ll never become enlightened.” Instead of discouraging ourselves, we should remember that Buddha Shakyamuni attained enlightenment because he possessed the sugata-essence. Milarepa also attained complete liberation due to the enlightened essence. Because we have this same buddha nature, we are absolutely identical to them in our ability to attain enlightenment. Regardless of whether we are rich or poor, male or female, educated or uneducated, we are capable of practicing the Dharma and attaining liberation. In this respect, we are all the same. In an ordinary worldly context, people sometimes discourage themselves saying, “I can’t get a job. I don’t know what to do. I wish I were dead,” and they may even consider suicide. This happens. Nevertheless, if people would acknowledge their potential for accumulating enlightened merit, they could then tap this immense capacity to discover new ways of living. Therefore, understanding that we have the enlightened essence as our natural possession is extremely important and beneficial both for this present life, future lives, and for the attainment of the ultimate fruition, complete liberation and perfect buddhahood. When the Buddha taught that sentient beings possess the sugata-essence, it was not solely for the purpose of encouraging us to practice. He was simply stating the truth. Through understanding our real condition, how things truly are, we can then develop the perseverance and fortitude to complete our journey along the path.

(Source: Thrangu Rinpoche. Buddha Nature (The Seed of Happiness): Ten Teachings on The Uttara Tantra Shastra. Translated from the Tibetan by Erik Pema Kunsang (Erik Hein Schmidt). Edited by S. Lhamo. 2nd ed. Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1993.)

Verse 28: Tibetan

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

Verse 28: English

Since the perfect buddhakaya radiates,

Since suchness is undifferentiable,

And because of the disposition,

All beings always possess the buddha heart.

Verse 28: Chinese

體及因果業　　相應及以行

時差別遍處　　不變無差別

彼妙義次第　　第一真法性

我如是略說　　汝今應善知

Commentary on The Three Reasons

When the Clouds Part

"Buddha nature" (tathāgatagarbha) is the innate potential in all living beings to become a fully awakened buddha. This book discusses a wide range of topics connected with the notion of buddha nature as presented in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and includes an overview of the sūtra sources of the tathāgatagarbha teachings and the different ways of explaining the meaning of this term. It includes new translations of the Maitreya treatise Mahāyānottaratantra (Ratnagotravibhāga), the primary Indian text on the subject, its Indian commentaries, and two (hitherto untranslated) commentaries from the Tibetan Kagyü tradition. Most important, the translator’s introduction investigates in detail the meditative tradition of using the Mahāyānottaratantra as a basis for Mahāmudrā instructions and the Shentong approach. This is supplemented by translations of a number of short Tibetan meditation manuals from the Kadampa, Kagyü, and Jonang schools that use the Mahāyānottaratantra as a work to contemplate and realize one’s own buddha nature. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

... read more

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Brunnhölzl, Karl. When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra. Tsadra Foundation Series. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2014.

Indian Commentaries

As mentioned above, RGVV does not comment directly on I.27–28 but provides an explanation in the context of its matching the nine examples for buddha nature with its threefold nature of dharmakāya, suchness, and the disposition (I.143–152).

While Vairocanarakṣita’s Mahāyānottaratantraṭippaṇī does not comment at all on these verses, verse 8 of Sajjana’s Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa offers an interesting reformulation/gloss of the first two reasons. Line 8b "since the welfare of sentient beings depends on the victor" corresponds to the first reason ("since buddha wisdom enters into the multitudes of beings" in I.27a and "because the perfect buddhakāya radiates" in I.28a). It highlights the intrinsic affinity between the buddha natures of buddhas and sentient beings, which enables the former to benefit and awaken the latter. In this vein, an interlinear gloss on verse 11 explicitly relates the twofold dharmakāya—"the utterly stainless dharmadhātu and its natural outflow (teaching the principles of profundity and diversity)" in Uttaratantra I.145 (explained by RGVV as "consisting of the arising of [individually] corresponding [forms of] cognizance in other sentient beings to be guided") to "the perfect buddhakāya radiates . . ." Line 8c "because suchness operates in accordance with the welfare [of beings]" corresponds to the second reason ("since its stainlessness is nondual by nature" in I.27b and "because suchness is undifferentiable" in I.28b). This line emphasizes the active nature of suchness when it is understood as buddha nature, which always engages in the welfare of sentient beings, be it in the form of external buddha activity or as the internal driving force for the path of ordinary beings and bodhisattvas to attain buddhahood.

The second chapter of Ratnākaraśānti’s Sūtrasamuccayabhāṣya establishes that the teaching of there being only a single yāna ultimately is of definitive meaning. In this context, he says that the tathāgata heart is only temporarily obscured by adventitious stains and quotes a verse by the Buddha also found in RGVV, Nāgārjuna’s 'Dharmadhātustava', and Uttaratantra I.28. Ratnākaraśānti concludes that the tathāgata heart is the single disposition that serves as the basis for there being just a single yāna.

Since the dharmadhātu has the meaning of gotra, they are inseparable. Therefore, since all [beings] possess tathāgatagarbha, its fruition is just a single yāna. However, since it was taught as various yānas in the form of progressive means of realization and [since] this gotra does not appear due to [being obscured by] afflictions and so on, temporarily, [the Buddha] spoke of five gotras. ::For, he said:

Just as within stony debris

Pure gold does not appear,

And then appears through being purified,

The sugata is said [to appear] in the world.

Also noble Nāgārjuna says [in his Dharmadhātustava]:

In a pregnant woman’s womb,

A child exists but is not seen.

Just so, dharmadhātu is not seen,

When it’s covered by afflictions.2718

Likewise, noble Maitreya states [in his Uttaratantra]:

Because the illuminating dharmadhātu radiates,

There is no difference in suchness,

And the actuality of the disposition appears,

All [sentient beings] possess the sugata heart.2719

Therefore, just as [described in] the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, though [tathāgatagarbha] is ensnared by afflictions, when the conditions for [its] awakening have formed, all [yānas] are simply a single yāna.2720

Note that Ratnākaraśānti’s version of Uttaratantra I.28 contains interesting variant readings, especially in lines a and c. Either Ratnākaraśānti paraphrased I.28 in this way himself (or quoted it so from memory) or he used a different manuscript of the Uttaratantra.2721

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