"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)
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.
Different Ways of Explaining the Meaning of Tathāgatagarbha
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The ''Uttaratantra'' and Mahāmudrā
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The Emptiness Endowed with All Supreme Aspects
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The Meanings of the Titles Ratnagotravibhāga and Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
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The Meditative Tradition of the Uttaratantra and Shentong
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The Sūtra Sources of the ''Tathāgatagarbha'' Teachings
When the Clouds Part is a translation and study of the Uttaratantra, also known as the Ratnagotravibhāga, and nine related texts from India and Tibet, some translated for the very first time in this publication. It is not the first translation of the text—Brunnhölzl cites two previous English translations by Obermiller (1931) and Takasaki (1958), who translated from Sanskrit and Tibetan, and Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese, respectively.
The book begins with a 325-page "Translator's Introduction," a study of the sutra's sources and exegetical traditions, which is a tour de force and a major reference for buddha-nature studies. It is for highly educated readers, assuming an extensive familiarity with the issues and terms of the discussion, such as the Madhyamaka/Yogācāra divide and the doctrine of tathāgatagarbha.
The Translator's Introduction is divided into eight sections: 1) the sūtra sources for tathāgatagarbha teachings; 2) historical survey of Indian and Tibetan definitions of tathāgatagarbha; 3) the history of the transmission of the "Five Books of Maitreya" to Tibet; 4) a survey of explanations of the meaning of the title of the Uttaratantra; 5) the relationship between the Uttaratantra and Yogācāra; 6) the Uttaratantra and zhentong; 7) the Uttaratantra and Mahāmudrā; 8) and an outline and summary of the ten works translated.
Sajjana. Pith Instructions on “The Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna” - Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa. Sanskrit edition in Kano, Kazuo. "rNgog Blo-ldan Shes-rab’s Summary of the Ratnagotravibhāga: The First Tibetan Commentary on a Crucial Source for the Buddha-Nature Doctrine" 513-18. PhD diss., University of Hamburg, 2006.
the buddha potential that is innate in all sentient beings.
~ in When the Clouds Part, page(s) 3
Mipham Rinpoche wrote four texts that discuss the tathāgata heart—his
commentary on the Uttaratantra,262 The Beacon of Certainty,263 The Lion’s
Roar of Shentong,264 and A Synopsis of the Sugata Heart.265 As Dorji Wangchuk
says, the “official position” of the Nyingma School on buddha nature
may be said to be spelled out in A Synopsis of the Sugata Heart. Briefly
speaking, Mipham generally describes the tathāgata heart as the unity of
appearance and emptiness, adopting a view of buddha nature that reflects
Longchenpa’s description of the ground of Dzogchen—the ground of the
indivisible ultimate reality that is primordially pure (ka dag) and spontaneously
present (lhun grub). Mipham also uses reasoning in the tradition
of valid cognition to establish the existence of the tathāgata heart, similar
to his use of reasoning to establish the purity and divine nature of appearances
in the vajrayāna (the latter use of reasoning is a unique feature of the
Nyingma tradition, which is said to go back to the works of Rongsom).
~ Brunnhölzl, K. in When the Clouds Part, page(s) 74
During analysis, the adventitious stains and buddha nature are necessarily differentiated since buddha nature is empty of what does not belong to it (that is, it is shentong—"empty of other"). But when buddha nature is directly realized in Mahāmudrā, there is no longer any difference between it and the adventitious stains or seeming reality.
~ Mathes on Thrangu Rinpoche's position. in When the Clouds Part, page(s) 131