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From Buddha-Nature
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Jikido Takasaki's seminal work on the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' includes a critical introduction, a synopsis of the text, a translation from the original Sanskrit text in comparison with its Tibetan and Chinese versions, critical notes, appendixes, and indexes. The work is split into two parts. The first consists of a critical and detailed study on the structure of the text and the position of the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' in Mahāyāna Buddhism, and the second consists of a translation of the Sanskrit text into English. +
The Mahāratnakūta Sūtra is one of the five major sutra groups in the Mahāyāna canon. Of the two great schools of Buddhism, Mahāyāna has the greatest number of adherents worldwide—it prevails among the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Tibetans, and Vietnamese—and contains within it a number of movements, notably Zen, which have been of growing interest in the West in recent decades. Yet despite this increased attention and enormous following, translations of Mahāyāna scriptures have been scarce and fragmentary; clearly, a comprehensive translation of a major work within the canon was called for.
This volume addresses that need. It contains 22 of the 49 Sūtras of the Mahāratnakūta (or "Treasury") Sūtra, many translated for the first time in a Western language, selected and arranged to give the modern reader a progressive introduction to one of the world's major religious traditions. Subjects covered include Māyā and miracles, the teachings on Consciousness, Emptiness, and monastic discipline, the Mystical Light of the Tathāgata, and the devotional practice of Pure Land, making this a comprehensive source book of Mahāyāna Buddhism hitherto unavailable in English. The book also includes an introduction to provide historical and interpretive guidance, annotations that assist in the comprehension of difficult passages, and an extensive glossary that will be valuable to specialist and layman alike. A team of scholars, working in Taiwan, spent eight years translating the Treasury's million words from Chinese, using Tibetan texts for comparison and checking each Sūtra with an international board of scholars. In the course of translating from the original, special effort was made to retain both the devotional style appropriate for religious reading and the precision required by the scholar, while presenting the material with a clarity and flow that would make it accessible to the Western layman. The editors then selected, arranged, and annotated the 22 Sūtras presented here. ([https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-00341-3.html Source Accessed May 20, 2021])
In this profound 90-minute teaching, by one of the greatest living Buddhist teachers of our time, Mindrolling Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche speaks of our incessant movement, propelled by a search for happiness. She goes on to demonstrate how we perform unvirtuous actions when faced with challenges, and the great need for us to slow down our experiences through stillness, silence and non-thought.
For a transcription of the talk in PDF format, [https://vidyaloke.in/home/resource-library/pdf/Khandro_Rinpoche_Talk_Transcription.pdf click here.] +
Was Buddha a human or a god? Harvard Divinity School student Yin Guan, MTS ’19 gives the 2-minute story about the Buddha-nature within us all. +
In this video Arne Schelling offers information about the ''Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra''. The video serves as an introduction to an online buddha-nature study program with Khenpo Chöying Dorje. +
'''Abstract'''<br><br>
Buddha Nature or Tathāgatagarbha is a complex phenomenon that has been the subject of discussion in Buddhist cultures for centuries. This study presents for the first time a survey of the extent of Tibetan commentarial literature based upon the Indian Tathāgatagarbha Śāstra, the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'', as well as a comparison of passages of Tibetan interpretations upon The Three Reasons given for the presence of Tathāgatagarbha in the ''Ratnagotravibhāga''. Furthermore, attention is drawn to the inconsistencies regarding the dating, authorship, structure and content of this source text within the Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan traditions.<br>
Thereby the present study addresses primarily the need for an overview of the Tibetan commentarial literature upon this important Śāstra, by surveying more than forty Tibetan commentaries. This survey will facilitate contextualization of future studies of the individual commentaries. Secondarily it addresses the need for documentation and interpretation of precise concepts and arguments, by presenting line for line comparison of passages of interpretations by four different authors, Rngog Blo ldan shes rab (1059-1109), Dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan (1292-1361), Rgyal tshab dar ma rin chen (1364-1432) and Mi pham phyogs las rnam rgyal (1846-1912). This comparison will trace divergent traditions of Tathāgatagarbha interpretation based on the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' in Tibet.<br>
It becomes apparent that the main divergence in these four authors' Tathāgatagarbha exegesis hinges on their interpretation of Dharmakāya and the role it plays as the first supporting reason for the presence of Tathāgatagarbha. Where some interpret Tathāgatagarbha as being "empty", others maintain that it is "full of qualities", apparent contradictions that however, are based upon the same scriptural passages of the source text, the ''Ratnagotravibhāga''. That the ambiguous nature of the source text accommodates such seemingly contradictory interpretations should be kept in mind when studying Tibetan interpretations so as to avoid dismissal of certain interpretations in favour of others.<br>
The aim of the present study is to provide a structural framework for accessing Tibetan Tathāgatagarbha interpretations based on the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' that surveys their extent and documents their nature. The study may thus contribute to a broader understanding of Tibetan literature in general and of Buddha Nature interpretation in particular.
Affirmation in Negation: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha Theory in the Light of the Bodhisattva Practices +
The Tathāgatagarbha theory, also known as the Buddha-nature theory, is one of the most influential Mahāyāna doctrines in the East Asian Buddhism. In 1989, it was severely criticized by some Japanese scholars, namely, Shiro Matsumoto and Noriaki Hakamaya, for being contradictory to the Buddha's teaching of non-self (anātman) and accused of being a non-Buddhist theory in disguise. The purpose of this study is to refute such an accusation and to demonstrate the relationship between this theory and the Bodhisattva practices which are the very core of the Mahāyāna Buddhism.<br> This dissertation begins with definitions of the term "tathāgatagarbha" and some of its synonyms which are followed by a brief review of the historical development of the Tathāgatagarbha theory from India to China. With these as the background knowledge, it is easier to point out the fallacies of the two Japanese scholars' criticism on this theory. A key issue in their criticism is that they viewed the Tathāgatagarbha theory as the ātman of the Upaniṣads in disguise. It is therefore necessary to discuss not only the distinction between the ātman mentioned in the Tathāgatagarbha theory and that in the Upaniṣads but also the controversy over the issue of ātman versus anātman among the Buddhist scholars.<br> In the discussion to clarify the issue of ātman in the Tathāgatagarbha theory, it is demonstrated that the ātman in the Tathāgatagarbha theory is not only uncontradictory to the doctrine of anātman in Buddhism but very important to the Bodhisattva practices in the Mahāyāna Buddhism. It functions as a unity for the Bodhisattvas to voluntarily return to the world of saṃsāra again and again. Furthermore, the purport of the entire theory, that all sentient beings are endowed with the essence of the Buddha, supports various Bodhisattva practices such as the aspiration to save all beings in the world, the six perfections, etc. In a word, the Tathāgatagarbha theory is an excellent representative of the soteriology of the Mahāyāna Buddhism. Included in the end of this dissertation is an annotated translation of the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra. ([http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/en/search/search_detail.jsp?seq=158543&q=negation&qf=TOPIC&comefrom=searchengine Source Accessed May 26, 2020])
This lecture will focus on one particular strand of thought in the history of Buddhism. Often neglected by scholars and even deemed to be non-Buddhist, the idea of universal buddhahood unfolded enormous influence throughout the history of Buddhism. The concept that all living beings have buddha-nature has its beginning in the early centuries of the common era in India. Its impact was crucial for the spread of Buddhism in Asia.<br><br>
Direct forerunners of the idea that all living beings have buddha-nature are the Lotus Sutra and parts of the ''Avataṁsaka'' (華嚴經). The lecture will discuss how the concept of buddha-nature came into existence, what kind of factors were crucial for this development, and how the idea was described in its earliest literature. Recent years have seen a fresh and unexpected re-arrangement of the early history of buddha-nature thought. These new developments will also be presented and evaluated. +
This volume is a study and edition of Bcom ldan ral gri's (1227–1305) ''Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od''. Likely composed in the last decades of the thirteenth century, this systematic list of Buddhist Sutras, Tantras, Shastras, and related genres translated primarily from Sanskrit and other Indic languages holds an important place in the history of Buddhist literature in Tibet. It affords a glimpse of one Tibetan scholar's efforts to classify more than two thousand titles of Buddhist literature in the decades before the canonical collections known as the ''Bka' 'gyur'' and the ''Bstan 'gyur'' achieved a relatively stable form. Tibetan historiography traces the origin of the ''Bka' 'gyur'' and ''Bstan 'gyur'' to Bcom ldan ral gri's efforts, though the unique structure of the ''Bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi 'od'', which differs greatly from available ''Bka' 'gyur'' and ''Bstan 'gyur'' catalogs, shows that the situation is more complex.
Known to contemporary scholars of Tibetan literature for some time through mention in other works, Bcom ldan ral gri's survey has recently become available for the first time in two manuscripts. The present work contains a detailed historical introduction, an annotated edition of the two manuscripts, as well as concordances and appendices intended to aid the comparative study of early Tibetan collections of Indic Buddhist literature. (Source: [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674014596 Harvard University Press]) +
Fa-Tsang (643-712) was an important early figure in the development of Hua-yen Buddhism and is counted the Third Patriarch and first great systematizer of the school. Hua-yen doctrines have affected many other East Asian traditions and his Commentary provides a look at how various concepts associated with the emerging Chinese vijnana/tathagata-garbha tradition were developing at a key point in the tradition’s history. In addition, while Fa-Tsang’s views of the mutual interpenetration and intercontainment of events have been covered in a variety of English language materials, his views on consciousness and its various aspects have not been widely addressed. Like the ''Awakening of Faith'', his ''Commentary'' is primarily focused on the nature of consciousness and so provides an extensive look at his perspective on the topic. Those views, we might note, predate many of the commonly known aspects of his thought such as those represented in his “Essay on the Golden Lion”.
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the ''Awakening of Faith'' to the history of East Asian Buddhism. It has been esteemed by most of the tradition’s major schools and has accordingly had an enormous impact of the development of East Asian Buddhist thought. It is not surprising then that it has been a favorite topic for Buddhist exegetes and to date upwards of two hundred commentaries have been produced. Of all these works though, Fa-Tsang’s text has always been considered among the 2 or 3 definitive interpretations. Generations of Buddhists have consulted his work in their efforts to understand the ''Awakening of Faith'' and his interpretations have accordingly had a deep and lasting influence on the tradition.
This book presents us with, for the first time, a translation in English a key Chinese Buddhist’s interpretation of one of the most influential texts in the history of East Asian Buddhism. It not only sheds light on the development of Fa-Tsang’s thought and the Hua-Yen school, but also provides further information pertinent to the development of other schools such as T’ien-t’ai and Ch’an. (Source: [https://mellenpress.com/book/English-Translation-of-Fa-Tsangs-Commentary-on-the-Awakening-of-Faith/5935/ Edwin Mellen Press])
This book is based upon notes prepared by the author for general lectures on Buddhism which he has been giving to students at a number of universities in Tokyo since around 1960. The initial version of the present work first saw the light of day as part of a textbook for university students entitled ''Bukkyo ippan'' 仏教一般 (''Buddhism in General'') which was compiled in concert with professors specializing in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism and published by the Department of Buddhist Studies at Komazawa University in Tokyo. Then, at a later date, the author was approached by the Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai (University of Tokyo Press) to write an introductory work on Buddhism for the edification of the general reading public. By permission of the Department of Buddhist Studies at Komazawa University, he accordingly extracted those sections of the above textbook which he had himself written ("Outline of Buddhism" and "Indian Buddhism"), to which he then made some additions and corrections and also appended a brief history of Buddhism covering not only India but also China and Japan. This was then published in 1983 under the title of ''Bukkyo nyümon'' 仏教入門 (''An Introduction to Buddhism''), of which the present work is an English translation. (Takasaki, preface to the English version, iii) +
An Introduction to the Palpung Study and Practice program "Discovering the Buddha Within" by H.E Yongey Migyur Rinpoche
尊貴的 詠給明就仁波切介紹八蚌學修教程 ─ 開啟內在之佛 ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azIK84yIJqk&t=13s Source Accessed June 8, 2023]) +
Media/Anne Burchardi: On the Sutra Sources for the Uttaratantra and Her Work on the Dharanishvarajasutra +
See [https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/images-budnat/3/3a/Illustrations_of_Buddhanature.pdf The Illustrations of the Nine Examples of the Buddha-Nature from the ''Tathāgatagarbhasūtra''] by Sofia Burchardi. +
Join Anne Burchardi and Lopen Karma Phuntsho as they discuss the purpose of the Buddha-Nature teachings in the context of Kagyu and Nyingma traditions and beyond.
'''Handout Available:''' [[Media:Illustrations of Buddhanature.pdf|See an artist's modern rendition of the traditional examples of buddha-nature]] from the sutras. +
Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, is the highest meditative practice of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Approaching the Great Perfection looks at a seminal figure of this lineage, Jigme Lingpa, an eighteenth-century scholar and meditation master whose cycle of teachings, the Longchen Nyingtig, has been handed down through generations as a complete path to enlightenment. Ten of Jigme Lingpa’s texts are presented here, along with extensive analysis by van Schaik of a core tension within Buddhism: Does enlightenment develop gradually, or does it come all at once? Though these two positions are often portrayed by modern scholars as entrenched polemical views, van Schaik explains that both tendencies are present within each of the Tibetan Buddhist schools. He demonstrates how Jigme Lingpa is a great illustration of this balancing act, using the rhetoric of both sides to propel his students along the path of the Great Perfection. [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/approaching-great-perfection/ (Source: Wisdom Publications)] +
This book is an attempt to clarify a few of the topics that come up most often in teachings and discussions of Mahayana Buddhist thought.
We begin at the beginning with buddha nature, because that is the most important concept to understand. Then, for the Mahayanist, comes bodhichitta. How the recognition of buddha nature is accomplished and the field in which we learn to practice bodhichitta is dealt with in a discussion of reincarnation and karma. Understanding emptiness brings us into a position to study Tantric science, of which the Mahamudra is an example of the highest form. It is through the practice of such Tantric sciences that we gain realization through the transformation they precipitate.
As the process of transformation moves forward, realization can come at any time or in any place. Realization itself has many aspects, leading to the highest realization that transcends subject and object, relative and absolute—all samsaric manifestations. Every moment of life, and the intermediate states between life and death and between sleeping and waking, are the means of attaining realization. Every mistake and every success leads gradually to the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal of Buddhist study and practice is, of course, the state of being completely purified, the enlightenment of a buddha. (Source: introduction). +
The study of Buddhism has recently made gigantic strides, on this side of the Atlantic as well as on the other. Not only is the importance of the science of comparative religion making itself felt, but the advance of our Pali and Sanskrit knowledge has greatly contributed to a better understanding of things Oriental. Even Christians who were without sympathy for "heathen" religions have now taken up the study of Buddhism in earnest. Nevertheless, it appears to me that the teachings of Sakyamuni are not yet known in their full significance and that they do not yet command just appreciation. Though intolerant critics lose no chance of vigorously and often wrongly attacking the weak points of Buddhism, which are naturally seen at the surface, clear-sighted people have been very slow to perceive its innermost truth. This is especially the case with the Mahayana school.<br> The main reasons for this are, in my opinion, evident. While the canonical books of the Hinayana Buddhism have been systematically preserved in the Pali language, those of the Mahayana Buddhism are scattered promiscuously all over the fields and valleys of Asia and in half a dozen different languages. Further, while most of the Sanskrit originals have been destroyed, their translations in Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese have never been thoroughly studied. And, lastly, the Mahayana system is so intricate, so perplexingly abstruse, that scholars not accustomed to this form of thought and expression are entirely at a loss to find their way through it<br> Among the false charges which have been constantly poured upon the Mahayana Buddhism, we find the following : Some say, "It is a nihilism, denying God, the soul, the world and all"; some say, "It is a polytheism: Avalokiteçvāra, Tara, Vajrapani, Mañjuçri, Amitābha, and what not, are all worshipped by its followers"; still others declare, "It is nothing but sophistry, quibbling, hair-splitting subtlety, and a mocking of the innermost yearnings of humanity" ; while those who attack it from the historical side proclaim, "It is not the genuine teaching of Buddha; it is on the contrary the pure invention of Nāgārjuna, who devised the system by ingeniously mixing up his negative philosophy with the non-atman theory of his predecessor"; or, "The Mahayana is a queer mixture of the Indian mythology that grew most freely in the Tantric period, with a degenerated form of the noble ethical teachings of primitive Buddhism." Though no one who is familiar with Mahayanistic ideas will admit these one-sided and superficial judgments, the majority of people are so credulous as to lend their ear to these falsified reports and to believe them.<br> The present English translation of Açvaghosha's principal work is therefore dedicated to the Western public by a Buddhist from Japan, with a view to dispelling the denunciations so ungraciously heaped upon the Mahayana Buddhism. The name of Açvaghosha is not very well known to the readers of this country, but there is no doubt that he was the first champion, promulgator, and expounder of this doctrine, so far as we can judge from all our available historical records. Besides, in this book almost all the Mahayanistic thoughts, as distinguished from the other religious systems in India, are traceable, so that we can take it as the representative text of this school. If the reader will carefully and patiently go through the entire book, unmindful of its peculiar terminology and occasional obscureness, I believe he will be amply and satisfactorily repaid for his labor, and will find that the underlying ideas are quite simple, showing occasionally a strong resemblance to the Upanishad philosophy as well as to the Samkhya system, though of course retaining its own independent thought throughout.<br> In conclusion let me say a word about the difficulty of translating such an abstruse religio-philosophic discourse as the present text. It is comparatively easy to translate works of travels or of historical events or to make abstracts from philosophical works. But a translator of the Mahayanistic writings, which are full of specific phraseology and highly abstruse speculations, will find himself like a wanderer in some unknown region, not knowing how to obtain any communicable means to express what be perceives and feels. To reproduce the original as faithfully as possible and at the same time to make it intelligible enough to the outside reader, who has perhaps never come in contact with this form of thought, the translator must be perfectly acquainted with the Mahayanistic doctrine as it is understood in the East, while he must not be lacking in adequate knowledge of Western philosophy and mode of thinking. The present translator has done his best to make the Mahayanistic thoughts of Açvaghosha as clear and intelligible as his limited knowledge and lack of philosophic training allow him. He is confident, however, that he has interpreted the Chinese text correctly. In spite of this, some errors may have crept into the present translation, and the translator will gladly avail himself of the criticisms of the Mahayana scholars to make corrections in case a second edition of the work is needed. (Suzuki, translator's preface, x–xiv)<br><br>
[https://archive.org/details/avaghoshasdisc00asva/page/n5/mode/2up Read more here . . .]
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Dr. Pettit speaks about the basics of Buddha-Nature (''bde gshegs snying po’i rigs'' = ''sugatagarbhagotra'') according to Mipham Rinpoche, with additional reference to some Pāli Suttas, Nāgārjuna’s ''Praise of Dharmadhatu'', and the ''Uttaratantra''. He bases his remarks on Mipham’s text, ''The Lion’s Roar: Exposition on Buddha Nature'' (''bde gshegs snying po stong thun chen mo seng ge nga ro''). John Whitney Pettit holds graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University in the study of World Religions and Buddhist Studies. He has been the student of the previous Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and also heard or translated teachings from prominent masters representing the Nyingma tradition and the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the translator and author of ''Mipham’s Beacon of Certainty'' (1999) and of a forthcoming anthology volume on the subject of Buddha-nature. Since 1998 he has lived in or near New York’s Hudson Valley, working on occasional translations, carving mani stones and communing with the genius loci. He spoke with students at RYI on the 27th of March, 2019. ([https://soundcloud.com/rangjung-yeshe-institute/basics-of-buddha-nature-miphams-roaring-lions-public Adapted from Source Aug 13, 2020]) +
This collection includes a history of buddha-nature theory in Tibet by Thupten Jinpa and seven texts influential in the development of buddha-nature teachings in Tibet. The texts included represent many lineages and historical periods. Along with the root text the following texts appear: 1) Butön's commentary to the Uttaratantrashastra (བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པ་མཛེས་བྱེད་ཀྱི་རྒྱན། pp 3-63). 2) The Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje's commentary (བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པ། pp 65-69). 3) The Fifteenth Karmapa Khakyap Dorje's commentary (དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཀྱི་མཆན་འགྲེལ། pp 71-88). 4) Rongton's commentary (ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ། pp 89-206). 5) Shakya Chokden's commentary (ཆོས་དབྱིངས་བསྟོད་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ། pp 207-238). 6) Jetsun Chokyi Gyaltsen's text on the disposition (''gotra, rigs'') (རིགས་ཀྱི་སྤྱི་དོན། pp 239-287) 7) Mipham Gyatso's Lion's Roar (བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོའི་སྟོང་ཐུན་ཆེན་མོ་སེངྒེའི་ང་རོ། pp 289-316). +
Do all living beings ultimately become enlightened? Do we have Buddha nature, the seed of enlightenment? These questions concerning an ordinary living being's potential to become a Buddha, the purest form of existence, are the main topic of this book. Based on the views of the three major Buddhist schools of Buddhist philosophy — Vaibhasika, Cittamatrin and Madhyamaka — Geshe Sonam Rinchen explains how our minds, though stained by temporary defilements, are innately pure, luminous and cognizant and how we can become aware of the mind's clear light nature. (Source: back cover) +
