Begin Discovering Your Buddha-Nature
From Buddha-Nature
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
Featured Articles
Books
On How Beginning Students Might Engage with Buddha-Nature Teachings by Ringu Tulku
Ringu Tulku talks about how beginning students might start to orient themselves toward buddha-nature teachings in practice. He explains that it is important to recognize that everybody has the seed of wisdom and compassion within them.
Featured Articles
Books
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 Gyü 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) and the Vajrasamādhisūtra were the most influential treatises in spreading buddha-nature theory. All of these important buddha-nature texts have been translated into English by leading scholars and translators. Below is a selection of these works:
Buddha-Nature in Translation—East Asia
From the experts
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.
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.
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.
Other Interviews
Ringu Tulku
Interview
Ringu Tulku
Ringu Tulku Interview on Buddha-Nature
Ringu Tulku. “Ringu Tulku Interview on Buddha-Nature.” Interview by Marcus Perman. Produced by Tsadra Foundation Research Department, October 10, 2019. Audio, 1:00:17.; People/'jam mgon kong sprul, People/Sgam po pa, Texts/Dam chos yid bzhin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che'i rgyan, Topics/Defining buddha-nature, Topics/Sentient beings, Topics/The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism, Topics/Third Turning, Topics/Debate(s), Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Tokpa Tulku
Interview
Tokpa Tulku
Tokpa Tulku Interview on Buddha-Nature
Tokpa Tulku. "Tokpa Tulku Interview on Buddha-Nature." Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, April 22, 2019, Kathmandu, Nepal. Audio, 25:08.; Key Terms/rang stong, Key Terms/gzhan stong, Topics/The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism, Topics/Debate(s), Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Featured Articles
Explore the root verses
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.
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.)
The Root Verses
Study the Uttaratantra's root verses in multiple languages.
Click to view all verses
Click to view all verses
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
Dalai Lama, 14th. "Discourse on Uttaratantra." Pt. 1 of 4. Interpreted by Alexander Berzin, Filmed May 1986 in Holland. Produced by Study Buddhism. Video, 1:37:22, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsiVRQ3T6EY.; Key Terms/āgantukamala, Key Terms/prabhāsvaracitta, Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Ringu Tulku
Teaching
Ringu Tulku
Buddha Nature: A Talk by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Ringu Tulku. "Buddha Nature." Pt. 1 of 3. Produced by and filmed at Karma Sonam Dargye Ling Temple, December 1, 2015. Video, 1:37:22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8BD50jtFgg.;
Kirti Tsenshab
Teaching
Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche
Buddha Potential 1: Uttaratantra by Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche at Land of Medicine Buddha, 2003
Tsenshab, Kirti. "Buddha Potential 1: Uttaratantra by Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche." Pt. 1 of 9. Filmed at Land of Medicine Buddha, Soquel, CA, 2003. Video, 1:27:14. https://vimeo.com/136634699.; Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Khenpo Sodargye
Teaching
Khenpo Sodargye
Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra: Taught by Khenpo Sodargye, May 2019
Khenpo Sodargye. "The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra." Pt. 1 of 15. In Chinese with English translation. Produced by Khenpo Sodargye's team, May 2019. Video, 1:00:17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4OiLLo1e_Y.; Key Terms/Nyingma, Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Teaching
Khensur, Gyumed
Teachings on the Uttaratantra by Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche
Khensur, Gyumed. "Uttaratantra (Buddha Nature)." Pt. 1 of 16. Streamed live on August 13, 2016 by Do Ngak Kunphen Ling and the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Center of New Jersey. Video, 1:49:55. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIeSENCwGzI.; Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Orgyen P'huntsok
Teaching
Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok
Tulku Orgyen Phuntsok Buddha Nature Class: Teachings on the Uttaratantra
Phuntsok, Tulku Orgyen. "Buddha Nature." A Six-Part Teaching on the Uttaratantra Shastra. Pt. 1 of 6. Produced by the Odiyana Institute, 2018. Video, 1:20:20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtQ5xyMtlAg.; Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
