Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra

The ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'' is an influential and doctrinally striking Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture which treats of the existence of the " Tathāgatagarbha" (Buddha-Matrix, Buddha-Embryo, lit. "the womb of the thus-come-one") within all sentient creatures. According to the Buddha, all sentient beings are born with buddha-nature and have the potential to become a Buddha. Physical and mental defilements of everyday life act as clouds over this nature and usually prevent this realization. This nature is no less than the indwelling Buddha himself.

History

Origins and development

Anthony Barber associates the development of the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'' with the Mahāsāṃghika sect of Buddhism, and concludes that the Mahāsāṃghikas of the Āndhra region (i.e. the Caitika schools) were responsible for the inception of the Tathāgatagarbha doctrine.

The ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'' is considered "the earliest expression of this he tathāgatagarbha doctrineand the term ''tathāgatagarbha'' itself seems to have been coined in this very sutra." The text is no longer extant in its language of origin, but is preserved in two Tibetan and two Chinese translations.

Translations

Michael Zimmermann discerns two recensions, the shorter recension, translated into Chinese by Buddhabhadra in 420 CE, and the more extended and detailed recension, extant in the following translations:
* the Chinese translation of Amoghavajra (middle of 8th century);
* an apocryphal Tibetan translation from Bathang;
* the canonical Tibetan translation (around 800 CE).
Buddhabhadra's version was translated into English by Grosnick in 1995 and the Tibetan version was translated by Zimmermann in 2002.

The nine similes

According to Zimmermann, the nine similes "embody the new and central message of the text, embedded in the more or less standard framework consisting of the setting, a passage expounding the merit of propagating the sutra and a story of the past."
The simile (1) in the first chapter describes a fantastic scene with many buddhas seated in lotus calyxes in the sky, who are not affected by the withering of the flowers. The following eight similes illustrate how the indwelling Buddha in sentient beings is hidden by the negative mental states ( kleśas),

Doctrines

Overview

In regard to the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'' and the term ''Tathāgatagarbha'', A. W. Barber writes:

The ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'' constitutes one of a number of Tathāgatagarbha or Buddha-nature sutras (including the ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'', the '' Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra'', the '' Angulimaliya Sutra'', and the '' Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa'') which unequivocally declare the reality of an Awakened Essence within each being.

Tathāgatagarbha and ''ātman''

According to some scholars, the Tathāgatagarbha does not represent a substantial self ('' ātman''); rather, it is a positive language expression of emptiness (''śūnyatā'') and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices; the intention of the teaching of Tathāgatagarbha is Soteriology rather than theoretical. This interpretation is contentious. Not all scholars share this view. Michael Zimmermann, a specialist on the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'',Prof. Zimmermann, Numata Zentrum für Buddhismuskunde Universität Hamburg
writes for instance: "the existence of an eternal, imperishable self, that is, buddhahood, is definitely the basic point of the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sutra''.

Zimmermann also declares that the compilers of the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'' "did not hesitate to attribute an obviously substantialist notion to the buddha-nature of living beings," and notes the total lack of evident interest in this sutra for any ideas of "emptiness" (''śūnyatā''): "Throughout the whole ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'' the term ''śūnyatā'' does not even appear once, nor does the general drift of the ''TGS'' somehow imply the notion of śūnyatā as its hidden foundation. On the contrary, the sutra uses very positive and substantialist terms to describe the nature of living beings.' Also, writing on the diverse understandings of Tathāgatagarbha doctrine, Jamie Hubbard comments on how some scholars see a tendency towards monism in the Tathāgatagarbha tendency which Japanese scholar Matsumoto castigates as non-Buddhist Hubbard comments:

Buddhahood is thus taught to be the timeless, virtue-filled Real (although as yet unrecognised as such by the deluded being), present inside the mind of every sentient being from the beginningless beginning. Its disclosure to direct perception, however, depends on inner spiritual purification and purgation of the superficial obscurations which conceal it from view.

See also

* Brahman
* Dhammakaya Tradition
* Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen
* Hongaku
* Kulayarāja Tantra
* Luminous mind

References

Sources

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Further reading

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* Hodge, Stephen (2009 & 2012
"The Textual Transmission of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana-sutra"
lecture at the University of Hamburg
* King, Sallie, B. (1991). "Buddha Nature", State University of New York Press,

External links

Chinese, Tibetan and English texts of the TGS
in the Thesaurus Literaturae Buddhicae, University of Oslo
Appreciation of the Nirvana Sutra and Tathagatagarbha teachings
the full text of the "Tathagatagarbha Sutra" plus text of 4 other "tathagatagarbha" sutras

{{Buddhism topics

Mahayana sutras
Buddha-nature