Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra
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The ''Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra'' is an influential and doctrinally striking
Mahāyāna Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
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 In Buddhist philosophy and soteriology, Buddha-nature ( Chinese: , Japanese: , , Sanskrit: ) is the innate potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all sentient beings already have a pure Buddha-essence within ...
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 The Mahāsāṃghika (Brahmi script, Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha (Buddhism), Sangha", ) was a major division (nikāya) of the early Buddhist schools in India. They were one of the two original communities th ...
sect of Buddhism, and concludes that the Mahāsāṃghikas of the Āndhra region (i.e. the
Caitika Caitika () was an Early Buddhist schools, early Buddhist school, a sub-sect of the Mahāsāṃghika. They were also known as the Caityaka sect. The Caitikas proliferated throughout the mountains of South India, from which they derived thei ...
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 ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' (Sanskrit; , ; Vietnamese: ''Kinh Đại Bát Niết Bàn'') or ''Nirvana Sutra'' for short, is an influential Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Sutra, scripture of the Buddha-nature class. The original ...
'', 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 ''Śūnyatā'' ( ; ; ), translated most often as "emptiness", " vacuity", and sometimes "voidness", or "nothingness" is an Indian philosophical concept. In Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, and other Indian philosophical traditions, the concept ...
'') and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices; the intention of the teaching of Tathāgatagarbha is
Soteriology Soteriology (; ' "salvation" from wikt:σωτήρ, σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and wikt:λόγος, λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of Doctrine, religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special sign ...
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 Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
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 In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' (; IAST: ''Brahman'') connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality of the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII In the ...
* Dhammakaya Tradition * Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen *
Hongaku The moon reflected in water is a popular simile for enlightenment used by Dōgen in the '' East Asian Buddhist doctrine often translated as "inherent", "innate", "intrinsic" or "original" enlightenment in Buddhism">awakeness. This doctrine hold ...
*
Kulayarāja Tantra The ''Kulayarāja Tantra'' ( Tibetan phonetically: ''Kunjed Gyalpo'', ; English: "All-Creating King", or "Supreme Source") is a Buddhist Tantra in the Tibetan language and the principal Mind Series (Wylie: ''sems sde'') text of the Dzogchen ( ...
*
Luminous mind Luminous mind ( Skt: or , Pali: ; Tib: ; Ch: ; Jpn: ) is a Buddhist term that appears only rarely in the Pali Canon, but is common in the Mahayana sūtras and central to the Buddhist tantras. It is variously translated as "brightly shining ...


References


Sources

* * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * 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