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In Mahayana Buddhism, the Tathāgatagarbha doctrine (usually essentially the same as the Buddha nature concept) teaches that each sentient being contains the intrinsic, effulgent Buddhic element or potency for becoming a Buddha. "Tathagata-garbha" means "Buddha Womb/ Buddha Matrix" or "Buddha Embryo", and this notion is explicated by the Buddha in the "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra" as the "True Self" within all sentient beings - the unconditioned, boundless, nurturing, sustaining, deathless and diamond-like Self of Buddha, which is indiscernible to worldly, unawakened vision as a result of the masses of negative mental states and general moral taints which envelop it. The Tathagatagarbha Sutra presents the Tathagatagarbha as a virtual Buddha-homunculus, a fully wisdom-endowed Buddha seated majestically within the body of each being - beyond all moral contamination -, clearly visible only to a perfect Buddha. This is the most "personalist" depiction of the Tathagatagarbha encountered in any of the chief Tathagatagarbha sutras. Other Tathagatagarbha sutras view the Buddha-garbha in a more abstract, less precisely defined, manner. But all are agreed that the Tathagatagarbha is an immortal transcendental Essence and that it resides in every single being (even the worst - the icchantika). The Tathagatagarbha doctrine is also presented as an antidote to a false, nihilistic understanding of Emptiness (Shunyata), wherein even Nirvana and the Buddha are (according to these scriptures) wrongly viewed as illusory and unreal. Although attempts are made in the Buddhist sutras to explain the Tathagatagarbha, it remains ultimately mysterious and allegedly unfathomable to the ordinary, unawakend person, being only fully knowable by perfect Buddhas themselves. As the Srimala Sutra states: "the Tathagatagarbha is the sphere of experience of the Tathagatas Buddhas ..." The Tathagatagarbha doctrine arose with the Mahayanists and later became linked (in a less "pure", more syncretic form - e.g. in the Lankavatara Sutra) with those who were associated to some degree or another with Citta-matra ("just-the-mind") or Yogacara studies, aiming clearly to account for the possibility of the attainment of Buddhahood by ignorant sentient beings (the "Tathagatagarbha" is the indwelling "bodhi" - Awakening - in the very heart of Samsara). There is also a tendency in the Tathagatagarbha sutras to support vegetarianism (see vegetarianism in Buddhism), as all persons and creatures are compassionately viewed as possessing one and the same essential nature - the Buddha-dhatu or Buddha-nature. Some of the most important early texts for the introduction and elaboration of the Tathagatagarbha doctrine are the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, the Śrīmālā-sūtra, the Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa sutra, and the Angulimaliya Sutra; the later commentarial/exegetical-style texts, the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana scripture and the Ratna-gotra-vibhaga summation of the Tathagatagarbha idea had a significant influence on the understanding of "Tathagatagarbha" doctrine. The concept of the Tathagatagarbha is closely related to that of the Buddha-nature; indeed, in the Angulimaliya Sutra and in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, which latter is the lengthiest sutra dealing with the immanent and transcendent presence of the Tathagatagarbha within all beings, the terms "Buddha-nature" ("Buddha-dhatu") and "Tathagatagarbha" are employed as synonymous concepts. Belief and faith in the true reality of the Tathagatagarbha is presented by the relevant scriptures as a positive mental act and is strongly urged; indeed, rejection of the Tathagatagarbha is linked with adverse karmic consequences. In the Angulimaliya Sutra, for instance, it is stated that teaching only non-Self and dismissing the reality of the Tathagatagarbha, karmically leads one into unfortunate modes of existence, whereas spreading the doctrine of the Tathagatagarbha will bring benefit to the world. We read: "Those who were donkeys in previous lives and paid no attention to the Tathâgata-garbha are now poor and eat coarse food as donkeys do. In future lives, too, apart from being poor, they will be born into lowly kshatriya military families. These are none other than the people who have no faith in the Tathâgata-garbha and cultivate the notion of no-Self, for they will be like prostitutes, outcastes, birds and donkeys ... "People who lack learning and have wrong views get angry with those who teach the Tathâgata-garbha to the world, and those unlearned people expound non-Self in place of the Self as their doctrine. He who teaches the Tathâgata-garbha, even at the expense of his own life, knowing that such people are inexperienced with words and lacking in balance, has true patience and teaches for the benefit of the world." Caution is required when discussing the doctrine of the Tathagatagarbha (as presented in the primary sutric texts), so that the Tathagatagarbha does not become inaccurately denigrated or reduced to a "mere" tactical device or become dismissed as just a metaphor with no actual ontological reality behind it in the here and now (it is incorrect from the perspective of the Tathagatagarbha sutras to view the Tathagatagarbha solely as some future as yet non-existent potential or as a vacuous Emptiness); equally, it is erroneous to construe the Tathagatagarbha as a tangible, worldly, changeable, passion-dominated, desire-driven "ego" on a grand scale, similar to the "fictitious self" comprised of the five mundane skandhas (impermanent mental and physical constituents of the unawakened being). The Tathagatagarbha is indicated by the relevant sutras to be the ultimate, pure, ungraspable, inconceivable, irreducible, unassailable, boundless, true and deathless Quintessence of the Buddha's liberating Reality, the very core of his highest being (Dharmakaya). The Tathagatagarbha is, according to the final sutric teaching of the Mahayana Nirvana Sutra, the hidden interior Buddhic Self (Atman), untouched by all impurity and grasping ego.
Tathagatagarbha in Zen In modern-Western manifestations of the Zen Buddhist tradition, it is considered insufficient simply to understand Buddha-nature intellectually. Rather it must be experienced and felt directly, in one's entire mind and body together. Enlightenment in a certain sense consists of a direct experience of one's authentic identity, which is traditionally described as śūnyata (emptiness), the ultimate reality of Buddha-nature. The Zen tradition often uses parables to try to explain the Buddha-nature: according to one story, a monk once approached the Zen master Chao-chou (Japanese: Jōshū) and asked him, "Does a dog possess Buddha-nature or not?" Chao-chou replied with the one-word answer "Wú" (pronounced "mu" in Japanese). His response, which among other things constitutes a negative term and the sound of a dog barking, indicated that the question could not be answered with a straightforward assertion or negation. Rather, through the contemplation of the question, or the absurdity of it, one may perhaps gain an experience of Buddha-nature directly. Buddha-bots Buddha-nature (Awakened-nature) has been connected in recent decades with the developments of robotics and the possible eventual creation of artificial intelligence. In the 1970s, the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori popularized the idea that robots, under certain conditions, may possess Buddha-nature. Mori has since founded an institute to study the metaphysical implications of such technology. The implication or the question is, can a perfect simulation of intelligent outward behaviour really light the inner spark of a self-aware consciousness principle in an artificial entity? Given the doctrine of anatman, is there any difference between the subjective experiences of a robot that acts intelligent and an animal that is intelligent? Texts Key texts associated with this doctrine are the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, which contains a series of very striking, concrete images for what the Tathagatagarbha is, The Lion's Roar Discourse of Queen Srimala (Srimala Sutra), which states that this doctrine is ultimate (not provisional or "tactical"), and perhaps most importantly the "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra", which likewise insists that the tathagatagarbha teaching is "uttarottara" - absolutely supreme - and the "final culmination". See also | ||||||||
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