actualized enlightenment

Chinese Noun

始覺

Basic Meaning

Actualized enlightenment is enlightenment that is attained through practice. It is contrasted with original enlightenment, which is the mind's innate purity in its natural state. Ultimately, there is no difference between them. Because of the presence of ignorance, sentient beings are blind to their true nature. By removing that ignorance, one actualizes enlightenment.

Read It in the Scriptures

Grounded in the original enlightenment is nonenlightenment. And because of nonenlightenment, the process of actualization of enlightenment can be spoken of.
~ The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna

On this topic

Book

The Awakening of Faith (2005)

Taishō 1666

Volume 32

This treatise, The Awakening of Faith, sometimes known by the longer title of The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, presents a concise synopsis of both the theoretical and practical aspects of the central ideas of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and has therefore been widely read as an introduction to this branch. A short work, it remains extremely important in the history of Buddhism, having exerted influence in China and Japan on the schools of Hua-yen (Jp. Kegon), T'ien-t'ai (Jp. Tendai), Chan/Zen, Pure Land (Ch. Jìngtǔzōng; Jp. Jōdo Bukkyō), Chên-yen (Jp. Shingon), and more.

However, many questions remain concerning the author and place of composition, including whether it was composed in India or China, and whether the attributive author Aśvaghoṣa lived before or after Nāgārjuna.

Source Skt. *Mahāyānaśraddhotpāda-śāstra, attributed to Aśvaghoṣa. Brought into the Chinese by Paramārtha as Dasheng qixin lun (大乘起信論). 1 fascicle.

Editor’s Note: This is a reprint of the sutra as translated by the late Dr. Yoshito S. Hakeda and originally published by Columbia University Press. This reprint edition retains Dr. Hakeda's chapter and subdivision headings and his commentaries, which are set in italicized paragraphs within the text itself. (Source: BDK America)

Hakeda, Yoshito S., trans. The Awakening of Faith. Attributed to Aśvaghoṣa. Translated from the Chinese of Paramārtha (Taishō vol. 32, no. 1666). BDK English Tripiṭaka 63, no. 4. Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2005. Reprint of the first edition, 1967.

Hakeda, Yoshito S., trans. The Awakening of Faith. Attributed to Aśvaghoṣa. Translated from the Chinese of Paramārtha (Taishō vol. 32, no. 1666). BDK English Tripiṭaka 63, no. 4. Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2005. Reprint of the first edition, 1967.;The Awakening of Faith (2005);Actualized Enlightenment;Original Enlightenment;Aśvaghoṣa;རྟ་དབྱངས་;rta dbyangs; Yoshito S. Hakeda;The Awakening of Faith;Aśvaghoṣa

Book

Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith

Dasheng qixin lun, or Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith has been one of the most important texts of East Asian Buddhism since it first appeared in sixth-century China. It outlines the initial steps a Mahāyāna Buddhist needs to take to reach enlightenment, beginning with the conviction that the Mahāyāna path is correct and worth pursuing. The Treatise addresses many of the doctrines central to various Buddhist teachings in China between the fifth and seventh centuries, attempting to reconcile seemingly contradictory ideas in Buddhist texts introduced from India. It provided a model for later schools to harmonize teachings and sustain the idea that, despite different approaches, there was only one doctrine, or Dharma. It profoundly shaped the doctrines and practices of the major schools of Chinese Buddhism: Chan, Tiantai, Huayan, and to a lesser extent Pure Land. It quickly became a shared resource for East Asian philosophers and students of Buddhist thought. Drawing on the historical and intellectual contexts of Treatise's composition and paying sustained attention to its interpretation in early commentaries, this new annotated translation of the classic, makes its ideas available to English readers like never before. The introduction orients readers to the main topics taken up in the Treatise and gives a comprehensive historical and intellectual grounding to the text. This volume marks a major advance in studies of the Treatise, bringing to light new interpretations and themes of the text. (Source: Oxford University Press)

Jorgensen, John, Dan Lusthaus, John Makeham, and Mark Strange, eds. and trans. Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Jorgensen, John, Dan Lusthaus, John Makeham, and Mark Strange, eds. and trans. Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.;Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith;Debate(s);Doctrine;History of buddha-nature in China;Textual study;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;tathāgatagarbha;ālayavijñāna;Dasheng qixin lun;Laṅkāvatārasūtra;Actualized Enlightenment;Original Enlightenment;John Jorgensen; Dan Lusthaus;John Makeham;Mark Strange;Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith;Aśvaghoṣa;Paramārtha

Text

Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra

The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna is an immensely important treatise popular in all traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. It was written in China in the middle of the sixth century, heavily influenced by Indian Yogācāra and tathāgatagarbha teachings, providing a scriptural foundation for both buddha-nature theory and the doctrine of original enlightenment. The text synthesized tathāgatagarbha and ālayavijñāna theories to explain how the mind is the source for both enlightenment and ignorance. A relatively short text at just nine pages, it lucidly, if densely, explains important topics such as the nature of mind and consciousness and the threefold bodies of the Buddha, concluding with elegant meditation instructions. Although traditionally said to have been composed by Aśvaghoṣa and translated by Paramārtha, contemporary scholarly consensus has raised doubts about this attribution, and the text's authorship is typically said to be unknown. There is no known Tibetan translation but the text is mentioned three times in Saṃdhigambhīranirmocanasūtratīkā written by the Chinese scholar Wan tshik (རྒྱའི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཝན་ཚིག་གིས་མཛད་པ་ འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ཟབ་མོ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་བའི་མདོ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ།) and translated by Gö Chödrup.

The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna;History of buddha-nature in China;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Actualized Enlightenment;Original Enlightenment;Aśvaghoṣa;རྟ་དབྱངས་;rta dbyangs; Paramārtha;Śikṣānanda;ཏ་ཤེང་ཅི་ཟིན་ལུང་།(*ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མོས་པ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།);Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra;大乗起信論;ཏ་ཤེང་ཅི་ཟིན་ལུང་(*ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མོས་པ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས།)

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Term Variations
Key Term	actualized enlightenment
Topic Variation	shijue
Chinese	始覺
Chinese Pinyin	shijue
Japanese Transliteration	shikaku
Buddha-nature Site Standard English	actualized enlightenment
Term Information
Source Language	Chinese
Basic Meaning	Actualized enlightenment is enlightenment that is attained through practice. It is contrasted with original enlightenment, which is the mind's innate purity in its natural state. Ultimately, there is no difference between them. Because of the presence of ignorance, sentient beings are blind to their true nature. By removing that ignorance, one actualizes enlightenment.
Related Topic Pages	The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna
Term Type	Noun
Definitions