Property:PosEmptyLuminNotes
From Buddha-Nature
This is a property of type Text.
A
More specifically he asserts that buddha-nature is equivalent to the selflessness of the dharmatā. This is not exactly the same as buddha-nature = emptiness. Kano explains that this is a precursor to that position. [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 111 et passim. +
"Atisa explains “the innate śīla" abiding in every being as a cause that brings one attainment (i.e. nirvāṇa), but as being covered with defilements in the state of ordinary beings. He takes it as synonymous with Buddha-nature or the mahāyānagotra." [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 101. +
B
Specifically, he sees buddha-nature as referring only to the dharmakāya of a fully enlightened buddha.
*"Taking the reverse position of the Gelugpas on this, both Butön and his student and commentator Dratsépa Rinchen Namgyal (1318–1388) identify the actual tathāgata heart as being solely the final fruition of buddhahood." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 67.
*"Bu-ston and his disciple sGra-tshad-pa assert that Buddha-nature should be understood only in its resultant aspect, namely as only the dharmakāya of a buddha." [[Kano, K.]], ''[[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]]'', p. 343. +
"Thus, from the point of view of emptiness, buddha nature is the empty dharmadhātu (the object) and from the point of view of appearance, it is the wisdom (the subject) that is not empty of the inseparable qualities of a buddha. Both these aspects are inseparable and are empty of the adventitious stains that represent the delusive appearances of saṃsāra." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 75. +
C
"Buddha nature was taught merely as a means of temporarily easing ordinary persons of their fear of selflessness and of attracting non-Buddhists." [[Kano, K.]] [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 9. +
"In his commentary on RGV I.3, bCom-ldan-ral-gri defines Buddha-nature as “the natural luminous mind that is inseparable from ''dharmatā'',” and, glossing RGV 1.153, states: “the ultimate truth, which is unconditioned and primordially existent by itself, is the element (i.e. Buddha-nature).” [[Kano, K.]], ''[[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]]'', p. 342. (see also Ibid. p. 315.) +
D
*Bu-ston and his disciple sGra-tshad-pa assert that Buddha-nature should be understood only in its resultant aspect, namely as only the dharmakāya of a buddha." [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 343.
*[[Wangchuk, Tsering]], [[The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows]], p. 73.
+
"Gro-lung-pa appears elsewhere in the same text to endorse rNgog’s idea of tathatā as emptiness, and follows rNgog’s position with regard to the ineffability of the ultimate." [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 340. +
"He typically describes both buddha nature and the dharmakāya as being ultimately really established, everlasting, eternal, permanent, immutable (''ther zug''), and being beyond dependent origination. He also equates the tathāgata heart with “ālaya-wisdom” as opposed to the ālaya-consciousness." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 68. +
G
This is how buddha-nature is explained in the first chapter of the ''Jewel Ornament of Liberation''. +
"In the later Sakya School, it is the works of Gorampa Sönam Sengé (1429–1489) that are usually taken to be authoritative. According to him, the tathāgata heart refers to the nondual unity of mind’s lucidity and emptiness or awareness and emptiness free from all reference points. It is not mere emptiness because sheer emptiness cannot be the basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. However, it is not mere lucidity either because this lucidity is a conditioned entity and the tathāgata heart is unconditioned." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], [[When the Clouds Part]], p. 76. +
"In brief, Gyeltsap argues that buddha-nature, or tathāgata-essence, does not refer to a fully enlightened entity covered by adventitious defilements. Rather it is the same as the emptiness of inherent existence that is explicated in texts such as the ''Prajñāpāramitāsūtras'' and ''Madhyamakāvatāra''." [[Wangchuk, Tsering]], ''[[The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows]]'', p. 106. +
J
There are different takes on what is view was:
*Karl includes him in the category of those assert buddha-nature to be Mind's Luminous Nature. Stating, "Jñānaśrīmitra cites ''Uttaratantra'' I.154 and RGVV and explains that real aspects are mental forms that have the nature of being appearances of lucidity (''prakāśarūpa''), which he equates with buddha nature—the tathāgata element (''tathāgatadhātu'')." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'',pp. 57-58.
*However, Kano suggests his view is is that buddha-nature shares features (or coincides) with emptiness and is a property (''dharma'') of the image (''ākāra''), which in turn is its possessor (''dharmin''). In this he was a precursor to Ngok's innovative equation of buddha-nature = emptiness. See [[Kano, K.]], [[Buddha-Nature and Emptiness]], p. 61. +
K
Though he might be an early antecedent to the position that combines emptiness and luminosity, Brunnhölzl counts him among those that hold this position.
*"One should add here Kamalaśīla’s (c. 740–795) ''Madhyamakāloka'', which takes the tathāgata heart to be natural luminosity but defines the latter as the dharmadhātu characterized by twofold identitylessness: "This statement “All sentient beings possess the tathāgata heart” teaches that all are suitable to attain the state of unsurpassable completely perfect awakening since it is held that the term tathāgata expresses that the dharmadhātu, which is characterized by personal and phenomenal identitylessness, is natural luminosity." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], [[When the Clouds Part]], p. 56. +
*"The tathāgata heart is mind’s luminous ultimate nature or nondual wisdom, which is the basis of everything in saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Its essence is empty, its nature is lucid, and its display is unimpeded (this is also how the nature of the mind is presented in the Mahāmudrā tradition, and the Karmapa’s commentary on the ''Dharmadhātustava'' indeed equates the tathāgata heart with Mahāmudrā)." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 72.
*Another take on this is found in [[Mathes, K.]], ''[[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]]'', pp. 51-54, in which he seems to suggest that his views are more inclined to view it as the dharmadhātu, which is equivalent to dharmakāya.
*"This becomes clear from an answer to a rhetorical question in the autocommentary of the Zab mo nang gi don:
Question: How are the properties of purification produced?
They are supported by buddha nature, [in as much as] it is the dharmakāya of the above-mentioned purity of mind." [[Mathes, K.]], ''[[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]]'', p. 58.
+
L
"He also describes an “ultimate universal ground” (''don gyi kun gzhi'') in his autocommentary of his ''Wish-Fulfilling Treasury'': “The basic element is called ‘the ultimate universal ground’ because it co-exists with the unconditioned qualities of the naturally pure nirvāna.” He says that this ground is the support for both samsāra and nirvāna, and identifies it with Buddha-nature: Due to abiding as the expanse neither conjoined with nor separable from the exalted body and wisdom, it is Buddha-nature; due to supporting all phenomena of samsāra and nirvāna, it is the abiding reality called “the ultimate universal ground”; it is unconditioned and abides as the great primordial purity..." [[Duckworth, D.]], [[Mipam on Buddha-Nature]], p. 104. +
M
"YDC clearly subscribes to the disclosure model of buddha nature, asserting that the stainless tathāgata heart adorned with all major and minor marks as well as awakening exists in all beings, refuting that the reality of cessation is a nonimplicative negation, and denying the position that the fully qualified sugata heart exists solely on the buddhabhūmi, while it is only nominal at the time of sentient beings." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 310. +
P
#From Śākya Chogden's summary of the main positions on buddha nature his view is included among the heading "Asserting buddha nature as the compound of natural purity and buddha qualities’ being inseparable" and with the sub-heading of "Asserting those qualities to be the qualities of the fruitional dharmakāya of realization (many Kagyüpas such as Pamo Trupa)." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], [[When the Clouds Part]], p. 79.
#A more complete translation of the above summary can be found in [[Mathes, K.]], [[A Direct Path to the Buddha Within]], p. 34.
+
R
"Ratnākaraśānti generally describes the tathāgata heart as being equivalent to naturally luminous mind, nondual self-awareness, and the perfect nature (which he considers to be an implicative negation and not a nonimplicative negation). As for the ontological status of mind, his ''Prajñāpāramitopadeśa'' says that it does not exist as apprehender and apprehended, but the existence of the sheer lucidity of experience cannot be denied." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 58. +
"Rongtön explains that what is called “the tathāgata heart” is suchness with stains (the basic element not liberated from the cocoon of the afflictions), which is the emptiness of mind with stains. By contrast, the dharmakāya of a tathāgata is what is liberated from this cocoon. The term “tathāgata heart” is used in terms of what is primary because this heart (in the sense of emptiness) is explained to exist at the time of the fruition too. This also refutes the assertion that the fully qualified tathāgata heart is solely the buddhahood that is endowed with twofold purity (natural purity and purity of adventitious stains) because it is explained repeatedly that the primary tathāgata heart is suchness with stains. Rongtön’s commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra says that the Mādhyamikas identify the disposition as the dharmadhātu specified by the six inner āyatanas." [[Brunnhölzl, K.]], ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 76. +
