What is Buddha nature or the "Tathāgatagarbha"? We'll begin by looking at the roots for these concepts in the early Buddhist texts. Then we'll turn to the origins of the mature concepts in later Mahāyāna texts. Finally we'll turn to some controversies and disagreements over what such concepts might really mean.
🧡 If you find this material useful, check out my Patreon page and get fun benefits like exclusive videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: https://www.patreon.com/dougsseculardharma
🧡 You can also make donations through: https://paypal.me/dougsdharma
📙 Check out my book, A Handbook of Early Buddhist Wisdom, with a Foreword by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: https://books2read.com/buddhisthandbook
☸️ Free mini-course at the Online Dharma Institute: onlinedharma.org.
🎙Check out my podcast with Jon Aaron, Diggin' the Dharma: https://digginthedharma.com/
✅ Related videos:
Is the Mind Luminous? — https://youtu.be/175JTI5AXc4
Buddhas and Awakened Beings: What's the Difference? — https://youtu.be/GrTFkqYShPU
The Preeminence of Dharma Among the Buddhist Refuges or Jewels — https://youtu.be/wi2sd65l95o
✅ Books:
Paul Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations (2nd Ed.) https://amzn.to/3TdOEKw
Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama (trans.), The Lotus Sutra (Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2007). https://amzn.to/4bQo1To
✅ Reference literature:
Anālayo, “Luminous Mind in Theravāda and Dharmaguptaka Discourses”. In JOCBS 2017 (13). https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/luminousmind.pdf
Michael Zimmerman, A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, the Earliest Exposition of the Buddha-Nature Teaching in India. The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University Tokyo, 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20131111023508/http://iriab.soka.ac.jp/orc/Publications/BPPB/pdf/BPPB-06.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha-nature
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangtong_and_shentong
✅ Suttas mentioned:
https://suttacentral.net/an1.51-60/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/an1.41-50/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/sn22.87/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/dn27/en/sujato
Webpage: https://www.dougsdharma.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onlinedharmainstitute/
Mastodon: https://mindly.social/@dougsdharma
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dougsdharma/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dougsdharma
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dougsdharma.bsky.social
Thumbnail image courtesy of Dorothe at Darkmoon_Art on Pixabay.
❤️ Thanks to Patreon Patrons:
Anonymous (3)
John Oborne
DunJing
Jimmy Maa
Debbie Mattison
Steve H.
Ron Peat
Michael S. Kearns
Anne
Matthew Smith
Shantha Wengappuli
Karma_CAC
Jorge Seguel
Christopher Apostolof
GailJM
David Bell
T Pham
VCR
Upayadhi
Andi and Erik
ATGuerrero686
Michael Scherrer
khobe schofield
Alex Perdomo
Benji Forsyth
Blaze Way
Sonny Flink
Steve Marlor
Joy L Lee
Andrew Tom
Anthony Tucker
Karlee R
Ethan M
Billy in Singapore
Olivia Otter
Carl Lennartson
xiao mao
Jeff Harvey
Andrew Ingrouille
Kenneth Grandchamp
Rene Gariepy
Russell Needham
Smoggyrob
Mac Roja
Bernardo
Clémence Ortega Douville
Kwan Alex
Scott Johnston
Richard J Beninger
Nathanael O. Arnquist
SaturnianMandala
Trin P
Letesa Isler
Dorien Izel
Robert Paterson
Jake Tobiason
Louvenia Ortega
Steve S.
Richard Rappuhn
Sarah Kress
John Aaron
Paul Niklewski
Kong Ing Kai
Dave Gorman
rhys reed
Osanda Wijeratne
Scarlett Farrow
BJ - RetreaTours™
Michael Lefsky
Matthieu Tregnier
Roland Harris
karen
Dr Ru
Rob
John
00:00 Intro
00:59 Early Buddhism
09:05 Later developments: Lotus Sutra
10:54 Later development: Buddha nature
12:09 Buddha nature and early Mahāyāna
14:57 Controversy with Buddha nature
21:14 Upshot
Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where I will earn a very small commission on purchases you make, at no additional cost to you. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thank you!