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Tathgatagarbha Stra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tathgatagarbha Stra[1] is an influential and doctrinally striking Mahyna Buddhist scripture which treats of the existence of the "Tathgatagarbha" (Buddha-Matrix, Buddha-Embryo, Buddha-Essence, lit. "the womb of the thus-come-one") within all sentient creatures. The Buddha reveals how inside each person's being there exists a great Buddhic "treasure that is eternal and unchanging". This is no less than the indwelling Buddha himself.
Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Doctrines 2.1 Overview 2.2 Tathagtagarbha and tman 3 See also 4 Further reading 5 Notes 6 External links

History

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Anthony Barber associates the development of the Tathagtagarbha Stra with theMahsghika sect of Buddhism, and concludes that the Mahsghikas of the ndhraregion (i.e. the Caitika schools) were responsible for the inception of the Tathgatagarbha doctrine.[2] The Tathagtagarbha Stra is considered "the earliest expression of this [the tathgatagarbha doctrine) and the term tathgatagarbha itself seems to have been coined in this very sutra."[3] The text is no longer extant in its language of origin, but is preserved in two Tibetan translations and one Chinese translation.[4]

Doctrines
Overview

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In regard to the Tathagtagarbha Stra and the term Tathgatagarbha, A. W. Barber writes:[5] ... as Alex Wayman, Michael Zimmermann, and I have noted, the original meaning of the term was that one is "already" or primordially awakened. For example, the Tathagatagarbha sutra illuminates the matter metaphorically this way: "inside a casting mold there is perfectly formed Buddha; the ignorant see the filth of the mold but the wise know that the Buddha is within." The Tathagtagarbha Stra constitutes one of a number of Tathgatagarbha or Buddha-nature sutras (including the Mahyna Mahparinirva Stra, the rmldev Sihanda Stra, the Angulimaliya Sutra, and the AnunatvaApurnatva-Nirdesa) which unequivocally declare the reality of an Awakened Essence within each being.

Tathagtagarbha and tman

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According to some scholars, the Tathgatagarbha does not represent a substantial self (tman); rather, it is a positive language expression of emptiness (nyat) and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices; the intention of the teaching of Tathgatagarbha is soteriological rather than theoretical.[6][7] This interpretation is contentious. Not all scholars share this view. Professor Michael Zimmermann, a specialist on the Tathagtagarbha Stra,[8] writes for instance: "the existence of an eternal, imperishable self, that is, buddhahood, is definitely the basic point of the Tathagatagarbha Sutra."[9] Professor Zimmermann also declares that the compilers of the Tathagtagarbha Stra "did not hesitate to attribute an obviously substantialist notion to the buddha-nature of living beings,"[10] and notes the total lack of evident interest
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tathagatagarbha_Sutra 1/2

10/17/13

Tathgatagarbha Stra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

in this sutra for any ideas of "emptiness" (nyat): "Throughout the whole Tathagtagarbha Stra the term nyat does not even appear once, nor does the general drift of the TGS somehow imply the notion of nyat as its hidden foundation. On the contrary, the sutra uses very positive and substantialist terms to describe the nature of living beings.'[11] Also, writing on the diverse understandings of Tathgatagarbha doctrine, Dr. Jamie Hubbard comments on how some scholars see a tendency towards monism in the Tathgatagarbha [a tendency which Japanese scholar Matsumoto castigates as non-Buddhist]. Dr. Hubbard comments:[12] Matsumoto [calls] attention to the similarity between the extremely positive language and causal structure of enlightenment found in the tathagatagarbha literature and that of the substantial monism found in the atman/Brahman tradition. Matsumoto, of course, is not the only one to have noted this resemblance. Takasaki Jikido, for example, the preeminent scholar of the tathagatagarbha tradition, sees monism in the doctrine of the tathagatagarbha and the Mahayana in general Obermiller wedded this notion of a monistic Absolute to the tathagatagarbha literature in his translation and comments to the Ratnagotra, which he aptly subtitled A Manual of Buddhist Monism Lamotte and Frauwallner have seen the tathagatagarbha doctrine as diametrically opposed to the Madhyamika and representing something akin to the monism of the atman/Brahman strain 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.

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