Talk:Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra


 * Thanks to "RI" for improving the article on "Tathagatagarbha Sutra" by adding a couple of valuable "wikifications" to it. Thanks, RI ! Best wishes, from Tony TonyMPNS 21:34, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Respect of the doctrine
This is the first paragraph before the changes: The Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra is an influential and doctrinally striking Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture which treats of the existence of the "Tathāgatagarbha" (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.

In the first paragraph, there are three expressions or words that should, in my view, be adjusted or better, completely changed. The first word is "Buddha-Essence". As you may know, Śūnyatā is a central concept of Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture which refer explicitely to the "emptiness of beings and things, their absence of being in itself (anātman) and of proper nature (svabhāva), in other words the non-existence of any essence, of any fixed and unchanging character." There is no such thing as an "essence" in oriental wisdom as the sacred in immanent in nature, not transcendent. Essence and transcendance are metaphysical concepts of the Western world. Even time has no inherent existence for Buddhism. I would just erase this concept from the text. Buddha-Matrix, Buddha-Embryo are pedagogical concept that can stay.

"treasure that is eternal and unchanging": In Buddhism, the three marks of existence are three characteristics (Pali: tilakkhaṇa; Sanskrit: त्रिलक्षण, trilakṣaṇa) of all existence and beings, namely impermanence (aniccā), non-self (anattā) and unsatisfactoriness or suffering (dukkha). Saying that something is "eternal" and "unchanging" of Buddha-nature is very clumsy as these concepts derive directly from abrahamic religions. Buddha-nature has a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) meanings in Indian and later East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist literature. "Broadly speaking, the terms refer to the potential for all sentient beings to be a Buddha, the natural and true state of the mind, the pure (visuddhi) mind undefiled by kleshas, is inherently present in every sentient being." (see Buddha-nature article.) The potential of becoming or being a Buddha has nothing to do with with eternity or an unchanging feature.

The Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra is an influential and doctrinally striking Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture which treats of the existence of the "Tathāgatagarbha" (Buddha-Matrix, Buddha-Embryo, lit. "the womb of the thus-come-one") within all sentient creatures. According to the Buddha, all sentient beings are born with buddha-nature and have the potential to become a Buddha. Physical and mental defilements of evertday life acts as clouds over the this very nature and usually prevents this realization. This nature is no less than the indwelling Buddha himself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pve73 (talk • contribs) 14:04, 5 November 2022 (UTC)

Professor Michael Zimmermann
Thanks to User:Anam Gumnam for making us aware of the full and impressive credentials of Buddhist scholar, Professor Michael Zimmermann. I had indeed known that Dr. Zimmermann had written very fully and cogently on the Tathagatagarbha Sutra for his doctoral dissertation, but had not noticed that he is in fact now a university professor. Thanks for your postings, Anam, which I invariably find very scholarly and highly informative. Suddha (talk) 01:26, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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