Buddha Nature

[Hoshuku]

Since all teachings are hopefully skillful means to help us perceive the boundless reality, I had wondered what was the point of the teachings on Buddha Nature. There seems a vast array of sutras, shastras, talks and books on it but it seemed to be perculiarly prone to misunderstanding. It is easy to end up with the idea of a universal soul and there is an overt teaching on your True Self that only a Buddha or high level bodhisattva can see. This all led to a giant, ‘Hhhmmmm…..really’ inside me when reading about it.

However, my recent reading of the Uttaratantra (aka the Ratnagotravibhāga) led me to a passage that posed this exact question, ‘…what is the use of teaching about it to ordinary worldly beings?’ It seems it could be skillful means as an antidote to either depression (caused by misunderstanding emptiness) or arrogance (caused by thinking your spiritual attainments are somehow special or unique).

Straight afterwards, sat on the commuter train and sitting zazen, an image of the dog I shared my childhood with came up and a thought of his future as the Cosmic Buddha Inquisitive Searching. Everything is both empty and precious.

Bows,
Hoshuku
Satlah

[Jundo]

Hi Stewart.

As you know, Master Dogen had his way to express Buddha Nature that, I think, is really nice.

In some traditional views, "Buddha Nature" is just the potential of someone (maybe not everyone in some viewpoints) to someday become a Buddha, maybe after long long lifetimes of rebirth.

For Dogen, and other Zen folks, Buddha Nature may actually be the Wholeness of Emptiness, so is everything and all things in reality. We -are- Buddha Nature, rather than just having Buddha Nature.

However, this fact is brought to life and realized ... or hidden, forgotten and disguised ... depending on our thoughts, words and acts. We can bring Buddha to life in this very moment when we act with the Wisdom and Compassion of a Buddha. We can also instead bring greed, anger, violence, excess fear, excess depression, jealousy, and other divided views in ignorance which cover our Buddha Nature in mud. This is our practice of ongoing, continuous "practice-enlightenment" in which we realize (grok) Buddha Nature and realize (make it real in living) Buddha Nature.

I am a fan of Dogen's view of Buddha Nature.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Hoshuku]

Like many things, take it to its illogical conclusion and it becomes less than useful.

Bows,
Hoshuku
Satlah

[Jundo]

Ps - Speaking of dogs, Dogen wrote of this in his usual lyrical way (in Shobogenzo-Bussho) ... Buddha nature is a living thing, that is all things, but no solid thing to nail down, sticking a name and label on ...

Dogen wrote ...

Thus, all are buddha nature. One form of all beings is sentient beings. At this very moment, the inside and outside of sentient beings are the all are of buddha nature. ... The words to understand buddha nature do not only mean to know but also to practice it, to realize it, to expound it, and to let go of it. ... Thus, mountains, rivers, and the great earth are all the ocean of buddha nature. All depend on it means that at the very moment when they depend on it, they are mountains, rivers, and the great earth. Know that the form of the ocean of buddha nature is like this. It is not concerned with inside, outside, or in between. This being so, to see mountains and rivers is to see buddha nature; to see buddha nature is to see the fins of a donkey and the beak of a horse. All depend on means to totally depend on. Thus, you understand and go beyond understanding. ... As the self is activities actualized, it is not a permanent and independent self. A dog has no buddha nature; a dog has buddha nature. No beings have buddha nature; no buddha nature has beings. No buddhas have beings; no buddhas have buddhas. No buddha nature has buddha nature. No beings have beings. Thus, study “no beings have things” as visualizing that things are without a permanent and independent self. Know that the entire body leaps out of twining vines [entanglement] of the self.

[Hoshuku]

His great breakthrough from all sentient beings have Buddha nature to all things are Buddha nature - as time passes my respect for that and its resonance increases.

Bows
Hoshuku
Satlah

[KatherineS]

The key phrase from Dogen, to me, is, "...Thus, study "no beings have things" as visualizing that things are without a permanent and independent self." We behave as if things are permanent and independent, but they are not so.

Gassho,
Katherine
satlah