Buddha-nature (as Depicted in the Lankavatara-sutra)
by Nguyen Dac Sy | 2012 | 70,344 words
This page relates ‘Introduction to the Tathagatagarbha literature’ of the study on (the thought of) Buddha-nature as it is presented in the Lankavatara-sutra (in English). The text represents an ancient Mahayana teaching from the 3rd century CE in the form of a dialogue between the Buddha and Bodhisattva Mahamati, while discussing topics such as Yogacara, Buddha-nature, Alayavijnana (the primacy of consciousness) and the Atman (Self).
Introduction to the Tathāgatagarbha literature
Mahāyāna, which is based on the progressive thinking, is a developed movement of Buddhism. The Mahāyāna scriptures were composed and collected at different periods by undefined authors. Some of the main lines of Mahāyāna scriptures are the Mādhyamika literature, the Yogācāra literature, the Tathāgatagarbha literature, the Tantric literature, and so on.
The Tathāgatagarbha literature, which conveys the thought of Buddha-nature or Tathāgatagarbha, is considered one of the main streams of Mahāyāna Buddhism. This literature does not belong to any identical person, group or school of Indian Buddhism. The Tathāgatagarbha literature arose between the third and the fourth century CE in India, it has been quickly introduced and translated into Chinese. In China, the Tathāgatagarbha literature has contributed to the rise and development of the thought of many Buddhist schools.
The concept of “Tathāgatagarbha literature” might be first mentioned in China in the seventh century CE by Chinese monk Facang (643-712) in the introduction to his commentary on the Dashengqixinlun, in which he referred to the Tathāgatagarbha literature by classifying all Indian Buddhism under the following four categories:
Modern Japanese scholar Hajime Nakamura classified the Tathāgatagarbha literature into three main periods depending on the relation of Tathāgatagarbha and Ālayavijñāna.[2] The first period includes scriptures such as the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, etc., that present a pure thought of Tathāgatagarbha without Ālayavijñāna. The second period contains scriptures such as the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, Buddhatvaśāstra, Mahāyānasaṃparigāhaśāstra, etc., which present a mixed concept of Tathāgatagarbha and Ālayavijñāna, but it does not refer to the relation of them. The third period consists of texts such as the Laṅkāvatārasūtra, The Awakening of Mahāyāna Faith and so on, that present the identification of Tathāgatagarbha and Ālayavijñāna.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
The Awakening of Faith: Attributed to Aśvaghoṣha, tr. Yoshito Saṃyuttanikāya. Hakeda, p. 14.
[2]:
Hajime Nakamura, Indian Buddhism: Aṅguttaranikāya Survey with Bibliographical Notes, p. 229;Mircea Eliade, The Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. II, pp. 470-72.