1. Early period (a): The Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra

The texts in this period expound the thought of Tathāgatagarbha which has no mention about the Ālayavijñāna. Because they have no mention of Ālayavijñāna, so they are considered to have been written in around 200-350 CE, and before 400 CE, i.e., before the time of Asaṅga (c. 410-500 CE) and Vasubandhu (c. 420-500 CE), who initiated the Ālayavijñāna thought. This period contains the following works.

As mentioned above, the Sanskrit manuscript of the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra is said to have been produced in the early third century CE, but is not extant. This Sūtra is considered the first outcome of the Tathāgatagarbha literature and is the foundational source for the Buddha-nature doctrine. A Tibetan translation and two Chinese translations exist. On the Chinese translations, Buddhabhadra (359-429 CE) produced one^[1] and Amoghavajra (705-774 CE) translated the other^[2]. The text demonstrates the existence of an inherent potentiality for enlightenment in all beings through a series of similes showing how this potentiality or the Buddha-nature is concealed within each individual. The Buddha-nature in this Sūtra is presented in a simple metaphorical and philosophical style. The text consists of nine examples that represent the relationship between Tathāgatagarbha and defilements that obscure it.

The Sūtra introduces the Tathāgatagarbha as follows:

With my Buddha eyes, I (the Buddha) can see that within the kleśas such as greed, hatred and ignorance of all sentient beings, there exists Tathāgata wisdom, Tathāgata eyes, and Tathāgata body, sitting cross-legged without moving. Sons of good families, although sentient beings with defiled bodies are in saṃsāra, they all have the pure Tathāgatagarbha, which is endowed with all the virtues and characteristics that I have... Thus, sons of good families, upon seeing the Tathāgatagarbha in all sentient beings, the Buddha preaches this sūtra in order to eliminate the kleśas and to reveal the Buddhadhātu. Sons of good families, the Dharma of all Buddhas is thus: whether a Buddha arises or not in the world, the Tathāgatagarbha in all sentient beings exists eternally and without change, but it is covered with defilements. The Tathāgata arises in the world and preaches the Dharma in order to eradicate defilements and purify supreme wisdom.^[3]

Thus the Tathāgatagarbha is compared to grain covered by the husk, a treasure buried under the ground, a Buddha statue wrapped in a rag, and so on; where the defilements are the husk, the ground, the ragwhatever covers or conceals that which is precious. Although these images are not philosophically developed, as images they are appealing to the imagination and convey the basic idea of the universal immanence of Buddhahood that nonetheless is experientially, unavailable to ordinary persons.

This teaching appears to be that sentient beings are in reality already enlightened, but there is admittedly some tension here with other parts of the Sūtra which speak of beings becoming the Buddhas at some point in the future, and the Buddha came into existence in order to manifest this Buddha-nature for all living beings:

欲令開敷為說經法.除滅煩惱顯現佛性.善男子.諸佛法爾.若佛出世若不出世.一切眾生如來之藏常住不變^[4]

The Buddha preached the doctrine in order to remove the defilements and manifest the Buddha-nature (within the living beings). This is the nature of things; whether the Buddha occurs or does not occur, nevertheless beings are always the Tathāgatagarbha^[5]

The interpretation that the Buddha-nature is the Tathāgata’s permanent nature hidden within all beings as shown above by quotations is a matter of argument for scholars. For instance, Michael Zimmermann, a scholar of the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, writes “the existence of an eternal, imperishable self, that is, buddhahood, is definitely the basic point of the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra”^[6] . He also declares that the compilers of this sūtra “did not hesitate to attribute an obviously substantialist notion to the Buddha-nature of living beings”^[7] and notes the total lack of evident interest in this Sūtra for any ideas of Emptiness: “Throughout the whole Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra the term śūnyatā does not even appear once, nor does the general drift of the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra somehow imply the notion of śūnyatā as its hidden foundation. On the contrary, the sūtra uses very positive and substantialist terms to describe the nature of living beings.”^[8] However, Zimmermann fell into a nihilistic trend about the concept of śūnyatā and he also misunderstood the concept of Buddhanature as an absolute entity. As presented in previous chapter, the Buddha-nature does not represent a substantial ātman. The Buddhanature is a non-dualistic concept avoiding both nihilism and absolutism; it is rather a positive language expression of śūnyatā and represents the potentiality of realization of Buddhahood through Buddhist practices.

Thus, the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra is the first scripture of Mahāyāna Buddhism which declares that although sentient beings are still not the Buddhas yet because their Buddha-nature is still not manifested; they will become the Buddhas in the future whenever their Buddha-nature is uncovered from defilements. This is the positive language to avoid the nihilistic tendency of emptiness, release tension and increase faith in Buddhist practice for enlightenment. The immanent Buddha-nature within all living beings is also the typical idea and principle of other scriptures in the Tathāgatagarbha literature.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Da-fang-deng-ru-lai-cang-jing 大方等如來藏經 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T16n666])

[2]:

Da-fang-quang-ru-lai-cang-jing 大方廣如來藏經 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T16n667])

[3]:

Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T16n666], p. 457c; The translation is taken from: Guang Xing, The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikāya Theory, p. 87.

[4]:

Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T16n666], p. 457c.

[5]:

Paul Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, p. 97.

[6]:

Michael Zimmermann, Aṅguttaranikāya Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra: The Earliest Exposition of the Buddha-Nature Teachings in India, p. 82

[7]:

Ibid., p. 64.

[8]:

Ibid., p. 81.