3. The Buddha-nature Today: A New Approach

Discussing about the Buddha-nature we have to mention Chan Buddhism, because all matters of Chan are directed toward the Buddhanature. The typical teaching and practice of Chan such as direct-pointing, gongan, huatou and mozhao all are to expose, to see, to realize and to live with the Buddha-nature. Talking about Chan and the Buddha-nature we also have to refer to the Laṅkāvatārasūtra. The Sūtra always emphasizes on the practice of self-realization of the Buddha-nature, and this Sūtra was used by Bodhidharma to assert and recognize the enlightenment of his disciple Hui-ke. However, all these methods belong to the past time, past situation, and they are the typical characteristics of the ancient Chinese. The approach to Buddha-nature in the new life needs the innovation of both idea and method. The study of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra gives us an idea that can be useful in the modern life.

Buddhism that is mainly based on teachings of the Buddha delivered at different places on different occasions continues to develop and adapt to the new challenges in the form of thought, different cultures, religions, customs and tradition of the people wherever it went. The modern world today develops faster than ever in all aspects of life such as telecommunication, network communication, informatics technology, informatics biology, etc., along with new inventions appearing day by day;therefore people have no much time to pay attention to the investigation of the profound and unthinkable doctrines like the Buddhanature, or to sit in meditation during hours like the practice of mozhao Chan. They are also not easy to accept a mystic, unclear, difficult to understand and full of paradoxical methods like gongan and houtou of Chinese Chan. A new method of approaching to the Buddha-nature must be simple, clear, understandable and practicable. In 1966, a Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh founded the Engaged Buddhism which was grounded in “four spirit”: the nonattachment from views, the direct experimentation on the nature of interdependent origination through meditation, the appropriateness, and the skillful means. These four spirits are the combination of early Buddhist meditation and the spirit of Chan master Bai-zhang “a day of no work is a day of no eating”. Actually, Engaged Buddhism is called by Thich Nhat Hanh in Vietnamese “Tiếp Hiện”. The Vietnamese Tiếp means “continuing”: continuing the way of the Buddha, the enlightened One. This is the continuity of being awake, of being in touch with reality, the reality of mind and of the world. The process of our inner life is the source of understanding and compassion; that is the reality of mind. Hiện means “manifesting and making it here and now”: transforming ourselves, manifesting the presence of understanding and compassion, and living with our Buddha-nature here and now. By using the modern and simple language in his teachings, this new approach to the Buddha-nature of Thich Nhat Hanh is the most popular and essential practice of Buddhism in the West today.

It is wonderful that the appearance of the Vietnamese Engaged Buddhism coincided with the appearance of the Cheng Yen‘s Tzu Chinese Foundation in Taiwan. Tzu Chinese was founded in 1966 by Dharma Master Cheng Yen, who was then but a young Buddhist nun of age 29. At that time, Hua-lien, the east coast of Taiwan, where she first settled, was undeveloped and impoverished. Seeing many ills, poverty, disease, natural disasters, and environmental problems, she thought that to better the world, one has to begin by transforming human hearts and minds. The root of many problems lies in human beings‘selfishness. If people can expand the Tzu Chinese‘s spirit of Great Love (Chinese: Da-ai) from Buddhanature, many problems will cease. When the Great Love, i.e. the unselfish love or Compassion of the Buddha-nature that embraces all humanity, is awakened in all, people will live differently, and the world will naturally become a better place. Tzu Chinese is an international non-profit organization devoted to spreading Great Love through its work in the fields of charity, medicine, education, and culture. Thus, the Buddha-nature is described by Cheng Yen in the simple language “Great Love” with the practical charitable workings.

Thus, the new approach to Buddha-nature in the modern time can be summarized in two things: (1) simplifying languages relating to the Buddha-nature, (2) Taking into action the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha-nature in daily life through practical workings. From these above examples, it can be said that Thich Nhat Hanh focuses on the aspect of wisdom of Buddha-nature, while Cheng Yen develops the compassion of Buddha-nature in the modern life. Both are the representatives of the thought of Buddha-nature as depicted in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra.