buddha-nature

Excerpts

What our teachers say on it: excerpts from the talks and texts, lightly edited and shortened; an ellipsis (…) marks a sentence or more left out. The titles above the excerpts are mine, the teacher's words are in the excerpt; a question under a title really was asked at the talk. How they were made →

1. Where the word buddha-nature comes from

   asked at the talk Where did the word “buddha-nature” come from in the first place?

   It came from very ancient Buddhism, from the Sanskrit. I can’t tell you where it emerged from in its first use, but it means the nature of a buddha, or the characteristics of a buddha. In Sanskrit, buddha is “buddha”, and buddha-nature is “buddhata”. If you put “ta” on the end of a noun it usually makes an abstract noun. So it was easy in Sanskrit for people to say “buddha-ness”. … So who is a buddha? Someone in their natural state is a buddha; do they have buddha-ness? Well, they have something which is attributable to the natural state of a buddha, but it’s not what we can capture with any concept of buddha-ness. … The basic idea of buddha-nature is simply the buddha-ness of a buddha. It was very much discussed because it became more than just describing something about the characteristics of somebody who is a buddha. First of all, someone who is a buddha became elevated to some kind of special spiritual state, so what they must have attained must be something special and spiritual. So then the term came to mean some special spiritual quality.

   Mike · Bussho 4: The Cut Earthworm Summer 2005 — Bussho

2. Not a potential but a present state

   The Chinese characters read in Japanese as bussho represent the meaning of the Sanskrit word buddhatā, or Buddha-nature; this was usually understood as the potential we have to attain the truth, or as something which we have inherently and which grows naturally day by day. But Master Dogen was not satisfied by such interpretations. In his view, the Buddha-nature is neither a potential nor a natural attribute, but a state or condition of body and mind at a present moment. Therefore, he saw the Buddha-nature neither as something that we might realize in the future, nor as something that we have inherently in our body and mind. From this standpoint, Master Dogen affirmed and at the same time denied the proposition “We all have the Buddha-nature.” He also affirmed and at the same time denied the proposition “We all don’t have the Buddha-nature.” At first sight, these views appear contradictory, but through his dialectic explanation of the Buddha-nature in this chapter, Master Dogen succeeded in interpreting the concept of the Buddha-nature from the standpoint of action or reality.

   Nishijima · Bussho ShobogenzoAlso in: Bussho 1: Having Buddha-Nature

3. Buddha-nature and the seed of a plant

   The Buddha-nature is always Total Existence, for Total Existence is the Buddha-nature. … But there is one group which thinks as follows: The Buddha-nature is like the seed of a plant or a tree. As the rain of Dharma waters it again and again, its buds and sprouts begin to grow. Then twigs, leaves, flowers, and fruit abound, and the fruit once more bears seeds. Views like this are the sentimental thinking of the common man. … Even if we rely on the view of the common man, roots, stalks, branches, and leaves may all be the Buddha-nature which is born with them, which dies with them, and which is just the same as their Total Existence.

   Dogen · Bussho ShobogenzoAlso in: Bussho 3: Beyond the Process View, Buddha-nature

4. Buddha-nature follows realization

   The truth of the Buddha-nature is that we are not equipped with the Buddha-nature before we realize the state of buddha; we are equipped with it following realization of the state of buddha. The Buddha-nature and realization of buddha inevitably experience the same state together. … To say “living beings have the Buddha-nature,” or “living beings are without the Buddha-nature,” is this truth. … In sum, just at the moment of being without the Buddha-nature, we become buddha at once.

   Dogen · Bussho Shobogenzo

5. The time has come already

   The Buddha says: “When the time has come, the Buddha-nature is manifest before us.” … People in many ages from the ancient past to the present have thought that the words “when the time has come…” are about waiting for a time in the future when the Buddha-nature might be manifest before us. They think that, continuing their practice with this attitude, they will naturally meet the time when the Buddha-nature is manifest before them. … “When the time has come” means “The time has come already! What could there be to doubt?” Even if there is a time of doubt, I leave it as it is – it is the Buddha-nature returning to me. … In summary, there has never been any time which was not time having come, nor any Buddha-nature which was not the Buddha-nature manifesting itself before us.

   Dogen · Bussho ShobogenzoAlso in: Bussho 4: Real Present Time

6. Having or being

   In Bussho, Master Dogen is playing with language. The quotation from Master Enkan Sai-an was “all beings have buddha-nature”. That suggests to us that, for example, I am a being and I have something, so there’s something separate which I have in me. I have a cold – we think that there is me and a cold which comes into me. He’s talking about that way we have of looking at ourselves: “At the same time, even if we say that beings don’t have minds, still being is mind.” Here he’s going further than saying we have something; he’s saying we are something. And this identity in Master Dogen’s writing is very strong. He often identifies things rather than the normal way of looking at things: instead of saying that we have something, he would say “I am a cold”, not “I have a cold”.

   Mike · Bussho 1: Having Buddha-Nature Summer 2005 — BusshoAlso in: Bussho 2: Without a Concept of Buddha-Nature

7. Our natural state in the present

   asked at the talk Can you explain buddha-nature then?

   Yes. Buddha-nature is our natural state when we are fully in the present. If somebody is fully in the present, or awake, he is called a buddha, and their nature is called buddha-nature. For instance, when you practise zazen, you balance yourself and you keep discarding the various fragmented images and thoughts coming and going in your mind, and you become more aware of where you are and what you are doing. Then you have buddha-nature. But you can’t find it, because it doesn’t exist. So you don’t have anything really.

   Mike · MMK 5: Relinquishing All Views Summer 2008 — Nagarjuna’s MulamadhyamakakarikaAlso in: Bussho 3: Acting in the Present Moment

8. Joshu's dog: having it and not having it

   I think the monk should have asked the dog, and the dog would have said “Woof!” It’s quite a long, complicated koan, much discussed. Joshu said “mu”, but when he was asked another time, he said “u”; and “mu” means negative and “u” means positive. So, have you got buddha-nature? Well, yes, but no, because we all have our own nature, but it is not a concept. We haven’t got what we mean by the concept “buddha-nature”, but we have got our own true nature. We have got it and we haven’t got it.

   Mike · MMK 5: Relinquishing All Views Summer 2008 — Nagarjuna’s MulamadhyamakakarikaAlso in: Bussho 3: Joshu’s Dog and Concepts, Bussho 2: Without a Concept of Buddha-Nature

9. Mountains, rivers and ginger tea

   Words are a problem for us, although without words we can’t talk about anything. … When the poem says they’re constructed out of buddha-nature, it means that buddha-nature is them. To have a phrase “something is constructed out of something” introduces a kind of dualism – the “something” and the “something else” constructed out of it. Ginger and lemon tea is made out of ginger and lemons and water. Master Dogen wants to say ginger and lemon tea is ginger and lemons and water. It’s not made out of it. And there’s something subtly different in saying that. He’s saying mountains, rivers, the earth are buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is the mountains, rivers, and the earth. That’s the meaning of “constructed out of it”. It doesn’t mean there’s something called buddha-nature, and somebody came along with a hacksaw and cut out a few mountains.

   Mike · Bussho 1: Names and Reality Winter 2005 — BusshoAlso in: Buddha-nature

10. Fully manifesting who we are

    We assert ourselves beyond labels, not only in zazen, but zazen is our standard. Whenever we act wholly, we fully manifest who we are. And in fully manifesting who we are, we don’t notice who we are. We are who we are; we don’t think about who we are; we’re not thinking about whether we’re good enough, or if the other person is better, or whether we should or shouldn’t be doing this, or whether it’s good or bad to do it; we just do it. And in that doing, that action, we fully manifest ourselves, we are ourselves. And that occurs all through our lives. This is the subject of the chapter Bussho: buddha-nature is the nature of a buddha, but since Gautama Buddha taught Buddhism all those years ago, people have misunderstood, and for hundreds, even thousands of years, buddha-nature has been discussed as some kind of quality, a quality that you get after doing this and doing that, and going up through the ranks or whatever. But Master Dogen is destroying that misconception in many different ways in it.

    Mike · Bussho 1: Fully Manifesting Existence Summer 2004 — BusshoAlso in: Bussho 2: Balance in Action, Bussho 3: Beyond the Process View

11. Getting rid of selfish pride

    Master Nagarjuna says: “If you want to realize the Buddha-nature, you must first get rid of selfish pride.” We should intuit and affirm the point of this preaching without fail. It is not that there is no realization; realization is just getting rid of selfish pride. Selfishness is not of only one kind. Pride too has many varieties. Methods of getting rid also may be of myriad diversity, but they are all realization of the Buddha-nature, which we should learn as realization through the eyeballs and seeing with the eyes.

    Dogen · Bussho ShobogenzoAlso in: Bussho 3: Acting in the Present Moment, Buddha-nature

12. Buddha-nature: walls, streets and our usual mix

    Thinking that buddha-nature can only exist while there is life, and when death occurs, buddha-nature disappears, is too simple-minded, too naive. In the moment in which we live, we totally manifest buddha-nature in our existence, and we are without any [concept of] buddha-nature. In the moment in which we die, we totally manifest buddha-nature in our existence, and we are without any [concept of] buddha-nature. … To explain buddha-nature further, although we don’t need to remain in the limited area of words, we can describe it as concrete things such as walls, streets, bricks, and concrete. What is buddha-nature from the ultimate viewpoint? Do you understand fully what it is? It is the usual mix of thinking, frustration, and stupidity in which we live our lives.

    Mike · Buddha-nature Shobogenzo · BusshoAlso in: Bussho 4: The Cut Earthworm

• the Buddha-nature is neither a potential nor a natural attribute, but a state or condition of body and mind at a present moment

  Bussho Shobogenzo

The most important texts

1. Bussho ●●● Shobogenzo

   the Buddha-nature is neither a potential nor a natural attribute, but a state or condition of body and mind at a present moment

   buddha-nature · being without buddha-nature · buddha-nature as a seed · Buddha-nature as emptiness · Buddha-nature following realization · non-enduring buddha-nature · Chang drinking and Lee getting drunk · deliberate violation · earthworm cut in two · fully manifesting existence · getting rid of selfish pride · Joshu's dog · listening to teachings and practicing Zen · man from south of the Peaks · not an ordinary name · ocean of Buddha-nature · staff swallowing two people · when the time has come
2. Buddha-nature ●●● Shobogenzo · Bussho

   Realising that buddha-nature is just what is in front of us now, we are free to make use of everything.

   buddha-nature · being without buddha-nature · body manifesting itself · buddha-nature as a seed · buddha-nature as a special quality · non-enduring buddha-nature · earthworm cut in two · fully manifesting existence · getting rid of selfish pride · independent of everything · Joshu's dog · man from south of the Peaks · mountains, rivers, and the Earth · movement of brain molecules · staff swallowing two people · thinking, frustration, and stupidity · walls, streets, bricks, and concrete
3. Bussho 4: The Cut Earthworm ●●● Summer 2005 — Bussho

   If we discuss buddha-nature in the earthworm story, it’s not buddha-nature, it’s the concept of buddha-nature in the earthworm story.

   buddha-nature · being without buddha-nature · buddha-nature appearing in the officer · buddha-nature as soul or spirit · buddha-nature beyond concepts · buddhata as buddha-ness · earthworm cut in two · worm’s physical energy · hearing buddha-nature in the bell · thinking, frustration, and stupidity
4. Bussho 1: Having Buddha-Nature ●●● Summer 2005 — Bussho

   The buddha-nature was a much discussed concept and has been since the very beginnings of Buddhism

   buddha-nature · all beings are without buddha-nature · buddha-nature as a special quality · having and being · I am a cold · insult to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha · staff swallowing two people
5. Bussho 3: Beyond the Process View ●●● Summer 2004 — Bussho

   Buddha-nature is fully manifesting existence, and fully manifesting existence is the nature of a buddha

   buddha-nature · buddha-nature as a seed · buddha-nature is Uji · fully manifesting existence
6. Bussho 4: Real Present Time ●●● Summer 2004 — Bussho

   If you want to know what buddha-nature is, know that it is causes and circumstances as real time.

   buddha-nature · being unaware of buddha-nature · doubting as buddha-nature · waiting for future buddha-nature
7. Bussho 1: Names and Reality ●●● Winter 2005 — Bussho

   one of the most misunderstood terms in Buddhism, and that is the term Bussho (Bu-ssho) or buddha-nature

   buddha-nature · ginger and lemon tea · mountains, rivers, and the Earth · the name exists
8. Bussho 2: Without a Concept of Buddha-Nature ●●● Winter 2005 — Bussho

   doesn’t mean without the true buddha-nature, but without the concept “buddha-nature”, without the idea of buddha-nature

   being buddha-nature rather than having it · being without buddha-nature · man from south of the Peaks · south and north as concepts
9. Bussho 1: Fully Manifesting Existence ●●● Summer 2004 — Bussho

   buddha-nature has been discussed as some kind of quality, a quality that you get after doing this and doing that

   buddha-nature · fully manifesting existence · person from an ineffable place · stones as living beings
10. Bussho 3: Joshu’s Dog and Concepts ●●● Summer 2005 — Bussho

    would you tell me whether or not a dog has buddha-nature?

    buddha-nature beyond concepts · Joshu's dog · real dog versus abstract existence
11. Bussho 3: Acting in the Present Moment ●●● Winter 2005 — Bussho

    getting rid of selfish pride is seeing buddha-nature

    buddha-nature just at the present moment · buddha-nature neither big nor small · getting rid of selfish pride

Other texts

12. Bussho 2: This World, Not Heaven ●●● Summer 2005 — Bussho

    at every moment throughout a real twenty-four-hour day we are independent of everything

    independent of everything · loving life, fearing death · to whom buddha-nature is clear
13. MMK 5: Relinquishing All Views ●●● Summer 2008 — Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika

    Buddha-nature is our natural state when we are fully in the present

    buddha-nature just at the present moment · Joshu's dog
14. Bussho 2: Balance in Action ●●● Summer 2004 — Bussho

    to fully manifest existence is just to be as we are here and now

    fully manifesting existence
15. Bussho 5: Our Fundamental Nature ●●● Winter 2005 — Bussho

    they did not know that the body manifesting itself just as it is, is buddha-nature

    body manifesting itself
16. Freedom and the Teacher’s Character ●●● August 2011 — Dibbavana

    there is something called the whole human being, which we can't define exactly

    whole human being
17. Buddhism and the Theory of No-Self ●●●

    Grasp the self, the ultimate in ourselves, the true ego - whatever you call it.

    grasping the true ego
18. Gaku do yo jin shu - Practical Advice on Pursuing the Buddhist Truth ●●●

    is there Buddha-nature even in a dog, or not?

    Joshu's dog

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