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.Other and later uses of tathAgatagarbha in this wayrefer to a particular type of thing within sentient beings, e.g.all sentient beings have withinthem the tathAgatagarbha, the embryo or innermost core/essence , of a Tathagata.7Probably the earliest scripture (in origins dating from perhaps the second half of thethird century CE) to teach specifically the Tathagatagarbha doctrine was the appropriatelynamed TathAgatagarbha SEtra.8 This is a relatively short setra consisting almost entirelyof nine examples to illustrate the way a Tathagata is contained hidden within sentientbeings.According to the Chinese version of the setra the Buddha observes with his divineeye that:[A]ll the living beings, though they are among the defilements of hatred, anger andignorance, have the Buddha s wisdom, Buddha s Eye, Buddha s Body sitting firmly in theform of meditation. Thus, in spite of their being covered with defilements, trans-migrating from one path.to another, they are possessed of the Matrix of theTathagata [tathAgatagarbha = contain a Tathagata ], endowed with virtues, always pure,and hence are not different from me. Having thus observed, the Buddha preachedthe doctrine in order to remove the defilements and manifest the Buddha-nature(within the living beings).(Takasaki 1958: 51)9The setra adds that this is the true nature of things (dharmatA), that whether Buddhasoccur or do not occur nevertheless the tathAgatagarbhas of beings are eternal and unchang-ing (or, as it is interpreted in the Tibetan version, nevertheless all sentient beings containa Tathagata ).This is not a doctrinally systematic setra.Rather, it is exhortatory, intended to encour-age Buddhist practitioners and to promote the Mahayana, its superiority and universality.10Zimmermann (2002: 76) observes in particular that the authors of the early Tathagatagarbhasetras do not seem to have gone out of their way to draw any specific ethical implications 9780203428474_4_005.qxd 16/6/08 11:57 AM Page 105The TathÖgatagarbha 105from the idea that all sentient beings possess a Tathagata deep within them.He notes: Thisabsence of ethical implications indicates that the (early) buddha-nature theory centered onthe importance of the individual s inclusion in the family of the buddhas rather than ona doctrinal basis for ethical behavior. 11The TathAgatagarbha SEtra may also have been intended simply to answer the questionhow it is possible for all sentient beings to attain Buddhahood.What can it be aboutsentient beings that makes this a possibility? This topic may have become serious inthe light of the the Lotus SEtra (which was in origin almost certainly earlier than theTathAgatagarbha SEtra; see Chapter 7 below) and its teaching of the One Vehicle (ekayAna),which could indeed have influenced the TathAgatagarbha SEtra and which holds thatultimately there is only the vehicle to full Buddhahood, i.e.the Mahayana, and notseparate paths of the Arhat or Pratyekabuddha at all.Thus the only final goal is that ofa Tathagata.12 But how is it possible that anyone at all can realistically set out on this longand wonderful path to Buddhahood, this Mahayana? The teaching of the tathAgatagarbhaappears to suggest that sentient beings are in reality in some sense deep down already, evennow, fully-enlightened Buddhas, or intimately associated with such a state of enlightenment.However there is admittedly some tension here with other parts of the setra which speakof beings becoming Buddhas at some point in the future.13 This tension between innate,intrinsic enlightenment and becoming enlightened is a tension (perhaps a fertile tension)at the root of the Tathagatagarbha tradition, different resolutions of which are centralto subsequent doctrinal elaboration.It has been argued that the assertion in the TathAgatagarbha SEtra that all sentient beingshave within them a fully-enlightened Buddha should be linked with an earlier assertion inwhat is now part of the AvataTsaka SEtra (see Chapter 6 below) that all beings have withinthem the Tathagata-gnosis or Tathagata-awareness (tathAgatajñAna).14 Hence whateverit is about sentient beings that enables them to become fully enlightened Buddhas mustbe related in some way to their minds.Sentient beings have within them something of theBuddha, inherently pure but apparently in an obscured and tainted state.Enlightenmentlies in removing the taints in order to allow this inherently pure nature to shine forth.Thepresence or fact of tathAgatagarbha, containing a Tathagata , is that truth about each being a truth related to their minds which enables enlightenment to take place.The claimthat all sentient beings contain this element is the claim that all sentient beings withoutexception have whatever is necessary within them to realize the presence of that gnosis whichis radiant and full Buddhahood, and for that enlightened gnosis to remain forever.Perhaps the most important Tathagatagarbha setra, at least in terms of citations in laterIndian sources, is the }rCmAlAdevCsiThanAda SEtra, the Lion s Roar of Queen ]rcmala.It has been suggested that this setra was originally a Mahasatghika scripture composedin the Deccan in South India (Andhra) during the third century CE.15 The point remainscontroversial, however.The text as it stands draws a sharp contrast between the non-Mahayanasaints on the one hand and fully-enlightened Buddhas on the other.The Arhats andPratyekabuddhas have not finished with karma and they will indeed be reborn.They 9780203428474_4_005.qxd 16/6/08 11:57 AM Page 106106 MahÖyÖna Buddhismare far from the nirvaua-realm (Buddhahood; Wayman and Wayman 1974: 80 ff.).ThetathAgatagarbha is the domain of the Buddha alone, it is not realized by the non-Mahayanasaints and is not within the realm of logic and reasoning (ibid.: 96).For the }rCmAlA SEtra, whoever does not doubt that the Tathagatagarbha is wrapped-up in all the defilement-store,also does not doubt that the Dharmakaya of the Tathagata is liberated from all the defile-ment store (ibid.).The dharmakAya is the Dharma-body of the Buddha, it is what the Buddhais in himself, what he really is, or in other words, it is generally (at least in Mahayana Buddhism)the final, true, ultimate, reality or state of things.16 The dharmakAya is:beginningless, uncreate, unborn, undying, free from death; permanent, steadfast, calm,eternal; intrinsically pure, free from all the defilement-store; and accompanied byBuddha natures more numerous than the sands of the Ganges, which are nondiscrete,knowing as liberated, and inconceivable.This Dharmakaya of the Tathagata whennot free from the store of defilement [i.e.the kleZas, passions ] is referred to as theTathagatagarbha.(Wayman and Wayman 1974: 98)In this setra, therefore, tathAgatagarbha is the name given to the dharmakAya, which is inreality permanent and unchanging, when it is, as it were, obscured by defilements in theunenlightened person.Moreover this dharmakAya, far from being a characterless Absolute,is possessed of innumerable good qualities.In a crucial passage the }rCmAlA SEtra explainsthat the tathAgatagarbha is empty, void, but not empty in the Madhyamika sense of lackingintrinsic existence.Rather:[T]he Tathagatagarbha is void of all the defilement-stores, which are discrete andknowing as not liberated [or apart from knowledge which does not lead to liberation ;Chang 1983: 378].the Tathagatagarbha is not void of the Buddha dharmas which arenondiscrete, inconceivable, more numerous than the sands of the Ganges, and knowingas liberated.(ibid.: 99) Empty or void here means, as in the Yogacara tradition, that a basis lacks something [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]