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tathāgata-garbha
tathāgata-garbha (Skt.). The ‘embryonic Buddha’. A Mahāyāna concept which holds that all beings inherently possess the potential to become a Buddha. According to this view, the negative elements that bind an individual to saṃsāra are adventitious (āgantuka-kleśa) and merely conceal or veil the underlying pure Buddha-nature. The Tathāgata-garbha doctrine is based on a set of ten sūtras that teach this concept, such as the Tathāgata-garbha Sūtra, the Śrīmālā-devi-siṃhanāda, and the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, as well as the treatise attributed to Sthiramati or Maitreyanātha, the Ratna-gotra-vibhāga, though it has a historical antecedent in the early Buddhist concept of the intrinsically luminous mind. According to the position adopted by these sūtras, the Tathāgata-garbha is a real and eternally existing essence that is primordially replete with all the qualities of a Buddha. The concept was understood slightly differently in the Tibetan and the Chinese traditions where the term is translated as ‘Tathāgata embryo’ and ‘Tathāgata womb’ respectively. The term is also used synonymously with ātman and gotra in a number of these texts and was additionally influential in the formation of the Tibetan zhen-tong concept (extrinsic emptiness) linked with the Jonangpas.
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DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathāgata-garbha." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathāgata-garbha." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 9, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-tathgatagarbha.html DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathāgata-garbha." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Retrieved February 09, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-tathgatagarbha.html |
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Tathāgata-garbha
Tathāgata-garbha. The ‘Embryonic Tathāgata’, a concept which emerges in Mahāyāna Buddhism and in terms of which all living beings are regarded as potential Buddhas by virtue of their participation in a universal ‘buddha-nature’. In the course of time this embryonic seed or potency which exists in each creature will flower into full enlightenment, and since the potency is shared by all, the enlightenment will be a universal one. The sources which expound this teaching, such as the Ratnagotravibhāga and the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, regard it as a third and final cycle in the development of Buddhist thought, being the culmination of both the Buddha's early teaching and its philosophical elaboration by the Mahāyāna. Its critics, on the other hand, saw it as dangerously close to the monistic doctrines of Hinduism as expounded by the Advaita Vedānta school of Śaṅkara.
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JOHN BOWKER. "Tathāgata-garbha." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Tathāgata-garbha." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 9, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Tathgatagarbha.html JOHN BOWKER. "Tathāgata-garbha." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved February 09, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Tathgatagarbha.html |
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Tathāgata
Tathāgata (Pāli, Skt.; Chin., ju-lai; Jap., nyorai; Korean, yotae: usually left untranslated; if translated then as ‘Thus-Gone’ or ‘Truthfinder’). According to Buddhist tradition, the title chosen by the Buddha for himself. The title was intended to convey his identity as a perfect being, though the precise meaning of the word remains problematic. Etymologically it can be read as (i) ‘thus-gone’ (tathā gata) or ‘thus-come’ (tathā āgata), generally taken to mean ‘one who has gone (or come)’ i.e. attained emancipation; (ii) ‘one come (āgata) to the truth (tatha)’. The etymology may itself be suspect, however, since it is not certain whether the word is Skt. or vernacular in origin.
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Cite this article
JOHN BOWKER. "Tathāgata." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Tathāgata." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 9, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Tathgata.html JOHN BOWKER. "Tathāgata." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved February 09, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Tathgata.html |
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tathāgata
tathāgata (Skt.; Pāli). A title or epithet of the Buddha. The term can mean either ‘one who has thus come’ or ‘one who has thus gone’. The Buddha used the term to refer to himself after he had attained enlightenment (bodhi), and it became one of the stock epithets of a Buddha. Other honorific titles include Bhagavan (lord), Jina (conqueror), Arhat (worthy one), and Samyak-saṃbuddha (perfectly enlightened Buddha). The historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama was also known as Śākyamuni or ‘the sage of the Śākyas’, and is commonly referred to this way in the Mahāyāna tradition.
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Cite this article
DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathāgata." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathāgata." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 9, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-tathgata.html DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathāgata." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Retrieved February 09, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-tathgata.html |
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