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Tathatā

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Copyright

Tathatā (Skt., ‘suchness’; Chin., chen-ju; Jap., shinnyo). Mahāyāna Buddhist attempt to express the absolute and true nature inherent in all appearance, and obviously contrasted with it qua appearance. It has no ‘own nature’ (svabhāva), and is not other than the buddha-nature (buddhatā, bussho, tathāgata-garbha), except of course that the ‘two’ cannot be compared or equated, because they have no characterized nature to be so compared. For that reason, the Buddha as tathāgata is necessarily synonymous with tathatā (e.g. as argued in the Diamond Sūtra).

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JOHN BOWKER. "Tathatā." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 13 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Tathatā." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 13, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Tathat.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Tathatā." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved February 13, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Tathat.html

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tathatā

A Dictionary of Buddhism | 2004 | | Copyright

tathatā (Skt.). Term meaning ‘suchness’, and denoting the way things are in truth or actuality, and used especially in Mahāyāna Buddhism to denote the essential nature of reality and the quiddity or true mode of being of phenomena which is beyond the range of conceptual thought (vikalpa). The term is one of a range of synonyms for the absolute, which include emptiness (śūnyatā), thusness (tattva), the limit of reality (bhūta-koṭi), and true suchness (bhūta-tathatā).

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DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathatā." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 13 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathatā." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 13, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-tathat.html

DAMIEN KEOWN. "tathatā." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Retrieved February 13, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-tathat.html

Learn more about citation styles

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