Preliminary Notes on the Notion of Buddha Nature in the Single Intention

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:11:00-06:00

‘Jig rten mgon po Rin chen dpal or ‘Jig rten gsum mgon (1143-1217) was one of the most influential figures in the intellectual milieu of 12th and 13th century Tibet. Although his teachings that were compiled by his students into the text corpus known as the Single Intention (dGongs gcig) were highly contested by some of his contemporaries, most famously by Sa skya Paṇḍita Kun dga’ rgyal mtshan (1182-1251), on the contrary, other scholars like ‘Gos Lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal (1392-1481) reportedly based their Mahāmudrā hermeneutics and exegesis of the Uttaratantra on his works.
Even though there is no […]

Preliminary Notes on the Notion of Buddha Nature in the Single IntentionGwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:11:00-06:00

Notes from the Cave: ‘Jigs med gling pa on buddha-nature

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:11:39-06:00

‘Jigs med gling pa (1730-1798) was a key figure in the development of late-period Great Perfection thought in Tibet. His major philosophical work, the Treasury of Precious Qualities (Yon tan rin po che’i mdzod), was much-studied in the years after its composition in 1789. The Treasury’s presentation of Great Perfection ontology is grounded (if you will) in buddha-nature. Perhaps more interestingly, much of ‘Jigs med gling pa’s debate with interlocutors about Great Perfection revolves around buddha-nature rather than Great Perfection per se. ‘Jigs med gling pa was also deeply skeptical about the possibility of expressing anything of value about buddha-nature, […]

Notes from the Cave: ‘Jigs med gling pa on buddha-natureGwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:11:39-06:00

Tantric Zhentong Visions of Tathāgatagarbha in Tibetan Kālacakra Yoga Manuals

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:09:19-06:00

This paper investigates the concept of śūnyatā-bimba (stong gzugs), “images of emptiness” or expressions of emptiness in the Kālacakra Tantra, and gives attention to how this phenomenon was interpreted by the Tibetan Kālacakra master Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan (1292-1361) and his immediate disciples to be direct expressions of tathāgatagarbha. We are interested in the tantric epistemology of these “images of emptiness,” textual connections to tathāgatagarbha, and correlative contemplative experiences that are described within Tibetan meditation manuals on the Kālacakra sixfold yoga. As we find in Dol po pa’s writings, as well as by later Jonang authors, these […]

Tantric Zhentong Visions of Tathāgatagarbha in Tibetan Kālacakra Yoga ManualsGwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:09:19-06:00

From Buddha Nature to Original Enlightenment “Contemplating Suchness” in Medieval Japan

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:13:07-06:00

Most theories of buddha-nature circulating in medieval Japan entailed the proposition that all phenomena, being empty, are nondual and mutually inclusive, each encompassing and pervading all others without losing its individual character; thus the “buddha” is somehow present in ordinary beings. To many Buddhist thinkers, this suggested the possibility that buddhahood could be attained quickly. “Realizing buddhahood with this very body” (sokushin jōbutsu)—what it might mean, its preconditions, and the practices for achieving it—was vociferously debated. Concern for rapid attainment culminated in the Tendai Buddhist doctrine of original enlightenment (hongaku hōmon), which asserts that buddhahood is not a goal at […]

From Buddha Nature to Original Enlightenment “Contemplating Suchness” in Medieval JapanGwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:13:07-06:00

Rong-zom-pa on the Tathāgatagarbha and Pratītyasamutpāda Theories

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:10:16-06:00

The critique of the tathāgatagarbha doctrine by the two Japanese scholars Shirō Matsumoto and Noriaki Hakamaya has compelled scholars engaged in the study of Buddhism to reflect on the Buddhist status of the doctrine. While the agenda and the underlying motives of these two scholars may be different, their dismissal of the tathāgatagarbha doctrine as non-Buddhist may have been inspired by some position found in Tibetan Buddhism. To my knowledge, however, Tibetan Buddhist scholars have never gone to the extent of apodictically rejecting the theory as non-Buddhist while some Tibetan Buddhist (e.g. Dol-po-pa’s or Jo-nang-pa’s) interpretation thereof has certainly been. […]

Rong-zom-pa on the Tathāgatagarbha and Pratītyasamutpāda TheoriesGwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:10:16-06:00

New research on the concept of buddha-nature in India: the beginnings

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:12:25-06:00

The idea that all living beings carry a buddha embryo within themselves or already have full-fledged buddha-nature is one of the most pervasive ideas in the history of Buddhist thought. Buddhist thinkers have been struggling with the different concepts based on such a thought and its meanings for soteriology and spiritual training. In the 1990s the traditions that promote the idea of buddha-nature were heavily criticized and denounced as being non-Buddhist by a Japanese group of scholars who thought of themselves as “true” followers of Buddhism which, so they claimed, always must be “critical” with regard to its underlying philosophical […]

New research on the concept of buddha-nature in India: the beginningsGwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:12:25-06:00