Examples of the Term tathāgatagarbha Appearing in Indic Tantric Literature

Examples of the Term tathāgatagarbha Appearing in Indic Tantric Literature

2022-10-26T05:07:03-06:00

This presentation focuses on the term tathāgatagarbha appearing in tantric scriptures and commentaries composed by Indic authors. In general, it has been pointed out that the tathāgatagarbha teaching has a strong doctrinal impact on tantric teachings, but actual examples of tathāgatagarbha appearing in tantric literature are rather rare in comparison with other terms of non-tantric Mahāyāna origin, such as the five jñānas of the Buddha, buddha’s bodies, etc. Through this investigation I shall clarify purposes of integration of this term into tantric contexts in each example. I have in my previous article in 2012 dealt with the literature of the […]

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 […]