Tathagatagarbha

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TATH?GATAGARBHA

The tath?gatagarbha ("matrix," "seed," or "treasure-store of the Tath?gata") is a Mah?y?na Buddhist doctrine expressing the conviction that all beings have within themselves the virtues and wisdom of the Tath?gata (buddha), but that these are hidden by a covering of defilements (kle?ako?a). The third-century scripture, the Tath?gatagarbha-s?tra, introduced the doctrine and illustrated it with nine similes based on the different meanings of the word garbha, such as womb, store, calyx, husk, and seed. The tath?gatagarbha is likened to a buddha hidden in the calyx of a flower; to a noble son hidden in the womb of a vile, ugly woman; to a seed hidden in a useless husk; and to a store of treasure hidden beneath a poor man's house. The compound therefore permits a wide range of legitimate translations including matrix, womb, embryo, germ, and treasure-store of the Tath?gata. Originally, the term tath?gatagarbha seems to have referred to beings themselves, who are tath?gatagarbhas, or "harborers of the Tath?gata."

The concept was developed further in later writings like the ?r?m?l?dev?-s?tra (Discourse of Queen ?r?m?l?), where the term refers to an inner potential that enables beings to become buddhas. Were it not for the tath?gatagarbha, this s?tra states, beings would be unable to feel aversion for suffering or to seek nirv??a. The s?tra identifies the tath?gatagarbha as the dharmak?ya of the buddha, which pervades all beings. The dharmak?ya is said to have the four perfections (gu?ap?ramit?s) of eternality, bliss, self, and purity, an assertion that has led some to question whether the tath?gatagarbha teaching might expound a form of Hindu monism, in which case it might contradict such fundamental Buddhist doctrines as anitya (impermanence), an?tman/?tman (noself/self), and du?kha (suffering).

A closely related concept to the tath?gatagarbha is the buddhadh?tu, usually translated as "buddha-nature," a term first used in the Nirv??a S?tra with the famous phrase "all beings possess buddha-nature." Like the tath?gatagarbha, it expresses the Mah?y?na conviction that all beings have the potential for buddhahood.

The only Indian Buddhist treatise devoted to the tath?gatagarbha is the fifth-century Ratnagotravibh?ga (Chinese, Baoxing fenbie dacheng jiujing yaoyi lun; Analysis of the Source of the [Buddha] Jewel). The Ratnagotravibh?ga identified the tath?gatagarbha as "thusness mingled with pollution" (samal? tathat?), whereas the dharmak?ya is identified as "thusness apart from pollution" (nirmal? tathat?). Thusness means supreme truth apprehended by nondiscriminating wisdom. The Madhyamaka school understood thusness to mean the emptiness of all dharmas, but the Ratnagotravibh?ga insisted that while the tathagatagarbha is empty of kle?as, it is not empty of the virtues of the buddha, "which are more numerous than the sands of the Ganges." This assertion that something is ultimately "not empty" is also found in several Yog?c?ra school texts. Additionally, the Ratnagotravibh?ga uses traditional Yog?c?ra categories for analysis, which further suggests possible ties to the Yog?c?ra school.

A central teaching of the Ratnagotravibh?ga, derived from the Jñan?lok?la?k?ra-s?tra (Discourse on the Ornamentation of Wisdom), is that nirv??a, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, ought to be understood as the nonorigination, rather than the extinguishing, of suffering and illusion. The mind is pure by nature, and suffering arises only when irrational thought (ayoni?omanask?ra) originates illusions, attachments, and cravings. One who has reached the truth does not give rise to illusions. The expression "cessation of suffering" refers to the dharmak?ya of the Tath?gata, which is unborn and unproduced. Because all beings have the dharmak?ya within them, they have the capacity not to originate suffering.

The tath?gatagarbha teaching was far more popular in East Asia than in India or Tibet. In India no school was organized around the tath?gatagarbha teaching, and in Tibet, only the Jo nang pa centered itself on the tath?gatagarbha teaching. But the Ratnagotravibh?ga and the s?tras expounding the tath?gatagarbha were translated into Chinese shortly after their composition, and heavily influenced important Chinese treatises like the Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun). An extensive debate over the buddha-nature of the icchantika (the worst of beings), provoked further interest in the doctrine. The tath?gatagarbha teaching was accorded the highest place in the doctrinal classification schemes of such notable Huayan school figures as Fazang and Zongmi (780–841), and became a focal point of both Tiantai and Chan school teachings.

Bibliography

Brown, Brian Edward. The Buddha Nature: A Study of the Tath?gatagarbha and ?layavijñ?na. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991.

Gregory, Peter N. "Chinese Buddhist Hermeneutics: The Case of Hua-yen." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 51, no. 2 (1983): 231–249.

Grosnick, William H. "Nonorigination and Nirv??a in the Early Tath?gatagarbha Literature." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 4, no. 2 (1981): 33–43.

Ruegg, David Seyfort. La théorie du tath?gatagarbha et du gotra: Études sur la sotériologie et la gnoséologie du bouddhisme. Paris: École Française d'Extrème-Orient, 1969.

Takasaki, Jikido. A Study on the Ratnagotravibh?ga (Uttaratantra), Being a Treatise on the Tath?gatagarbha Theory of Mah?y?na Buddhism. Rome: Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1966.

Wayman, Alex, and Wayman, Hideko, eds. The Lion's Roar of Queen ?rim?l?: A Buddhist Scripture on the Tath?gatagarbha Theory, tr. Alex Wayman and Hideko Wayman. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974.

William H. Grosnick

Encyclopedia of Buddhism