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Session 5 - The Tathāgatagarbha

REVIEW OF SESSION 1 - 4

Session One - Ānanda gives seven possible locations for the mind: 1) inside, 2) outside, 3) ‘hidden’ in an organ, 4) in an organ ‘looking’ through an orifice, 5) arising within the organ when the conditions are present, 6) neither internal nor external, but in a middle position, 7) nowhere, for being that which does not cling; all of which are refuted by the Buddha.

Session Two - The Buddha and Ājñāta-kāuṇḍinya explain that the conditional mind is like ‘transient dust’ which moves, whereas the bright, original Mind is like a ‘host’ who has nowhere to go.

Session Three - The Buddha tells King Presenajit and Ānanda about the ‘Ground of Mind’ and ‘true seeing’ which does not age or die. The Buddha then points his finger down and then points up at the Moon, but Ānanda does not understand how the ‘external world’ can be his true Mind. The Buddha explains,

“Sentient beings are confused about things, being turned around by external objects they lose their original Mind, and as a consequence they see large and they see small. If they are able to turn objects around, they will be the same as the Thus Come One, body and mind perfectly bright at the immovable site of enlightenment, the tip of each hair containing worlds of the Ten Directions.

Session Four - Mañjuśrī intercedes to explain that the True Mind, which neither arises nor ceases, is therefore beyond ‘is’ and ‘is not’. The Buddha explains, “The wonderous brightness of the essence of awakening is neither cause(d) nor condition(al), is neither inherently existent, nor not inherently existent, is without being neither, nor, and is without ‘is’ or ‘is not’. Being free of all characteristics and therefore [free of] all things (dharmas).”

The nature of seeing is discussed in relation to: 明 - Light, 暗 - Dark, 空 - Space, 塞 - Obstruction

“When one sees seeing, one sees what is not seeing. Seeing free of seeing, seeing cannot reach. How can you speak of dependent-origination, inherent existence, and unification (和合)?

The Tathāgatagarbha / ‘Womb of Thus Come Ones’

Chapter Four (Beginning)

  1. The Buddha tells Ānanda about the two kinds of ‘erroneous views’ 妄見 - The erroneous view of sentient beings’ individual karma Which is like colorful rings seen around a lamp by diseased eyes - The erroneous view of sentient beings’ shared karma Which is like events that happen in one place, unknown to those in other places - ”That which sees the disease is not sick.
  2. All things, individual and shared, are like the illusory objects (i.e. ‘space flowers’) -“The 3,000 continents, the four great oceans, the Sahà World, even all the sentient beings with outflows throughout the Ten Directions, they are the awakened brightness of the wonderous Mind without outflows.”
  3. No ‘things’ combined or unified (和合) in dependent-origination -”Ānanda! You are still not clear about the illusory characteristics of all transient dust which vanish wherever they arise. These illusions in the shape of forms spring from the bright substance of wonderous awakening. … They are but creation and destruction appearing and vanishing within the permanent, wonderfully bright, immutable, all-embracing and profound nature of True Suchness (bhūtatathatā) of the Womb of Thus Come Ones (Tathāgatagarbha), the True Nature wherein neither coming nor going, neither delusion nor enlightenment, and neither birth nor death can be found.”
  4. The Buddha again asks about seeing and: 明 - Light, 暗 - Dark, 空 - Space, 塞 - Obstruction

Bhūtatathatā and Tathāgatagarbha

How it is that everything is the permanent, wonderfully bright, immutable, all-embracing and profound True Suchness (bhūtatathatā) of the Womb of Thus Come Ones (Tathāgatagarbha)?

  • Five Aggregates
    • Form (rūpa) is like delusional flowers in the sky
    • Sensation (vedanā) is like the feeling of heat between two rubbed palms
    • Perception (saṃjñā) is like tasting imaginary plums and salivating
    • Conditioning (saṃskāra) is like a continuous flow of waves of water
    • Consciousness (vijñāna) is like space in a jar being carried from one place to the next
  • Six Entrances (indriya, sense organs)
    • “Seeing does not come from light or darkness, nor does it come out the eyes.”
    • “Hearing does not come from sound or silence, nor does it come out the ears.”
    • “Smelling does not come from clearance or obstruction, nor does it come out the nose.”
    • “Taste does not come from sweetness and bitterness, nor is it from blandness (i.e. no flavor), and it does not come from the tongue.”
    • “Tactile awareness does not come from separation or unity (i.e. contact), has no aversion or attraction to anything, and does not come from the body.”
    • “Knowing awareness does not come from being awake or asleep, is not from arising and ceasing, does not come out of the mental organ (manaīndriya)
  • Twelve Bases (āyatana)
    • Eye/Form, Ear/Sound, Nose/Scent, Tongue/Flavor, Body/Feeling, Mind/Thought
    • “The two bases are illusory, neither dependently-originated nor inherently self-existent from the beginning.”
  • Eighteen Realms (dhātu, ’boundaries’)
    • The Twelve Bases and corresponding Six Consciousnesses
    • “The sense organ, sense object, and a realm of sensory consciousness arising with them as conditions, these three do not exist, hence the organs, objects, as well as realms, these three are neither dependently-originated nor inherently self-existent from the beginning.”

Ānanda generates Bodhicitta

“You have renounced being a Voice Hearer and the conditional awakening of the Dharma of the Small Vehicle, and have generated bodhicitta, striving for the unsurpassable Bodhi, therefore I will now reveal for you the Ultimate Truth.”

  • Seven ‘Elements’ In the tathāgatagarbha, the true nature of these elements is identical to the true nature of empty/space. The true nature of the elements is fundamentally pure and is pervasive throughout the Dharmadhātu. The extent to which beings are aware of this real nature depends on the capacity of their understanding. The elements become apparent to beings in accord with their karma. Ordinary beings do not know, and they mistakenly suppose that an element comes into being from causes and conditions or that it has an inherent self-nature. These are distinctions and constructs made by the conscious mind. They are mere words, devoid of any real meaning.
    1. Earth - From a continent to a dust mote, although form can be divided, how can space be accumulated?
    2. Fire - Carefully observea mirror in your hand, the sunlight coming from the sky, the tinder coming from an herb, but where does the fire come from?
    3. Water Like water appearing magically in crystal bowls for hallucinatory purposes, does the water come out of the bowl? Is it inherent to space? Or does it come from the Moon?
    4. Wind While we can observe an absence of wind, what would the absence of space look like?
    5. Space The soil comes out as the well is dug. But what of the space? How does it come into existence? ”Given that the fundamental nature of space is all-pervasive and does not move, you should know that the true natures of earth, water, fire, and wind which, together with space, these five elements are completely interfused with one another (圓融), neither coming into being nor ceasing to be within the tathāgatagarbha.” 圓融 Complete combination; the absolute in the relative and vice versa; the identity of apparent contraries; perfect harmony among all differences, as in water and waves, light and darkness, ignorance and enlightenment, saṁsāra and nirvāṇa, etc.; all are of the same fundamental nature, all are bhūtatathatā, and bhūtatathatā is all.
    6. Sensory Awareness ”Just as the awareness of one sense-faculty, the eye, extends throughout the Dharmadhātu, so also do the wondrous, resplendent powers of hearing, smelling, tasting, tactile awareness, and cognitive awareness extend throughout the Dharmadhātu. They fill up the entirety of space throughout the Ten Directions. How could they be limited to one particular place?”
    7. Consciousness ”Fundamentally, knowing awareness and distinction-making consciousness are all inherent in the tathāgatagarbha.”

Concluding Poem

“No need to wait forever to attain the Dharmakāya.”

This session covers:

Hsuan Hua translation, p. 78-137 of the book (p. 134-190 of the pdf)

Luk translation, p. 48-83 of the book (p. 79-123 of the pdf)

Goddard translation, p.149-178