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Buddha Nature and Human Nature (...and babies)

personperson Don't believe everything you thinkThe liminal space Veteran
edited December 14 in Buddhism Today

Just a little personal reflection on the relation between human nature and Buddha nature. Something on my mind.

As we grow we experience the world, society and our experiences (good and bad) influence the way we develop. We learn ways of interacting and behaving, we become averse to situations that reflect traumatic experiences, etc. If we were to hypothetically remove all of this conditioning we wouldn't reveal our Buddha nature, we'd reveal our human nature. Infant studies show that many of our behaviors aren't learned, they're innate, evolution didn't stop at the neck. This 60 minutes report is still a very good summary of the mix of human nature, both "positive" and "negative" (more accurately pro social and self interested behavior, which aren't always either positive or negative).

Add to that studies on separated twins and adopted siblings and we can also see how genetics influences our personalities.
https://www.verywellmind.com/are-personality-traits-caused-by-genes-or-environment-4120707

My understanding of Buddha nature in the light of what we now understand of human nature I think lies beneath all that. Traditional Buddhist cosmology includes birth in a myriad of physical forms with their own sorts of in born conditioning. Another possible materialist interpretation of Buddha nature is some sort of intentional development of some aspects of our programming and a letting go of some of our accumulated obstacles. Part of human nature is the flexibility of the brain, we have the ability to direct and change its development.

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