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Buddhanature

TheswingisyellowTheswingisyellow Trying to be open to existenceSamsara Veteran
edited November 2010 in Philosophy
Very quick thread: In thinking about Buddhanature I have a difficult time thinking that things are inherently good (or bad for that matter). But I was thinking could a definition of Buddhanature be that which is already perfect and complete and by perfect and complete means accepting this world as it is and not what I want it to be? The world is already fine and whole it is my grasping that makes it not so.
all the best,
Todd

Comments

  • shenpennangwashenpennangwa
    edited November 2010
    The swing is yellow wrote: »
    Very quick thread: In thinking about Buddhanature I have a difficult time thinking that things are inherently good (or bad for that matter). But I was thinking could a definition of Buddhanature be that which is already perfect and complete and by perfect and complete means accepting this world as it is and not what I want it to be? The world is already fine and whole it is my grasping that makes it not so.
    all the best,
    Todd

    Hey Todd,
    You're coming at the question from the right direction in my opinion.
    If you ask me Buddhanature is a provisional teaching. The ultimate nature of all beings and phenomena is emptiness. That emptiness isnt stagnant or nihilistic and this is where the idea of Buddhanature becomes useful. It reminds us that the extreme of nihilism is not the direction for us to go in our practice but reminds us of the evolutionary capacity of the ultimate truth of empty luminosity.
  • TheswingisyellowTheswingisyellow Trying to be open to existence Samsara Veteran
    edited November 2010
    shenpen nangwa,
    Thank you for your reply. For me Buddhanature was a term to describe that which is already complete and whole, not necessarily bad or good. An emptiness/eveness to existence that which rides between samsara and nirvana. Be it blissful or painful-that which simply is. This is what it means to me. I believe there is a general idea that when one states that a sentient being has Buddhanature this generally implies a state of purity that is only obscured by ones grasping or defilements. This definition in essence then holds that there is an inate goodness or purity to something. I don't believe anything is inately bad or good but our mind that makes it thus.
    Again thank you,
    Todd
  • filosophiafilosophia
    edited November 2010
    Buddha nature is perfect and complete, and that is the 'Eternal Self' that many other sects of Buddhism rejects. It's not so much about viewing the world as perfect just the way it is, because the world is imperfect, but that is what the world is supposed to be: the world contains injustice, starvation, suffering, and yet, that is the karma of the world, that is the world's just retribution, so to ask for the world to be perfect is to ask for the world to be equal to the Buddha Nature.

    The Buddha Nature is not an ego, it's not a complex being, it's not a material self, but rather the Buddha Nature is the unborn mind prior to becoming. It's not an atom because there would be multiple of them. Rather, the Buddha Nature is our True Self. It can only be experienced in stages of deep meditation. And even then, we can know it exists, but can not grasp its form, because it is formless. All we can know is that everything else is empty (hence the saying 'all things are impermanent), but this does not imply that the Buddha Nature is impermanent. That Nature is perfect and pure, and the goal of Buddhism and the source of life.

    My personal self is not that Light, but my true self is that Light.
  • megahumanmegahuman
    edited November 2010
    Perfection is something that can't be created, it already is.
    Natural.
  • filosophiafilosophia
    edited November 2010
    megahuman wrote: »
    Perfection is something that can't be created, it already is.
    Natural.

    That's right, it's impossible for an imperfect being to become perfect, the only way is to realize we are already perfect. This perfection is the 'true self' that is too often ignored in Buddhism, because it's not really a self, not in the ego-sense at least, but it certainly does exist as the unborn, uncaused cause of all things, the only problem is this true nature is covered over by ignorance.

    “My teachings are (to be called) Brahmayana [Path to Brahman/Absolute/The-One]” –[Samyutta Nikaya, Mahavagga verse 4] ~ Gotama Buddha

    “'The purification of one’s own mind/will', this means the light (joti) within one’s mind/will (citta) is the very Soul (attano)” [DN2-Att. 2.479].
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