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What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:04 pm
by Kusala
Great Dhamma talk http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/1390.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:15 pm
by phil
Hi, in my opinion there is nothing wrong with it for those who enjoy playing with it, it probably helps them to be nice people, but it wasn't taught by the Buddha and has nothing to do with liberation.

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:27 pm
by Lazy_eye
According to the Theravada, do all beings have the potential to achieve enlightenment/arahantship (provided, of course, that they follow the Eightfold Path?)

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:25 am
by darvki
phil wrote:Hi, in my opinion there is nothing wrong with it for those who enjoy playing with it, it probably helps them to be nice people, but it wasn't taught by the Buddha and has nothing to do with liberation.
It has everything to do with liberation if one chooses to treat it as such. It's a poetic device that can be used to describe the inclusive and ever-available nature of Dhamma.

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:32 am
by mlswe
Lazy_eye wrote:According to the Theravada, do all beings have the potential to achieve enlightenment/arahantship (provided, of course, that they follow the Eightfold Path?)
Yes, unless one commits patricide, matricide, hurts a Buddha, causes schism in the holy order of monks, or kills an arahant

edit* if I have understood the matter correctly

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:51 am
by PeterB
There is nothing wrong with Buddha Nature.
Just as there is nothing wrong with unicorns.
Its just that in nature they don't exist.

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:54 am
by Fede
I've downloaded the talk, and will comment once I've listened to it in full.
he has a nice voice....

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 8:55 am
by Aloka
There's also "Freedom from Buddha Nature"

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... ature.html

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:00 am
by PeterB
Aloka wrote:There's also "Freedom from Buddha Nature"

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... ature.html

Excellent...the section on No Innate Nature is a particularly clear setting out of the Buddha's teaching as found in the Pali Canon, and a good indicator of why it might be more honest to talk about Buddhisms rather than Buddhism.

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:43 am
by darvki
Aloka wrote:There's also "Freedom from Buddha Nature"

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... ature.html
The article's concluding paragraph begins with: "So instead of making assumptions about innate natures or inevitable outcomes..."

My issue with this is that no one ever said buddha nature had to be an innate nature or an inevitable outcome. Ironically, rejection of the term only seems necessary if one has made assumptions, in this case about its meaning. Some may refer to buddha nature as an innate quality, but no one ever rejects the mention of kamma or nibbana solely because some have embellished the meaning of those words into "cosmic justice system" and "permanent bliss-out" (although usually for thier Sanskrit cognates).

Yes, when it comes to the Buddhadhamma we try to look past metaphysics and ontology. However, that doesn't mean that words like "nature" have to become off-limits.

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:51 am
by tiltbillings
darvki wrote:
Aloka wrote:There's also "Freedom from Buddha Nature"

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... ature.html
The article's concluding paragraph begins with: "So instead of making assumptions about innate natures or inevitable outcomes..."

My issue with this is that no one ever said buddha nature had to be an innate nature or an inevitable outcome.
But very frequently it gets used that way.

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:58 am
by tiltbillings
The yearly arrival of a Buddha-nature thread:

http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3878" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:01 am
by Aloka
.

In Tibetan Buddhism, 'Buddha Nature' is defined as "Unrealised enlightened mind, the essential nature of all sentient beings"

( from 'Awakening the Sleeping Buddha' by the 12th Tai Situpa)

.

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:04 am
by Aloka
tiltbillings wrote:The yearly arrival of a Buddha-nature thread:

http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3878" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I started that one. lol !

Re: What is Wrong with Buddha Nature

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:05 am
by tiltbillings
Aloka wrote:In Tibetan Buddhism, 'Buddha Nature' is defined as "Unrealised enlightened mind, the essential nature of all sentient beings"

( from 'Awakening the Sleeping Buddha' by the 12th Tai Situpa)
Dogen did it better: Buddha-nature=impermanence.