Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra (200-250 CE) The
Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra presents the
tathāgatagarbha as a virtual Buddha-homunculus, a fully wisdom-endowed Buddha, "a most victorious body ... great and indestructible", inviolate, seated majestically in the lotus position within the body of each being, clearly visible only to a perfect Buddha with his supernatural vision. This is the most "personalist" depiction of the
tathāgatagarbha encountered in any of the chief
Tathāgatagarbha sutras and is imagistically reminiscent of Mahāyāna descriptions of the Buddha himself sitting in the lotus posture within his own mother's womb prior to birth: "luminous, glorious, gracious, beautiful to see, seated with his legs crossed" and shining "like pure gold ..."
Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra (2nd century CE) Some of the earliest and most important Tathāgatagarbha sūtras have been associated by scholars with certain
early Buddhist schools in India. Brian Edward Brown dates the composition of the
Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra to the Andhra Ikshvaku in the 3rd century CE, as a product of the Mahāsāṃghikas of the Āndhra region. Wayman has outlined eleven points of complete agreement between the Mahāsāṃghikas and the
Śrīmālā, along with four major arguments for this association. Sree Padma and Anthony Barber also associate the earlier development of the
Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra with the Mahāsāṃghikas, and conclude that the Mahāsāṃghikas of the Āndhra region were responsible for the inception of the Tathāgatagarbha doctrine. According to the
Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, the tathāgatagarbha is "not born, does not die, does not transfer, does not arise. It is beyond the sphere of the characteristics of the compounded; it is permanent, stable and changeless." Moreover, it has been described as "the sphere of experience of the Tathāgatas [Buddhas]."
Angulimaliya Sūtra Every being has Buddha-nature (
Buddha-dhatu). It is indicated in the
Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra that if the Buddhas themselves were to try to find any sentient being who lacked the Buddha-nature, they would fail. In fact, it is stated in this sutra that the Buddhas do discern the presence of the everlasting Buddha-nature in every being: Belief and faith in the true reality of the
tathāgatagarbha is presented by the relevant scriptures as a positive mental act and is strongly urged; indeed, rejection of the
tathāgatagarbha is linked with highly adverse karmic consequences. In the
Angulimaliya Sutra it is stated that teaching only non-self and dismissing the reality of the
tathāgatagarbha karmically lead one into most unpleasant rebirths, whereas spreading the doctrine of the
tathāgatagarbha will bring benefit both to oneself and to the world.
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (3rd century CE) The later
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra presents the
tathāgatagarbha as being a teaching completely consistent with and identical to emptiness. It synthesizes
tathāgatagarbha with the
emptiness (
śūnyatā) of the
prajñāpāramitā sutras. Emptiness is the thought-transcending realm of non-duality and unconditionedness: complete freedom from all constriction and limitation. The
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra describes the
tathāgatagarbha as "by nature brightly shining and pure," and "originally pure," though "enveloped in the garments of the
skandhas,
dhātus and
ayatanas and soiled with the dirt of attachment, hatred, delusion and false imagining." It is said to be "naturally pure," but it appears impure as it is stained by adventitious defilements. Thus the
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra identifies the luminous mind of the canon with the
tathāgatagarbha. It also equates the
tathāgatagarbha (and
ālaya-vijñāna) with nirvana, though this is concerned with the actual attainment of nirvana as opposed to nirvana as a timeless phenomenon. In the later
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra it is said that the
tathāgatagarbha might be mistaken for a self, which it is not. In fact, the sutra states that it is identical to the teaching of no-self. In Section XXVIII of the
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, Mahāmati asks Buddha, "Is not this Tathagata-garbha taught by the Blessed One the same as the ego-substance taught by the philosophers?" The Buddha's response: Yet in the concluding
Sagathakam portion of the text, coming after the above-quoted passage, the sutra does not deny the reality of the Self; in fact it castigates such denial of the 'pure Self'. According to Thomas Cleary, "The original scripture rigorously rejects nihilism and does not ultimately deny either self or world", and quotes the sutra: "Confused thinkers without guidance are in a cave of consciousness running hither and thither seeking to explain the self. The pure self has to be realized first hand; that is the matrix of realization [Tathagatagarbha], inaccessible to speculative thinkers." The
tathāgatagarbha doctrine became linked (in syncretic form) with doctrines of
Citta-mātra ("just-the-mind") or
Yogācāra. Yogācārins aimed to account for the possibility of the attainment of Buddhahood by ignorant sentient beings: the
tathāgatagarbha is the indwelling awakening of bodhi in the very heart of
samsara. There is also a tendency in the
tathāgatagarbha sutras to support vegetarianism, as all persons and creatures are compassionately viewed as possessing one and the same essential nature - the
Buddha-dhatu or Buddha-nature. == Treatises based on the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras ==