A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra

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A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra; The Earliest Exposition of the Buddha-Nature Teaching in India

Book

Sutras (Tibetan)

• 'phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo (Jeweled Lotus Publishing, 2015)
• A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra
• A Few Good Men
• Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra, Vol. 1 (Braarvig, J.)
• Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra, Vol. 2 (Braarvig, J.)
• Ascertaining the Vinaya: Upāli's Questions: Vinayaviniścayopāliparipṛcchā (Erdene-Ochir, B.)
• Bodhisattvas of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahayana
• Bodhisatvapiṭaka (Bibliotheca Polyglotta)
• Creatures: Saṅgharakṣita and the Shape-Shifting Nāga
• Describing the Benefits of Producing Representations of the Thus-Gone One: Tathāgatapratibimbapratiṣṭhānuśaṃsasaṃvarṇana (Teleki, K.)
• Die Überlieferung vom Lebensende des Buddha, Part 1
• Inspiring Determination: Adhyāśayasaṃcodana (Dorje, Lama Sherab)
• Marici-Dharani
• Narayanapariprccha: Sanskrit and Tibetan Texts
• Samantabhadracaryā-praṇidhānarāja (Devi)
• Saṃgharakṣitāvadāna (Bibliotheca Polyglotta)
• Sūtra of Aṅgulimālika
• Teaching How All Phenomena Are without Origin: Sarvadharmāpravṛttinirdeśa (Hinkle, T.)
• The Absorption of the Miraculous Ascertainment of Peace: Praśāntaviniścayaprātihāryasamādhi (Hinkle, T.)
• The Acceptance of Evil Acts in the Śīla-paṭala of the Yogācārabhūmi
• The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma: Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna (Doctor, T.)
• The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī's Buddha Realm: Mañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūha (Hinkle, T.)
• The Avalokinī Sūtra: Avalokinīsūtra (Collet-Cassart, B.)
• The Bhaiṣajyaguru-Sūtra and the Buddhism of Gilgit
• The Bodhisattva Path: Based on the Ugraparipṛcchā, a Mahāyāna Sūtra
• The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha: Bhagavānbhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhasya pūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistāra (Krug, A.)
• The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch: Ratnolkādhāraṇī (Jackson, D.)
• The Diamond Sutra (Conze)
• The Exalted Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Wisdom Gone Beyond Called The Vajra Cutter
• The Fortunate Aeon: How the Thousand Buddhas Become Enlightened
• The Good Eon: Bhadrakalpika (Doctor, T.)
• The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti
• The Jewel Cloud: Ratnamegha (Doctor, T.)
• The King of Glorious Sutras called the Exalted Sublime Golden Light
• The King of Samādhis Sūtra: Samādhirājasūtra (Roberts, P.)
• The Legend of Saṃgharakṣita
• The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
• The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī: Mañjuśrīvikrīḍita (Braarvig, J.)
• The Origins and Early History of the Mahāratnakūṭa Tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism with a Study of the Ratnarāśisūtra and Related Materials
• The Perfection of Wisdom (Schopen)
• The Play in Full: Lalitavistara (Doctor, A.)
• The Precious Discourse on the Blessed One’s Extensive Wisdom That Leads to Infinite Certainty: Niṣṭhāgatabhagavajjñānavaipulyasūtraratnānanta (Doctor, A.)
• The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1): Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā (Brockhausen, K.)
• The Questions of Sāgaramati: Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā (Hinkle, T.)
• The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (1): Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā (Hinkle, T.)
• The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (2): Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā (Ewing, B.)
• The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (3): Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā (Gyaltsen, Kalsang)
• The Range of the Bodhisattva: A Study of an Early Mahāyānasūtra - Āryasatyakaparivarta
• The Rice Seedling Sutra
• The Rice Seedling: Śālistamba (Raktrul, 6th)
• The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith: Śraddhābalādhānāvatāramudrā (Beer, Z.)
• The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra
• The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness: A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: Volume 1: Introduction
• The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness: A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: Volume 2: Edition and Translation
• The Stem Array: Gaṇḍavyūha (Roberts, P.)
• The Story of Saṅgharakṣita (Stories 23–25)
• The Strength of the Elephant: Hastikakṣya (Forgues, G.)
• The Sutra of the Householder Uncouth
• The Ten Bhūmis: Daśabhūmika (Roberts, P.)
• The Ugraparipṛcchā, the Mahāratnakūṭasūtra and Early Mahāyāna Buddhism
• The Vajradhvajapariṇāmanā: An Edition and Translation of the Tibetan Version
• The Voice of the Buddha
• The White Lotus of the Good Dharma: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (Roberts, P.)
• The Ākāśagarbha Sūtra: Ākāśagarbhasūtra (Tenzin, Jampa, et al)
• The Śālistamba Sūtra
• The Śālistamba Sūtra and Its Indian Commentaries, Volume I
• The Śālistamba Sūtra and Its Indian Commentaries, Volume II
• Vagrakkhedikâ, The Diamond-Cutter
• Vimalakīrtinirdeśa: Transliterated Sanskrit Text Collated with Tibetan and Chinese Translations
• Śāntideva and the Mādhyamika: The Prajñāpāramitā-Pariccheda of the Bodhicaryāvatāra

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Michael Zimmermann's A Buddha Within is a comprehensive edition of the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra (TGS) and an annotated English translation based on Tibetan materials. It includes "an analysis of the textual history of the TGS, an interpretation of the term tathāgatagarbha, a discussion of the authors' ideas as reflected in the sūtra, and the specification of the place of the TGS in Indian Buddhist history"(8). Key sections include an analysis of the term tathāgatagarbha (39), a detailed discussion of terms related to buddha-nature (50-62), and a discussion of the sources, motives, and reception of the text in India, Tibet, China, and in the twentieth century (67-90).

Citation

Zimmermann, Michael. A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra; The Earliest Exposition of the Buddha-Nature Teaching in India. Biblotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica 6. Tokyo: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2002. http://lirs.ru/lib/Tathagatagarbhasutra,Zimmermann,2002.pdf.

Publisher Link

http://iriab.soka.ac.jp/publication/bppb.html

Table of contents

• Preface7
• Acknowledgements8
• Technical Note: My Use of the Asterisk10

• I A Study and Annotated Translation of the Tathagatagarbhasūtra 11
  • A General Study and Text-historical Considerations12
    • 1 Textual History and Structure of the TGS 16
      • 1.1 Different Recensions of the TGS16
      • 1.2 The Representatives of TGS₂24
      • 1.3 Similarities between the Chinese Translations27
      • 1.4 Structure, Contents and Textual History of the TGS27
      • 1.5 The Structure, Nature and Contents of the Nine Similes34

• • • 2 The Meaning and Occurrences of the Term tathāgatagarbha 39
      • 2.1 The Term tathāgatagarbha39
      • 2.2 The Textual Occurrences of the Terms tathāgatagarbha and garbha46

• • • 3 The Buddha-Nature Doctrine in the TGS 50
      • 3.1 The Buddha-Nature50
      • 3.2 Becoming a Buddha62
      • 3.3 How to Become a Buddha65

• • • 4 The TGS as a Part of lndian Buddhism: Its Sources, Motives and Reception67
      • 4.1 The Titles of the TGS68
      • 4.2 The Recorded Chinese Translations of the TGS69
      • 4.3 Possible Motives of the Authors of the TGS75
      • 4.4 The TGS in the History of lndian Buddhism77
      • 4.5 The TGS in the Ratnagotravibhāga(vyākhyā) and Other Indian Texts84
      • 4.6 The Twentieth-Century Reception of the TGS90

• • B An Annotated Translation of the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra into English93
• Il Critical and Diplomatic Editions of the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra 163

• • C The Textual Materials164
    • 1 Information on the Tibetan Manuscripts and Xylographic Editions Utilized164
      • A – The Tabo Manuscript Fragments164
      • B – The Berlin Manuscript Kanjur165
      • Bth – The Newark Manuscript Kanjur from Bathang166
      • Bu – The Citation in Bu ston Rin chen grub's De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gsal zhing mdzes par byed pa'i rgyan167
      • D – The Derge Kanjur (Nyingma Edition)167
      • J – The 'Jang sa tham or Lithang Kanjur168
      • L – The Shel dkar Manuscript Kanjur (London)169
      • N – The Narthang Kanjur169
      • P₁, P₂, P₃ – The Phug brag Ms Kanjur170
      • Q – The Peking Kanjur (Otani Reprint)171
      • S – The Stog Palace Manuscript Kanjur171
      • T– The Tokyo Manuscript Kanjur172

• • • 2 The Stemmatic Relations among the Representatives of Tib 172
      • 2.1 The Three Phug brag Versions173
      • 2.2 The Kanjurs of the Tshal pa Lineage177
      • 2.3 The Them spangs ma Kanjurs186
      • 2.4 The Position of Bu191
      • 2.5 The Position of A192
      • 2.6 The Relation of the Main Transmissional Groups to Each Other193
      • 2.7 Possible Stemmas of Tib203

• • • 3 Characteristics of the Textual Witnesses of Tib 207
      • 3.1 Archaic Features207
      • 3.2 Irregular Verbal Forms208
      • 3.3 Colophons and Translators210

• • • 4 A Brief Evaluation of the Chinese Materials213

• • • 5 Remarks on the Various Editions214
      • 5.1 Principles Governing the Critical Edition of Tib214
      • 5.2 Remarks on All Editions and Their Critical Apparatuses215
      • 5.3 The Editions of the Tibetan Translations216
      • 5.4 The Chinese Editions218

• • D The Editions221
    • The Critical and Diplomatic Editions221
    • Apparatus of Secondary Variants370
    • Sigla, Symbols and Graphic Devices of the Tibetan Material391
    • Sigla and Graphic Devices of the Chinese Material392

• • E Appendices395
    • Appendix A: Comparative Chart of the Bodhisattva Names in OE396
    • Appendix B: Comparative Chart of Pāda Sequences398
    • Appendix C: Comparative Table of Sections and Chapters of the Chinese and Tibetan Editions400

• • Bibliography405
  • Primary Sources, with Abbreviations405
  • Select Secondary Sources412

• • Index427

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Full translation of

Tathāgatagarbhasūtra [तथागतगर्भसूत्र]. 'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Tathāgata Essence (84000)]. Translated by Amoghavajra, Buddhabhadra, Śākyaprabha, Ye shes sde. Kangyur, RKTSK 258 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=258&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra (TGS) is a relatively short text that represents the starting point of a number of works in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism centering around the idea that all living beings have the buddha-nature. The genesis of the term tathāgatagarbha (in Tibetan de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po, in Chinese rulai zang 如來藏, the key term of this strand of Buddhism and the title of the sūtra), can be observed in the textual history of the TGS. (Zimmermann, A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, p. 7)

1 Scholarship on

Tathāgatagarbhasūtra [तथागतगर्भसूत्र]. 'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Tathāgata Essence (84000)]. Translated by Amoghavajra, Buddhabhadra, Śākyaprabha, Ye shes sde. Kangyur, RKTSK 258 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=258&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra (TGS) is a relatively short text that represents the starting point of a number of works in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism centering around the idea that all living beings have the buddha-nature. The genesis of the term tathāgatagarbha (in Tibetan de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po, in Chinese rulai zang 如來藏, the key term of this strand of Buddhism and the title of the sūtra), can be observed in the textual history of the TGS. (Zimmermann, A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, p. 7)

Tathāgatagarbhasūtra [तथागतगर्भसूत्र]. 'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Tathāgata Essence (84000)]. Translated by Amoghavajra, Buddhabhadra, Śākyaprabha, Ye shes sde. Kangyur, RKTSK 258 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=258&typ=1.

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Tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt तथागतगर्भ  Tib དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་  Ch 如来藏  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Nyingma - The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century. Tib རྙིང་མ་  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt तथागतगर्भ  Tib དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་  Ch 如来藏  

Go to the page with the definition of 'de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po'