- Buddha-Nature
- Compassion
- Defining Bodhicitta
- Emptiness
- Equalizing & Exchanging Self and Others
- Equanimity
- History of Bodhicitta Teachings
- How to Develop Bodhicitta
- Interdependent Origination
- Lineage of the Profound View
- Lineage of the Vast Conduct
- Mahāyāna
- Mind Training
- Non-Self
- Seven-Point Instructions of Cause and Effect
- The Bodhisattva Ideal
- The Bodhisattva Path
- The Bodhisattva Vow
- The Bodhisattva's Goal
- The Four Immeasurables
- The Six Perfections
- The Three Higher Trainings
- The Two Accumulations
- The Two Truths
- Tonglen: The Practice of Sending and Receiving
- Types of Bodhicitta
Buddha-nature is the capacity for enlightenment and freedom present in every being, a fundamental core of goodness, wisdom, and compassion that is hidden by clouds of ignorance—so hidden, in fact, that we might never even suspect its presence. It is like the sun that continues to shine regardless of the clouds that may cover it. By clearing away those clouds of greed, anger, and selfishness we uncover a state of perfection that is, and always has been, our own true nature.
Tsadra Foundation has developed an entire resource for the study of buddha-nature. For an in-depth resource on buddha-nature, visit:
Buddha-Nature: Wisdom and Compassion as Our True Nature
Bodhicitta and buddha-nature are two of the most important topics in Mahāyāna Buddhism. The teachings on buddha-nature deal with the ontological exploration of the true nature of all beings, while the bodhicitta teachings present the essence of the soteriological process to realize such a true nature. In this respect, buddha-nature concerns what Buddhist scholars called the "ground"—our primordial nature that has existed since beginningless time and that the spiritual path must bring forth. Bodhicitta manifests this true nature as "the path," while perfect enlightenment is the ultimate "result"—the full realization of buddha-nature and complete development of bodhicitta. Thus, the topics of buddha-nature and bodhicitta span the full length of the spiritual process of transformation and awakening.
Buddha-Nature as True Nature
The theory of buddha-nature posits that all sentient beings have the capacity for enlightenment and freedom, and that sentient beings at their fundamental core are good, positive, and pure. Just as the sun continues to shine regardless of clouds that may temporarily obscure it, all beings are said to possess goodness as their true nature, though adventitious impurities may obscure this innate nature. This intrinsic goodness is identified with the Buddha's nature itself; thus all sentient beings are said to possess buddha-nature.
The English term buddha-nature, which is used here and is popular today, is a direct translation of the term buddhadhātu (Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཁམས་ or སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་, Ch. fóxìng). The most common term used to refer to buddha-nature in the Buddhist scriptures is tathāgatagarbha (Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་, Ch. rúláizàng), which can be rendered as "the womb of the Buddha" or "the essence/heart of the Buddha." Other terms include sugatagarbha (བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་), or "the womb of the Sugata," which is an epithet of the Buddha; dhātu (ཁམས་), or "element"; dharmadhātu (ཆོས་དབྱིངས་), or "sphere of reality"; tathatā (དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་), or "suchness"; and dharmakāya (ཆོས་སྐུ་), or "truth body." There are also other terms used for buddha-nature in different Buddhist texts and meditation traditions.
The Buddhist sūtras present buddha-nature using many different analogies. It is sometimes compared to a treasure hidden under the ground of an impoverished person, which needs only be revealed. Despite possessing innate purity and buddhahood, sentient beings suffer from ignorance of their true nature, just as a destitute person suffers in poverty while unaware of the priceless treasure buried beneath their house. Buddha-nature is also compared to a healthy seed, which needs to be nurtured and cultivated in order to grow into a majestic tree. Thus, it is seen as a potential to be developed. Regardless of the analogy, most Mahāyāna philosophers claim that all sentient beings have buddha-nature, which is what makes the whole process of enlightenment possible.
Following The Buddha-Nature Sūtra, Maitreya, in The Ultimate Continuum of Mahāyāna, the locus classicus for buddha-nature teachings, presents nine different analogies, including the two above, to illustrate the hidden presence of buddha-nature in all beings.
- Buddha figure in the wilting, unsightly lotus
- Honey in the beehive
- Kernel of grain in the husk
- Gold nugget in a pile of excrement
- Treasure underneath a pauper's house
- A mango seed ready to unfold into a tree
- Precious statue of the Buddha in a rag
- A universal monarch in the womb of a poor woman
- Golden statue in a clay mold[1]
Nāgārjuna, in The Praise of the Sphere of Reality, compares buddha-nature to a lamp enclosed in a pot—shining brilliantly but invisible until the hammer of meditative wisdom breaks the pot of ignorance.[2] In order to establish that buddha-nature exists in all beings, Maitreya presents three main arguments in The Ultimate Continuum.
Since the perfect buddhakāya radiates, Since suchness is undifferentiable, And because of the disposition, All beings always possess the buddha heart. (1.28)[3]
Firstly, Maitreya argues that because the enlightened form of the Buddha has become manifest in some beings, this proves that all beings have buddha-nature. If such potential did not exist in sentient beings, they could not attain buddhahood—just as one cannot extract oil from sand but can from mustard seeds, or make charcoal, which is naturally black, turn white. The resultant state of awakening is a sign that the capacity for awakening exists.
Secondly, he argues that the suchness or true nature of sentient beings and the Buddha is identical. Just as the Buddha is empty of inherent independent existence, all sentient beings are also by nature empty of inherent existence. Because they share this nature of emptiness, sentient beings have the potential to realize enlightenment just as the Buddha did.
Thirdly, he argues that sentient beings have a spiritual disposition (gotra) that inclines them toward liberation and fulfillment. Without this, one would not seek happiness, avoid suffering, or value harmony, love, and peace. The fact that even the most malicious and unruly beings wish for happiness, harmony, and peace for themselves and express love and empathy toward their loved ones is an indication that all sentient beings have a positive and good nature.
Buddha-Nature as the Nature of Mind
According to Buddhist philosophy, all beings are composed of mind and body, which in the Buddhist system are analyzed as the five aggregates (pañcaskandha, ཕུང་པོ་ལྔ་): form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. The Buddha and the Buddhist masters argued that there is no person or self other than these psychophysical constituents which make up the individual. The person is just a label given to the assembly of many parts in a certain shape, with certain functions and characteristics. In other words, there is no underlying self or soul that constitutes the person in Buddhist philosophy.
The physical body and its parts cannot be the enduring nature of sentient beings. The body is impermanent, limited to this life, and composed of numerous parts and subparts. When examined through reductionist analysis, the body and its parts are shown to lack inherent existence—they are empty of any independent, permanent essence. This leaves us with the mind or the psychological constituents of a person, which are believed to extend beyond this lifetime. The mind or consciousness is often seen as an integral part of the person. Although it seems to be lasting and permanent, even these psychological constituents, including thoughts, emotions, feelings, and impulses, are in reality momentary and constantly changing. Thus, the mind cannot be considered the enduring nature of beings. Mahāyāna philosophers therefore argue that the enduring nature of sentient beings is not the impermanent ordinary consciousness but the intrinsic, empty, and luminous nature of the mind, which is the basic state of awareness.
This fundamental nature of awareness is considered unconditioned, unchanging, and the pure essence of awareness itself. It is referred to as emptiness, for one cannot find an inherent self-existent point of fixation; it is empty of inherent existence. It is referred to as luminosity, for it is by nature pure and lucid awareness. Buddha-nature, according to Mahāyāna philosophers, refers to this emptiness, luminosity, or their coalescence. In this way, buddha-nature, or the fundamental nature of beings, is identified with the empty, conscious, open, and pure nature of the mind. It is this nature that the Mahāyāna path—which has the practice of bodhicitta at its core—aims to bring forth and actualize as the ultimate goal.
Bodhicitta as an Expression of Buddha-Nature
From the point of view of Mahāyāna philosophers, bodhicitta and all other positive spiritual qualities come about due to the presence of buddha-nature. Without the presence of the capacity for positive qualities, none of it can arise. Nāgārjuna illustrates this using the analogy of gold ore in The Praise of the Sphere of Reality.
If the element is present, through one's efforts, One will be able to see pure gold. If the element is absent, despite one's toil, Only misery will come out of it.[4]
According to Nāgārjuna, it would be futile to search for gold in things which do not contain gold ore. Similarly, spiritual endeavors would be futile if beings did not possess an underlying positive nature. Maitreya, in The Ultimate Continuum, claims that the weariness of suffering, the wish for happiness, and similar spiritual impulses are results of latent buddha-nature.
If the buddha element did not exist, There would be no weariness of suffering, Nor would there be the wish, striving, And aspiration for nirvāṇa. (1.40)
This seeing of the flaws of suffering and the qualities of happiness In [saṃsāric] existence and nirvāṇa Occurs [only] when the disposition exists Because it does not occur in those without the disposition. (1.41)[5]
This spiritual gene or disposition is the innate pure awareness latent in sentient beings. It is referred to as the naturally abiding spiritual gene (prakṛtiṣṭagotra, རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་). It is said to exist in all beings from beginningless time as their true nature. When this nature becomes manifest through spiritual expressions such as generating bodhicitta or taking the bodhisattva vow, it is known as the developed spiritual gene (samupadanagotra, རྒྱས་གྱུར་གྱི་རིགས་). The former leads to the realization of the dharmakāya, or truth body, and latter to the rūpakāya, or the form body of perfect enlightenment.
Thus, the reason beings can give rise to bodhicitta (which combines wisdom and compassion) and cultivate other spiritual qualities leading to perfect enlightenment is the constant presence of buddha-nature, whether one is cognizant of it or not. As one engages in spiritual training, the impurities which obscure buddha-nature are gradually removed, revealing the intrinsic qualities of buddha-nature. Maitreya presents nine different types of impurities that obscure buddha-nature and are gradually removed by progressing on the path. They are the subtle forms of (1) attachment, (2) aversion, and (3) ignorance, (4) the explicit surge of these three emotions, (5) the impurities to be removed by the path of seeing, (6) by path of practice, (7) by the first seven levels of the bodhisattva path, (8) by the last three levels of the bodhisattva path, and finally (9) by the pristine wisdom which brings forth buddhahood. By removing these impurities through practice, relative bodhicitta becomes stronger, and ultimate bodhicitta, which is the realization of buddha-nature, becomes clearer and more evident.
In his Praise of the Sphere of Reality, Nāgārjuna compares this process to the waxing phase of the moon.[6] On the path of accumulation and the path of application, one takes up buddha-nature as a point of practice only with faith and confidence. It is like the vision of the new moon. As one reaches the Mahāyāna path of seeing, a practitioner is said to have the first direct experience of buddha-nature. This is like the early waxing phase of the moon. Like the waxing moon, this increases in the subsequent stages, eventually resulting in the state of perfect enlightenment when all obscurations are fully and permanently removed and all qualities of the Buddha become fully manifest. This state is like the full moon when the process is complete.
In this manner, the realization of buddha-nature is aligned to the development of bodhicitta. Initially, a beginner in practice carries out irregular meditation on bodhicitta with concerted effort. Gradually, with constant effort and regular practice, the practitioner is able to generate bodhicitta effortlessly. Eventually, on an advanced level of practice, bodhicitta would arise in the person spontaneously. In the final stage, the practitioner attains the complete and effortless actualization of ultimate bodhicitta in the state of the Buddha. The four, five, ten, or twenty-two types of bodhicitta, which are discussed in the section on types of bodhicitta, align to the progressive realization of buddha-nature, which is the true nature of being.
Buddha-Nature and Ultimate Bodhicitta
While relative bodhicitta, the wish to attain perfect enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, is seen as an expression or sign of the inner buddha-nature, ultimate bodhicitta refers to buddha-nature itself as the ultimate truth and the realization of it. In The Commentary on Bodhicitta, Nāgārjuna presents bodhicitta as a synonym of the ultimate:
As suchness and the true end, As the signless and the ultimate, As bodhicitta and thatness, And as emptiness, it is explained.[7]
Nāgārjuna clarifies that the ultimate truth—which is also referred to as suchness, the true end, signlessness, thatness, and emptiness—is bodhicitta. The term bodhicitta is used in this case in what Dorji Wangchuk calls "ontological bodhicitta."[8] Bodhicitta is the nature of reality and the way things are. The term is used to refer to emptiness and suchness, which is established by using many different reductionist analyses, the most prominent of them being the five Madhyamaka reasonings. For example, an entity such as the body is examined as to whether it truly exists. If it exists, it must exist either as one or many. The entity is conceptually dissected into many parts and then into further parts in order to establish that there is no true inherent one, or singular, existence. If there is no one, there cannot be many, and besides the singular and plural state of being, there cannot be a third option of existence. Thus, the existence of the body is negated, and the same logic is applied to all phenomena, including the mind.
Just as the existence of the body cannot withstand analysis and is not tenable, the nonexistence or absence of the body also cannot withstand analysis, as such absence is merely a negative construct. Thus, the nonexistence of the body is also negated. Similarly, a third option is not viable, as existence and nonexistence are mutually exclusive, and a fourth option of neither is also not sustainable, as double negation can lead to affirmation. The analysis ends in the negation of all conceptual constructs and mental elaborations, revealing a state of emptiness beyond concepts. This state of emptiness, free from all mental elaborations and conceptual reference points, is identified in Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka school as ultimate truth, ultimate bodhicitta, and buddha-nature.
Nāgārjuna’s scholastic corpus, including The Root Verses on the Middle Way, and the writings of many other Mādhyamika thinkers undertake the exposition of this theory of emptiness in detail. Kamalaśīla points out in his Entering the Practice of Yoga how such emptiness or ultimate truth is ultimate bodhicitta.
Therefore, one must cultivate bodhicitta. For this, there are two: relative and ultimate. Relative bodhicitta is to pledge to liberate limitless sentient beings from suffering, and to initially cultivate the aspiration to become a buddha in order to benefit them. This should be obtained through a ritual from others. Ultimate bodhicitta is inexpressible, stainless, endless, free from elaborations, undeceiving, and free from appearance and nonappearance.[9]
He also explains the same in The Middle Stages of Meditation:
Having generated relative bodhicitta, one must strive to cultivate ultimate bodhicitta. Ultimate bodhicitta transcends the world, is free from all elaborations, very clear, ultimate in scope, stainless, immovable, and unshaken, like a butter lamp when there is no wind.[10]
Although all phenomena, including the body and mind, are found to be empty of inherent existence under the scrutiny of reductive analysis, they undeniably appear like a magical illusion when all the causes and conditions are present. The mind, for instance, is empty of true existence in that the past mind has ceased to exist, the future mind is yet to be, and there is no present mind between the two. One cannot find any entity called the mind in any shape, form, color, etc. Yet, while being in the state of emptiness, there is a vivid awareness and a core pure consciousness that is empty, open, and unfabricated. This aspect of the mind is presented in the Buddhist scriptures as luminosity or clear light. The hymnic corpus of Nāgārjuna’s writings and the writings of Maitreya and Asaṅga highlight this nature of the mind. This empty and luminous nature of the mind forms a fundamental concept in the later tantric literature, which elaborates on it.
In this manner, while some Buddhist scriptures and meditation traditions identify buddha-nature with the emptiness aspect of the mind, others associate buddha-nature with the luminous aspect, and still other texts and traditions underscore buddha-nature as the inseparable union of the two. In any case, buddha-nature, thus taught, is equated with ultimate bodhicitta, the ultimate truth, and the sphere of reality. In The Great Nirvāṇa Mahāyāna Sūtra and The Ultimate Continuum, this ultimate is also described as transcending the ordinary notions of self and non-self, permanence and impermanence, impurity and purity, and pain and pleasure. Thus, it is designated as the great self, great permanence, great purity, and great bliss.
The Ultimate Continuum and numerous other Mahāyāna scriptures also explain how the ultimate truth of emptiness, or buddha-nature, is realized without any sense of affirmation or negation, fixation or distraction, and subject or object. In experiencing buddha-nature, the whole process of conceptual thinking and mental activity and all forms of dualistic clinging are dropped. The mind then merges with the nature of emptiness and becomes one with it, having no point of focus, fabrication, or contrivance. Such inner experience of buddha-nature, also known as pristine wisdom discerning the ultimate, is then referred to as ultimate bodhicitta, as the Buddha points out in The Bodhisattva Basket Sūtra.
Moreover, O Śāriputra, the mind is awakened in its nature, and hence it is called bodhicitta.[11]
This cognitive experience of the ultimate nature of the mind and all phenomena, paradoxically presented as a seeing without seeing, constitutes the pristine wisdom or gnosis of the meditative absorption of the sublime bodhisattvas and what Dorji Wangchuk calls "gnoseological bodhicitta."[12] This type of bodhicitta is the mind’s actualization of empty, luminous buddha-nature. It is the main topic of many esoteric Vajrayāna texts such as The Great Perfection of All Phenomena: The All-Creating King of the Awakened Mind[13] and Mañjuśrīmitra's Liquid Gold from Stone: Meditation on the Awakened Mind.[14] Ultimate bodhicitta, in this context, is fully identified with buddha-nature—the ground reality from which both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa arise—and it forms the central theme in most of the advanced tantric systems, including the Great Perfection and Mahāmudrā teachings.
Notes
- ↑ སངས་རྒྱས་པད་ངན་སྦྲང་རྩི་སྦྲང་མ་ལ། །སྦུན་ལ་སྙིང་པོ་མི་གཙང་ནང་ན་གསེར། །ས་ལ་གཏེར་དང་སྨྱུག་སོགས་འབྲས་ཆུང་དང་། །གོས་ཧྲུལ་ནང་ན་རྒྱལ་བའི་སྐུ་དང་ནི། །བུད་མེད་ངན་མའི་ལྟོ་ན་མི་བདག་དང་། །ས་ལ་རིན་ཆེན་གཟུགས་ཡོད་ཇི་ལྟ་བར། །གློ་བུར་ཉོན་མོངས་དྲི་མས་བསྒྲིབས་པ་ཡི། །སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས་ལ་དེ་བཞིན་ཁམས་འདི་གནས། ། Maitreya, Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraratnagotravibhāga (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos), in Derge Tengyur D4024, vol. 123, sems tsam, phi, fol. 58b–59a, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_4024.
- ↑ ཇི་ལྟར་མར་མེ་བུམ་ནང་གནས། །ཅུང་ཞིག་སྣང་བར་མི་འགྱུར་བ། །དེ་བཞིན་ཉོན་མོངས་བུམ་ནང་གནས། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱང་མི་མཐོང་ངོ་། ། Nāgārjuna, Dharmadhātustava (Chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa), in Derge Tengyur D1118, vol. 1, bstod tshogs, fol. 64a, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_1118.
- ↑ རྫོགས་སངས་སྐུ་ནི་འཕྲོ་ཕྱིར་དང་། ། དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དབྱེར་མེད་ཕྱིར་དང་། ། རིགས་ཡོད་ཕྱིར་ན་ལུས་ཅན་ཀུན། ། རྟག་ཏུ་སངས་རྒྱས་སྙིང་པོ་ཅན། ། This is Karl Brunnhölzl's translation. See Karl Brunnhölzl, When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra (Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2014), 356–57. For the Tibetan text, see Maitreya, Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraratnagotravibhāga (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos), in Derge Tengyur D4024, vol. 123, sems tsam, phi, fol. 56a, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_4024.
- ↑ ཁམས་ཡོད་ན་ནི་ལས་བྱས་པས། །ས་ལེ་སྦྲམ་དག་མཐོང་བར་འགྱུར། །ཁམས་མེད་ན་ནི་ལས་བྱས་ན། །ཉོན་མོངས་འབའ་ཞིག་བསྐྱེད་པར་ཟད། ། Nāgārjuna, Dharmadhātustava (Chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa), in Derge Tengyur D1118, vol. 1, bstod tshogs, ka, fol. 64a, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_1118.
- ↑ གལ་ཏེ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཁམས་མེད་ན། །སྡུག་ལ་སྐྱོ་བར་མི་འགྱུར་ཞིང་། །མྱ་ངན་འདས་ལ་འདོད་པ་དང་། །དོན་གཉེར་སྨོན་པའང་མེད་པར་འགྱུར། ། སྲིད་དང་མྱ་ངན་འདས་ལ་དེའི། །སྡུག་བདེའི་སྐྱོན་ཡོན་མཐོང་བ་འདི། །རིགས་ཡོད་ལས་ཡིན་གང་ཕྱིར་དེ། །རིགས་མེད་དག་ལ་མེད་ཕྱིར་རོ། ། This is Karl Brunnhölzl's translation. See Karl Brunnhölzl, When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra (Boston: Snow Lion Publications, 2014), 367–68. For the Tibetan text, see Maitreya, Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraratnagotravibhāga (Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos), in Derge Tengyur D4024, vol. 123, sems tsam, phi, fol. 56b, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_4024.
- ↑ ཇི་ལྟར་མར་ངོའི་བཅུ་བཞི་ལ། །ཟླ་བ་ཅུང་ཟད་མཐོང་བ་ལྟར། །དེ་བཞིན་ཐེག་མཆོག་མོས་རྣམས་ལའང་། །སངས་རྒྱས་སྐུ་ནི་ཅུང་ཟད་མཐོང་། །ཇི་ལྟར་ཚེས་པའི་ཟླ་བ་ལ། །སྐད་ཅིག་སྐད་ཅིག་རྒྱས་པར་མཐོང་། །དེ་བཞིན་ས་ལ་ཞུགས་རྣམས་ཀྱང་། །རིམ་གྱིས་རིམ་གྱིས་འཕེལ་བར་མཐོང་། །ཇི་ལྟར་ཡར་ངོའི་བཅོ་ལྔ་ལ། །ཟླ་བ་རྫོགས་པར་འགྱུར་བ་ལྟར། །དེ་བཞིན་ས་ཡི་མཐར་ཐུག་ན། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་ཡང་རྫོགས་ཤིང་གསལ། ། Nāgārjuna, Dharmadhātustava (Chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa), in Derge Tengyur D1118, vol. 1, bstod tshogs, ka, fol. 66b, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_1118.
- ↑ དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དང་ཡང་དག་མཐའ། །མཚན་མ་མེད་དང་དོན་དམ་ཉིད། །བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་མཆོག་དེ་ཉིད་དང་། །སྟོང་ཉིད་དུ་ཡང་བཤད་པ་ཡིན། ། Nāgārjuna, Bodhicittavivaraṇa (Byang chub sems kyi 'grel pa zhes bya ba), in Derge Tengyur D1800, vol. 35, rgyud, ngi, fol. 41a, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_1800.
- ↑ See Dorji Wangchuk, The Resolve to Become a Buddha: A Study of the Bodhicitta Concept in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph Series 23 (Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2007), 205ff., https://dorjipenjore.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/the-resolve-to-become-a-buddha-a-study-of-the-bodhicitta-concept-in-indo-tibetan-buddhism.pdf.
- ↑ དེ་བས་ན་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཏུ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་དགོས་ཏེ། དེ་ལ་ཡང་གཉིས་ཏེ། ཀུན་རྫོབ་དང་། དོན་དམ་པའོ། །དེ་ལ་ཀུན་རྫོབ་ནི་ཚད་མེད་པའི་སེམས་ཅན་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ལས་དགྲོལ་བར་དམ་བཅས་ཏེ། དེ་དག་ལ་ཕན་པའི་ཕྱིར་བདག་སངས་རྒྱས་སུ་གྱུར་ཅིག་སྙམ་དུ་དང་པོ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པའོ། །དེ་ཡང་ཆོ་ག་བཞིན་དུ་གཞན་ལས་ནོད་པར་བྱའོ། །དོན་དམ་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ནི་བརྗོད་དུ་མེད་པ། དྲི་མ་མེད་པ། མཐའ་མེད་པ། སྤྲོས་པ་མེད་པ། གཡོ་བ་མེད་པ། སྣང་བ་དང་མི་སྣང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་དང་བྲལ་བའོ། ། Kamalaśīla, Yogabhāvanāvatāra (Rnam 'byor bsgom pa la 'jug pa), in Derge Tengyur D3918, vol. 110, dbu ma, ki, fol. 69a, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_3918. The text on BDRC reads Rnal 'byor bsgom pa la 'jug pa. Adarsha has the text title as Bhāvanāyogāvatāra.
- ↑ བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་དེ་ནི་རྣམ་པ་གཉིས་ཏེ། ཀུན་རྫོབ་དང་། དོན་དམ་པའོ། །དེ་ལ་ཀུན་རྫོབ་པ་ནི་སྙིང་རྗེས་སེམས་ཅན་མཐའ་དག་མངོན་པར་འདོན་པར་དམ་བཅས་ནས་འགྲོ་བ་ལ་ཕན་གདགས་པའི་ཕྱིར་སངས་རྒྱས་སུ་གྱུར་ཅིག་སྙམ་དུ་བླ་ན་མེད་པ་ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་འདོད་པའི་རྣམ་པས་སེམས་དང་པོ་བསྐྱེད་པའོ། །དེ་ཡང་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ་ལས་བསྟན་པའི་ཆོ་ག་བཞིན་དུ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡོམ་པ་ལ་གནས་པ་མཁས་པ་ཕ་རོལ་པོ་ལས་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པར་བྱའོ།། Kamalaśīla, Bhāvanākrama (Bsgom pa'i rim pa), in Derge Tengyur D3916, vol. 110, dbu ma, ki, fol. 44a, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_3916.
- ↑ ཡང་ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་སེམས་དེ་ནི་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ཏེ། དེའི་ཕྱིར་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ཞེས་བྱའོ། Bodhisattvapiṭakasūtra ('Phags pa byang chub sems dpa'i sde snod ces bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo), in Derge Kangyur D56, vol. 40–41, dkon brtsegs, kha, fol. 283b, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW4CZ5369_0056.
- ↑ See Wangchuk, The Resolve, 198ff., https://dorjipenjore.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/the-resolve-to-become-a-buddha-a-study-of-the-bodhicitta-concept-in-indo-tibetan-buddhism.pdf.
- ↑ See Sarvadharmamahāsandhibodhicittakularājatantra (Chos thams cad rdzogs pa chen po byang chub kyi sems kun byed rgyal po), in Derge Kangyur D828, vol. 97, rnying rgyud, ka, fols. 1b1–86a7, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW22084_0828.
- ↑ See Mañjuśrīmitra, Bodhicittabhāvanā, (Byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa (Byang sems rdo la gser zhun)), in Derge Tengyur D2591, vol. 66, rgyud, cu, fols. 1b1–4b7, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23703_2591.
