Original enlightenment

本覺 benjue

original enlightenment

Chinese - Noun

Basic Meaning

According to East Asian Buddhism, the intrinsic enlightenment of all sentient beings. This is obscured by the many stains present in the ālayavijñāna. When these are purified, the natural state of enlightenment is recovered, a status known as "actualized enlightenment."

Has the Sense of

The natural state of enlightenment that is obscured by the adventitious stains.

Read it in the Scriptures

The essence of Mind is free from thoughts. The characteristic of that which is free from thoughts is analogous to that of the sphere of empty space that pervades everywhere. The one [without any second, i.e., the absolute] aspect of the world of reality (dharmadhātu) is none other than the undifferentiated dharmakāya, the “essence body” of the Tathāgata. [Since the essence of Mind is] grounded on the dharmakāya, it is to be called the original enlightenment. Why? Because “original enlightenment” indicates [the essence of Mind (a priori)] in contradistinction to [the essence of Mind in] the process of actualization of enlightenment; the process of actualization of enlightenment is none other than [the process of integrating] the identity with the original enlightenment.

The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna

Term Variations
Key Term	Original enlightenment
Topic Variation	original enlightenment
Chinese	本覺
Chinese Pinyin	benjue
Japanese Transliteration	honggaku
Buddha-nature Site Standard English	original enlightenment
Term Information
Source Language	Chinese
Basic Meaning	According to East Asian Buddhism, the intrinsic enlightenment of all sentient beings. This is obscured by the many stains present in the ālayavijñāna. When these are purified, the natural state of enlightenment is recovered, a status known as "actualized enlightenment."
Has the Sense of	The natural state of enlightenment that is obscured by the adventitious stains.
Related Topic Pages	The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna
Term Type	Noun
Definitions