Buddha Nature
Books2007Arya Maitreya’s Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra is one of the most important teachings on buddhanature and enlightenment. It is revered by Buddhist masters as a very special text, one of the five great teachings given by Lord Maitreya to Asanga, and part of the third turning of the wheel of the dharma. In the traditional Buddhist shedras for monastic education, it is often taught as the final text in the curriculum, and many masters consider it to be a bridge between the sutras and tantra. It provides an important philosophical foundation for understanding the workings of the Buddhist path, particularly for Vajrayana practitioners.
We are fortunate to have these teachings by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, rich with his usual clarity, warmth, humor, and wisdom because, despite its beauty and profundity, this text is rarely taught in the West, and there are few translations. Rinpoche gave these teachings on the Uttaratantra at the Centre d’Etudes de Chanteloube in Dordogne, France during the summers of 2003 and 2004, after completing a four-year teaching cycle on Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara. He has often emphasized the value of a grounding in the Madhyamika or “Middle Way” philosophy of emptiness, because without this foundation beginners can easily misunderstand Buddha’s teaching that all sentient beings have buddhanature. For example, many of us who have grown up in a Western cultural context can easily confuse buddhanature with ideas like God or a personal soul or essence. These teachings allow us to dispel this kind of misunderstanding. And despite their very different presentations, both the Madhyamika and Uttaratantra are teachings on the Buddhist view of emptiness.
Arya Maitreya’s Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra is one of the most important teachings on buddhanature and enlightenment. It is revered by Buddhist masters as a very special text, one of the five great teachings given by Lord Maitreya to Asanga, and part of the third turning of the wheel of the dharma. In the traditional Buddhist shedras for monastic education, it is often taught as the final text in the curriculum, and many masters consider it to be a bridge between the sutras and tantra. It provides an important philosophical foundation for understanding the workings of the Buddhist path, particularly for Vajrayana practitioners.
We are fortunate to have these teachings by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, rich with his usual clarity, warmth, humor, and wisdom because, despite its beauty and profundity, this text is rarely taught in the West, and there are few translations. Rinpoche gave these teachings on the Uttaratantra at the Centre d’Etudes de Chanteloube in Dordogne, France during the summers of 2003 and 2004, after completing a four-year teaching cycle on Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara. He has often emphasized the value of a grounding in the Madhyamika or “Middle Way” philosophy of emptiness, because without this foundation beginners can easily misunderstand Buddha’s teaching that all sentient beings have buddhanature. For example, many of us who have grown up in a Western cultural context can easily confuse buddhanature with ideas like God or a personal soul or essence. These teachings allow us to dispel this kind of misunderstanding. And despite their very different presentations, both the Madhyamika and Uttaratantra are teachings on the Buddhist view of emptiness.