Tathagatagarbha doctrine: Encyclopedia II - Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Tathagatagarbha in Zen

Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Tathagatagarbha in Zen

In modern-Western manifestations of the Zen Buddhist tradition, it is considered insufficient simply to understand Buddha-nature intellectually. Rather it must be experienced and felt directly, in one's entire mind and body together. Enlightenment in a certain sense consists of a direct experience of one's authentic identity, which is traditionally described as śūnyata (emptiness), the ultimate reality of Buddha-nature.

The Zen tradition often uses parables to try to explain the Buddha-nature: according to one story, a monk once approached the Zen master Chao-chou (Japanese: Jōshū) and asked him, "Does a dog possess Buddha-nature or not?" Chao-chou replied with the one-word answer "Wú" (pronounced "mu" in Japanese). His response, which among other things constitutes a negative term and the sound of a dog barking, indicated that the question could not be answered with a straightforward assertion or negation. Rather, through the contemplation of the question, or the absurdity of it, one may perhaps gain an experience of Buddha-nature directly.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Tathagatagarbha in Zen", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki