The Tathagatagarbha doctrine (tathāgatagarbha) teaches that each sentient being contains the effulgent Buddhic element or potential to become a Buddha. "Tathagata-garbha" means "Buddha Womb/ Buddha Matrix" or "Buddha Embryo", and this notion is explicated by the Buddha in the "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra" as the "True Self" within all sentient beings - the unconditioned, boundless, nurturing, sustaining, deathless and diamond-like Self of Buddha, which is indiscernible to worldly, unawakened vision as a result of the masses of neg ...

Including:

• Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Tathagatagarbha in Zen
• Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Buddha-bots
• Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Texts

Read more here: » Tathagatagarbha doctrine: Encyclopedia - Tathagatagarbha doctrine

See also:

Tathagatagarbha doctrine, Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Tathagatagarbha in Zen, Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Buddha-bots, Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Texts

Read more here: » Tathagatagarbha doctrine: Encyclopedia II - Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Tathagatagarbha in Zen

Buddha-nature (Awakened-nature) has been connected in recent decades with the developments of robotics and the possible eventual creation of artificial intelligence. In the 1970s, the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori popularized the idea that robots, under certain conditions, may possess Buddha-nature. Mori has since founded an institute to study the metaphysical implications of such technology. The implication or the question is, can a perfect simulation of intelligent outward behaviour really light the inner spark of a self-aware c ...

See also:

Tathagatagarbha doctrine, Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Tathagatagarbha in Zen, Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Buddha-bots, Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Texts

Read more here: » Tathagatagarbha doctrine: Encyclopedia II - Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Buddha-bots

The Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa ("Exposition of Non-Decrease and Non-Increase") is a Buddhist sutra belonging to the Tathagatagarbha class of sutras. It is noteworthy for its teaching (delivered, in this text, by the Buddha to Sariputra) that Nirvana is not cessation of being or utter vacuity, but is the realm of the Tathagatagarbha, the unfabricated, utterly pure and everlasting essence of all creatures and beings. The Buddha links the Tathagatagarbha to the spotless immaculacy of the "Dharmakaya" (ultimate true nature of the Buddha) ...

Read more here: » Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa: Encyclopedia - Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa

Buddhism is generally regarded as a non-theistic religion. Although it does teach the existence of “gods” (devas), these are merely heavenly beings who temporarily dwell in celestial worlds of great happiness. Such beings, however, are not eternal in that incarnational form and are subject to death and eventual rebirth into lower realms of existence. However, a distinction needs to be drawn between the seemingly non-deistic and non-theistic teachings of the Buddha in the Pāli Canon and the “agamas”, and the mystically-hued id ...

Including:

• God in Buddhism - The God Idea in Early Buddhism
• God in Buddhism - Mahayana and Tantric Mystical Doctrines
• God in Buddhism - Literature

Read more here: » God in Buddhism: Encyclopedia - God in Buddhism

Buddha-nature (originally in Sanskrit, "Buddha-dhatu" - "Buddha Element", "Buddha-Principle") is a doctrine important for many schools of Mahayana Buddhism. The Buddha-nature ("Buddha-dhatu") is taught to be a truly real eternal potential or principle, present in all sentient beings, for awakening and becoming Enlightened. The Buddha-nature doctrine relates to the possession by sentient beings of the innate buddha-mind or buddha-element ("Buddha-dhatu"), which is, prior to the full attainment of buddhahood, not fully actualized, or at ...

Including:

• Buddha-nature - Development of Buddha-nature
• Buddha-nature - Buddha-nature vs. atman

Read more here: » Buddha-nature

Theravada is the single remaining representative of the eighteen (or twenty) Nikaya schools of Indian Buddhism, which are sometimes referred to by the controversial term Hinayana. Theravada is now practiced mainly in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Another prominent Nikaya school, was the Sarvastivada, much of the doctrine of which was incorporated into Tibetan Buddhism. It included one of the main branches of Indian Abhidharma that was instrumental in the creation of Yogacara doctrine. Its system of monastic ru ...

Including:

• Buddhism in India - Characteristics
• Buddhism in India - Mahayana
• Buddhism in India - Vajrayana
• Buddhism in India - History
• Buddhism in India - Modern Revival

Read more here: » Buddhism in India

Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit. Lit. awakening) is a title given in Buddhism to the specific awakening experience attained by the Indian spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha and his disciples. It is sometimes described as complete and perfect sanity, or awareness of the true nature of the universe. After attainment, it is believed one is freed from the cycle of Samsāra: birth, suffering, death and rebirth. Bodhi is most commonly translated into English as enlightenment, though this translation is problematic, since enlightenment ...

Including:

• Bodhi - Modes of Enlightenment
• Bodhi - Pacceka-Bodhi Pratyeka
• Bodhi - Sammā-Sambodhi supreme Buddha
• Bodhi - Quotes

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Buddha (Sanskrit, Pali, others: literally Awakened One, from the root: √budh, "to awaken") is a title used in Buddhism for anyone who has discovered their enlightenment (bodhi), although it is commonly used to refer to Siddhartha Gautama, the historical founder of Buddhism, who was born in Lumbini--a place situated in modern Nepal. Generally, Buddhists do not consider Siddhartha Gautama—who lived in ancient India from about 623 BC to 543 BC, and attained bodhi around 588 BC—to have been ...

Including:

• Buddha - Eternal Buddha
• Buddha - Names of the Buddhas
• Buddha - Sources

Read more here: » Buddha

There are a great variety of Buddhist texts. Buddhists place varying value on them: attitudes range from worship of the text itself, to dismissal of some texts as falsification of the ineffable truth. They therefore cannot be called "scripture" in the sense of other religions. The texts can be categorized in a number of ways, but the most fundamental division is that between canonical and non-canonical texts. The former, also called the Sutras (Sanskrit) or Suttas (Pali), are held to be, literally or metaphoricall ...

Including:

• Buddhist texts - Canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools
• Buddhist texts - Sutta
• Buddhist texts - Abhidharma
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Mahayana texts
• Buddhist texts - Perfection of Wisdom Texts
• Buddhist texts - Saddharma-pundarika
• Buddhist texts - Pure Land Sutras
• Buddhist texts - The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra
• Buddhist texts - Samadhi Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Confession Sutras
• Buddhist texts - The Avatamsaka Sutra
• Buddhist texts - Third Turning Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Tathagatagarbha class sutras
• Buddhist texts - Collected Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Transmigration Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Discipline Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Sutras Devoted to Individual Figures
• Buddhist texts - Proto-Mahayana Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - References
• Buddhist texts - Vajrayana Texts
• Buddhist texts - Buddhist tantras
• Buddhist texts - Other products of the Vajrayana literature

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Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived in what is now Northern India and Nepal between 566 and 483 BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following his death. It continued to spread into Central, Southeast, and East Asia over the next two millennia. With approximately 708 million followers, Buddhism is a major world religion whose adherents are called Buddhists. Buddhist denominations are historically categ ...

Including:

• Buddhism - What is a Buddha?
• Buddhism - Origins
• Buddhism - Principles of Buddhism
• Buddhism - The Four Noble Truths
• Buddhism - The Noble Eightfold Path
• Buddhism - Practices of Buddhism
• Buddhism - Refuge in The Three Jewels
• Buddhism - The Five Precepts
• Buddhism - Meditation
• Buddhism - Buddha-dhatu Buddha-Principle, Buddha-nature
• Buddhism - Other principles and practices
• Buddhism - Vegetarianism
• Buddhism - Buddhist religious philosophy and branches
• Buddhism - Buddhism after the Buddha
• Buddhism - Principal schools of Buddhist philosophy
• Buddhism - Scriptures
• Buddhism - Relations with other Eastern faiths
• Buddhism - Buddhism in the modern world
• Buddhism - Buddhism and the West
• Buddhism - Buddhism
• Buddhism - Related systems and religions
• Buddhism - References and Links
• Buddhism - References
• Buddhism - Footnotes
• Buddhism - External links

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Zen is the Japanese name of a well known branch of Mahāyāna Buddhist schools, practiced originally in India as Dhyan (ध्यान), which then came to be known in China as Ch'an (禪), and subsequently in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Zen emphasizes the role of sitting meditation (zazen) in pursuing enlightenment. Though considered simply a practice by most of its practitioners, Zen is also considered a religion or a philosophy by some. It has also been describe ...

Including:

• Zen - Spread of Zen
• Zen - Zen in Japan
• Zen - Zen and Buddhism
• Zen - Zen teachings and practices
• Zen - Zazen
• Zen - The teacher
• Zen - Koan practice
• Zen - Radical teachings
• Zen - Zen and Western culture
• Zen - Zen in Films
• Zen - American Zen

Read more here: » Zen: Encyclopedia - Zen

Śūnyatā, शून्यता (Sanskrit, Pali: suññatā), or "Emptiness," is a term for an aspect of the Buddhist metaphysical critique as well as Buddhist epistemology and phenomenology. Shunyata signifies that everything one encounters in life is empty of soul, permanence, and self-nature. Everything is inter-related, never self-sufficient or independent; nothing has independent reality. Yet shunyata never connotes nihilism, which Buddhist doctrine considers to be a delusion, just as it considers materialism to be a del ...

Including:

• Shunyata - Origin and development of śūnyatā
• Shunyata - Śunyata in presecular Buddhism in the Nikayas
• Shunyata - Śunyata in the Heart Sutra
• Shunyata - Śunyata in Nāgārjuna
• Shunyata - Śunyata in the Tathagatagarbha Sutras

Read more here: » Shunyata: Encyclopedia - Shunyata

Buddha-nature (originally in Sanskrit, "Buddha-dhatu" - "Buddha Element", "Buddha-Principle") is a doctrine important for many schools of Mahayana Buddhism. The Buddha-nature ("Buddha-dhatu") is taught to be a truly real eternal potential or principle, present in all sentient beings, for awakening and becoming Enlightened. The Buddha-nature doctrine relates to the possession by sentient beings of the innate buddha-mind or buddha-element ("Buddha-dhatu"), which is, prior to the full attainment of buddhahood, not fully actualized, or at ...

Including:

• Buddha-nature - Development of Buddha-nature
• Buddha-nature - Buddha-nature vs. atman

Read more here: » Buddha-nature: Encyclopedia - Buddha-nature

Nirvana Sutra or Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (Chinese: Niepan Jing (涅槃經); Japanese: Nehankyō (涅槃経)) is one of the major texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Note that this is one of two Buddhist texts having approximately the same title, the other being part of the Pali Canon. However, both for historical reasons and for the sake of clarity, the former is generally referred to by its Sanskrit title, Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (or simply "Nirvana Sutra"), and the latter by its Pali title, Mahaparinib ...

Including:

• Nirvana Sutra - Overview
• Nirvana Sutra - Versions
• Nirvana Sutra - Quotations from the Nirvana Sutra
• Nirvana Sutra - Textual history
• Nirvana Sutra - English edition

Read more here: » Nirvana Sutra: Encyclopedia - Nirvana Sutra

Buddhism in India - Nikaya. Theravada is the single remaining representative of the eighteen (or twenty) Nikaya schools of Indian Buddhism, which are sometimes referred to by the controversial term Hinayana. Theravada is now practiced mainly in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Another prominent Nikaya school, was the Sarvastivada, much of the doctrine of which was incorporated into Tibetan Buddhism. It included one of the main branches of Indian Abhidharma that was instrument ...

Including:

• Buddhism in India - Characteristics
• Buddhism in India - Nikaya
• Buddhism in India - Mahayana
• Buddhism in India - Vajrayana
• Buddhism in India - History
• Buddhism in India - Modern Revival

Read more here: » Buddhism in India: Encyclopedia - Buddhism in India

The Buddhist term Anātman (Sanskrit) or Anatta (Pali) is an adjective that specifies the absence of a supposedly permanent and unchanging self or soul in any one of the psycho-physical (namo-rupa) constituents of empirical existence; eg. "none of these khandhas are my Soul, are anatta (non-Self)". What is normally thought of as the "Self" is in fact an agglomeration of constantly changing physical and mental constituents ("skandhas") which give rise to unhappiness if clung to as though this temporary assemblage formed some kin ...

Including:

• Anatta - Summary
• Anatta - Presecular position on anatta as presented in the Nikayas
• Anatta - Interpretive problems
• Anatta - Anatman anatta in the Tathagatagarbha Sutras

Read more here: » Anatta: Encyclopedia - Anatta

The Trikaya doctrine (Sanskrit, literally "Three bodies or personalities"; 三身 Chinese: Sānshén, Japanese: sanjin) is an important Buddhist teaching both on the nature of reality, and what a Buddha is. By the 4th century CE the Trikaya Doctrine had assumed the form that we now know. Briefly the doctrine says that a Buddha has three 'bodies': the nirmana-kaya or created body which manifests in time and space; the sambhoga-kaya or body of mutual enjoyment which is an archetypal manifestatio ...

Including:

• Trikaya - Origins
• Trikaya - Trikaya
• Trikaya - Neoplatonism?

Read more here: » Trikaya: Encyclopedia - Trikaya

Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit. Lit. awakening) is a title given in Buddhism to the specific awakening experience attained by the Indian spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha and his disciples. It is sometimes described as complete and perfect sanity, or awareness of the true nature of the universe. After attainment, it is believed one is freed from the cycle of Samsāra: birth, suffering, death and rebirth. Bodhi is most commonly translated into English as enlightenment, though this translation is problematic, since enlightenment ...

Including:

• Bodhi - Modes of Enlightenment
• Bodhi - Sāvaka-Bodhi Arhat
• Bodhi - Pacceka-Bodhi Pratyeka
• Bodhi - Sammā-Sambodhi supreme Buddha
• Bodhi - Quotes

Read more here: » Bodhi: Encyclopedia - Bodhi

Faith (saddha/ sraddha) is an important constituent element of the teachings of the Buddha - both in the Theravada tradition as in the Mahayana. While not of the “blind” variety and on occasion linked with insight (prajna), Buddhist faith (as advocated by the Buddha of the various scriptures) nevertheless requires a degree of trusting confidence and belief primarily in the spiritual attainment and salvational knowledge of the Buddha. Faith in Buddhism centres on belief in the Buddha as a supremely Awakened being, on his unexcelled ...

Including:

• Faith in Buddhism - Faith in Early Buddhism Theravada
• Faith in Buddhism - Faith in Mahayana Buddhism
• Faith in Buddhism - Literature

Read more here: » Faith in Buddhism: Encyclopedia - Faith in Buddhism