RELIGST 2K03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Avatamsaka Sutra, Mahayana Sutras, Lotus Sutra
18 Apr 2017
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The five periods of the buddha"s teaching: avatamsaka sutra, hinayana sutras, early mahayana sutras, perfection of wisdom sutras, lotus sutra. Buddha nature, tath gatagarbha, is the latent potentiality we all have for buddhahood. According to the mahayana, all buddhas have three bodies (trikaya) The tath gatagarbha is neither life nor death. Therefore, the tath gatagarbha is the basis, the support, and the foundation . the tath gatagarbha is not a substantial self, nor a living being, nor fate," nor a person. This tath gatagarbha that is inherently pure is the inconceivable realm of the tath gata that has been contaminated by extrinsic de lements and other virulent de lements. (both quotations from the sutra of queen r m l of the lion"s roar) The dharma body is from beginningless time uncreated, nonarising, indestructible, free from destruction, eternal, inherently pure, and separate from all the stores of de lement.
