Buddha Nature Quotes

“Within unborn mind there is supreme immortality. The characteristics of being born and dying are liberated of themselves. How happy I am in the firm vision of the highest view!”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“The veil of the hindrances to knowledge has three aspects in terms of progressively subtler concepts. The first is holding on to true existence (Tib. bden par ’dzin pa), the second is holding on to characteristics (Tib. mtshan mar ’dzin pa), and the third is the appearance of duality (Tib. gnyis snang).”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“Based upon this fact, the practice of the secret Mantrayana unfolds its power. If the true state of mind was not the inseparable union of spaciousness and awareness, what benefit could arise from the meditation on a yidam deity? If there was no coexistence of the body having an impure nature and the mind being inherently pure, there would not be the slightest benefit in meditating on any deity. Since the mind in terms of its true existence is spaciousness and awareness inseparable, the meditation on the pure form of a yidam deity will purify the impure appearance and perception of the physical body. Then the true deity, which is this spaciousness and awareness inseparable, will reveal itself and become immediately apparent. All yidam practices, such as meditating on Avalokiteshvara, Amitabha, Vajravarahi, and so forth, singly serve the purpose of purifying this impure appearance that the physical body seems to be. When the true deity is the inseparable union of spaciousness and awareness, the meditation on a deity being visualized in its likeness has the power to lead one to the achievement and realization of the true deity, of the nature of mind. If spaciousness and awareness inseparable was not present in the impure phase already, if everything was nothing at all or mere emptiness, and if both faults and qualities were like space, one could not attain any quality.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“While dreaming of being burnt by fire, carried away by water, and so forth, all these outer faults that arise when the mind focuses outwards will prove to be adventitious once the dream is recognized. They come and go. Yet while this happens, the nature of mind, the inseparable union of spaciousness and awareness, does not undergo any change.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“The element is empty of the adventitious [stains], which are featured by their total separateness. But it is not empty of the matchless properties, which are featured by their total inseparability.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“The only difference between the inseparable union of spaciousness and awareness, which is the nature of the minds of all sentient beings, and this union being endowed with twofold purity is the fact that the latter is free from all the adventitious stains, while the former is still obscured by these. The essence of the true state of mind is naturally pure, and with regard to this aspect there is not the slightest difference between an ordinary and an enlightened being.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“(3) The view of Mahamudra is very similar to the Shäntong view. In this context one speaks of basis Mahamudra, path Mahamudra, and fruit Mahamudra. Once the primordial wisdom present since the very beginning, which in this context is called “the joint manifestation of emptiness and clear light,” sees its face through discriminative wisdom having become self-liberated, the realization of Mahamudra has become immediate.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“(2) According to the Shäntong tradition, primordial wisdom is what is to be realized and discriminative wisdom is the means to realize it. In this view, discriminative wisdom is of two kinds, these being the discriminative wisdom focusing outwards and the one focusing inwards. Generally speaking, discriminative wisdom is the ability to individually discriminate each and every object. This ability in its aspect of focusing outwards is also native to ordinary beings. In the Shäntong view, discriminative wisdom constitutes the ability to discern all relative phenomena, each individually, and to know them for what they are. While the relative phenomena are examined by means of discriminative wisdom, their way of existence and their way of appearance are understood. It is seen that they are empty, lacking inherent existence, that they do not truly exist and yet appear on a relative level like a dream image or a magical illusion. In the Shäntong view, primordial wisdom is considered as being within all sentient beings. This is because in this view it is no other than the mind itself in terms of its true existence. The essence of mind is emptiness and its nature is clear light. These two aspects being inseparable, primordial wisdom is equivalent to the inseparable union of emptiness and clear light, or of spaciousness and awareness. With regard to this primordial wisdom three aspects are distinguished: those of the basis, path, and fruit. The primordial wisdom present within all beings needs to be realized in order to reveal itself immediately or directly. This realization has to take place in such a way that primordial wisdom itself recognizes its own face (Tib. ye shes rang ngor shes pa). The primordial wisdom present from the very beginning within the stream of being, which is the true nature of the minds of all sentient beings, the inseparable union of emptiness and clear light, is called the basis primordial wisdom and also “ever-present wisdom” or “ever-present dharmakaya.” The phase in which this nature of mind is initially realized and during which this realization is cultivated is called the path primordial wisdom. At the time when all the adventitious stains of delusion are eliminated, this inseparable union of emptiness and clear light is called the fruit primordial wisdom.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“(1) According to the Rangtong view, there is a relationship between these in terms of cause and fruit. Discriminative wisdom is considered as being the cause and primordial wisdom as being the fruit. In this view discriminative wisdom is equivalent to the three discriminative wisdoms arising from learning, reflection, and meditation (Tib. thos bsam sgom byung gi shes rab). According to the Rangtong tradition, ordinary beings do not possess primordial wisdom. This is only true of noble ones, of bodhisattvas who have reached the bodhisattva levels. In this context two aspects are distinguished: primordial wisdom present during meditation and the one present in the post-meditative phase (Tib. mnyam bzhag gi ye shes dang rjes thob kyi ye shes). Once emptiness is no longer a passing experience but realized directly, one has reached the first bodhisattva level by means of this direct realization. From this moment onwards, the two primordial wisdoms are present. The primordial wisdom present during meditation is the one that realizes emptiness. It manifests while a noble bodhisattva rests in meditative equipoise, one-pointedly within emptiness itself. The wisdom present in the post-meditative phase is wisdom that realizes all phenomena as being mere appearances, as being dream-like or like magical illusions. This wisdom manifests whenever a noble bodhisattva does not dwell in meditation.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“Annotation 50: What is to be understood by primordial wisdom and discriminative wisdom is explained slightly differently in the Rangtong and Shäntong systems.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“Emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects” (Tib. rnam kun mchog ldan stong pa nyid) is a name for the true nature of mind, or the way the mind truly exists, which is the inseparable union of emptiness and clear light.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“The dharmakaya of all buddhas, the Tathagata, the noble truth, and the absolute nirvana are but synonymous terms, being just different aspects that have the same essence.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“The Omniscient One who Directly Sees Thatness” is an epithet of the Buddha. A buddha is called “omniscient” since he possesses the unhindered knowledge of all aspects of the knowable. The direct vision of thatness (Tib. de kho na nyid) is synonymous with the vision of reality as it is, with the direct realization of emptiness, of the absolute truth, of the dharmadhatu or the sugatagarbha.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“Worldly beings are attached to happiness and mistake suffering for happiness. Shravakas counteract this belief by means of the understanding that all feelings of ordinary happiness are in fact suffering. Thus they meditate on the entirety of samsara as being of the nature of suffering. In the tradition of the Mahayana one gains the understanding that the fruit is beyond any extreme, that it is beyond both happiness and suffering and as such free from all conceptual elaboration. Thus it is the perfection of true happiness.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“While one applies the methods of the Shravakayana and reverses the four beliefs of the worldly beings by means of the four antidotes taught in this system, one will develop an attachment to these remedies.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“If, for instance, while dreaming one sees the attractive physical appearance of a man or woman and develops attachment, viewing this body as being pure, this belief is wrong. If one reflects upon it as being impure and meditates accordingly, so that finally it actually appears as an impure phenomenon, this is a wrong vision as well. The dream appearances of one’s own and others’ bodies, no matter how they may be, are beyond the extremes of both purity and impurity. They represent a state of peace in terms of freedom from any conceptual elaboration. They are spacious and relaxed, movements of clear light, which is the mind itself. They are in the state of emptiness, beyond purity and dirt. This emptiness is not an emptiness in terms of “non-existent,” as is a rabbit horn, nor is it nothing at all like sky. It is a state of utter peace, of complete freedom from any conceptual elaboration.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“To remedy the perception of something impure as being pure, one meditates on the fact that one’s own body and others’ bodies are impure. As a remedy for the wrong concept consisting of the attachment to a truly existing self, one meditates on the non-existence of a self. To remedy the attachment that takes suffering to be happiness, one meditates on the fact that the entirety of samsara is of the nature of suffering. As a remedy for the perception of permanence, one meditates on impermanence. Thus according to the shravaka tradition the four remedies for the four wrong concepts of the children are the meditations on impurity, non-existence of self, suffering, and impermanence. Yet, in the light of the ultimate nature of phenomena these four remedies of the shravaka tradition imply a fault as well. Though through the recognition of impurity, non-existence of a self, suffering, and impermanence one achieves the reversal of the four wrong concepts held by the children, these recognitions do not correspond to the ultimate nature of phenomena and thus represent in their turn wrong concepts of a subtler kind.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“Once one realizes that beings do not truly exist and yet feels compassion for them, this is the most excellent type of compassion.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“As a beginner, one first has to give rise to compassion focusing on beings as its object. Once one realizes the impermanent nature of beings and phenomena, understanding that all compounded phenomena are impermanent in that they undergo a process of destruction taking place from instant to instant, compassion focusing on the nature arises. Finally, the realization of the emptiness of all phenomena gives rise to compassion free from any focus.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“Even as the skillful activity of unbearable compassion unfolds without hindrance, may at the same time the meaning of its empty essence nakedly shine forth. Inseparable from this supreme unerring path of union may we meditate at all times, day and night.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“When this tathagatagarbha is freed from all adventitious stains of delusion without any remainder, these stains having been removed by means of the discriminative wisdom realizing the non-existence of a self, this is enlightenment, the very essence of realization.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“Dharma in terms of teaching comprises all the teachings of the great and lesser vehicles. When speaking of abandoning, two aspects are to be distinguished. These are abandonment by means of an antidote, and a natural process of abandonment taking place through attaining the ultimate fruit. The veils of the mental poisons and hindrances to knowledge are to be abandoned by means of an antidote suitable to each, respectively. As far as the Dharma in terms of teaching is concerned, no antidote is needed. It is abandoned in a natural way by attaining the ultimate fruit. Once this fruit is attained, it is no longer necessary to rely on teachings, just as a boat is no longer needed once one has reached the far bank of the river.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“When one speaks of the inner primordial wisdom, this means that noble bodhisattvas realize the nature of their own minds, the sugatagarbha, independently from extraneous conditions, by means of self-sprung primordial wisdom. This realization takes place in such a way that the conceptual elaboration, containing the duality of an object realized and a realizing subject, has come to complete peace. Through the power of inner realization there is correct and complete knowledge. Since noble bodhisattvas have directly realized the nature of their own minds, they possess the inner realization.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“In the view presented by the Madhyamakavatara and similar scriptures, the three kinds of noble ones, that is, shravaka arhats, pratyekabuddha arhats, and bodhisattvas who have reached the bhumis, are considered as being on the same level. In this view the noble shravakas and pratyekabuddhas have also realized emptiness. Yet, when talking about emptiness in this context, this refers only to the aspect of spaciousness (Tib. dbyings), to freedom from conceptual elaboration. In the context of the Uttara Tantra Shastra the object of realization is buddha nature, the tathagatagarbha, being the inseparable union of spaciousness and awareness. This is very difficult to understand. With this understanding bodhisattvas have a realization that they do not hold in common with shravaka and pratyekabuddha arhats. For bodhisattvas who have reached the bodhisattva levels, different names are used. They are also called “those who have understanding” (Tib. blo ldan), “the heirs of the Victorious One” (Tib. rgyal sras), or “shoot of the Victorious One” (Tib. rgyal ba’i nyu gu). The noble bodhisattvas are more excellent than the shravakas and pratyekabuddhas since they excel these in understanding.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“In the view presented by the Madhyamakavatara (Tib. dbu ma la ’jug pa) the dharmadhatu is to be understood exclusively as freedom from conceptual elaboration. The aspect of primordial wisdom is not explained there. This difference should be understood well.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“This dharmadhatu pervades all beings no matter how many there are, which is to say that it is undifferentiatedly present within all beings, in those of low or high rank, in those who are good or evil alike. Here, the term “dharmadhatu” is equivalent to inseparable spaciousness and awareness or inseparable spaciousness and primordial wisdom (Tib. dbyings dang ye shes dbyer med pa). This inseparable union of spaciousness and primordial wisdom is the buddha nature, the tathagatagarbha.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“The object to be realized is the true state, or in other words, suchness, the way all phenomena actually are. This is emptiness: the nature of mind, the element, or the sugatagarbha.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“The true state of beings is the nature of a perfect buddha, or in other words, the tathagatagarbha, the all-pervading dharmakaya. In the view of the Rangtong Madhyamaka this dharmakaya is solely considered as emptiness in the sense of complete freedom from conceptual elaboration. In the view of the Shäntong Madhyamaka it is the inseparable union of emptiness and clear light. In the speech of Dharma this is occasionally also called the inseparable union of spaciousness and awareness (Tib. dbyings rig dbyer med). The term “spaciousness” refers to the aspect of emptiness or freedom from conceptual elaboration; the term “awareness” refers to the aspect of clear light.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“At the time when emptiness or Mahamudra is realized, the essence of one’s own mind is realized by itself in such a way that there is no duality between an object to be realized and a realizing subject.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary

“What is mainly taught in the system to which the Uttara Tantra Shastra belongs is the aspect of awareness (Tib. rig pa) or clear light (Tib. od gsal), whereas in the system of the Madhyamaka the aspect of emptiness in the sense of freedom from conceptual elaboration is exclusively taught. If one understands well what is meant by the inseparable union of emptiness and clear light, one comes very close to the path of the Vajrayana. In the system of the Vajrayana the nature of mind is then described as the inseparable union of clarity-emptiness (Tib. gsal stong), of bliss-emptiness (Tib. bde stong), of appearance-emptiness (Tib. snang stong), and of awareness-emptiness (Tib. rig stong). These are called the four “joint manifestations” (Tib. zung ’jug bzhi). Without knowing the meaning of the inseparable union of spaciousness and awareness one will not be able to understand these. Not having studied the views as presented in the Uttara Tantra Shastra and in the Madhyamaka system, one will not come to an understanding of the Vajrayana where the four joint manifestations are introduced.”
― Arya Maitreya, Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary