Thursday, July 30, 2020

Only Buddhas can see Buddha nature

Hinayana Sravakas
(source of photo here)

All beings have Buddha nature which is the Basis and also the Fruit (the finalization) of the Path. However, even among those who are disciples of the Buddha not all have the same aspiration. Thus, not everyone obtains the fruit of discovering their Buddha nature.                                                                                                                                                      
 In the Queen Srimala Sutra it is said:

“O’ Bhagavan, the wisdom of the Buddha Nature is the World Honored One’s wisdom of Sunyata (Emptiness). The Buddha Nature is not something that has been seen or realized by any Arhat, or Pratyekabuddha. There are two types of Emptiness wisdom concerning the Buddha Nature which are as follows: 1) The Buddha nature is empty from, separate from, independent from and different from all the stores of defilement. 2) The Buddha nature is not-empty from, is not separate from, not independent from and not different from the inconceivable Buddha Attributes which are more numerous than the sands of the river Ganges. […]

 All the [sravaka] disciples and Pratyekabuddhas are stuck in the domain of the four inverse views because of their incorrect knowledge of emptiness. This is why none of the Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas have ever seen or attained the Buddha Nature. Only the Buddha’s have experienced the extinction of all suffering and destroyed all the stores of defilement. They alone have practiced all the paths which lead to the extinction of suffering.”[1]

In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra it is said:

“The wise perceive emptiness and non-emptiness, the permanent and the impermanent, suffering and bliss, Self and non-Self. The empty is the totality of samsara and the non-empty is Great Nirvana, non-Self is samsara, and the Self is Great Nirvana. To perceive the emptiness of everything and not to perceive non-emptiness is not termed the Middle Way, to perceive the non-Self of everything, and not to perceive the Self is not termed the Middle Way. The Middle Way is termed the Buddha-dhatu (Buddha nature/Buddha essence). For this reason, the Buddha-dhatu is eternal and unchanging. Because beings are enveloped in ignorance, they are unable to perceive it. Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas  perceive the emptiness of everything, but do not perceive the non-emptiness, they perceive the absence of self [i.e. non-Self] in all things, but do not perceive the Self. For this reason, they do not attain the ultimate emptiness. Because they do not attain the supreme emptiness, they do not walk the Middle Way. Because they lack the Middle Way, they do not perceive the Buddha-dhatu.”

An Arhat is the saint and the culmination of the Hinayana Buddhist teaching. He has overcome the outward manifestation of the afflictive emotions but has not completely uprooted their psychic imprint. He is free from samsara but has no attained perfect Enlightenment. For this reason we say he did not discover the Buddha nature.

A Hinayana Sravaka (Hinayana Hearer) is the Buddhist disciple who fears samsara and wishes to achieve Nirvana but has little compassion. It is said:

“One who is afraid upon seeing the suffering of samsara
And yearns to achieve Nirvana
But has little interest in benefiting sentient beings –
These are the three marks of the Hearer family.”[2]

These should NOT be confused with the sravakas mentioned in the The Larger Sutra which refer to people who might have been Hinayana sravakas in a previous existence before being born in the Pure Land and who are now faithful enlightened disciples of Amida Buddha and hear the teaching directly from Him.

A Pratyekabuddha (Solitary Realizer) is one who has the above three marks and in addition is arrogant, keep his master’s identity secret and prefer to stay in solitary places. It is said:

“Fear at the thought of samsara, yearning for Nirvana,
Little compassion, arrogance,
Secretive about their teachers, and enjoying solitude
A wise one should understand that these are the marks of the Solitary Realizer family.”[3]

The Sravakayana (Sravaka vehicle) and Pratyekabuddhayana are the two vehicles (yana) of the Hinayana, while the Bodhisattvayana is the Mahayana which aims at attaining Nirvana for all beings.

According to the above sutras the Arhats, Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas of the Hinayana do not attain Buddhahood and so they do not discover their Buddha nature because they have an “incorrect knowledge of emptiness”, that is, they can’t accept the difference as explained in this book between other emptiness or non-empty-emptiness (“supreme emptiness”) of Buddha nature, and self emptiness or empty-emptiness of samsaric phenomena which simply means that Buddha nature is only empty of illusions, blind passions, and any samsaric phenomena (empty of other things that are not Buddha nature – other emptiness), but NOT empty of itself and its own innate qualities (“attributes”), as Queen Srimala said:

“The Buddha nature is empty from, separate from, independent from and different from all the stores of defilement. The Buddha nature is not-empty from, is not separate from, not independent from and not different from the inconceivable Buddha Attributes which are more numerous than the sands of the river Ganges”.

On the other hand, the samsaric phenomena are empty of themselves because they are depending on causes and conditions and always changing. Many people nowadays, followers of Mahayana in name only call themselves Madhyamikas or Middle Way disciples but have a wrong view on emptiness in the sense that they think everything is self-empty, including the great Nirvana and Buddha nature. However, as Mahaparinirvana Sutra said “the empty is the totality of samsara and the non-empty is Great Nirvana”. Hinayana Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas perceive the emptiness of everything that relatively exists in samsara and know the non-self aspect of all samsaric phenomena, but they don’t perceive the non-emptiness of Nirvana and the true Self of Buddha nature. Only those who become Buddhas and start using its myriad innate qualities to help all beings see and know Buddha nature. We ourselves, followers of the Primal Vow, will become Buddhas in the moment we are born in the Pure Land of Amida and see Buddha nature.

Many so-called Mahayana practitioners talk all day long about emptiness and oneness but don’t accept that Buddha nature and Buddhas dwelling in it are NOT self-empty but only empty of illusions, blind passions and attachments. They are nothing more than pitiful atheists and materialists who follow the wrong view of nihilistic emptiness and who will never see Buddha nature.
Please stay away from them!


to be continued 





[1] Queen Srimala and her Lion’s Roar Sutra, chapter 9, verse 97, translated by Tsultrim Gyurme, https://whatdobuddhistsbelieve.wordpress.com/teachings/queen-srimala-sutra
[2] The Jewel Ornament of Liberation – The Wish-fulfiling Gem of the Noble Teachings, Gampopa, translated into English by Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaka, New York, 1998, p.51
[3] The Jewel Ornament of Liberation – The Wish-fulfiling Gem of the Noble Teachings, Gampopa, translated into English by Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaka, New York, 1998, p.51

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