Is “Buddha-Nature” Buddhist?

Abstract

Recent controversies in Japanese Buddhist scholarship have focused upon the Mah y na notion of a “Buddha nature” within all sentient beings and whether or not the concept is compatible with traditional Buddhist teachings such as an tman (no-abiding-self). This controversy is not only relevant to Far Eastern Buddhism, for which the notion of a Buddha-nature is a central doctrinal theme, but also for the roots of this tradition in those Indian Mah y na s tras which utilised the notion of tath gatagarbha (Buddha-embryo or Buddha womb). One of the earliest Buddhist texts to discuss this notion is the Queen r m l S tra ( r m l dev s tra), which appears to display a transitional and revisionist attitude towards traditional Mah y na doctrines such as emptiness ( nyat ) and no-abiding-self (an tman). These and related issues are examined as they occur in the r m l S tra and as they might relate to the issue of the place of Buddha-nature thought within the Buddhist tradition. Finally some concluding remarks are made about the quest for “true” Buddhism.