Original enlightenment

Original enlightenmentorinnate awakening(Chinese:Bổn giác;pinyin:běnjué;Japanese pronunciation:hongaku;Korean pronunciation:bongak) is anEast Asian Buddhist doctrineoften translated as "inherent", "innate", "intrinsic" or "original"awakeness.^[2]

This doctrine holds all sentient beings are already enlightened or awakened in some way. In this view, since all beings have some kind of awakeness as their true nature, the attainment of insight is a process of discovering and recognizing what is already present, not of attaining some goal or developing a potential.^[3]^[2]As such, people do not have to become Buddhas through religious cultivation, they just have to recognize that they already are awake, just like Buddhas.^[3]Original enlightenment thought is related to Indian Buddhist concepts likeBuddha-natureand theluminous mind.The doctrine is articulated in influential East Asian works like theAwakening of Faithand theSutra of Perfect Enlightenment,and was also influenced by the teachings of the Huayan school on the interpenetration of all phenomena.^[3]^[2]

Original enlightenment is often contrasted with “acquired", "initial", "actualized" or "the inception of enlightenment” ( thủy giác, pinyin:shijué,Japanese:shikaku), which is a relative experience that is attained through Buddhist practices and teachings by an individual in this life.^[4]^[5]

Original enlightenment is an influential doctrine of various schools of East Asian Buddhism, includingChan/Zen,TiantaiandHuayan.Inherent enlightenment was also often associated with the teachings ofsudden enlightenmentwhich was influential forJapanese Zen.The original enlightenment idea was also important forKorean Buddhism,especiallyKorean Seon.It was a central teaching in medieval Japanese Buddhist traditions likeShingon,Tendai,and also for some of the newKamakura schoolslikeJapanese Zen.^[6]

History

Indian roots

The doctrine of innate enlightenment developed inChinese Buddhismout of various IndianMahayanaideas, such as the Buddha-nature (tathagatagarbha) doctrine, theluminous mindand the teachings found in various Mahayana sources, including theŚūraṅgama Sūtra,Ghanavyuha,Śrīmālādevī,Tathagatagarbha sutra,Nirvana sutra,and theRatnagotravibhāga.^[7]

The influential Huayan-Chan scholar,Guifeng Zongmi,cites various Indian Mahayana sources for this idea. He cites a passage from theAvatamsaka Sutrawhich states "'When one first raises thethought [of awakening],one attains unexcelled, perfect awakening.' "He also cites theNirvana Sutra,which states: "The two, raising the thought [of awakening] and the ultimate, are not separate."^[8]

The Prajña translation of theBuddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra(translated c. 798 by the Indian monk Prajña) also mentions the term, stating: "When the buddhas and bodhisattvas realize enlightenment, they convert the ālaya and attain the wisdom of original enlightenment" (Taisho no. 10 n0293 p0688a08).

Origins in China

The Chinese term itself is first mentioned in theAwakening of Faith in the Mahayana(c. 6th century).^[5]^[9]According to this treatise:

The essence of Mind is free from thoughts [ tâm thể ly niệm ]. The characteristic of that free from thoughts is analogous to the sphere of empty space that pervades everywhere. The one aspect of the world of reality (dharmadhātu) is none other than the undifferentiated Dharma body [dharmakāya], the “essence body” of theTathāgata.[Since the essence of Mind is] grounded on the dharmakāya, it is to be called theoriginal enlightenment.Why? Because “original enlightenment” indicates [the essence of Mind] in contradistinction to [the essence of Mind in] the process of the actualization of enlightenment; the process of actualization of enlightenment is none other than [the process of integrating] the identity with the original enlightenment.^[10]

TheAwakening of Faithalso identifies inherent enlightenment with "true suchness" ( chân như,tathātā), the mind which is pure in itself, and thetathagata-garbha.^[11]According toJacqueline Stone,theAwakening of Faithsees original enlightenment as "truesuchnessconsidered under the aspect of conventional deluded consciousness and thus denotes the potential for enlightenment in unenlightened beings. "^[12]

The idea is further discussed in the influential commentary to theAwakening of FaithtitledOn the Interpretation of Mahāyāna(Shi Moheyan lun,釈 ma kha diễn luận, Japanese:Shakumakaen-ron,Taisho no. 1668).^[5]Original enlightenment is also found in other influential East Asian works, like theSutra of Perfect Enlightenmentand theVajrasamadhi Sutra.^[5]

TheSutra of Perfect Enlightenmentexplains inherent enlightenment or "Perfect Enlightenment" as the source of all phenomena (which are ultimately illusory), drawing onessence-functionthought:

Good sons, all sentient beings' various illusions are born from the perfectly enlightened marvelous mind of theTathagata,just like the sky-flowers come to exist in the sky. Even though the illusory flowers vanish, the nature of the sky is indestructible. The illusory mind of sentient beings also vanishes based on illusion, and while all illusions are utterly erased, the enlightened mind is unchanged.^[13]

The term also appears in the 8th centuryAmoghavajratranslation of theHumane King Sutra:

I [the Buddha] constantly say to all sentient beings, “Only sever the ignorance [ vô minh ] of this triple world; this is called becoming a Buddha. That which is pure in itself is called the nature of inherent enlightenment. This indeed is the universal wisdom of all Buddhas. This is the basis [ bổn ] for attainment [of Buddhahood] by sentient beings, and the basis for practice by all Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Therefore the bodhisattvas' practice on this basis (T. 8, 836b29-837a4).^[11]

What these various Chinese sources have in common is that they understand the idea of original enlightenment as the "essence" of things in the framework ofessence-functionthought (tiyong) and thus see it as the ultimate source or basis for all phenomena.^[13]

The term is also found in thePlatform Sutra(c. 8th to 13th century), a central text forZen Buddhism:

Good friends, when I say 'I vow to save all beings everywhere,' it is not that I will save you, but that sentient beings, each with their own natures, must save themselves. What is meant by 'saving yourselves with your own natures'? Despite heterodox views, passions, ignorance, and delusions, in your own physical bodies you have in yourselves the attributes of inherent enlightenment, so that with correct views you can be saved.^[14]

Development in the mainland

In medieval China, the doctrine of original enlightenment developed in theEast Asian Yogacara,HuayanandChan Buddhistschools. The Huayan scholarFazangpresents an extensive analysis of the idea in his commentary on theAwakening of Faith.^[5]^[15]According to the Japanese scholar of hongaku thought, Tamura Yoshirō (1921–1989), "It was here in Huayen doctrine, a" philosophy of becoming ", based on the idea of one principle or one mind, that the concept of original enlightenment first took on special significance".^[15]

Original enlightenment was also an important and widely pervasive doctrine inChinese Chanand in the other continental Zen traditions.^[5]The Huayan-Chan scholar monkGuifeng Zongmiwrote about the idea from aChanperspective, while also promoting the doctrine ofsudden enlightenment,followed by gradual cultivation. Korean figures likeWŏnhyo,influenced by the thought of Zongmi, introduced the concept toKorean Buddhism,where it also had a considerable impact. The topic of original enlightenment was widely discussed and developed in Korea by figures like Wônhyo (617-686),Jinul(1158-1210),Kihwa(1376-1433) andHyujông(1520-1604). According to Charles Muller, "all four of these men wrote extensively on the matter of the relationship between innate and actualized enlightenment."^[13]As such, the foundational view of theKorean Sôntradition is grounded on the view of original enlightenment andessence-functionmetaphysics influenced by scriptures like thePlatform Sutra,Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment,and theAwakening of Faith.^[13]

The teaching of theAwakening of Faithwas eventually adopted into the Tiantai school by figures like the patriarchZhanran(711–782). However, as Stone writes, Tiantai figures like Zhanran appropriated these ideas "in a manner consistent with their own metaphysics, that is, as denoting the interpenetration of the mind and all phenomena without assigning priority to either and without notions of original purity."^[3]As such, in classic Tiantai thought, original enlightenment is not an original source or a pure one mind (as in theAwakening of Faith), it merely refers to the doctrine that all phenomena (dharmas) are mutually inclusive and interrelated.^[3]The doctrine of original enlightenment also influenced the idea that insentient things also had buddha-nature, a doctrine popularized in some quarters of theTiantaischool which further integrated Huayan ideas into Tiantai.^[5]

However, since the founder of Tiantai,Zhiyi(538–597) had famously rejected the doctrine of theAwakening of Mahāyāna Faithof an originally pure mind that gives rise to the phenomenal world, some parties in the Tiantai school rejected the adoption of the idea into Tiantai.^[16]This Song era Tiantai debate was part of the so called "home mountain" (shanjia) vs. "off mountain" (shanwai) debates. The "off mountain" faction supported the original enlightenment view, which was influenced by the thought of Zongmi andYongming Yanshou,and promoted the existence of the "one pure formless mind" like theAwakening of Mahāyāna Faith.^[17]The Tiantai patriarchSiming Zhili(960–1028) famously defended the home mountain faction and argued against theAwakening of Faith- original enlightenment view.^[18]

In Japanese Buddhism

Kūkai(774–835), founder ofShingon Buddhism,was one of the first Japanese authors to discuss original enlightenment. He was fond of theAwakening of Faith(and theShi Moheyan luncommentary), so his view of the teaching is based on these sources.^[11]

In Tendai

The doctrine of innate enlightenment (jp: hongaku) was also very influential in theTendaischool. The Tendai founderSaichō,in various works like hisKenkairon,Jubosatsukaigi,and his commentary on theSutra of Innumerable Meanings,discusses the concept of the pure mind and the buddha-nature in a way which prefigures later Tendai hongaku thought.^[11]For example, in his discussion of the bodhisattva precepts in theJubosatsukaigi,Saichō writes:

These are the single precepts of the Tathagata, the diamond treasure precepts. They are the precepts which are (based on) the eternally abiding Buddha-nature, the foundational source of all sentient beings, pure in itself and immobile like space. Therefore by means of these precepts one manifests and attains the original, inherent, eternally abidingDharma-bodywith its thirty-two special marks (DDZ 1:304).^[11]

Original enlightenment thought became particularly important for the tradition during the time from the lateHeian cloistered ruleera (1086–1185) through theEdo period(1688–1735).^[12]During the late Heian andKamakura periods,new texts were produced which focused specifically on original enlightenment and a new branch of Tendai developed, called hongakumon, which emphasized this teaching. These texts include theContemplation of Suchness(Shinnyokan), theHonri taikō shu,Hymns on Inherent Enlightenment(Hongaku-san), with commentaries to it titledChu-hongaku-sanandHongaku-san shaku,Shuzen-ji ketsu.During this time, lineages of secret oral transmission of hongaku teachings (kuden) also developed within Tendai.^[5]^[3] The following passage from theShinnyokanillustrates the basic idea of original enlightenment found in these types of Tendai sources:

If you wish to attainbuddhahoodquickly or be born without fail in [the Pure Land] ofUtmost Bliss,you must think, “My own mind is precisely the principle ofsuchness.”If you think that suchness, which pervades the dharma realm, is your own essence (wagatai ngã thể ), you are at once thedharma realm;do not think that there is anything apart from this. When one is awakened, the buddhas in the worlds of the ten directions and also allbodhisattvasdwell within oneself. To seek a separate buddha apart from one’s own person is [the action of] a time when one does not know that oneself is precisely suchness.^[3]

The main practice promoted in this text is simply to contemplate how ourselves and all other beings are identical to suchness, i.e. original enlightenment. This can be done in combination with any Buddhist practice, or any mundane activity.^[3]This practice is said to help one transcend all bad karma and defilement instantaneously by helping one see that they are also non-dual with enlightenment itself.^[3]This contemplation is also said to collapse all temporal and spatial dualities, leading one to realize that one is already a Buddha here and now, which also contains all places and all times, all bodhisattva stages and all sentient beings.^[3]

The medieval Tendai view of original enlightenment saw it as encompassing not only all sentient beings, but all living things and all nature, even inanimate objects - all were considered to be Buddha. This also includes all our actions and thoughts, even our deluded thoughts, as expressions of our innately enlightened nature.^[12]Tamura Yoshirō saw "original enlightenment thought" ( bổn giác tư tưởng,hongaku shisō) as being defined by two major philosophical elements.^[19]One was a radical Mahayananon-dualism,in which everything was seen as pure, empty and interconnected, so that the differences between ordinary person and Buddha,samsaraandnirvana,and all other distinctions, were ultimatelyontologicallynegated. The other feature of medieval hongaku thought was a radical affirmation of the phenomenal world as an expression of the non-dual realm of Buddha nature.^[15]

This was expressed in popular phrases such as “the worldly passions are precisely enlightenment”, “birth and death are precisely nirvana,” "Sahais thePure Land,"and" the grasses, trees, mountains, and rivers all attainBuddhahood."^[12]^[5]^[15]According to Tamura, the negation of the duality between Buddha and human beings is taken to a radical end in Tendai hongaku sources, which affirm human beings as they are, with all their delusions, as true manifestations of Buddhahood. "^[15]Tamura argues that such a strong emphasis on the actual world is due to influence of non-buddhist elements ofJapanese culture.^[15]

According to Jacqueline Stone, these radical non-dual ideas "do not deny the need for practice. Rather, practice is no longer instrumentalized: it is not a means to enlightenment but inseparable from it. In the inversion of the path seen in hongaku literature, enlightenment becomes the ground of practice, rather than its end goal."^[3]Some hongaku sources state that this revolutionary view abandons the idea that enlightenment is achieved from the cause (practice) to the effect (buddhahood). Rather, hongaku thought takes us from the effect to the cause (juga kōin 従 quả hướng nhân ).^[3]

Later developments

The Tendai view of hongaku had deep impact on the development ofNew Kamakura Buddhism(c. 1185 to 1333), for many of those who founded newKamakuraBuddhist schools (Eisai,Honen,Shinran,DōgenandNichiren) studied Tendai atMount Hieias Tendai monks.^[12]^[3]The influence of hongaku thought can be seen in Dōgen's view of the “oneness of practice and attainment” (shushō ittō tu chứng nhất đẳng ), in Shinran’s idea of the “immediate achievement of birth in the Pure Land” (sokutoku ōjō tức đắc vãng sinh ) and in also in Nichiren's teaching that all the Buddha's practices and merits are inherent in thedaimoku(the title of theLotus Sūtra) and are directly accessible to those who chant it.^[3]

The teaching of original enlightenment remained a key doctrine for most Japanese Buddhist schools throughout their history, and remains influential today.^[5]Original enlightenment thought also influenced the development of other Japanese religions, likeShintoandShugendō.^[5]

During the 1980s a Japanese movement known asCritical Buddhismled byKomazawa Universityscholars Matsumoto Shirō and Hakamaya Noriaki critiqued original enlightenment as an ideology that supports the status quo, and legitimates social injustice by accepting all things as expressions of Buddha nature.^[20]^[5]These scholars went even further in their critiques, arguing that the buddha-nature doctrine was not really Buddhist, but a kind offoundationalistsubstance theory similar to the Hindu doctrine ofatman-brahman.^[5]Their critiques sparked a heated debate, as other Japanese scholars likeTakasaki Jikidōand Hirakawa Akira defended the buddha-nature teachings and original enlightenment thought.^[5]

References

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^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿStone, Jacqueline. 'From Buddha Nature to Original Enlightenment: "Contemplating Suchness" in Medieval Japan' in Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, and Casey Kemp, eds.Buddha Nature Across Asia.Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 103. Vienna: Arbeitkreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien, University of Vienna, 2022.
^Nagatomo, Shigenori (2024), Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.),"Japanese Zen Buddhist Philosophy",The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(Spring 2024 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University,retrieved2024-05-03
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿSwanson, Paul L.. "Why They Say Zen Is Not Buddhism: Recent Japanese Critiques of Buddha-Nature".Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm over Critical Buddhism,edited by Jamie Hubbard and Paul L. Swanson, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, pp. 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824842697-004
^Stone, Jacqueline. “Medieval Tendai Hongaku Thought and the New Kamakura Buddhism: A Reconsideration.”Japanese Journal of Religious Studies,vol. 22, no. 1/2, 1995, pp. 17–48.JSTOR,http://www.jstor.org/stable/30233536. Accessed 4 May 2024.
^Gregory, Peter N. (2002),Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism,p. 167. University of Hawai’i Press, Kuroda Institute, (originally published Princeton University Press, 1991, Princeton, N.J.), ISBN 0-8248-2623-X
^Broughton, Jeffrey (2009),Zongmi on Chan,p. 39. New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-14392-9
^Sueki Fumihiko, "Two Seemingly Contradictory Aspects of the Teaching of Innate Enlightenment (hongaku) in Medieval Japan", Japanese Journal of Religious Study 22 (1-2), pp. 3-16, 1995.PDF
^"original enlightenment - Buddha-Nature".buddhanature.tsadra.org.Retrieved2024-05-03.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eShirato, Waka. “Inherent Enlightenment (‘Hongaku Shisō’) and Saichō’s Acceptance of the Bodhisattva Precepts.”Japanese Journal of Religious Studies,vol. 14, no. 2/3, 1987, pp. 113–27.JSTOR,http://www.jstor.org/stable/30233979. Accessed 4 May 2024.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eStone, Jacqueline(1 May 1995)."Medieval Tendai hongaku thought and the new Kamakura Buddhism: A reconsideration".Japanese Journal of Religious Studies.22(1–2).doi:10.18874/jjrs.22.1-2.1995.17-48.
^^a ^b ^c ^dMuller, Charles."Innate Enlightenment and No-thought: A Response to the Critical Buddhist Position on Zen".Toyo Gakuen University, A paper delivered to the International Conference on Sôn at Paekyang-sa, Kwangju, Korea, August 22, 1998.
^Yampolski, Philip B. (1967),The platform sutra of the sixth patriarch: the text of the Tun-huang manuscript with translation, introduction, and notes(PDF),p. 143,ISBN 978-0-231-08361-4,archived fromthe original(PDF)on May 21, 2014
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^fYoshirō Tamura (1987). "Japanese Culture and the Tendai Concept of Original Enlightenment."Japanese Journal of Religious Studies,14(2-3), 203–210. doi:10.2307/30233983
^Stone, Jacqueline. Review of Hanano Jūdō [ hoa dã sung đạo ],Tendai hongaku shisō to Nichiren kyōgaku[ thiên đài bổn giác tư tưởng と nhật liên giáo học ] (Tendai Original Enlightenment Thought and Nichiren Doctrinal Studies).Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie20 (2011): 259–268.École Fançaise d’Extrême-Orient,Paris, 2013.
^Ziporyn, Brook (1994).Anti-Chan Polemics in Post-Tang Tiantai.Journal of the international Association of Buddhist Studies 17 (1), 26-65
^Ziporyn, Brook. Anti-Chan Polemics in Post-Tang Tiantai. Journal of the international Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 17 • Number 1 • Summer 1994
^Tamura Yoshirō (1987), Japanese culture and the Tendai concept of original enlightenment, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 14 (2-3), 203-205PDF
^Hubbard, Jamie; Swanson, Paul Loren (1997).Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm Over Critical Buddhism.University of Hawaii Press.p. 290.ISBN 9780824819491.