Tathāgatagarbha
| Key Term | tathāgatagarbha |
|---|---|
| In Tibetan Script | དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration | de gshegs pa’i snying po |
| Devanagari Sanskrit Script | तथागतगर्भा |
| Romanized Sanskrit | tathāgatagarbha |
| Tibetan Phonetic Rendering | Tatagatagarbha |
| Chinese Script | 如来藏 |
| Chinese Pinyin | rúláizàng |
| Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term | Essence/Heart of the Thus Gone One |
| Richard Barron's English Term | tathagatagarbha/ "buddha nature" [sutra context] potential/ heart essence for attaining (state of) suchness [Dzogchen context] potential/ heart essence that consitutes attaining (state of) suchness |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Source Language | Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning | Essence/Heart of the Thus Gone One (Karl Brunnhölzl, Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 897) |
| Related Terms | sugatagarbha |
| Definitions | |
| Karl Brunnhölzl |
Read more about Different Ways of Explaining the Meaning of Tathāgatagarbha by Karl Brunnhölzl.
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| Rangjung Yeshe's English Term | tathagata-essence, enlightened essence, buddha-nature |
| RigpaWiki | rigpa:Buddha_nature |
| Other Definitions |
Womb of the tathagatas “Containing the tathagatas” “Womb”, “embryo”, “essence”, or “heart” (garbha) of the Thus Gone (tathāgata) |
| Synonyms | Buddha-dhatu “The inherent potential of all sentient beings to achieve buddhahood.” - Princeton Dictionary, p. 151 Ch: 如来藏 J: busshō |
| Grammatical / Etymological Analysis | “As for the meaning of the Sanskrit compound tathāgatagarbha, its first part (tathā) can be taken as either the adverb “thus” or the noun “thusness/suchness” (as a term for ultimate reality; many texts, among them the Uttaratantra, gloss tathāgatagarbha as “suchness”). The second part can be read either as gata (“gone”), or āgata (“come, arrived”; the Tibetan gshegs pa can mean both). However, in the term tathāgata, both meanings more or less come down to the same. Thus, the main difference lies in whether one understands a tathāgata as (a) a “thus-gone/thus-come one” or (b) “one gone/ come to thusness,” with the former emphasizing the aspect of the path and the latter the result. The final part of the compound—garbha—literally and originally means “embryo,” “germ,” “womb,” “the interior or middle of anything,” “any interior chamber or sanctuary of a temple,” “calyx” (as of a lotus), “having in the interior,” “containing,” or “being filled with.” At some point, the term also assumed the meanings of “core,” “heart,” “pith,” and “essence” (which is also the meaning of its usual Tibetan translation snying po).” - Karl Brunnhölzl, When the Clouds Part |