Tanluan

Tanluan on the DRL

Ordained (Monks and Nuns)

English Phonetics	Tanluan
Japanese Transliteration	Donran
Korean Transliteration	Tamnan

Dates

Birth:	476
Death:	542

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Religious Affiliation

Pure Land

Other Biographical info:

Links

Wiki Pages

• Tanluan on the DRL
• Tanluan on the LIB
• Tanluan on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Chinese monk and putative patriarch of the Pure Land traditions of East Asia. He is said to have become a monk at an early age, after which he devoted himself to the study of the Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra. As his health deteriorated from his intensive studies, Tanluan is said to have resolved to search for a means of attaining immortality. During his search in the south of China, Tanluan purportedly met the Daoist master Tao Hongjing (455–536), who gave him ten rolls of scriptures of the Daoist perfected. Tanluan is then said to have visited Bodhiruci in Luoyang, from whom he received a copy of the Guan Wuliangshou jing [*Amitāyurdhyānasūtra]. Tanluan subsequently abandoned his initial quest for immortality in favor of the teachings of the buddha Amitābha’s pure land. He was later appointed abbot of the monasteries of Dayansi in Bingzhou (present-day Shaanxi province) and Xuanzhongsi in nearby Fenzhou. Tanluan is famous for his commentary on the Wuliangshou jing youpotishe yuansheng ji attributed to Vasubandhu. (Source: "Tanluan." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 893. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
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All beings have Buddha-nature
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If "Qualified", explain:
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Which Wheel Turning
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
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Promotes how many vehicles?
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Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
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What is Buddha-nature?
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Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
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Causal nature of the vajrapāda
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Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.