What is the Truth in Buddhism?

Quote:

"Mahamati! Ālaya-vijñāna is named Tathāgatagarbha, that which is joined with the ignorant seven vijñānas. As the waves in their variety are stirred on the ocean, so in the Ālaya is produced the variety of what is known as the vijñānas."  Lanavatara Sutra, Vol. 7

「大慧！阿梨耶識者，名如來藏，而與無明七識共俱，如大海波常不斷絕身俱生故，」《入楞伽經》卷7

Remarks:

The truth of Buddhism, in a nutshell, is the Path to Liberation in the Two-Vehicle Bodhi and the Way to Buddhahood in the Great Bodhi taught by the Buddha. 

The Path to Liberation is about subduing and ultimately liberating oneself from afflictions. The afflictions mentioned in the Path to Liberation in the Two-Vehicle refer to the fundamental causes of afflictions. The true fundamental cause of afflictions is not just our persistent pursuit of the five desires (wealth, sex, food, fame, and sleep) in the mundane world, but our mistaken view of ourselves, i.e., self-view (the view that the whole or combinations of our physical body, feeling, perception, volition or mental consciousness represent a true and permanent self) and our firm attachment to ourselves, i.e., self-attachment. Both self-view and self-attachment are the root causes of afflictions. Learning the Path to Liberation, we are actually studying the ways to completely and fundamentally resolve the afflictions. To completely resolve afflictions, one must first understand the content and meaning of self-view and self-attachment.

The Path to Buddhahood, however, is predicated on first having to personally realize the True Mind (Tathāgatagarbha; reality-suchness). If a practitioner has not yet accomplished such personal realization, the teaching of the path should at least be capable of leading the Buddhist learner to the direction of personal realization of the True Mind and Buddha-nature; only then can such a path be named the Path to Buddhahood. The notion of personal realization means personal experience and verification; it is not a slogan or catchphrase, not a concept or an opinion; it is a real and verifiable experience. It has definitive practicing goals and methods. 

Thus, when someone claims that “the Buddha dharma is all about dependent arising without an intrinsic nature; there should be nothing else except for dependent arising without an intrinsic nature,” such a statement is missing the most important core—Tathāgatagarbha (reality-suchness) in Buddhism. 

#Buddha #Buddhism #selfview #selfattachment #tathagatagarbha