Buddha Nature

"Oh, good man! If you desire to know what is the Buddha Nature, listen carefully, listen carefully. Now, I will analyze and explain it to you.

Oh, good man! The Buddha Nature is none other than the All-Void of 'Paramartha-satya’. The All-Void of 'Paramartha-satya' is Wisdom. We say 'All-Void'. This does not refer to any void, [or voidness], nor non-void. The Wisdom sees the Void and the non-Void, the Eternal and the non-Eternal, Suffering and Bliss, the Self and the non-Self. The Void refers to all births and deaths. The non-Void refers to Great Nirvana. And the not-Self is nothing more than birth and death. The Self refers to Great Nirvana.

If someone sees the All-Void, but does not see the non-Void, we do not speak of this as the Middle Path. Or if someone sees the non-Self of all things, but does not see the Self, we do not call this the Middle Path.

The Middle Path is the Buddha Nature. For this reason, the Buddha Nature is Eternal and unchanging. As ignorance overspreads it, all beings are unable to see it. The Sravaka and Pratyekabuddha see the All-Void of all things. But they do not see the non-Void. Or they see the non-Self of all things, but they do not see the Self. Due to this, they are unable to reach the All-Void of 'Paramartha-satya’ Since they fail to reach the All-Void of 'Paramartha-satya', they fail to enact the Middle Path. Since there is no Middle Path, there is no vision of the Buddha Nature.

Oh, good man! There are three visions of the Middle Path. The first is the definitely blissful action, the second is the definitely sorrowful action, the third is the sorrow-bliss action.

We say ‘definitely blissful action’. This is like in the case of the so-called Bodhisattva Mahasattva who, pitying all beings, lives in Avichi Hell, and yet feels things as of the bliss of the Heaven of third dhyana.

We say ‘definitely sorrowful action’, referring to all common mortals.

We say 'sorrow-bliss action’. This alludes to Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas. The Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas feel sorrow and bliss, and gain the thought of the Middle Path. For this reason, although a person possesses the Buddha Nature, can not see it well.

Oh, good man! You say that we speak of the 'Buddha Nature'. Oh, good man! The Buddha Nature is the seed of the Middle Path of the unsurpassed Enlightenment of all Buddhas."

Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 33, on the Bodhisattva Lion's Roar 1.

buddha nature.mp3