..續本文上一頁osity. But actually, from the ultimate perspectives of Luminous Essence-A Guide to the Guhyagrbha Tantra to the Kalachakra, all see luminosity and emptiness as inpisibly one; that is, the union of appearance and emptiness.
The union of appearance and emptiness is the original nature of Tathagatagharba. You can choose to use the method of intrinsic-emptiness, or the method of extrinsic-emptiness. The Jonang tradition uses extrinsic-emptiness. The meaning of extrinsic-emptiness is that the original nature is not empty but that agantuka is empty. According to this, if the original nature of Tathagatagharba is not empty, then how does it differ from the teaching of a “permanent self” by other religions
Regarding this, the Lankavatara Sutra has clearly stated[1], Tathagatagharba is different to the permanent-self taught by other religions, because it is free from attachment to self, and from any fabrications.
As you can see, intrinsic-emptiness and extrinsic-emptiness are based on discriminative thinking. True Tathagatagharba transcends these concepts.
In Indian history, surrounding the second and third turning of the Dharma Wheel, commentators Chandrakirti and Chandragomin debated for a long seven years; but eventually their views converged. Hence, based on this theoretical foundation that our predecessors have chosen, we followers should combine the teachings of the second and third turning of the Dharma Wheel to arrive directly at the understanding of the union of appearance and emptiness. And this union of appearance and emptiness is exactly the “Great Emptiness” that has transcended consciousness, transcended intrinsic-emptiness and extrinsic-emptiness. This should be the Buddha”s true secret meaning. If you wish to comprehend this idea explicitly, you can study Mipham Rinpoche”s The Lion”s Roar Proclaiming Extrinsic Emptiness.
In brief, “extrinsic emptiness” is highly technical in Buddhism, and is an area of deep study. It is perhaps very difficult to depict its true meaning in a few short sentences.
[1] At that time, Mahamati the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva said this to the Blessed One: Now the Blessed One makes mention of the Tathagata-garbha in the sutras, and verily it is described by you as by nature bright and pure, as primarily unspotted, endowed with the thirty-two marks of excellence, hidden in the body of every being like a gem of great value, which is enwrapped in a dirty garment, enveloped in the garment of the Skandhas, Dhatus, and Ayatanas, and soiled with the dirt of greed, anger, folly, and false imagination, while it is described by the Blessed One to be eternal, permanent, auspicious, and unchangeable. Is not this Tathagata-garbha taught by the Blessed One the same as the ego-substance taught by the philosophers
The ego as taught in the systems of the philosophers is an eternal creator, unqualified, omnipresent, and imperishable.
The Blessed One replied: No, Mahamati, my Tathagata-garbha is not the same as the ego taught by the philosophers; for what the Tathagatas teach is the Tathagata-garbha in the sense, Mahamati, that it is emptiness, reality-limit, Nirvana, being unborn, unqualified, and devoid of will-effort; the reason why the Tathagatas who are Arhats and Fully-Enlightened Ones, teach the doctrine pointing to the Tathagata-garbha is to make the ignorant cast aside their fear when they listen to the teaching of egolessness and to have them realise the state of non-discrimination and imagelessness. I also wish, Mahamati, that the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas of the present and future would not attach themselves to the idea of an ego [imagining it to be a soul]. Mahamati, it is like a potter who manufactures various vessels out of a mass of clay of one sort by his own manual skill and labour combined with a rod, water, and thread, Mahamati, that the Tathagatas preach the egolessness of things which removes all the traces of discrimination by various skilful means issuing from their transcendental wisdom, that is, sometimes by the doctrine of the Tathagata-garbha, sometimes by that of egolessness, and, like a potter, by means of various terms, expressions, and synonyms. For this reason, Mahamati, the philosophers” doctrine of an ego-substance is not the same as the teaching of the Tathagata-garbha. Thus, Mahamati, the doctrine of the Tathagata-garbha is disclosed in order to awaken the philosophers from their clinging to the idea of the ego, so that those minds that have fallen into the views imagining the non-existent ego as real, and also into the notion that the triple emancipation is final, may rapidly be awakened to the state of supreme enlightenment. Accordingly, Mahamati, the Tathagatas who are Arhats and Fully-Enlightened Ones disclose the doctrine of the Tathagata-garbha which is thus not to be known as identical with the philosopher”s notion of an ego-substance. Therefore. Mahamati, in order to abandon the misconception cherished by the philosophers, you must strive after the teaching of egolessness and the Tathagata-garbha.
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