Buddha-Nature & the Bodhisattva Path on Buddhist Resources

Buddha-Nature (Tathagatagarbha)

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:19:31 +0200

Few Buddhist doctrines have been as influential or as contested as buddha-nature. In East Asia it became the foundation of the entire tradition. In Tibet it produced a dispute that has run for eight centuries. And from the beginning it has faced a serious charge from within Buddhism: that it reintroduces, under another name, precisely the permanent self that Buddhism exists to deny.

The Bodhisattva Ideal

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:20:40 +0200

The bodhisattva is the central figure of Mahayana Buddhism, and the ideal is stated in terms that are deliberately extravagant: to attain full buddhahood, over three incalculable aeons, not for one’s own sake but in order to liberate every sentient being without exception — and to postpone one’s own final release until that is accomplished.

The Six Perfections (Paramitas)

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:21:49 +0200

The six paramitas are the curriculum of the bodhisattva path. They are not a list of admirable qualities; they are a structured training in which each supports the next, and in which the last transforms all the others.