Dharmadhatu

Definition

In Mahayana Buddhism, dharmadhātu (Standard Tibetan: chos kyi dbyings; Chinese: 法界) means "realm of phenomena", "realm of truth", and of the noumenon. It is referred to by several analogous terms from Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, such as Tathata (Reality "as-it-is"), emptiness, dependent co-arising and eternal Buddha. It is the "deepest nature, or essence".[1]

Dharmadhātu is the purified mind in its natural state, free of obscurations. It is the essence-quality or nature of mind, the fundamental ground of consciousness of the trikaya, which is accessed via the mindstream.

When the buddha-nature has been realised, dharmadhātu is also referred to as the Dharmakāya, the Body of Dharma Truth.

It is associated with Vairocana.

Historical origin

Kang-nam Oh traces the origin of dharmadhatu to the Avatamsaka Sutra. It has been further developed by the Hua-yen school:

This idea of dharmadhātu-pratītyasamutpāda which was originally found in the Avataṁsaka-sūtra or Hua-yen ching,[note 1] was fully developed by the Hua-yen school into a systematic doctrine palatable to the Chinese intellectual taste. The dharmadhātu doctrine[note 2] can be said to have been, by and large, set forth by Tu-shun (557~640 C.E.), formulated by Chih-yen (602~668), systematized by Fa-tsang (643~712), and elucidated by Ch’eng-kuan (ca. 737~838) and Tsung-mi (780~841).[2]

Understanding in Buddhist tradition

Indian Buddhism

Śrīmālādevī Sūtra

The Śrīmālādevī Sūtra (3rd century CE[3]), also named The Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala, centers on the teaching of the tathagatagarbha as "ultimate soteriological principle".[4] It states that the tathagata-garbha is the "embryo" of the Dharmadhatu and the Dharmakaya:[5]

Lord, the Tathagatagarbha is neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality. The Tathagatagarbha is not the domain of beings who fall into the belief in a real personality, who adhere to wayward views, whose thoughts are distracted by voidness. Lord, this Tathagatagarbha is the embryo of the Illustrious Dharmadhatu, the embryo of the Dharmakaya, the embryo of the supramundane dharma, the embryo of the intrinsically pure dharma.[5]

In the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra, there are two possible states for the Tathagatagarbha:

[E]ither covered by defilements, when it is called only "embryo of the Tathagata"; or free from defilements, when the "embryo of the Tathagata" is no more the "embryo" (potentiality) but the Tathāgata (=the Dharmakaya)(actuality).[6]

The sutra itself states it this way:

This Dharmakaya of the Tathagata when not free from the store of defilement is referred to as the Tathagatagarbha.[7]

Dharmadhātustava

The Dharmadhātustava ("In praise of the Dharmadhatu"), attributed to Nāgārjuna[8] though questioned, is a treatise on the dharmadhatu. According to the Dharmadhātustava, the dharmadhatu is the ground which makes liberation possible:

The dharmadhatu is the ground
For buddhahood, nirvana, purity, and permanence.[8][note 3]

According to the Dharmadhātustava, the dharmadhatu is seen when the afflictions are purified:

As butter, though inherent in the milk,

Is mixed with it and hence does not appear,
Just so the dharmadhatu is not seen
As long as it is mixed together with afflictions.

And just as the inherent butter essence
When the milk is purified is no more disguised,
When afflictions have been completely purified,

The dharmadhatu will be without any stain at all.[8]

Chinese Buddhism

Mahaparinirvana Sutra

In the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha states of himself that he is the "boundless Dharmadhatu" - the totality itself.

Tibetan Buddhism

Five Wisdoms

The Dharmadhatu is comprehended by one of the Five Wisdoms:

  1. Dharmadhātu wisdom,
  2. Mirror-like wisdom,
  3. Equality wisdom,
  4. Discriminating wisdom,
  5. All-accomplishing wisdom.

Dzogchen

In the Dzogchen text Gold refined from ore[9] the term Dharmadhatu is translated as 'total field of events and meanings' or "field of all events and meanings".[9]

gollark: Fine, I can unthingy your bad mather role.
gollark: The testbot instances connect over [REDACTED], so their traffic is secure, but the server to server links are entirely unsecured.
gollark: It's especially adventurous because I can't make encryption work so most communication is plaintext.
gollark: APIONET is IRC. Thus retro.
gollark: Why not? It is retro™.

See also

Notes
  1. There are three Chinese translations in the name of Ta-fang-kuang-fo hua-yen-ching. 1) T.9, no. 278, tr. by Buddhabhadra in sixty fascicles during 418-420; 2) T.10, no. 279 , by Śiksānanda in eighty fascicles during 695-699; and 3) T.10, no. 293, by Prajñā in forty fascicles during 795-798. The last one is basically equivalent to the last chapter of the previous versions, i.e., the Chapter on Entering into Dharmadhātu. This chapter is available in Sanskrit as an independent sutra called Gaṇdavyuha-sūtra, one ed. by D. T.Suzuki and H. Idzumi (Kyoto: The Sanskrit Buddhist Texts Publishing Society, 1934-36), and the other ed. by P. L. Vaidya, Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, no. 5 (Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960).
  2. To be exact, it should be called the “dharmadhātu-pratītyasamutpāda” doctrine. But for the sake of convenience, it will be referred to as dharmadhātu doctrine hereafter.
  3. In cooperation with the Indian Khenpo, Krishna Pandita, it was translated (from Sanskrit to Tibetan) by Lotsawa Tsultrim Gyalwa. Based on teachings given by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, it has been translated from Tibetan into English by Jim Scott, April 1997, and edited by Ari Goldfield, September 1998.
    Karl Brunholzl published another translation, with extensive commentaries, In Praise of Dharmadhatu (2008).

References
  1. Chang 1992, p. 253.
  2. Oh 2000.
  3. Wayman 1990, p. 2.
  4. Brown 1994, p. 10.
  5. Wayman 1990, p. 106.
  6. Wayman 1990, p. 45.
  7. Wayman 1990, p. 98.
  8. Nagarjuna 1998.
  9. Namkhai Norbu and Kennard Lipman (translators) 2001.

Sources

Published sources
  • Brown, Brian Edward (1994), The Buddha Nature. A Study of the Tathagatagarbha and Alayavijnana, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
  • Chang, Garma C.C. (1992), The Buddhist teaching of Totality. The Philosophy of Hwa Yen Buddhism, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
  • Nagarjuna (1998), In Praise of the Dharmadhatu, translated by Lotsawa Tsultrim Gyalwa (Tibetan); Jim Scott (English)
  • Namkhai Norbu (2001), Primordial experience. An Introduction to rDzogs-chen Meditation, translated by Kennard Lipman, Also translated by Barrie Simmons, Boston & London: Shambhala
  • Oh, Kang-nam (2000), The Taoist Influence on Hua-yen Buddhism: A Case of the Sinicization of Buddhism in China. In: Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 13, (2000), archived from the original on March 23, 2010
  • Tsogyel, Yeshe, (terton: Nyang Ral Nyima Oser); Rangdrol, Tsele Natsok (1990), Marcia Binder Schmidt (ed.), The Lotus-Born: The life story of Padmasambhava, Rangjung Yeshe Publications, archived from the original on 2007-09-26, retrieved 2007-01-17
  • Wayman, Alex and Hideko (1990), The Lion's roar of Queen Srimala, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
  • Yamamoto, Kosho (1999–2000), Tony Page (ed.), The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra in 12 Volumes (PDF), Nirvana Publications, archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013

Web-sources

    Further reading
    • Karl Brunholzl (2008), In Parise of Dharmadhatu
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