Last time, we saw how in Buddhist thought, both the capstone and cornerstone of the Eightfold Path is the idea of right concentration: it’s the cornerstone because it’s necessary for any and all of the other steps of the path; it’s the capstone because it also refers to the ultimate fulfillment of the path. But what exactly is it one experiences in such a non-dual state of consciousness as the fulfillment of samadhi? Such experiences are always a paradox of everythingness and nothingness, but how is this to be understood? Today we’ll look at one of Buddhism’s primary ways of understanding this, the Buddha-nature, and its Christian parallels.
The Buddha-nature in Buddhism
The Buddha-nature has been variously understood as either 1) the presence of a pure Buddha-essence within all sentient beings that is uncovered by the cultivation of non-attachment through the Eightfold Path; or, for those Buddhists who feel such an idea contradicts the idea of non-self, 2) the potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha. Remember, of course, that the Buddha is a title, not a name, and means ‘Enlightened One’, so this is not talking about a mystical presence of the historical figure of the Buddha, but rather one’s innate ability to become enlightened oneself.
One ancient text, the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, compares the buddha-nature to “honey amidst bees, a grain in its husk, gold in dross, a treasure underground, a shoot sprouting from the seed of a fruit, a statue of the Victorious One hidden in a tattered old rag, a great ruler in a poor woman’s womb.” In other words it’s something pure and beautiful and powerful hidden in an unassuming or even ugly package. I think these analogies are helpful in bridging the gap between the two main ways of understanding buddha-nature. The first, buddha-nature-as-essence, focuses on the grain/gold/statue/prince within; the second, Buddha-nature-as-potential, focuses on the process of stripping away the chaff/dirt/rag/poverty.
Some contemporary Buddhist thinkers join the two ideas together (in ways their forebears would no doubt have been appalled by!). For example, John Welwood notes that “We are not just humans learning to become buddhas, but also buddhas waking up in human form, learning to become fully human. And these two tracks of development can mutually enrich each other.”
And, comparing Buddha-nature to the room in which we are sitting, Guo Gu writes:
The room—its spaciousness—cannot be defined by the furniture contained in it or the presence or absence of people. Nor is the nature of the room affected by its level of cleanliness. Similarly, our buddhanature is not defined by the presence or absence of our emotional afflictions. Like the spacious room, buddhanature has always been empty, free of disturbance. (Silent Illumination)
No matter how one conceives of it, the important point is that we all carry within us the possibility of enlightenment, to become buddhas ourselves.
Christian Response
With just a few slight changes, much of what has been said above about the buddha-nature in Buddhism can be said about Christlikeness in Christianity. The New Testament understands the figure of Jesus of Narazeth to have been the human incarnation of the Word (Logos) of God. With roots in the intersection of Judaism and Greek philosophy, the Word was understood basically to be the wisdom underlying all creation. (I like to think of it as the universe’s blueprint or genetic code.) As his followers, we are to imitate him and become united to him, and in this union, participate in his life, death, and resurrection. As one New Testament scholar summarizes it:
The Christian faith is not an attractive set of ideas or a nice avenue to follow. Rather, it is so deep an engagement with Christ, so deep a union with our Lord, that Paul can only describe it as living in Christ. To live in Christ is to be determined by him. He shapes who we are. A person cannot be conscious of being enveloped by Christ and behave in ways totally out of keeping with his character. […] Christ is the “place” where believers reside, the source in which they find God’s salvation and blessings, and the framework in which they live and work. (Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians (1996)).
Moreover, we also share in the same gift of the Holy Spirit who empowered and anointed Jesus. The term ‘Christ’ is not a name or an epithet, but a title, meaning ‘Anointed One’. And the Scriptures use this same language for describing the working of the Spirit in our own lives (2 Corinthians 1:21; Hebrews 1:9; 1 John 2:20). So, while Jesus is the Anointed One, we too are anointed ones empowered by the same Holy Spirit, which unites us to him to restore us to our original nature and live out God’s vision for a renewed, restored, and redeemed humanity.
With all this theological weight behind the Christian understanding of salvation, we’re left with the unmistakable conclusion that, despite a shyness in using this language in order to protect Jesus’ uniqueness in God’s salvation plan, our faith pretty clearly insists that we too are called to become christs in and for the world. As the ancient saying goes, we become by grace all that he (Jesus) is by nature.
Conclusions
Both Christianity and Buddhism share a belief that while their respective founders were unique historical figures, they are nonetheless also archetypes whose characteristics are to be taken on by their followers. Followers of the Buddha, ‘the Enlightened One’, are called to wake up and become enlightened themselves. Likewise, followers of the Christ, ‘the Anointed One’, are called to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and become anointed themselves.
But there are important differences. For, the buddha-nature is understood to be naturally accessible to everyone, in a process of de-attachment and disidentification with the world and its distractions. If indeed it has substance, it is a substance defined and accessed by emptiness. The Christian experience, by contrast is one of pure presence and gift: We don’t uncover a nature that was within us all along, but rather exchange our defective, fallen nature, for a new one that allows us to live faithfully. One might say that the Buddhist idea is of restoring our human operating system by removing the infected files, where the Christian idea involves downloading a patch that allows us to live according to our original programming.
Matthew Root 