Buddha, the Patriarch, Tathagata, and the Tathagata Buddha (Internal Reference)¶
I. Definitions and Essential Nature¶
(1) Buddha¶
"Buddha" (佛) is composed of the characters 弗 (not) and 人 (person) — a being who is not a person. Such a being has no physical form or appearance, yet retains human-like consciousness and thinking. In the Lifechanyuan framework: that which has no human form but possesses consciousness is spirit (灵). Therefore, Buddha is spirit.
Buddha is nature; nature is Buddha.
(New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 675)
Buddha has no mind. Buddha is nature. To illuminate the mind and see one's nature is to see Buddha.
(Concept 687)
The most profound Buddha-Dharma is no-Buddha; the greatest self is no-self.
(Concept 674)
(2) The Patriarch (佛祖)¶
The Patriarch is the source of all spirits.
(Chanyuan Collection · Becoming Buddha Chapter · Buddha, the Patriarch, Tathagata, and the Tathagata Buddha)
(3) Tathagata (如来)¶
Tathagata means "suchness" — the primordial nature of the universe: without reality or illusion, without sound or silence, without method or form, without boundary. It has no form of its own yet contains all forms. Everything is Tathagata; Tathagata is not everything.
(Chanyuan Collection · Becoming Buddha Chapter)
Tathagata is the truth-speaker, the honest-speaker, the suchness-speaker, the non-deceiving speaker, the non-differing speaker. The Dharma attained by Tathagata is neither real nor empty. Tathagata has the flesh eye, the heavenly eye, the wisdom eye, the Dharma eye, and the Buddha eye. As for Tathagata: there is no "coming from" and no "going to" — hence the name Tathagata.
(Concept 681)
(4) The Tathagata Buddha (如来佛祖)¶
The Tathagata Buddha is the original source of all things. The original source of all things is the Greatest Creator. Therefore, the Tathagata Buddha is the Greatest Creator.
(Chanyuan Collection · Becoming Buddha Chapter)
II. Distinctions and Boundaries¶
Shakyamuni Was a Buddha, Not the Patriarch¶
A Buddha is one who has awakened to Tathagata. The Patriarch is one who has awakened to the Tathagata Buddha.
Shakyamuni was a Buddha and a Tathagata — but he was not the Patriarch and not the Tathagata Buddha.
The Patriarch is the source of all spirits. Shakyamuni was not that source, for Buddhas existed before him (the Lamp-Lighting Buddha, for instance, attained Buddhahood before Shakyamuni).
The Tathagata Buddha is the Greatest Creator. The Greatest Creator has never appeared in the world as a single physical form; the Greatest Creator has only a Dharma-form, no specific appearance.
Shakyamuni is the World-Honored One — the supreme being among humans. Jesus is also the World-Honored One. Shakyamuni is the supreme honored one of the East; Jesus is the supreme honored one of the West. The difference between Eastern and Western culture is precisely the difference between Shakyamuni and Jesus.
Just as Jesus is not the Greatest Creator, neither is Shakyamuni the Tathagata Buddha.
An imperial envoy can represent the emperor, but the envoy himself is not the emperor. Shakyamuni and Jesus are the two imperial envoys sent by the Greatest Creator to the human world.
(Chanyuan Collection · Becoming Buddha Chapter)
The Buddha Shakyamuni is not the Patriarch. The Greatest Creator is the Patriarch.
(Concept 680)
Tathagata Cannot Be Seen by Form or Sound¶
"Whoever seeks me through form, or seeks me through sound, walks a deviant path and cannot see Tathagata."
(Concept 686)
III. Seeing Tathagata — the Path to Buddhahood¶
Three hallmarks of a Buddha:
- Having seen Tathagata
- Having attained non-action (wu wei)
- Having a mind that rests nowhere
These three together constitute Buddhahood.
How does one see Tathagata? Tathagata is one's original nature (自性). The Diamond Sutra states: "All that has form is illusory. Whoever sees all forms as no-form sees Tathagata."
Tathagata is not only the nature of human beings — every living being possesses Tathagata. When one sees through appearances to the original face, one sees Tathagata.
(Chanyuan Collection · Becoming Buddha Chapter · Illuminate Nature, Transcend Dust — Become a Buddha Right Now)
IV. Buddha's Essential Quality: No-Mind, No-Form, Pure Nature¶
Buddhist teachers say: Buddha is mind; Buddha is nature; mind is Buddha; nature is Buddha.
But on deeper reflection: mind itself has no inherent existence — mind arises with circumstances and vanishes with them. Tathagata, however, is without coming or going, unmoved — it is nature itself. Strictly speaking, Buddha is nature; nature is Buddha. To say "Buddha is mind" is somewhat imprecise.
Shakyamuni said: "The past mind cannot be grasped; the present mind cannot be grasped; the future mind cannot be grasped." Why? Because mind arises with circumstances, turns with circumstances, and ceases with circumstances. Circumstances are illusory, so mind is also illusory.
Therefore, Buddha is no-mind. Once there is mind, it is no longer Buddha.
The teaching is always: give rise to a mind that rests nowhere. Only a mind that rests nowhere is the bodhisattva, is the Buddha. When mind attaches to any appearance, it is no longer Buddha.
The common saying "Buddha is in the heart" is also mistaken. Buddha is not in the heart, nor is it outside the heart. Buddha is nowhere — Buddha is nature.
(Xuefeng's Other Articles · 2009 · Buddha Has No Mind; Mind Has No Buddha)
V. Seeing Nature — the Cultivation Path¶
Whoever does not see their nature wanders aimlessly, seeking outward, and cannot find Buddha. Whoever does not see their nature — even if they can recite all twelve sections of canonical teaching — speaks only the devil's words. Whoever does not see their nature cannot attain Buddhahood. Whoever does not see their nature — whether chanting sutras, holding mantras, giving alms, observing precepts, building temples, making offerings, prostrating, or burning incense — will not become a Buddha.
(Concept 688)
Few of those who seek Buddha actually become Buddha — this is due to differences in understanding what Buddha is. Only when one truly comprehends the principles of the universe, of life and time-space, and achieves great awakening, can one become a Buddha. The practice of Buddha should happen amid the joys and hardships of human life.
(Xuefeng Collection · Heart-Mind Chapter · Great Awakening Is Becoming a Buddha)
VI. Tathagata Nature¶
The Tathagata nature is the original quality that the Tathagata Buddha (Greatest Creator) bestows on LIFE. Any being who, without calculating personal gain or loss, freely and unrestrictedly expresses itself — that being is manifesting Tathagata nature.
When one calculates and weighs pros and cons, one is not manifesting Tathagata nature. Only when one speaks and acts spontaneously, without deliberation, is one manifesting Tathagata nature.
(Xuefeng's Other Articles · 2012 · Answers to Questions About Sexual Energy and Practice)