stylistic:tone
Buddha-nature

The doctrine of Tathāgata embryo or Tathāgata womb (Tathāgatagarbha), also known as Buddha-nature, matrix or principle (Skt: Buddha-dhātu) is important in all modern Mahāyāna traditions, though it is interpreted in many different ways. Broadly speaking, Buddha-nature is concerned with explaining what allows sentient beings to become Buddhas. The earliest sources for this idea may include the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra and the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. The Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa refers to "a sacred nature that is the basis for becoming buddhas", and it also describes it as the 'Self' (atman).

David Seyfort Ruegg explains this concept as the base or support for the practice of the path, and thus it is the "cause" (hetu) for the fruit of Buddhahood. The Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra states that within the defilements is found "the tathagata's wisdom, the tathagata's vision, and the tathagata's body...eternally unsullied, and...replete with virtues no different from my own...the tathagatagarbhas of all beings are eternal and unchanging".

The ideas found in the Buddha-nature literature are a source of much debate and disagreement among Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophers as well as modern academics. Some scholars have seen this as an influence from Brahmanic Hinduism, and some of these sutras admit that the use of the term 'Self' is partly done in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics (in other words, it is a skillful means). According to some scholars, the Buddha-nature discussed in some Mahāyāna sūtras does not represent a substantial self (ātman) which the Buddha critiqued; rather, it is a positive expression of emptiness (śūnyatā) and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices. Similarly, Williams thinks that this doctrine was not originally dealing with ontological issues, but with "religious issues of realising one's spiritual potential, exhortation, and encouragement."

The Buddha-nature genre of sūtras can be seen as an attempt to state Buddhist teachings using positive language while also maintaining the middle way, to prevent people from being turned away from Buddhism by a false impression of nihilism. This is the position taken by the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, which states that the Buddhas teach the doctrine of tathāgatagarbha (which sounds similar to an atman) in order to help those beings who are attached to the idea of anatman. However, the sutra goes on to say that the tathāgatagarbha is empty and is not actually a substantial self.

A different view is defended by various modern scholars like Michael Zimmermann. This view is the idea that Buddha-nature sutras such as the Mahāparinirvāṇa and the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra teach an affirmative vision of an eternal, indestructible Buddhic Self. Shenpen Hookham, a western scholar and lama sees Buddha-nature as a True Self that is real and permanent. Similarly, C. D. Sebastian understands the Ratnagotravibhāga's view of this topic as a transcendental self that is "the unique essence of the universe".