Benjue
benjue (J. hongaku; K. pon’gak 本覺). A Chinese term translated literally as “original enlightenment,” "innate awakening," etc. Also sometimes translated as “inherent” or “intrinsic” enlightenment.[1][2]
This East Asian Buddhist doctrine holds all sentient beings are intrinsically enlightened (or possess the state of "original enlightenment"). This intrinsic enlightenment is obscured by the many stains present in the ālayavijñāna. When these stains are purified, the natural state of enlightenment is recovered, a status known as "actualized enlightenment" (shijue).[3]
This "means that enlightenment is not something to be obtained externally, as a distant goal, or as part of a gradual, purifying process, but exists in full reality here in the present moment, and therefore sentient beings need only to awaken to it."[2]
In this view, since all beings have some kind of awakeness as their true nature, the attainment of insight is a process of discovering and recognizing what is already present, not of attaining some goal or developing a potential.[4][2] As such, people do not have to become Buddhas through religious cultivation, they just have to recognize that they already are awake, just like Buddhas.[4]
Original enlightenment thought is related to Indian Buddhist concepts like Buddha-nature and the luminous mind. The doctrine is articulated in influential East Asian works like the Awakening of Faith and the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, and was also influenced by the teachings of the Huayan school on the interpenetration of all phenomena.[4][2]
Original enlightenment is often contrasted with “acquired", "initial", "actualized" or "the inception of enlightenment” (shijue), which is a relative experience that is attained through Buddhist practices and teachings by an individual in this life.[5][6]
Original enlightenment is an influential doctrine of various schools of East Asian Buddhism, including Chan / Zen, Tiantai and Huayan. Inherent enlightenment was also often associated with the teachings of sudden enlightenment which was influential for Japanese Zen. The original enlightenment idea was also important for Korean Buddhism, especially Korean Seon. It was a central teaching in medieval Japanese Buddhist traditions like Shingon, Tendai, and also for some of the new Kamakura schools like Japanese Zen.[7]
Further reading
Original enlightenment, Tsadra Commons
Original enlightenment, Wikipedia
original enlightenment, 本覺, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)
Notes
- ↑ Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: 2014), s.v. benjue
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 original enlightenment, 本覺, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)
- ↑ Original enlightenment, Tsadra Commons
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Stone, Jacqueline. 'From Buddha Nature to Original Enlightenment: "Contemplating Suchness" in Medieval Japan' in Mathes, Klaus-Dieter, and Casey Kemp, eds. Buddha Nature Across Asia. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 103. Vienna: Arbeitkreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien, University of Vienna, 2022.
- ↑ Nagatomo, Shigenori (2024), "Japanese Zen Buddhist Philosophy", in Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2024 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2024-05-03
- ↑ Swanson, Paul L. (1997). "Why They Say Zen is Not Buddhism: Recent Japanese Critiques of Buddha-Nature". Pruning the Bodhi Tree. pp. 1–29. doi:10.1515/9780824842697-004. ISBN 978-0-8248-4269-7.
- ↑ Stone, Jacqueline (1995). "Medieval Tendai Hongaku Thought and the New Kamakura Buddhism: A Reconsideration". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 22 (1/2): 17–48. doi:10.18874/jjrs.22.1-2.1995.17-48. JSTOR 30233536.