Are sentient beings already Buddhas?

• How we can develop compassion from different aspects of the teachings
• Review of naturally abiding buddha nature and transforming buddha nature
• Comparing the mind of sentient beings and mind of buddhas
• Explanation the meaning of emptiness as the cause for the qualities of aryas
• Twofold purity of buddha’s nature truth body
• Buddha nature and analogy of gold buried in ground
• Buddha’s awakened activities and two types of buddha nature of sentient beings
• Subtlest mind-wind and buddha nature accroding to highest yoga tantra
• Substantial cause for each of the four buddha bodies

Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature 119: Are Sentient Beings Already Buddhas? (download)

Contemplation points

1. Why is it good that the afflictions are empty of inherent existence? What does this mean in terms of our ability to attain liberation and awakening?
2. If the emptiness of a buddha’s mind and the emptiness of a sentient being’s mind are equal in terms of being empty of inherent existence, does this mean that sentient beings already have the qualities of buddhas or that they are already buddhas? Why or why not?
3. Consider the simile of buddha nature being like gold, buried in the ground. No matter what realm a living being is born, they always have the buddha nature. How can you apply this simile to people in your life or in the world with whom you struggle? How can you apply this simile to yourself and your own buddha nature? What harm can come if we hold the view that a living being is without buddha nature or “pure evil”?
4. From the perspective of Tantra, how can buddha nature, or the subtlest mind-wind, be uniquely transformed at the time of death?