Editing Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (section)

=== The buddha-nature and emptiness ===
A major topic found in the ''Laṅkāvatāra'' are the teachings on ''[[Buddha-nature|tathāgatagarbha]]'' (buddha-nature) also called ''buddhagotra'' (buddha disposition or buddha lineage) or ''tathagatagotra'', which is explained in many different ways throughout the sutra. The ''Lanka'' describes buddha-nature as "the purity of natural luminosity, it is primordially pure, endowed with the thirty-two major marks, and hidden within the bodies of all sentient beings...just like a gem of great value wrapped in a stained cloth, it is wrapped up in the cloth of the [[Skandha|skandhas]], dhātus, and [[Āyatana|āyatanas]], is tainted by the stains of desire, hatred, ignorance, and false imagination but is permanent, eternal, peaceful, and everlasting".<ref name=":0" /> 

Buddha-nature is also equated with the wisdom of [[Arya (Buddhism)|noble beings]], "the attainment of the realization of suchness" ([[Tathātā|tathata]]) and [[Three natures|the perfected nature (''pariniṣpanna'').]]<ref name=":0" /> Furthermore, the ''Lanka'' explains buddha-nature in a positive manner as the naturally [[luminous mind]] (''prabhāsvaracitta'') and also equates it with the "true self" which is realized by "those whose minds are not distracted by [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]]."<ref name=":0" />  

However, the ''Laṅkāvatāra'' also states that buddha-nature is not a self ([[Ātman (Buddhism)|atman]]), calls it selfless (nairātmya), and states that it is [[Śūnyatā|empty of self-nature]].<ref name=":10">Tokiwa, Gishin. "The Tathāgata-Garbha as the Fundamental Subject of the Four Satyas." ''Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu'' (Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies) 33, no. 1 (1984): 13–18. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ibk1952/33/1/33_1_403/_pdf/-char/en</ref><ref name=":0" /> The Lanka further states that buddha-nature is merely a skillful means ([[upaya]]) of teaching the dharma to non-buddhists (tīrthikas) who cling to a [[Ātman (Hinduism)|self]]:<blockquote> 

Mahāmati, my instruction on the ''tathāgatagarbha'' is not similar to the doctrine of the self of the tīrthikas. Rather, Mahāmati, the tathāgatas give the instruction on the ''tathāgatagarbha'' as bearing the meaning of words such as emptiness, true end, nirvāṇa, nonarising, signlessness, and wishlessness. Thus, for the sake of relinquishing what makes naive beings afraid of the lack of a self, the tathāgata arhats, the completely perfect buddhas, teach the sphere of nonconceptuality and nonappearance through the introductory instruction on the ''tathāgatagarbha''...Mahāmati, the tathāgatas teach the instruction on the ''tathāgatagarbha'' through teaching the ''tathāgatagarbha'' in order to attract the tīrthikas, who cling to the doctrine of the self. So how may those whose thinking falls into the views of conceiving an incorrect self and those who succumb to falling into the sphere of three [kinds of] liberation swiftly awaken to unsurpassable and completely perfect awakening? Mahāmati, it is for their sake that the tathāgata arhats, the completely perfect buddhas, give the instruction on the ''tathāgatagarbha''. Therefore, this is not similar to the doctrine of a self of the tīrthikas. Consequently, in order to put an end to the views of the tīrthikas, they need to become followers of the heart of nonself of a tathāgata (tathāgatanairātmyagarbha).<ref name=":0" />  </blockquote>According to Brunnholzl, the ''Lanka'' further states that what "all sūtras of all buddhas teach is nothing but emptiness, nonarising, nonduality, and the lack of nature".<ref name=":0"/> The sutra also states that "all characteristics of conceptions have terminated, either through the instruction on the ''tathāgatagarbha'' or through the instruction on identitylessness".<ref name=":0" /> Karl Brunnholzl notes that throughout various passages, the ''Lanka'' attempts to unify the positive buddha-nature teachings and the more negative emptiness teachings, presenting them as being equivalent to each other and as non-contradictory.<ref name=":0" />