Editor: Prabuddha Bharata, the magazine from the Ramakrishna Mission came out with a special issue in January 2016 titled ‘Reflections on Tantra’. Esamskriti is uploading select articles from this masterpiece issue. If you like to download the entire issue (one with brown cover) http://advaitaashrama.org/pbarchive
Excerpts from article – “From the mahayana buddhist point of view, all sentient beings possess Buddha nature, the potential to become a Buddha, just naturally. This potential defines us. For the Tibetan Buddhist, every practice—from the most basic: harnessing the energy of our behaviour; to the most advanced: tantric meditation—is for the purpose of achieving Buddhahood, enlightenment. The Tibetan word for ‘Buddha’, sang-gye,conveys the meaning beautifully: sang implies the utter eradication of all negative states of mind, all delusions, which Lord Buddha has established to be adventitious; and gye implies the development to perfection of all positive states, all goodness, which he has found to be at the core of our being.
What are the implications of this bare-bones etymology? How does a Buddha exist and function? Buddhas have three essential characteristics: infinite wisdom, infinite compassion, and infinite power. They pervade existence and are omniscient: they see perfectly all phenomena without mistake, especially the minds of all sentient beings, their past and future. Beyond the dualism of a separate sense of self, they have effortlessempathy with every one of these sentient beings and exist only to benefit them. And they have the power to manifest simultaneously in countless bodies throughout countless universes to joyfully do whatever needs to be done to benefit these countless sentient beings and lead them to their own Buddhahood, no matter how long it takes.”
Author is a renowned Buddhist nun and works with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition.
To read article in PDF format.
This article was first published in the Prabuddha Bharata, monthly journal of The Ramakrishna Order started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896. This article is courtesy and copyright Prabuddha Bharata (www.advaitaashrama.org). I have been reading the Prabuddha Bharata for years and found it enlightening. You can subscribe online at www.advaitaashrama.org. Cost is Rs 100/ for one year, Rs 280/ for three years, Rs 1,200/ for twenty years and Rs 2,000 for twenty five years.