Tathātā

{{Short description|True nature of things in Buddhism}} {{Infobox Chinese | c = {{linktext|真如}} | p = Zhēnrú | w = Chen-ju | j = Zan¹jyu⁴ | mc = Tśjen-ńźjwo | kanji = 真如 | hiragana = しんにょ | romaji = Shin-nyo | hangul = 진여 | rr = Jinyeo | mr = Chinyŏ | sa = तथाता | wylie = de bzhin nyid | qn = chân như | tib = དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ | pli = tathatā | tgl = Tathata }} {{buddhism}} '''Tathātā''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|t|æ|t|ə|ˈ|t|ɑː}}; {{Langx|sa|तथाता}}; {{Langx|pi|tathatā}}) is a Buddhist term variously translated as '''Thusness''', '''Suchness''', '''True Thusness''', or '''True Suchness''', referring to the '''Ultimate Reality''', the intrinsic and essential nature of all existences, free from dualistic thinking, conceptualization, and subject–object distinction.{{sfn|Buswell|Lopez|2014|p=entry "tathatā"}} It is formless, uncreated, eternal, perfect, unchanging, indestructible, and is the true nature of all phenomena. It represents the genuine reality of existence, which transcends physical forms, physical senses, and intellectual comprehension, indicating a profound insight into the nature of things as they truly are.<ref>Wisdom Library - [https://www.wisdomlib.org/concept/true-suchness True Suchness]</ref><ref name="OR">Oxford Reference - [https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803102213352 tathatā]</ref><ref>Merriam-Webster Dictionary - [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suchness suchness]</ref>

Tathātā has a large number of synonyms found in different Buddhist schools, traditions, and scriptures, such as: '''Emptiness''' (śūnyatā 空), '''Reality Realm''' (bhūta-koṭi 實際、實相), '''True Suchness''' (bhūta-tathatā 真如), '''Dharma Nature''' (Dharmatā 法爾、法然、法性), '''Dharma Realm''' (Dharma-dhātu 法界), '''Dharma Body''' (Dharma-kāya 法身), '''Nirvana''' (Nirvāṇa 涅槃), '''Vajra''' (金剛), Actionlessness (無爲), '''Dharma Intrinsic Nature''' (Dharma-svabhāva 法自性、法自然), '''Buddha-nature''' (Buddhatā, Buddha-svabhāva 佛性), '''Tathagata-Treasure''' (Tathāgata-garbha 如來藏), '''The True Reality of all phenomena''' (sarva-dharma-tathatā 諸法實相), etc.<ref name="OR" /><ref>The Great Buddhist Dictionary - "The Reality" entry 佛學大辭典【實相】</ref><ref>The Great Buddhist Dictionary - "True Thusness" 佛學大辭典【真如】</ref>

Although it is a significant concept in Mahayana Buddhism, it is also used in the Theravada tradition.<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldwag|first=Arthur|title='Isms & 'Ologies: All the movements, ideologies and doctrines that have shaped our world|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|page=206|year=2014|quote=Most of its doctrines agree with Theravada Buddhism, but Mahayana does contain a transcendent element: tathata, or suchness; the truth that governs the universe|isbn=9780804152631}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Stevenson|first1=Jay|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eastern Philosophy|date=2000|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781101158364|page=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vsvh7UO6TTYC&q=stevenson%20jay%20the%20Complete%20Idiot's%20Guide%20to%20Eastern%20Philosophy&pg=PA144}}</ref>

==The Buddha== The Buddha referred to himself as the Tathāgata, which can mean either "One who has thus come" or "One who has thus gone",<ref>Oxford dictionary of Buddhism; P296</ref> and can also be interpreted as "One who has arrived at suchness".

==Theravada Buddhism== In Theravada, this term designates the nature of existence (''bhāva''), the truth which applies to things. According to the ''Kathavatthu'', ''tathātā'' is not an unconditioned or un-constructed (''asankhata'') phenomenon.<ref>Andre Bareau, ''Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule'' (Ecole Française d'Extreme-Orient, 1955), Chapitre I 'Les Mahasanghika', p. 236</ref> The only phenomenon which is un-constructed in Theravada is Nibbana.<ref>James P. McDermott. ''Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume VII: Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 A.D'', see entry on the Kathavatthu.</ref>

According to Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, ''tathātā'' is merely the way things are, the truth of all things: "When tathātā is seen, the three characteristics of anicca [impermanence], dukkha [suffering], and anatta [not-self] are seen, sunnata [emptiness] is seen, and idappaccayata [specific conditionality] is seen. Tathātā is the summary of them all – merely thus, only thus, not-otherness."<ref>Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, translated by Santikaro Bhikkhu (1997) ''[https://www.dhammatalks.net/Books/Bhikkhu_Buddhadasa_Natural_Cure_for_Spiritual_Disease2.htm The Natural Cure for Spiritual Disease: A Guide into Buddhist Science.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117174612/http://dhammatalks.net/Books/Bhikkhu_Buddhadasa_Natural_Cure_for_Spiritual_Disease2.htm |date=2021-01-17 }} Evolution/Liberation,'' Published by The Dhammadana Foundation.</ref>

== Mahayana Buddhism == Tathatā in the East Asian Mahayana tradition is seen as representing the base reality and can be used to terminate the use of words. A 5th-century Chinese Mahayana scripture entitled ''Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana'' describes the concept more fully: {{blockquote|In its very origin suchness is of itself endowed with sublime attributes. It manifests the highest wisdom which shines throughout the world, it has true knowledge and a mind resting simply in its own being. It is eternal, blissful, its own self-being and the purest simplicity; it is invigorating, immutable, free... Because it possesses all these attributes and is deprived of nothing, it is designated both as the Womb of Tathagata and the Dharma Body of Tathagata.<ref name="Berry1996">{{cite book|last=Berry|first=Thomas|title=Religions of India: Hinduism, Yoga, Buddhism|url=https://archive.org/details/religionsofindia00berr|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-10781-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/religionsofindia00berr/page/170 170]}}</ref>}}

R. H. Robinson, echoing D. T. Suzuki, conveys how the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' perceives dharmata through the portal of śūnyatā: "The ''Laṅkāvatāra'' is always careful to balance Śūnyatā with Tathatā, or to insist that when the world is viewed as śūnya, empty, it is grasped in its suchness."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Robinson|first1=Richard H.|title=Some Logical Aspects of Nagarjuna's System|journal=Philosophy East & West|date=1957|volume=6|issue=4|pages=306|doi=10.2307/1397476|jstor=1397476}}</ref>

===Madhyamaka=== In the Madhyamaka Mahayana tradition, Tathātā is an uncompounded permanent phenomenon, (as is Nirvana – in Madhyamaka, not being products, all absences are uncompounded and permanent – not everlasting, but not subject to decay and dissolution). Tathātā is the natural absence of intrinsic/inherent existence or nature. It is a natural absence, because intrinsic existence (or the equivalent synonyms) is a fiction, or a non-existent: Intrinsic existence is the faulty object of an ignorant consciousness. All fictions, being fictions, are naturally absent. So, because of this, the fiction of inherent existence is absent from all phenomena, and that absence is Tathātā.<ref name="Hopkins1983">{{cite book|last=Hopkins|first=Jeffrey|title=Meditation on Emptiness|year=183|publisher=Wisdom Publications|isbn=0861710142|page=218}}</ref> Ultimately, however, Madhyamaka's Nāgārjuna even negates negation.

== See also == *Ten suchnesses *Reality in Buddhism *Dharmadhatu *Ziran (Daoism) *Tattva (Hinduism) *Haecceity (from Latin, "this-ness") *Quiddity (from Latin, "what-ness")

== References == <references/>

==Sources== {{refbegin}} * {{Citation | last1 =Buswell | last2 =Lopez | year =2014 | title =The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism}} {{refend}}

{{Buddhism topics}}

Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts