Buddha-nature is a Mahayana teaching that affirms the inherent potential of all sentient beings to attain buddhahood. Buddha-nature is often described as the mind’s intrinsic clarity or luminosity, obscured but not destroyed by defilements. Historically, this doctrine has been influential but also contested. Some Buddhist thinkers criticized buddha-nature teachings as non-original or as risking reification of an eternal essence, seemingly at odds with the Buddha’s teaching of nonself. Defenders have interpreted buddha-nature as a skillful means for expressing emptiness and the potential for awakening rather than as a permanent self.

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