What is Buddha nature?
Buddha nature not only consists of loving-kindness and compassion. The core of the Buddha nature is to understand the teachings taught by the Buddha Himself and to dwell in meditation like the Buddha did; to be able to penetrate the Four Noble Truths profoundly and to sit calmly meditating on what we’ve learnt from his teachings and eventually to gain insights. Without nirvana as our liberation and the Dhamma taught by the Buddha, Buddha nature is nowhere to be found.
We can find goodwill and loving-kindness in animals. I’ve seen an adult cat protecting a kitten and giving up his food for the kitten. When a cat was being attacked, another cat came for her rescue. My adopted cat, Cashie, comforted all the rescues I brought home. There are so many such cases out there. This is perhaps what we call a human nature.
To have a Buddha nature, we must have a mind of liberation. Buddha was called a Buddha because He had realised the Four Noble Truths himself and experienced the Jhanas and Nirvana. Thus, he is called a Buddha. And who are we to overwrite his teachings? Nobody possess his qualities. Only a person who have understood his teachings well would understand the heart of the Buddha and to understand the heart of the Buddha must start with his teachings, the suttas, and no one else. Not forgetting, Buddha refused to teach when he was enlightened. It was Brahma Sahampati who persuaded the Buddha to teach and this in fact is enough to tell me the entire truth (it was claimed by the mahayana tradition that out of compassion, Buddha taught the Dhamma but the actual fact was Buddha was not only reluctant but had no intention to teach). However, I was deluded and it took me years to be able to see and accept this. Therefore, I strongly believe many are still in delusion, not seeing or refusing to accept the truth.
We may not understand the Buddha’s teachings overnight but if we’re patient, insights would eventually arise in us and we’ve nothing to doubt because the teachings were from the Buddha. Understand the Buddha only through his teachings.
Conclusion:
Until we have a mind of the Buddha, we’re still in the state of human nature. Not only can we find loving-kindness and compassion all over the Pali Canon, we can also find the truth of what the Buddha taught. Stay firm, stay true and practise accordingly to the Buddha’s teachings and there is no way one would abandon the Dhamma and believe anything outside the Buddha’s teachings.
Cats who teach me to fly... 