Basic Goodness
A noted writer on Zen, Heinrich Dumolin, has said that “the doctrine of universal Buddha-nature is the central dogma of Mahayana Buddhism” (Zen Enlightenment, Boulder, 2007, p. 103). Dumolin also quotes Dogen as saying, “All being is Buddha-nature” (p. 112).
Chogyam Trungpa, in Shambhala (also Boulder, 2007), calls Buddha-nature, when it applies to people, “basic goodness.” Much that Trungpa says about this concept may be helpful for zazen practitioners.
For one thing, the realization of one’s “basic goodness” comes from meditation. In Trungpa’s teaching, which is grounded in Tibetan tradition, the term, “meditation” differs from zazen only in omitting the mudra. Trungpa says that meditation is “the means of rediscovering ourselves and our basic goodness” (p. 20).
It seems that the intuition of one’s basic goodness comes when thinking is set aside, as in zazen. When one’s mind is cleared of thought, we realize that basic goodness is “the natural situation that we have inherited from birth onwards” (p. 30).
A reservation people may have about applying the idea of basic goodness to themselves is that they are aware of being flawed in this or that way. Certainly all of us have flaws. Trungpa addresses this issue directly, saying that “when we feel that our lives are genuine and good,” “we can see our own shortcomings without feeling guilty or inadequate” (p. 16).
Zazen practitioners who continue to sit regularly will realize their basic goodness.