Busshō B Jap., lit. “buddha-nature”; a concrete expression for the substrate of perfection and completeness immanent in sentient beings as well as things. According to the Zen teaching, every person (like every other sentient being or thing) has, or better, is buddha-nature, without in general, however, being aware of it or living this awareness as one awakened to his true nature (a buddha) does. This awakening-and a living and dying that is a spontaneous expression from moment to moment of one’s identity with buddha-nature-(mujō-dō-no-taigen) is the goal of Zen. (Also – Shō.)
As expounded by Hakuun Ryōko Yasutani, a Japanese Zen master of the 20th century, buddha-nature (also dharma-nature, hosshō) is identical with that which i s called emptiness (Jap ., ku; S kt ., shūnyatā) in Buddhism. He further says, “With the experience of enlightenment, which is the source of all Buddhist doctrine, you grasp the world of ku. This world unfixed, devoid of mass, beyond individuality and personality is outside the realm of imagination.
Accordingly, the true substance of things, that is, their Buddha or Dharma-nature, is inconceivable and inscrutable. Since everything imaginable partakes of form or color, whatever one imagines to be Buddha-nature must of necessity be unreal. Indeed, that which can be conceived is but a picture of Buddha-nature, not Buddha-nature itself. But while Buddha-nature is beyond all conception and imagination, because we ourselves are intrinsically Buddha-nature, it is possible for us to awaken to it” (Phillip Kapleau 1980, 79).
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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