Purity is an important concept within much of Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 and Mahayana

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

 Buddhism, although the implications of the resultant moral purification may be viewed differently in the varying traditions. The aim is to purify the personality of the Buddhist practitioner so that all moral and character defilements and defects (kleshas such as anger, ignorance and lust) are wiped away and Nirvana

Nirvana

Nirvāṇa ; ) is a central concept in Indian religions. In sramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the Supreme being through moksha...

 can be obtained.

Theravada Understanding of Purity

Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 Buddhism regards the path of self-purification as absolutely vital for the reaching of nibbana/nirvana. The main task of the Theravada Buddhist monk is to eradicate moral and character flaws through meditation and moral cultivation, in alliance with the cultivation of insight (panna/ prajna), so that the purity of nibbana can be achieved. So important is this notion of purity in Theravada Buddhism that the famed Buddhist monk and commentator, Buddhaghosa

Buddhaghosa

Bhadantācariya Buddhaghoṣa（Chinese: 覺音）was a 5th-century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the Theravada understanding of the Buddha's path to liberation...

, composed a central thesis on dhamma (Buddhism) called The Path of Purity (Visuddhi-magga

Visuddhimagga

The Visuddhimagga , is the 'great treatise' on Theravada Buddhist doctrine written by Buddhaghosa approximately in 430 CE in Sri Lanka. A comprehensive manual condensing the theoretical and practical teaching of the Buddha, it is considered the most important Theravada text outside of the Tipitaka...

).

Tathagatagarbha

Controversially, according to the Mahayana Tathagatagarbha sutras, the unsullied essence or "true self" (also termed the Buddha nature) of the being can be laid bare and become manifest once the temporary and superficial contaminants (kleshas) have been eradicated from its presence .
These contaminants are seen as extrinsic to, rather than inherent within, the essence of the being.

The resulting Buddha (after the kleshas have been eliminated) is referred to in the Tathagatagarbha literature and in the works of the Tibetan Jonangpa lama Dolpopa as the 'pure Self'.

Perfection of Wisdom

The Perfection of Wisdom sutras of Mahayana Buddhism, in contrast, would ultimately view both impurity and purification as illusory, without any basis to either. Neither has an enduring essence and so is not truly 'fake', according to these ideas, but is merely a name or concept. Nevertheless, these scriptures do teach the need to detach from all moral defilements if Buddhahood is to be reached for the sake of awakening all sentient beings.

See also

• Angulimaliya Sutra
  Angulimaliya Sutra
  The Angulimaliya Sutra is a Buddhist scripture belonging to the Tathāgatagarbha class of sūtra, which teach that the Buddha is eternal, that the non-Self and emptiness teachings only apply to the worldly sphere , and that the tathagatagarbha is real and immanent within all beings and all phenomena...
  
  
• Ātman (Buddhism)
  Atman (Buddhism)
  The word Ātman or Atta refers to a self. Occasionally the terms "soul" or "ego" are also used. The words ātman and atta derive from the Indo-European root *ēt-men and are cognate with the Old English æthm and German Atem....
  
  
• Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra
  Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra
  The Nirvana Sutra or ' ; ; ).) is one of the major sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. It shares its title with another well-known Buddhist scripture, the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali Canon but is quite different in form and content...
  
  
• Tathāgatagarbha doctrine
  Tathagatagarbha doctrine
  In Mahāyāna, The "Tathāgatagarbha Sutras" are a collection of Mahayana sutras which present a unique model of Buddha-nature, i.e. the original vision of the Buddha-nature as an ungenerated, unconditioned and immortal Buddhic element within all beings. Even though this collection was generally...
  
  
• Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra
  Tathagatagarbha Sutra
  The Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra is an influential and doctrinally striking Mahayana Buddhist scripture which treats of the existence of the "Tathagatagarbha" within all sentient creatures. The Buddha reveals how inside each person's being there exists a great Buddhic "treasure that is eternal and...
  
  

Sources

• Hopkins, Jeffrey (2006). Mountain Doctrine: Tibet's Fundamental Treatise on Other-Emptiness and the Buddha Matrix - by: Dolpopa, Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications, Hardcover, 832 Pages. ISBN 1-55939-238-X

• The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra in 12 Volumes tr. by Kosho Yamamoto, ed. by Dr. Tony Page, Nirvana Publications, London, 2000.

• The Srimala Sutra tr. by Dr. Shenpen Hookham, Longchen Foundation, Oxford, 1995.