The "Mahaparinirva?a-mahasutra" and the Emergence of "Tathagatagarbha" Doctrine

Famously, tathagatagarbha doctrine holds that every sentient being has within the body a womb for Buddhas, or an embryonic Buddha – the potential for full buddhahood. Previous scholars have seen this doctrine as originating in the Tathagatagarbha-sutra. In this book, Michael Radich argues that rather, the Mahaparinirva?a-mahasutra is most likely our earliest extant tathagatagarbha text. Radich then argues that tathagatagarbha ideas originated as part of a wider pattern of docetic Buddhology – ideas holding that Buddhas are not really as they appear. Buddhist docetic texts are clearly troubled by the notion that Buddhas could have flesh-and-blood human mothers. The Mahaparinirva?a-mahasutra is one such text, and tathagatagarbha functions as a better substitute for imperfect human maternity: rather than a putrid, painful human womb, buddhahood springs from a “womb” inherent in every sentient being, which promises final liberation from flesh altogether. This book should interest readers concerned with the history of Buddhist ideas, gender in Buddhism, the early Mahayana, the cult of the Buddha’s relics, and relations between Buddhist ideas and practice.