Buddha-nature

Buddhist philosophical concept

In Buddhist philosophy and soteriology, Buddha-nature (Chinese: fóxìng 佛性, Japanese: busshō 佛性, Vietnamese: Phật tính, Sanskrit: buddhatā, buddha-svabhāva or tathāgatagarbha तथागतगर्भ) is the innate potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all sentient beings already have a pure Buddha-essence within themselves. "Buddha-nature" is the common English translation for several related Mahāyāna Buddhist terms, most notably tathāgatagarbha (तथागतगर्भ) and buddhadhātu, but also sugatagarbha, and buddhagarbha. Tathāgatagarbha can mean "the womb" or "embryo" (garbha) of the "thus-gone one" (tathāgata), and can also mean "containing a tathāgata".

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