What is “Buddha nature?” And do non-human animals have it or only human beings?
Norm Phelps. Buddha nature is the true nature of the consciousness of every sentient being. And since that consciousness is inherently pure, it represents the potential for each of us to become a perfectly enlightened Buddha (which is why it’s called “Buddha nature.”) For our purposes, it might be thought of as the functional equivalent of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim soul, although for ontological reasons that have nothing to do with what we’re talking about here, it would be dangerous to push that comparison too far. Our Buddha nature is able to apprehend directly the ultimate nature of reality, which is normally hidden from us by the karmic obscurations that cloud our minds. The goal of Buddhist practice is to clear away these obscurations so that we can directly perceive the true nature of reality, and thereby gain enlightenment (Nirvana). It is our Buddha nature that is reincarnated from one body to the next. When I die, it is not precisely Norm Phelps that will be reborn, but the
