Within the Mahayana tradition, Tathāgatagarbha, or Buddha‑nature, is understood as the inherent potential for Buddhahood present in all sentient beings. It is often described as an “embryo” or “womb” of the Tathāgata, a universal Buddha-potential that is already there but not yet revealed. This potential is said to be obscured by adventitious defilements—ignorance, craving, and other mental afflictions—rather than being absent. Spiritual practice, then, is portrayed less as acquiring something new and more as uncovering what has always been present beneath these obscurations.

Different Mahayana lineages interpret the ontological status of this Buddha‑nature in distinct ways, yet they converge on its liberating significance. Some currents speak of it in more affirmative terms, as a kind of essence or substrate, a fundamentally pure awareness or wisdom that remains untouched by defilements. Others emphasize that Tathāgatagarbha is inseparable from emptiness, understanding it as the emptiness of mind and its capacity for awakening rather than a substantial entity. In this latter reading, positive descriptions of Buddha‑nature function as skillful means, encouraging confidence without positing a permanent self.

Despite these differing emphases, the doctrine consistently serves to ground both hope and responsibility on the path. Because all beings possess this Buddha‑nature, enlightenment is not an alien state but the full flowering of an intrinsic possibility. The realization of Tathāgatagarbha is closely linked with the cultivation of wisdom and compassion, often articulated in relation to bodhicitta, the awakening mind. By affirming a universal capacity for complete awakening, the Mahayana tradition frames practice as a process of revealing an already-present luminosity rather than striving for something fundamentally other than what beings most deeply are.