Tathāgatagarbha, or Buddha‑nature, is not a teaching that runs uniformly through all forms of Buddhism; rather, it is characteristic of particular streams, especially within the Mahāyāna world. Its classical expression arises in a set of Indian Mahāyāna sūtras, and from there it becomes especially prominent in East Asian traditions such as Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Buddhism, as well as in Tibetan Buddhism. Within these contexts it is often treated as a profound affirmation of the potential for awakening present in all beings, though the exact way this is understood can differ greatly from school to school. Some Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha‑oriented currents take it as a central doctrinal pillar, while various Tibetan lineages explore it in both highly interpretive and more ontologically “positive” ways.

By contrast, early Buddhist sources and Theravāda scholasticism do not present a Tathāgatagarbha doctrine in the sense found in those Mahāyāna texts. Their emphasis falls on anattā (non‑self), impermanence, and dependent origination, and some representatives explicitly regard a strong Buddha‑nature teaching as liable to be confused with a permanent self. Even where terms such as “luminous mind” appear in later Theravāda literature, they are not generally equated with the fully developed Buddha‑nature theories of Mahāyāna. Certain Madhyamaka thinkers also read Tathāgatagarbha more cautiously, treating it either as a skillful means or as a way of speaking about emptiness, and some criticize more substantialist interpretations as too close to non‑Buddhist notions of an eternal essence.

What emerges from this landscape is a doctrine that is powerful and far‑reaching, yet never universally accepted across the Buddhist traditions. In many Mahāyāna settings—especially East Asian and Tibetan—it becomes a key lens through which practice, ethics, and the path to awakening are understood, often as a universal potential for Buddhahood. In other currents, however, it is minimized, reinterpreted, or set aside in favor of a stricter focus on emptiness and non‑self. To contemplate Tathāgatagarbha, then, is to enter into an ongoing conversation within Buddhism itself about how best to speak of the deepest possibilities of mind without reifying them into a fixed self.