Loren Enders wrote:The Tathagata pervades the countless worlds; it fills the hearts and minds of the ocean of all beings. Thus, plants, trees, and land all attain Buddhahood.
Not to engage in dharma debate but isn't this a tirthika view?
**Trying to locate a center to take my son to and learn. More important for him would be learning a practice (Nembutsu and attention/awareness) and social group.
There are 2 issues above.
If the issue is with the Tathagata pervading the countless worlds, you can find it in the
Avatamsaka Sutra, the Questions of Manjusri, and the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra.
If the issue is with the idea of the Buddha Nature of plants, If I'm not mistaken, you're referencing the
Surangama Sutra, which says that plants being the same as sentient beings is a tirthika view?
The problem regarding Buddha Nature and plants is that it is a major tenet of Tendai Buddhism and is part & parcel of their
Hongaku (本覚) teachings (even though Shinran rejected the idea of sentient beings being already enlightened). It comes directly from Zhiyi and is derived from his "Ichinen Sanzen" (which I believe is derived from the Lotus Sutra - I'm no expert).
The ninth patriarch of the T’ien-t’ai school, Chan-jan, wrote...
Chan-jan wrote:“A plant, a tree, a pebble, a speck of dust—each has the Buddha nature, and each is endowed with cause and effect and with the function to manifest and the wisdom to realize its Buddha nature.”
Here is Nichiren's take on the topic
Kukai expounded on it too...
Kukai in the Record of the Secret Treasury wrote:The explanation of the Buddhahood of insentient trees and plants is as
follows: the Dharmakaya consists of the Five Great Elements within which
space [koki] and plants-and-trees [somoku] are included. Both this space
and these plants-and-trees are the dharmakaya. Even though with the
physical eye one might see the coarse form of plants-and-trees, it is with the
Buddha-eye that the subtle color can be seen. Therefore, without any
alteration in what it is in itself, trees-and-plants may, unobjectionably, be
referred to as [having] Buddha[-nature].
This is also found somewhat in Zen & Chan Buddhism
The following paraphrase quotes from Dogen's "Keiseisanshoku" (Sounds of the valley, color of the mountains) in the Shobogenzo and his "Mujo-seppo" (Nonsentient beings expound the dharma) from the Dogen Kigen.
Voices of Mountains wrote:Dōgen regrets that most people "do not realize that the universe is
proclaiming the actual body of Buddha," since they can perceive only "the superficial
aspects of sound and color" and are unable to experience "Buddha's shape, form, and
voice in landscape."
Perhaps in order to avoid the absolutist connotations of the traditional idea of the
dharmakaya, Dōgen substitutes for Kūkai's hosshin seppo the notion of mujo-seppo, which
emphasizes that even nonsentient beings expound the true teachings. They are capable of
this sort of expression since they, too, are what the Buddhists call shin ("mind/heart").
And just as the speech of Dainichi Nyorai is not immediately intelligible to us humans, so,
for Dōgen:
The way insentient beings expound the true teachings should not be understood
to be necessarily like the way sentient beings do. ... It is contrary to the Buddhaway
to usurp the voices of the living and conjecture about those of the non-living
in terms of them.
Ven Hsuan Hua wrote:Who is the original ancestor of all the flying, swimming, and roaming creatures and the plants-the birds in the sky, the fish, turtles, shrimp, crabs, and other creatures in the water, the people and other creatures endowed with blood and breath, and the flowers, grasses, trees, and all the plants? The Buddha-nature is.
It's not like this idea isn't found in Buddhism outside of East Asia either:
Jetsun Taranatha on Buddha Nature wrote:Suchness and the Tathagata are of the same substance which is called Buddha Nature. The meaning of Tathagatagarbha, Sugatagarbha, and the essence of the Buddha is the same. It abides equally in the Buddha, in all phenomena, and in all sentient beings. In sentient beings, Buddha Nature is present, but covered. In the Buddhas, Buddha Nature is completely actualized.
—Jetsun Taranatha
....
TLDR
This idea is the prevailing line of thought in East Asian Buddhism, so Shinran was hardly original or breaking from tradition in the above quote...
