by Red Pine
25 The world is said to shake upon the birth of a buddha. Hence, Mahamati wonders why it no longer shakes. Is the Buddha not still a buddha?
26 As noted earlier, gandharvas are celestial musicians who live in the sky. Hence, a “city of gandharvas” was a common metaphor for an illusion, in this case, one based on the shape of clouds.
27 The Sanskrit is bodhi-angani. There are seven: perception of the true, perception of the false, zeal, joy, transcendence, remembrance, and renunciation.
28 The Sanskrit is bodhi-paksha. There are thirty-seven, seven of which are the above-mentioned “aids.”
29 A flower we see in the sky isn’t real. More likely it’s the result of a cataract. Thus, the “flower” neither comes into existence as a flower nor does it cease to exist as the image of a flower.
30 For this line, Gunabhadra has “Who gets free from projection,” but no other version agrees. Gunabhadra, however, does have this line in the next verse.
31 The world beyond projection is suchness, the sky as opposed to a flower in the sky. Among the examples of tathata, or suchness, are the undifferentiated mind, buddha-nature, the dharma body, the tathagata-garbha, reality itself, the dharma realm, and dharma nature. As for divisions of the mind, the Lankavatara mentions eight kinds of consciousness. The six paramitas, or means to the other shore, include charity, morality, forbearance, zeal, meditation, and wisdom, to which skillful means, vows, strength, and knowledge were later added to make ten.
32 Bodhiruchi omits this line, while Shikshananda has “how does one attain freedom from projection?” Suzuki renders the Sanskrit as “what is the state of imagelessness?”
33 Most accounts of the bodhisattva path list ten stages. The projectionless realm, which is free from subject and object, is associated with the eighth stage. Due to the obstruction of passion, ordinary people see a self in beings. And due to the obstruction of knowledge, Hinayana practitioners see a self in dharmas.
34 According to the Buddha’s contemporaries, it was Brahma who created language and also the variations among beings.
35 Cakravartins (wheel–turning–kings) are those whose accumulated merit results in a birth in which they have the option of becoming a buddha or ruling the world.
36 In the first line, instead of “liberation,” Sanskrit texts have vidya-sthana: “fields of knowledge,” but no Chinese text agrees.
37 The Sanskrit has jataka, referring to the literary genre in which the previous lives of Shakyamuni were recorded. Some texts recount as many as 500 previous lives.
38 The term mara, or demon, is used for those who obstruct other beings from understanding the Dharma or who cause chaos, illness, and death in the world. During the Buddha’s time, there were said to be ninety-six heterodox paths. The reference can also be taken in the pejorative sense as equivalent to “heretics.”
39 According to the Yogacara conception, there are three modes of sva-bhava, or reality: imagined, dependent, and perfected.
40 The Sanskrit omits the first two lines, although they are present in all three Chinese translations. Since Mahamati has already asked about how many kinds of consciousness in verse 20, here he is probably referring to the varieties of mental dharmas that formed the basis of abhidharma.
41 The Sanskrit is prajnapti-matra. This Yogacara concept means that whatever we might say exists only exists as a verbal convention or designation. What is real cannot be designated or indicated because it includes the finger and the one doing the pointing.
42 The Sanskrit combines the last two lines into one and for the fourth line has: “Tell me, Lord, about the three realms.”
43 This line is missing in Gunabhadra (and replaced by a repetition of the fourth line) but present in all other editions. The Sanskrit is citta-sarathi (mind-charioteer), where sarathi also means “guide.”
44 Apparently in the sense of “ritually observe.” The Sanskrit is grahana. In India the year was divided into six two-month seasons.
45 Icchantikas are those so immersed in pleasure, they are incapable of understanding the Dharma. Thus, they are said to lack the ability to become buddhas.
46 Androgynes are neither male nor female, though they can appear as either.
47 For the third and fourth lines, Suzuki, following the Sanskrit, has: “How many exercises are there / and how are men kept abiding in them?”
48 Buddhists list five realms of rebirth: gods, humans, animals, sinners or demons in hell, and hungry ghosts. To these, a sixth is sometime added, namely, that of asuras, ex-gods who make war on other gods.
49 For the last two lines, the Sanskrit has: “How does one become a lord of wealth, tell me, you who art like the sky?”
50 The Buddha was born into the Shakya clan, and his name, Shakyamuni, meant “Sage of the Shakyas.” His entire clan was exterminated during a war while he was still alive. King Ikshvaku was the earliest known ruler of India. His name means “sugar cane,” and one story has him arising from the stalk of such a plant as a baby. Some Buddhists and Jains trace the founders of their lineages back to Ikshvaku. The ascetic referred to was apparently one of the teachers Shakyamuni met prior to becoming a buddha. Perhaps it was the one who taught that liberation required depriving the body of sustenance. Both Gunabhadra and Bodhiruchi render this verse in six lines. The Sanskrit for the last two lines is obscure. In line three, if dirghapatah is a mistake for dirghatapas, then it might be rendered, “Who was the ascetic Dirghatapas / and how did he prevail?” See also verse 84 in this section.
51 Hinayana Buddhists believed there was only one buddha for each epoch and world, although they acknowledged that each buddha could manifest apparitions in other worlds. Mahayana Buddhists hold that there are countless buddhas, both in time and space.
52 This sutra devotes its final chapter to encouraging practitioners to refrain from eating meat. Eating meat was not proscribed by the precepts adhered to by monks and nuns, if only because they begged for their food and had to eat whatever they were given. However, eating the meat of elephants, horses, lions, and humans was proscribed, apparently as a sumptuary restriction. In any case, the precepts do proscribe the killing of living creatures or being responsible for their deaths.
53 Mount Sumeru is at the center of each world, and its height is beyond any known measure. Gunabhadra compresses this verse and also the next into three lines. I’ve followed Shikshananda in my order of lines for this verse and also for the next two.
54 The swastika, or shrivatsa, was an ancient cruciform symbol similar in meaning to the yin-yang symbol of China as representing the cycle of change among the different forces of creation.
55 Indra, or Shakra, is the creator of the world. His palace includes a net of jewels, each of which reflects all the other jewels.
56 At the end of this, Gunabhadra adds, “Like this and countless other shapes.”
57 Gunabhadra alone presents four buddhas here. The Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and Sanskrit texts have the first two (nirmanika-buddha and buddha-vipakaja) and a third that reads as a combination of Gunabhadra’s third and fourth (tathata-jnana-buddha—a buddha who knows suchness). When Buddhists first developed their theories of a buddha’s different bodies, some considered a four-body version before finally settling on three bodies. Perhaps the difference in texts here reflects that development. But compare this with Section XIV, where Gunabhadra also has three.
58 The three realms include the realm of desire (in which there are either five or six kinds of existence), the realm of form (in which there are four heavens), and the formless realm (in which there are also four heavens or levels). It was in the highest heaven of the three realms that the Buddha attained Enlightenment and also that he later entered Nirvana.
59 Sugata is another epithet for a buddha. It means “well-gone.”
60 Hinayana and Mahayana texts give different accounts of the length of time the Dharma will be taught and understood. But both agree that such understanding will eventually come to an end.
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bsp; 61 The Sanskrit is siddhanta, for which see Section LXIII. This term was used in logic to denote a conclusion based on reasoning and example. But here and elsewhere in the Lankavatara, it refers to a “spiritual conclusion” that transcends logic. “Code of ethics” is a translation for vinaya.
62 Again, the text has jina-putra (sons of victors) for bodhisattvas.
63 The transformation of one’s awareness from the imagined, fabricated world of projections to a perfected view devoid of projections is one of the basic teachings of the Yogacara. However, in this sutra such a view is considered provisional. The Sanskrit is nirabhasa-shata.
64 The five higher powers include distant vision and hearing, bodily transport, telepathy, and knowledge of past lives. The transcendent powers refer to those essential to progress on the bodhisattva path, such as awareness of the illusory nature of the self. Before the Mahayana developed a ten-stage path, early Buddhists saw their practice as involving seven stages, to which the bodhisattva path added three more stages. Freedom from projections or false appearances characterizes the eighth, which is essentially the first stage of buddhahood.
65 The different kinds of sangha, or spiritual community, include both lay and monastic, which can be further characterized by the dominant form of practice: Zen, Pure Land, Tantric, Vipassana. The Buddha was called the Great Physician because his sermons on spiritual health were often couched in the language of physical health. The last line only appears in Gunabhadra.
66 Krakucchanda and Kanakamuni were the names of the first two buddhas of the present kalpa. Kashyapa was the third, and Shakyamuni (Mahamuni) was the fourth. The Buddha taught that all buddhas are one buddha.
67 Gunabhadra expands the last two lines into four but without adding anything. I’ve followed Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit.
68 The reference to gender-specific trees is to species that produce fruits resembling men or women. Karitaki and amali refer here to the fruits of trees, the first of which has a heavenly taste, the second of which never ripens. Kailash is a sacred peak in the Himalayas and remains a center of pilgrimage. The Iron Ring Mountains surround the seas that surround the world. At the center of the world is Mount Sumeru at the top of which is Diamond Summit.
69 Rishis are seers or shamans and often associated with mountains. Gandharvas are beings that live in the sky. Gunabhadra omits the last line, and Shikshananda expands this verse into six lines. I’ve followed Bodhiruchi and the Sanskrit. Mahamati is also referring to their appearance and disappearance in Chapter One.
70 Depending on which text one uses, Mahamati asks somewhere between 104 and 112 questions. In repeating them, however, the Buddha does not list them all and even adds new items to the list.
71 In the context of this verse, noting the absence of self-existence (sva-bhava) is intended to deny that there is anything that exists or continues to exist in nirvana, in emptiness, from one moment to the next, or from one life to the next.
72 Gunabhadra spreads this over six lines. I’ve followed Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit.
73 Asuras are gods who have been expelled from the heavens atop Mount Sumeru and who now make war on the other gods.
74 Buddhist texts list eight liberations, countless masteries, and five, or sometimes six, higher powers.
75 The Sanskrit is nirodha, or extinction of suffering, which is the third of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths; the ability to travel as fast as thought is one of the five higher powers; there are seven aids and thirty-seven elements of the path to enlightenment; among meditations are those of boundless light and boundless purity; and the five skandhas represent the constituents of what seems to be the individual.
76 In this case, “the mind” refers to the eighth consciousness, “the will” to the seventh, and “conceptual consciousness” to the sixth. The five dharmas include name, appearance, projection, correct knowledge, and suchness. “No self” refers to no self in persons and no self in dharmas or things.
77 Icchantikas are those whose karmic roots are so impoverished they lack the ability to understand the Dharma. The external world is seen as composed of the material elements of earth, water, fire, and wind. The question of whether there was one buddha or many was a subject of debate among early Buddhists.
78 Proofs (siddhanta) are formulated on the basis of reason and demonstrated through the use of illustration. Elsewhere in this sutra, siddhanta is used to refer to “spiritual proofs,” and in such cases I have translated the word as “attainments.” Gunabhadra compresses the last two lines into one.
79 Mahamati asked earlier, “How do we pass through the stages?” But the Buddha’s teaching in this sutra is that stages are provisional and meant to be transcended, if not abandoned.
80 This refers to the overturning or transformation (paravrtti) of one’s foundation, which occurs as a result of the freedom from projections (nirabhasa) that accompanies or marks the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path.
81 This last line is missing in Gunabhadra and Shikshananda.
82 The last line is missing in Gunabhadra and Shikshananda.
83 The last two lines are missing in Bodhiruchi. A bow-length (dhanu) was an ancient Indian unit of linear measurement equal to about six feet.
84 Units of length, capacity, and weight are used here to demonstrate that everything is made of parts and thus does not exist on its own. A pada is a foot in length, and a hasta, or forearm, is one and a half feet. A krosha is about two miles, and four kroshas make a yojana, or a day’s march for an army, variously measured at around eight miles. As for the smaller measurements, there are seven dust motes in a mote of airborne dust, seven motes of airborne dust in a rabbit hair, seven rabbit hairs in a sheep hair, seven sheep hairs in a cow hair, seven cow hairs in a gnat, seven gnats in a louse egg, seven lice eggs in a mustard seed, seven mustard seeds in a barley grain, and seven barley grains in a fingertip. Thus, there are nearly two billion dust motes in a fingertip.
85 The Sanskrit terms here are prastha (quart) and drona (bushel). Ten bushels is a kharya, a hundred thousand bushels is a laksha, a million bushels is a koti, and a billion is a bimbara or vimvara. Gunabhadra spreads this verse over six lines.
86 Except for dust motes and mustard seeds, the Sanskrit terms here were also used as units of exchange in the marketplace. Hence, my translations are merely indicative of measurements smaller than a gram. Again, Gunabhadra renders this in six lines.
87 Again, the units of the marketplace are meant here, and my use of grams (grains would have been more appropriate, but this would have been confusing following “grass grains”), ounces, and pounds is simply meant to indicate approximate relationships with the idea being that since parts make up a whole, they negate the self-existence of the parts and the whole. Gunabhadra’s version extends over six lines. I’ve followed Bodhiruchi here.
88 In the third line, I’ve followed Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda, who specify “dust motes,” while Gunabhadra has simply “number.” All versions render this in six lines. In this and the following verse, the Buddha seems to chastise Mahamati for the limitations of his questions. But then in verse 78 he resumes recounting Mahamati’s questions.
89 Gunabhadra spreads this over five lines.
90 The “diamond-hard mountain” refers to Diamond Summit atop Mount Sumeru. For the second line, which is missing in Gunabhadra, I’ve used Bodhiruchi’s version. The Sanskrit mrga-trshna (deer-thirst) is a standard metaphor for the illusory nature of projections.
91 This entire verse is missing in Gunabhadra. I’ve followed Bodhiruchi.
92 The first two lines are missing in Gunabhadra, which I’ve replaced with those of Bodhiruchi. In Mahamati’s earlier question, the last two lines referred to the rishis and gandharvas on the peaks manifested by the Buddha.
93 This is another verse that Gunabhadra has expanded into six lines.
94 The first line is handled differently by every text. I’ve followed Gunabhadra.
95 Gunab
hadra expands the last two lines into four but without adding anything of substance.
96 I’ve followed Gunabhadra for the third line. Bodhiruchi has: “why do you ask me?” Shikshananda has: “and what about the other aids (of the path).” Meanwhile Sanskrit texts add “the logicians of other paths” to the third line and follow this with “O, Son of Victors.”
97 This verse is in six lines in Gunabhadra and the Sanskrit, five in Shikshananda, and four in Bodhiruchi. Again, designation (prajnapti) refers to the arbitrary fabrication of something as existing or not existing.
98 The name of an ascetic sage. He also appears in verse 35.
99 Gunabhadra renders this in five lines, which I’ve expanded into six for purposes of euphony. Shikshananda and the Sanskrit also have it in six lines, but do so by adding part of the next verse.
100 This is the highest heaven in the realm of form. Suzuki adds the first two lines of this verse to the end of the previous verse. Gunabhadra compresses the first two lines into one line. In this case, I’ve followed Shikshananda.
101 Gunabhadra has four buddhas, instead of three, expanding “buddhas of true knowledge” into “buddhas of suchness” and “buddhas of impartial knowledge.” In the last couplet, extant Sanskrit texts have “bodhisattva” while all three Chinese translations have “sangha.”
102 Gunabhadra compresses this into three lines. I’ve followed Shikshananda. The first seven stages of the bodhisattva path are meant here, during which one has not yet realized the nonexistence of a self among dharmas.
103 Gunabhadra renders this in five lines, which I’ve put into four, as has Shikshananda.
104 Neither Mahamati’s questions nor the Buddha’s repetition of them add up to 108, nor do those that follow in the next section.
105 Section III. In other sutras, the Buddha responds to such questions with the doctrine of relativity: birth only exists if death exists. Since neither exists by itself, neither is ultimately real. Here, he assumes this is already understood and turns to the doctrine of negation instead: to talk about anything is to talk about nothing. This section can also be viewed as following from the Buddha’s explanation of dharmas and non-dharmas to Ravana at the end of Chapter One. Essentially, all dharmas are non-dharmas. That is, they are nothing more than arbitrary designations behind which nothing is real. In the Diamond Sutra (Chapters 8 and 17), the Buddha says, “As for dharmas, Subhuti, only as non-dharmas can we speak of dharmas.” This is the meaning of the Buddha’s statement in #90 above that he will be answering Mahamati’s questions with “truths that transcend words.” Note, too, that in Section XI, we are told that these 108 questions are not to be answered on the basis of “feebleminded knowledge” but buddha knowledge.
