The Lankavatara Sutra
Page 16
106 Because he uses the same Chinese characters for “modes of reality” and “self existence,” Gunabhadra uses li-tzu-hsing (transcend modes of reality) in place of fei-tzu-hsing (no modes of reality) to differentiate this statement from his statement later in which he has fei-tzu-hsing (no self-existence). I’ve followed Shikshananda in this case.
107 Shikshananda reads citta (mind) instead of anta (extreme) here. Apparently, the Sanskrit text was altered sometime after Gunabhadra’s translation appeared, with anta being mistaken as antah (feeling/mind), and this subsequently replaced by citta. Bodhiruchi has two separate statements for both “mind” and “extreme.”
108 When expedience and skill are differentiated, as they are here, expedience is viewed as insight into a situation and skill as the application of that insight.
109 Normally, these refer to the paths of the shravaka, the pratyeka-buddha, and the bodhisattva. However, in Section LXVI, the Buddha says among the three paths, one path is for gods and Brahma, one is for shravakas and pratyeka-buddhas, and one is for tathagatas.
110 Apparently there is a copyist error in Gunabhadra’s text. He has suo-yu (projection) instead of wu-suo-yu (no projection). The Sanskrit is nirabhasa, which Gunabhadra normally renders either wu-suo-shou or wu-suo-yu. Since Gunabhadra has suo-yu later in this series, he must have originally had wu-suo-yu here, which is supported by Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda.
111 According to the teachings of the Yogacara, there have been three turnings of the wheel of the Dharma, each directed to audiences with different levels of understanding: the first was the Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths and the Abhidharma that followed, the second was the Madhyamaka teachings of Nagarjuna and others, and the third was the Yogacara teachings of this and other mind-only texts.
112 Bodhiruchi has “a statement about existence and nonexistence,” while Shikshananda breaks “existence” and “nonexistence” into two statements.
113 This refers to the third item in the tetralemma popular with logicians: x, y, both x and y, neither x nor y.
114 Gunabhadra combines this and the previous statement into one statement: “the personal realization of buddha knowledge and delight in what is present is about no delight in what is present.” However, the omission in the second part of his statement suggests his text was corrupt or his translation was miscopied. I’ve rendered this as two statements, as have Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda. The Sanskrit for the second statement is drishta-dharma-sukha, which appears again near the end of the sutra.
115 The Sanskrit is bhuta, referring to the four material elements.
116 Gunabhadra divides the Sanskrit (samkhya-ganita) into two statements, one concerning numbers, and the other enumeration, but using the same Chinese characters for both. I’ve restricted my rendering to one statement, as have Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda.
117 Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda divide this (shilpa-kala-vidya) into two statements about “crafts” and “sciences.”
118 The Sanskrit is prajnapti, which refers to the arbitrary fabrication or identification of individual entities. Thus, the term prajnapti–matra (designation–only) was a hallmark of Yogacara texts.
119 Shikshananda alone has “wheels of fire.”
120 The Sanskrit is nirodha-vyutthana (cessation-arising). Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda preface this statement with: “a statement about cessation is about no cessation.” Instead of “cessation and arising,” this refers to emerging from a state of meditation such as the Samadhi of Cessation.
121 This refers to aids to enlightenment, or bodhi-anga.
122 The assurances meant here are those given to bodhisattvas concerning their future buddhahood.
123 This statement is only present in Gunabhadra. Unconditioned or uncreated things (asamskrita-dharma) include space and two types of nirvana.
124 After this, Bodhiruchi adds, “a statement about nuns is about no nuns.”
125 The Sanskrit is adhishthana, which means “resting place” or “refuge” but also “what supports” practice.
126 Gunabhadra has 104 answers, as do I. However, he combines two that everyone else separates (personal realization of buddha knowledge and delight in what is present), and he adds two not found in any other text or translation (numbers and moral codes). Although Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda differ in their inclusion or exclusion of certain answers, only Bodhiruchi’s total comes to 108.
127 The last sentence is present in Gunabhadra and Bodhiruchi but not in Shikshananda or current Sanskrit texts. The reason bodhisattvas should study this is that seeing whatever they think of as real as not real will free them from the fabrication or projection of reality and prepare them for the personal realization of what buddhas know.
128 Section IV. Mahamati continues by asking the same kind of question he asked before: “How many kinds of this or that are there?” He now asks about consciousness because the reality of its contents has just been denied. However, the Buddha did not deny consciousness it self. To do so would have been to side with those nihilists who held that nothing remained after death. Thus, while Mahamati asks about the apparent rising and ceasing of consciousness, implicit in his question is a concern with its ceasing. The Buddha answers that while consciousness rises and ceases, it possesses an intrinsic quality that remains unaffected by those forms of consciousness tied to the contents he has just now denied. Such forms are themselves delusions that can only be said to exist as long as the alaya-vijnana, or repository consciousness, is not transformed into the tathagata-garba, or womb of buddhas.
129 The Sanskrit for “continuity” is prabandha. For “characteristic,” it is lakshana . Both of these terms also occur in early Indian music, with prabandha denoting the underlying form or connectedness of music and lakshana denoting its surface melody. Again, the ocean and its waves come to mind.
130 Yin-shun says only with the cessation of consciousness as a continuity and as a characteristic can our true nature appear.
131 The unfolding/transforming (paravrtti) aspect is produced by causes, the karmic (karma) aspect produces effects, while the intrinsic (jati) aspect remains free from causes and effects. The Sanskrit for “aspect” here is also lakshana.
132 Gunabhadra alone includes “true consciousness.” Since the text segues into “true consciousness” in the next paragraph, it would only make sense if it had already been mentioned. Hence, I have followed Gunabhadra. Basically, this threefold division is a simplification of the eightfold division of consciousness, with perceiving consciousness (or the unfolding aspect of consciousness) including the five sensory forms of consciousness; object-projecting consciousness (or the karmic aspect of consciousness) including the sixth and seventh forms of consciousness; and true consciousness (or the intrinsic aspect of consciousness) including the eighth form of consciousness, or at least the eighth form transformed into the tathagata-garbha.
133 Again, the point seems to be that perceiving consciousness is the recipient of karma, and object-projecting consciousness creates it.
134 Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit texts have alaya-vijnana, or repository consciousness.
135 The cessation of consciousness here refers not to the cessation of repository consciousness, but only to the karma-creating and ever-unfolding aspects of the five forms of sensory consciousness along with the sixth form, conceptual consciousness.
136 This phrase is only present in Gunabhadra.
137 What in chapters Three and Four are referred to as “the threefold combination.”
138 The Buddha presents two nihilistic views held by other paths regarding the cessation of the continuity of consciousness: the first holds that it is dependent on sensory consciousness alone, and the second holds that it is not dependent on sensory consciousness but on some external entity. The Buddha’s view, as presented above, is that the intrinsic state of consciousness does not cease, only those states tied to the sowing and sprouting of the seeds of projection that obscure it cease.
140 The Sanskrit is bhava-svabhava and refers to something whose existence is not predicated or dependent on anything else in time, in space, or in mind. The term could also be translated as “reality.” However, I have tried to reserve the use of that word for such terms as tri-svabhava (the three modes of reality), bhutakoti (ultimate reality), etc.
141 Section VI. Contrasting this with the previous section, Bodhiruchi begins, “I have seven kinds of higher truth.” Commentators generally agree with his interpretation, if not with his inclusion of wo (I), that these seven refer to seven successive levels of understanding used in dealing with erroneous views arising from the preceding seven forms of self-existence.
142 The Sanskrit for “higher truth” is parama-artha.
143 However one views the seven kinds of self-existence of Section V, it is clear that their proper use is dependent on buddha knowledge. Only the eye of wisdom exercised by a buddha can see without seeing and thus remain unattached to what is seen.
144 The three realms of existence include those of desire, form, and formlessness.
145 The concluding statement suggests that the foregoing has been an introduction and, as elsewhere, the Buddha is not so concerned with philosophical argument as he is with putting an end to suffering, which arises from projection and which ceases upon understanding the true nature of one’s own perceptions.
146 Section VII. This section critiques the views regarding causation held by the Sarvastivadins and Vaishesikas, among others, who held that the effect exists in the cause or that it does not exist in the cause. T’ai-hsu and Yin-shun note how ridiculous such views regarding the existence or nonexistence of cause and effect can be. If the result does not exist in the cause, this would be like eating but never producing shit. But if the effect exists in the cause, this would be tantamount to shit being present in food. This section mercifully ends with the transcendence of all views of causation.
147 The Buddha is denying the validity of impermanence. Te-ch‘ing says, “The broken jug is a metaphor for no effect, the burnt seed for no cause.” Yin-shun says, “If a thought that has arisen ceases, where does the next thought come from? Once the previous thought ceases, the subsequent thought has no cause of origination. Vasubandhu is quoted as saying: ‘Once a rooster dies, how is it going to crow?’”
148 Te-ch’ing says, “Tortoises do not have any hair because there is no such cause, and sand is not the source of cooking oil because there is no such effect.” The threefold conjunction normally refers to the combination of a sense organ, a sense object, and the form of sensory consciousness that arises upon their conjunction.
149 This term is often used in Sanskrit as the opposite pair to nirvana. Although usually understood to mean “birth and death,” it means “wandering,” as in wandering through birth and death.
150 The Sanskrit is maya-upama-samadhi. This is a samadhi in which one acquires an illusory body, hence the name.
151 Te-ch’ing notes that changing one’s understanding is immediate, changing one’s behavior takes longer.
152 In this section, the Buddha rejects focusing on the study of dharmas, or at least dharmas viewed as subject to causation. This is because anything that might be subject to causation, and that thus exists in time, does not, in fact, exist except as an illusory concept.
153 Section VIII. This summarizes and concludes the foregoing sections.
154 Section IX. The Buddha briefly explains how consciousness works and then points out that it can only be transcended by realizing that consciousness itself is a self-fabricated fiction. Such a teaching, however, is not something everyone is prepared to hear. Hence, buddhas vary their teachings to suit the audience.
155 Gunabhadra alone words this first paragraph as a statement of what the Buddha has taught, rather than as a request to cover such topics. Given the Buddha’s response, I’ve decided to follow Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit in this case.
156 As elsewhere in this sutra, “mind” (citta) means “to gather” and refers to the eighth consciousness where karmic seeds generated by the other seven are stored and manifested; “will” (manas) means “to reason, reflect, consider” and refers to our seventh consciousness; and “conceptual consciousness” (mano-vijnana) means “consciousness of the mind” and refers to the sixth consciousness, which conceptualizes the five forms of sensory consciousness.
157 T’ai-hsu says, “The dharma body has no attributes but also does not have no attributes. Because it has no attributes, it is the nature of suchness. Because it does not have no attributes, it is the waves of our repository consciousness.”
158 This differs from the usual list, which include the power of sensation, the domain of sensation, the consciousness that arises from their conjunction, and the desire for sensation.
159 These two metaphors are distinguished with images in the mirror representing a static view of consciousness and the ocean and waves representing a dynamic view. In the metaphor of the ocean and waves, the water represents repository consciousness, the movement of water represents the will (or self-consciousness), the waves represent conceptual consciousness, and the wind is that of externality.
160 This is a difficult paragraph in any language, and all three Chinese translations differ quite a bit, as does the Sanskrit. I’ve followed Gunabhadra, I think.
161 These are all examples of the color white.
162 As elsewhere, the word “mind” is often used for the eighth, or alaya, consciousness.
163 Gunabhadra spreads this over six lines, repeating the last two lines of the previous verse, which I’ve omitted, as have Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit.
164 Gunabhadra’s version of this verse is problematic, as it focuses only on conceptual consciousness (yi-shih). Hence, I’ve followed Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda in this case.
165 This line also appears in the first verse of Section LXVI.
166 The Sanskrit specifies mano-vijnana (conceptual consciousness), but none of the Chinese translations do.
167 I’ve based my translation of the third line on Shikshananda. Gunabahdra has “what is grasped and what isn’t grasped.”
168 The word yeh (karma) is only present in Gunabhadra. Given the Buddha’s response, Gunabhadra’s text is clearly preferable here.
169 This division of a quatrain between two speakers is unusual, but it occurs here in the translations of both Gunabhadra and Shikshananda.
170 Though both appear as one, we focus on the wave, not the ocean, the image, not the mirror, the dream, not the dreamer, the object, not the mind.
171 The five forms of sensory-based consciousness are meant here. Unlike most four-line verses in this sutra, this one stops in the middle and then begins another metaphor that is developed in the next verse.
172 The Sanskrit vyabhicarin means “to deviate” or “to have secondary meanings.” But it also means “to be unfaithful,” which is the only meaning that follows from the simile of artistic representations that precedes it. Bodhiruchi translates this line: “teachings are se
parate from the truth,” while Shikshananda renders it: “teachings change and diverge.”
173 For the first line, Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda have: “The truth I have attained.”
174 Section X. For the Buddha, the path to understanding is not through speculation or philosophical discourse but through personal realization, which requires avoiding distractions and cultivating whatever brings one closer to one’s own mind.
175 Section XI. The cultivation of buddha knowledge advocated by the Buddha in the previous sections is viewed here as having three aspects: realizing that dharmas are empty, realizing that dharmas are not empty, realizing that dharmas are neither empty nor not empty. The division of this section is rather odd in that it ends by having Mahamati pose a question that isn’t answered until the following section. This division must be peculiar to the Japanese commentary on which Suzuki based his divisions, as I cannot find a Chinese commentary that follows suit.
176 The Sanskrit is nirabhasa, where nir is a negative prefix, and where abhasa means “erroneous appearance” but also refers to a thing’s “range” or “scope.” Previous translators have preferred “imageless,” which is fine as long as one understands that the images in question are self-generated or projected. Freedom from projections or erroneous appearances is usually associated with the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path.
177 Knowledge appears to the mind in forms that can become an obstruction to personal realization. Thus, knowledge of the first seven stages is sometimes called feebleminded or “lameass” knowledge because it concerns one’s own liberation—the attainment of nirvana and not enlightenment.