The Lankavatara Sutra

by Red Pine

  24 The present Buddhist Canon contains hundreds of tales about Shakyamuni’s former lives in which he does not always appear as a human.

  25 This is the name of the first king of Shakyamuni’s clan.

  26 Chief of the gods, also known as Indra.

  27 The appearance of Sunetra here is not accidental. The Buddha’s statement that he was previously the sage, Sunetra, was used in several early texts, including Vasubandhu’s Atmavadapratisedha, as an example about which the existence or nonexistence of a permanent self was argued.

  28 These are the names of the first three buddhas of the present kalpa, Shakyamuni being the fourth. They are mentioned earlier in Mahamati’s questions in Section II, verse 48.

  29 In his explanations of these four, Gunabhadra inverts the order of the last two. The Sanskrit for these four is akshara, vak, dharma, and kaya.

  30 The Sanskrit for syllable is akshara, which means “imperishable,” as syllables were thought to be the “atoms” of speech.

  31 The Buddha’s voice was said to include eight tones, each of which possessed eight qualities. Thus, his voice was characterized by sixty-four transcendent sounds.

  32 A bird whose melodious voice is rarely, if ever, heard by humans, as it dwells beyond the red dust of the mundane world.

  33 Such bodies include those of humans but also those of elephants or parrots. The Buddha’s mention of such bodies here is in response to the second part of Mahamati’s question. While their bodies might differ in outward appearance, the marks and attributes that distinguish them as buddhas do not.

  34 These thirty-seven elements are often linked together with the earth representing the nature of reality, the seeds as the four subjects of mindfulness (smirti-upasthana), the planting of the seeds as the four right exertions (samyak-prahanani), the sprouting of the seeds as the four supernatural abilities (riddhi-padah), the sending down of roots as the five psychic faculties (indriyani), the sending forth of stems and leaves as the five higher powers (balani), the flower as the seven aids of enlightenment (bodhi-angani), and the fruit as the eightfold noble path.

  35 This refers to the four unhindered powers of teaching regarding subject, meaning, expression, and eloquence. The Buddha says “in short” here because these are but four of the eighteen avenika-dharmas, or characteristics unique to buddhas.

  36 Section LXI. Mahamati continues his inquiry into the nature of buddhahood. If the Buddha’s voice is like that of a kalavinka, and he teaches the thirty-seven elements of awareness, why does he say he doesn’t speak? This was another section of the Lanka popular among early Zen masters.

  37 The usual span given for the period during which the Buddha taught is forty-nine years.

  38 The Sanskrit for these two terms is sva-pratyatma-dharmata and paurana-sthiti-dharmata. The essential truth (dharmata) cannot be known through words but must be realized. And what is realized doesn’t depend on realization, much less words, to be true.

  39 The Sanskrit is dharma-dhatu. This is one of a dozen terms for reality. What is real is not created by a buddha, nor does it depend on the appearance of a buddha.

  40 Section LXII. In a previous section, the Buddha said tathagatas are free from existence and nonexistence. Mahamati still doesn’t understand the Buddha’s teaching of mind and asks how to get free of this duality. The Buddha explains that while these two conceptions dominate people’s thinking, including the thinking of would-be practitioners seeking to render the existence of their afflictions nonexistent, his teaching does not recognize the existence of afflictions much less their annihilation. To Hui-k’o, Bodhidharma said, “Show me this mind of yours, and I will calm it for you.”

  41 In place of the usual bhava-abhava, the Sanskrit here is astitva-nastitva, which have roughly the same meaning: “existence and nonexistence.”

  42 Referring to the second view that the world arises from nonexistence.

  43 The Sanskrit, as is evident in Suzuki’s translation, adds the following: “They thus talk of the really-existing world as arising from the reality of causation. This is the realistic view of causation as held by some people.” (ibid. pg. 125)

  44 The idea here is that afflictions previously existed but due to cultivation they ceased to exist. Hence, this is extrapolated into the general statement that “they exist then don’t exist.”

  45 The Sanskrit is vainashika. See Edgerton, page 510, where he applies the term here to “destructionists,” those who maintain that all entities in the world cease to exist.

  46 The logic in this and the following sentence is that because the afflictions of desire, anger, and delusion cannot be found inside or outside practitioners, they cannot be seen to change from existing to not existing. Hence, to make assertions about their existence turning into nonexistence is to falsify the reality of enlightenment as well as to falsify the reality of afflictions. Thus, they are nihilists on both accounts. For the last line, Bodhiruchi has “afflictions are not one and not different.” Shikshananda has “their existence is neither different nor not different.”

  47 Referring to the characteristics of the skandhas, etc. as well as nirvana.

  48 Section LXIII. Turning from belief in existence or nonexistence, Mahamati asks about a way that transcends such dualities. The Buddha responds by outlining the way realized by and for oneself and the way as taught to others.

  49 The Sanskrit is siddhanta-naya. Normally, siddhanta refers to a conclusion established as the result of inquiry or logic, but here, as elsewhere in this sutra, it refers to a conclusion based on spiritual insight rather than logic, thus an established truth, but one that must be realized and one that cannot be put into words. See also Section LXXII.

  50 Mara was the name of the demon that tried to tempt Shakyamuni the night of his Enlightenment. The term is also applied to any of Mara’s host of demons that tries to distract practitioners.

  51 The Sanskrit for “way of instruction” is deshana-naya.

  52 The Mahayana Canon is usually described as having twelve divisions. This ninefold classification includes sermons of the Buddha (sutras), metrical pieces (geyas), prophecies (vyakaranas), poems (gathas), impromptu statements (udanas), narratives (ityuktas), stories of the Buddha’s previous lives (jatakas), expanded sutras (vaipulyas), and miracles (adbhuta-dharmas), but it excludes causal conditions (nidanas), parables (avadanas), and treatises (upadeshas).

  53 Gunabhadra has wu-ts’ui, meaning “blameless.” Hence, his text must have involved the alliteration: niravadya (blamelessness/stainlessness) is nirvana. Apparently, the Sanskrit text changed. Bodhiruchi has “freedom from consciousness,” Shikshananda has “freedom from will,” and Suzuki has “nothing to do with intellection (manas).” If Gunabhadra is correct, the “blame” would refer to the subject of the previous verse.

  54 In Shikshananda and the Sanskrit, this first line is: “There is no desire, anger, or delusion.”

  55 Section LXIV. If our projections are unreal, as noted in the final verses of the last section, where do they come from and why? And why is ultimate reality not likewise subject to projections?

  56 The Sanskrit is abhuta-parikalpita, where abhuta means “what has no foundation in reality,” and where parikalpita means “projection.” Thus, this term is redundant, as projections are necessarily without foundation.

  57 In his answer, the Buddha responds to Mahamati’s three questions: how do such projections arise, in what do they consist, and where do they reside—the answer to the last being the repository consciousness, where the habit-energy of such projections collects.

  58 This preamble to Mahamati’s question that repeats what the Buddha has just stated is missing in Shikshananda.

  59 Following the Sanskrit and the Chinese of Shikshananda, Suzuki adds several more lines to this paragraph. I’ve followed Gunabhadra.

  60 The four possibilities in this case refer to existence, nonexistence, both existence and nonexistence, and neither existence nor nonexistence. The meaning here is that sin
ce causes and conditions only exist as projections, it is projection from which the world actually arises.

  61 Gunabhadra expands this verse into six lines. I’ve condensed it to the standard four-line format based on the translations of Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda.

  62 Commentators describe this as a fruit producing a fruit, rather than a flower producing a fruit.

  63 For this line, Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit have variations of “determine/see they are nothing but mind.” But Gunabhadra’s version is much more interesting.

  64 These are different from the four uniformities listed in Section LX and include opposite pairs, not all of which are mentioned in the poem due to limitations of meter. The four, which only Gunabhdara seems aware of, include: characteristics and no characteristics, causes and results, self and no self, practice and practitioner.

  65 This verse appears as this section’s penultimate verse in the Sanskrit. The view that the world is a manifestation of the mind is not supported by this sutra. This and the verses that follow state the position upheld in the Lankavatara: that our mind is the world and the world is our mind. If the world were a manifestation of the mind, they would be different. But they are neither one nor different. Time for tea.

  66 This verse appears as this section’s final verse in the Sanskrit.

  67 In the Sanskrit text, these last three verses appear between verse 9 and verse 10.

  68 The Sanskrit must have changed. Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda read this line differently: “thus transcending the mind as well,” while Suzuki renders the Sanskrit: “which is thus free from intellection.”

  69 These last four verses deal with the transformation of the five forms of sensory consciousness, the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth into the four kinds of knowledge. They also refer back to the four equalities: characteristics and no characteristics, cause and result, self and no self, practice and practitioner.

  70 Section LXV. The inquiry into the misconceptions and projections of the mind continues with speech (ruta) and meaning (artha). The Buddha has previously told Mahamati to rely on meaning and not on words. But without relying on words, how are we to understand meaning? The Buddha’s only concern is our differentiation of speech and meaning and our attachment to one or the other. Thus, he tells Mahamati they are neither different nor not different. If you want to see what is in a room, you need a lamp. But viewing the lamp as different from what is in the room is a mistake and only leads to the need for another lamp. Meaning isn’t in the words, just as the room isn’t in the lamp.

  71 In sections XXXII and XXXIII, the Buddha explains how word projection fails to express ultimate truth. Here, the focus is similar but different.

  72 This and the previous sentence are missing in Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit.

  73 Instruction, reflection, and meditation comprise the three sources of wisdom.

  74 Following this sentence there are several lines not present in Gunabhadra but present in the texts of Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit: “Mahamati, it is like someone who uses a lamp to examine his possessions and knows such and such a thing is like this and in such and such a place. Mahamati, bodhisattvas likewise rely on the lamp of speech to enter the realm of self-realization that is free from speech.”

  75 See the passage quoted from the Samyuktagama in the note to Section LXXV, in which the validity of these positions are all denied.

  76 If nothing exists, then spiritual cultivation is meaningless.

  77 Section LXVI. From speech and meaning, the Buddha proceeds to consciousness and knowledge, on which the foregoing pair is based. It is the transformation of consciousness that constitutes knowledge, but there is no knowledge outside consciousness.

  78 The Buddha focuses on knowledge here. For more on consciousness, see Section IV in Chapter Two, where the Buddha outlines three kinds of consciousness: “Mahamati, we generally speak of eight forms of consciousness. But these can be summarized under three headings: true consciousness, perceiving consciousness, and object-projecting consciousness.”

  79 As elsewhere in this sutra, individual characteristics refer to what distinguish one entity from another, while shared characteristics include such aspects as emptiness and the absence of a self shared by more than one entity, if not all entities. Here, the characteristics that are wished for refer to the end of samsara and the attainment of nirvana.

  80 The phrase “depends on personal attainment” is only present in Gunabhadra. The Sanskrit puts this paragraph after the next two.

  81 Throughout the rest of this section “knowledge” refers to transcendent knowledge.

  82 As in the previous paragraph, this refers to transcendent knowledge, not mundane or metaphysical knowledge.

  83 According to most commentators, the “threefold combination” refers to the powers and domains of sensation and the forms of consciousness that arise upon their conjunction. This term is also mentioned in sections LXVIII and LXXXII. In Section LXXIII, however, the Buddha says followers of other paths attribute awareness to the conjunction of self, sense organs, and sense objects, replacing consciousness with self.

  84 This line also appears in the eighth verse of Section X.

  85 Gunabhadra renders this verse in six lines. I’ve condensed it into the standard four-line format and relied on the translation of Shikshananda in doing so.

  86 Freedom from projections (nirabhasa) is a characteristic of the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path. Thus, the “higher stages” here refer to the ninth and tenth stages, where buddhahood occurs.

  87 This refers to the forbearance of non-arising, which is also a characteristic of the eighth stage.

  88 All three Chinese translations render this verse in six lines, as does the Sanskrit.

  89 Section LXVII. In the previous section, the Buddha indicated that the culmination of knowledge consisted in an understanding that nothing arises and nothing ceases. But such an understanding is not possible if someone believes something changes. Hence, the Buddha considers this subject in order to lead his audience from consciousness (and projection) to knowledge (and non-projection).

  90 Where I have “origin,” Gunabhadra has shih, which is his usual translation for vastu or dravya, meaning “object,” or kriya, “action.” Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda, however, have sheng, meaning “birth/rising,” and the Sanskrit has utpada, meaning “rising/origin.” In this case, I’ve followed Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit.

  91 As elsewhere, a city of gandharvas is made of clouds.

  92 Section LXVIII. The reason people believe something changes is because of their attachment to the projection that something exists or does not exist. But because their underlying projections are flawed, because they don’t realize they are nothing but the perceptions of their own mind, they struggle to get free in vain. The Buddha likens such people to silkworms wrapping themselves in cocoons of delusion.

  93 The Sanskrit here is sandhi, meaning “connection” or “continuity.”

  94 Gunabhadra renders vikalpa-buddhi (projections-awareness) quite lieterally as wang-hsiang chueh (awareness of projections). Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda ignore buddhi and have simply wang-hsiang (projections). Suzuki puts buddhi (to be aware, to know) at the beginning of the next sentence, where it makes better sense. In this case, I’ve followed Suzuki.

  95 These ten include vows to liberate beings regardless of the unlimited nature of beings, worlds, space, reality, nirvana, buddha realms, tathagata knowledge, conditions of the mind, realms entered by buddha knowledge, and the transformation of worlds, dharmas, and knowledge.

  96 The Sanskrit is our old friend paravrtti (to overturn/transform).

  97 Such attachments as these constitute the obstruction of knowledge and the cause of transformation death.

  98 The Sanskrit adds “and of no-stages.”

  99 The previous eleven continuities are those of shravakas, pratyeka-buddhas, and followers of other paths, while these three are commo
n to non-practitioners. The three continuities (tri-samtati) are also referred to as the three poisons. In either case, these continuities constitute the obstruction of passion and are the cause of karmic death.

  100 The five destinies include rebirth among gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and the denizens of the various hells. Asuras (gods who make war on other gods) are sometimes added to these five, making six destinies.

  101 As in Section LXVI, this refers to the powers and domains of sensation and the forms of consciousness that arise upon their conjunction.

  102 The three liberations refer to the emptiness of the eighth form of consciousness, the formlessness of the sixth, and the intentionlessness of the seventh.

  103 Gunabhadra renders this verse in six lines, which I have condensed into four following the translation of Shikshananda.

  104 Section LXIX. Previously, the Buddha said things have no self-existence. But if nothing has self-existence, is this not the same as nihilism? At the same time, the Buddha’s teaching of personal realization would seem to be advocating self-existence. Is this not a contradiction? Thus, Mahamati wonders if the Buddha’s teaching does not involve attachment to views of existence and nonexistence. The Buddha reminds him that all teachings are expedient means, nothing more, and points him back to personal realization. This section is also noteworthy for the great variation among texts, as Suzuki himself noted. As elsewhere, I’ve followed Gunabhadra.

  105 Buddhists identify five kinds of vision, each associated with a different “eye”: the physical eye sees objects in the realm of desire, the divine eye sees objects in the realm of form, the wisdom eye sees objects in the realm of formlessness (and thus their emptiness), the dharma eye sees the means of liberation, and the buddha eye sees everything.

  106 The Sanskrit is arya-bhava-vastu. This is another term peculiar to the Lankavatara. As it is used by Mahamati, not by the Buddha, it refers to self-existence as perceived by the wise, what elsewhere is called “perfected reality” (parinishpanna-svabhava) .