The Lankavatara Sutra
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devas . A Sanskrit term used to refer to gods or deities in general and thus one of the five or six categories of beings.
dharani . An incantation with spiritual potency with or without meaning. Used interchangeably with mantra.
dharma/Dharma . Sanskrit term for whatever is thought to be real, whether a thing or an idea or a teaching or reality itself. The term is usually capitalized when referring to the wordless doctrine on which Buddhism and thus the teaching of all buddhas is based, as when it comprises one of the three treasures: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
dharma body . The Sanskrit is dharma-kaya. The real body of every buddha. It has no attributes but also does not have no attributes. Because it has no attributes, it is sometimes likened to the ocean. And because it does not have no attributes, it is likened to the ocean’s waves.
dharma cloud stage . The Sanskrit is dharma-megha-bhumi. This is the name of the tenth and final stage of the bodhisattva path. In this sutra, it is also referred to as the “tathagata stage.”
Dharmakshema (d. 433) . Indian monk who made the first translation of the Lankavatara into Chinese. His translation, however, was subsequently lost.
dharmata buddha . A conception unique to the Lanka, this buddha establishes the dependent reality of personal realization, while the nishyanda buddha reveals the imaginary reality conjured by the mind, and the nirmita-nirmana buddha teaches the perfected reality of spiritual practice.
dhatus . The six sensory powers, the six sensory domains, and the six forms of consciousness that arise from their conjunction.
Diamond Summit . The top of Mount Sumeru. However, according to one legend, a great wind once blew off the summit, which fell into the sea and formed the island of Lanka.
Diamond Sutra . Most popular of the Prajnaparamita sutras.The Sanskrit title is Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra.
Edgerton, Franklin (1885–1963). His Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary, originally published by Yale University in 1953, remains an essential tool for Sanskrit usages in early Mahayana texts.
eight forms of consciousness . The Sanskrit is ashta-vijnana. This conception of the mind includes the five forms of sensory consciousness, a sixth form that reifies sensory consciousness into concepts, a seventh form for self-identity and reasoning, and an eighth form for storing and distributing the seeds left behind by the habit-energy from the operations of the sixth and seventh forms.
Eightfold Noble Path . This was one of the earliest formulations of the Buddha’s teaching: right views, right intent, right action, right livelihood, right devotion, right thought and right meditation.
elements of awareness . The Sanskrit is bodhi-paksha. There are thirty-seven, seven of which are the “aids to enlightenment.”
emptiness . The Sanskrit is shunyata. In Buddhism, this is used in reference to “the emptiness of self-existence” and not in reference to “nothingness.”
Empty Cloud (1840–1959) Hsu-yun/Xuyun. China’s most famous Zen master of the twentieth century.
Fa-tsang/Facang (643–712) . Sogdian monk who participated in a number of translation projects and who is also known for his expositions of Huayen Buddhism, of which he was a founding patriarch.
five destinies .The Sanskrit is panca-gati. These include rebirth among gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and the denizens of the various hells. Rebirth among asuras (gods who make war on other gods) is sometimes added to these five, making six destinies.
five dharmas . The Sanskrit is panca-dharma. This is one of the principal concepts used in this sutra to explain how we misperceive reality and how we correct such misperception. They include appearance, name, projection (discrimination in Suzuki), correct knowledge and suchness.
five higher powers . The Sanskrit is panca-abhijna. These include distant vision, distant hearing, telepathy, knowledge of past lives, and bodily transport or projection.To these are sometimes added a sixth power: knowledge that puts an end to affliction.
five-part syllogism . The Sanskrit is panca-avaya. This was a form of argument aimed at discovering the truth by means of proposition, reason, example, application and conclusion.
five skandhas . This was one of the first abhidharma matrices developed for the purpose of meditation and includes form, sensation, perception, memory and consciousness.
forbearance of non-arising . The Sanskrit is anutpattika-dharma-kshanti. The attainment of this realization—that nothing has arisen, now arises, or will arise—marks the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path.
form . The Sanskrit is rupa. This is one of the five skandhas and comprises the projection of an external world.
formless realm . The Sanskrit is arupya-dhatu. One of the three realms.
four boundless meditations . The Sanskrit is catvari-apramanani or catvari-brahma-vihara. These are meditations in the formless realm in which practitioners give rise to feelings of infinite friendship, compassion, joy and equanimity.
four (material) elements . The Sanskrit is catur-(maha)-bhuta. These include earth, water, fire, and wind. To these are sometimes added bhautika for the elemental forms compounded of the elements.
four equalities . These are made up of four pairs: characteristics and no characteristics, causes and results, self and no self, practice and practitioner.
Four Guardians . The Sanskrit is catur-lokapalas. Protectors of the Dharma, they include: Dhrtarashtra (east), Virudhaka (south), Virupaksha (west) and Vaishravana (north). Their statues line the entryway to most Buddhist monasteries in East Asia
four kinds of knowledge . The Sanskrit is catvari-jnanani. These are associated with the transformation of consciousness. Knowledge gained from the five forms of sensory consciousness is transformed into the knowledge of perfect accomplishment, knowledge gained from conceptual consciousness is transformed into the knowledge of perfect observation, knowledge gained from the will is transformed into the knowledge of perfect equanimity, and knowledge gained from the repository consciousness is transformed into the knowledge of perfect reflection.
Four Noble Truths . The Sanskrit is catvari arya-satyani. An early summary of the Buddha’s teaching: suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path that leads to the cessation of suffering, namely, the Eightfold Noble Path.
four possibilities . The sequence used by logicians to represent all possible outcomes of any event: it is either x, or it is y, or it is both x and y, or it is neither x nor y. The tetralemma.
four states of affliction . These include views, attachments to desire, attachments to form, and attachments to formlessness. The basis for these is the fifth state of affliction: fundamental ignorance, which is separated from the rest in the Lanka, as it is considered responsible for “transmigration.”
four unhindered powers of argument and judgment . The four pratisamvid include powers regarding subject, meaning, expression and eloquence.
four uniformities . These characterize all buddhas, who share the same syllables, voices, teachings and bodies.
fourth dhyana (heaven) . The fourth of the four dhyana heavens in the formless realm. It is characterized by no thought or sensation.
Fu-li/Fuli (fl. 700) . Chinese monk who, together with Fa-tsang, put the final polish on Shikshananda’s draft translation of the Lankavatara.
fundamental ignorance . The Sanskrit is avidya-vasa. The original ignorance from which all other forms of ignorance arise. It refers to ignorance of reality and is usually mentioned along with the four states of affliction to make five states of affliction.
gandharvas . The male counterparts of apsaras, they are guardians of soma, a hallucinogenic concoction used by priests. They are also skilled musicians who live in the sky. Hence, referring to their cloud abodes is tantamount to referring to an illusion.
Ganges . River in whose watershed Indian civilization and Buddhism developed.
good wisdom stage . The Sanskrit is sadhumati-bhumi. This is the ninth stage of the bodhisattva path.
Gunabh
adra (d. 468) . Central Indian monk who translated the Lankavatara into Chinese in 443.
gunas . These were considered the forces or building blocks of reality by the Vaiseshikas and include rajas (creation), sattva (stasis), tamas (destruction). I have translated the term as “tendencies,”but “qualities’ is also common.
habit-energy . The Sanskrit is vasana. This is another name for karma, but karma conceived in terms of how it works in the realm of consciousness.
Haiming Monastery . Buddhist monastery in the hills south of Taipei.
Hastikakshya Sutra . A Mahayana text first translated into Chinese around A.D. 300 by Dharmaraksha and again (under this title), around A.D. 430, by Dharmamitra.
Heart Sutra . One of the shortest Buddhist texts, it contrasts the Prajnaparamita teaching of emptiness with the Sarvastivadin teaching of an inherent substance. There are several translations in Chinese and many more in English.
hell of lamentations . This is one of the eight hot hells. The Sanskrit is raurava, meaning to “lament” or “scream.”
Hinayana . A term invented by Mahayana Buddhists to criticize those whose spiritual practice they considered too self-centered. In the Lanka, these include shravakas and pratyeka-buddhas.
Hsuan-tsang/Xuancang (602–664) . Chinese monk famous for his travels to India and his translations of the texts he brought back. He is also one of the monks responsible for introducing Yogacara Buddhism to his countrymen.
Hsukaosengchuan/Xugaosengzhuan . Compiled by Tao-hsuan, this text includes nearly five hundred biographies of Buddhist monks active in China between 502 and 645.
Hsutsangching/Xucangjing . Supplement to the Tripitaka. This was published in Japan in 1915 and consists of 150 volumes containing thousands of Buddhist texts not included in the main body of the Tripitaka (Buddhist Canon).
Hui-k’o/Huike (487–593) . Disciple of Bodhidharma and Second Zen Patriarch in China.
Hui-neng/Huineng (638–713) . Chinese Zen’s Sixth Patriarch. His teachings are recorded in the Platform Sutra.
Hung-jen/Hongren (601–675) . Fifth Patriarch of Zen in China. One of the first Zen masters to use the Diamond Sutra in his teaching.
icchantikas . Beings who are so immersed in pleasure, they are incapable of understanding the Dharma. Thus, whether or not they have the ability to become buddhas has long been a point of contention among Buddhists.
imagined reality . The Sanskrit is parikalpita-svabhava. This is one of the three modes of reality according to Yogacara Buddhism and represents the net of delusions cast upon dependent reality and interpreted as real. In the snake-rope analogy, imagined reality is when the rope is seen as a snake.
imperceptible transformation deaths . The Sanskrit is acintya-parinati-cyuti. Death and rebirth so subtle it is barely noticed.
individual and shared characteristics . The Sanskrit is svasamanya-lakshana. Terms used to identify elements of reality through contrast or combination as something possessed by one entity or something shared by a class of entities. Such terms were apparently in response to the Vaiseshika use of similar terms: samanya (general), vishesha (specific).
Indra (aka Shakra). The creator of the world whose palace includes a net of jewels, each of which reflects all the other jewels.
Iron Ring Mountains . These mountains surround the seas that surround the world.
kalpa . Period of time between the creation and the destruction of a world or universe. Thus, there are kalpas of varying lengths and kalpas within kalpas.
karmic deaths these refer to death and subsequent rebirth in accordance with one’s karma.
Kashyapa (fl. 400 B.C.) . Also known as Uruvilva Kashyapa or Mahakashyapa, he was the eldest of the three Kashyapa brothers and among the Buddha’s earliest disciples. He was also India’s First Patriarch of Zen.
Khotan . Silk Road oasis between the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert and the Kunlun Mountains. Along with Kucha and Turfan on the other side of the Taklamakan, this was the greatest center of Buddhism during the first millennium in what is now China’s Hsinchiang/Xinjiang province.
Kokan, Shiren (1278–1346) . Japanese scholar-monk whose divisions of the Lankavatara into sections (in his Butsugoshinron) formed the basis for Suzuki’s divisions.
kshana . This is the shortest imaginable period of time.
Kutsang/Gucang . Ancient name for the capital of various kingdoms in the Kansu Corridor of Northwest China. The modern town of Wuwei.
Lanka . The island in the Indian Ocean that serves as the backdrop of this sutra. Formerly Ceylon, it is now known as Sri Lanka, or Holy Lanka.
Lankavatara Sutra . The sutra in which the Buddha points directly to the mind.
Leng-ch’ieh-shih-tz’i-chi/Lengchiehshiziji . An account of the early patriarchs of Zen written by Ching-chueh, in which he lists Gunabhadra as the First Patriarch and Shen-hsiu as the Sixth.
Light of Mahayana Samadhi . A samadhi marked by emptiness, formlessness and intentionlessness.
Linchi/Linji (aka Rinzai) . Name of a Zen lineage that recognized Linchi (d. 866) as its founder.
Liu Sung/Liu Song . Name of the dynastic state that controlled all of South China between 420 and 479 from its capital in Chienkang.
Lokayatast . The name of a Hindu sect or movement whose members espoused the view that the world is comprised by nothing more than the four elements of solidity (earth), moisture (water), warmth (fire), and movement (wind). Hence, they are usually referred to as materialists.
Lotus Sutra . Early Mahayana scripture that claims to be among the last sermons of the Buddha. While presenting the cosmic aspects of the Buddha, it also teaches the universality among beings of the ability to become buddhas.
Loyang/Luoyang . Capital of numerous dynasties near the confluence of the Lo and Yellow rivers in China’s Honan province.
Madhyamaka . The Buddhist teaching first systematized by Nagarjuna and credited with inspiring the Mahayana revolution by pointing to a Middle Way between eternalism and nihilism through its teaching of the emptiness of self-existence.
Mahamati . The bodhisattva who is the interlocutor of this sutra.
Mahamegha Sutra . This Mahayana text was translated in A.D. 417 by Dharmakshema, the same monk whose early translation of the Lankavatara was lost.
Mahayana . Buddhist teachings that focus on the transformation of the mind and that aim at the liberation of all beings. After developing near the end of the first millennium B.C. in India, this series of teachings spread through all of East Asia and includes the Zen, Pure Land, Tientai, Precept and Huayen schools, among others.
Mahinda (fl. 230 B.C.) . Son of King Ashoka and monk who is credited with introducing Buddhism to the island of Lanka.
manas . Will or self-consciousness. In the scheme of eight forms of consciousness, it is known as the seventh form.
mano-vijnana . Conceptual consciousness. It is the sixth form of consciousness and reifies the five sensory-based forms of consciousness into conceptual constructs.
mantra . An incantation with spiritual potency composed of strings of syllables that do not necessarily make sense from a linguistic perspective. Used interchangeably with dharani.
mara . Demons who obstruct other beings from understanding the Dharma or who cause chaos, illness and death in the world. Mara was also the name of the demon that attempted to distract Shakyamuni the night of his Enlightenment.