The Lankavatara Sutra

by Red Pine

  “Mahamati, even though materialist doctrines number in the hundreds of thousands, Mahamati, materialists only speak about the realm of sensory awareness. And it will only be in the final five hundred years of later ages133 that they will create schisms and their mistaken views of causation will flourish and be accepted by false disciples. Mahamati, when materialists thus create schisms using the expressions, metaphors, and embellishments of other schools, they will do so based on their own reasoning, not on their own understanding. Mahamati, followers of other paths have no doctrines concerning personal understanding. Nor do any of the countless hundreds of thousands of other teachings expounded by materialists teach personal understanding. Nor do they themselves realize the foolishness of materialism.”

  Mahamati then asked the Buddha, “Bhagavan, while the various expressions, metaphors, and embellishments used by materialists and followers of other paths do not involve personal understanding but rather attachment to their own reasoning, does the Bhagavan not also teach materialism in his exposition of countless different terms to the gods, humans, and asuras who come here from different realms, and not personal understanding? And does he not include arguments that are counted among the wisdom of other schools?”

  The Buddha told Mahamati, “I do not teach materialism. Nor that anything comes or goes.134 I only teach what does not come and what does not go. Mahamati, what comes refers to what gathers and appears. What goes refers to what scatters and disappears. What neither comes nor goes does not arise and does not cease. The meaning of what I teach cannot be counted among the fabrications of materialists. And how so? Because it is not attached to an external existence that does not exist. Dualistic fabrications cannot affect those who dwell on the perceptions of their own mind. The external world and its forms do not exist. Once you see they are perceptions of your own mind, fabrications that are perceptions of your own mind do not arise. And when fabrications do not arise, you enter the empty, formless, effortless threefold gate of liberation,135 which is why it is called liberation.

  “Mahamati, I recall once a materialist Brahman136 came to where I was staying and without waiting asked, ‘Gautama, is everything created?’

  “I answered, ‘Brahman, that everything is created is the most rudimentary kind of materialism.’

  “He asked again, ‘Is everything not created?’

  “I answered, ‘That everything is not created is the second kind of materialism.’

  “He asked again, ‘Is everything permanent? Or is everything impermanent? Does everything arise? Or does everything not arise?’

  “I answered, ‘That makes six kinds of materialism.’

  “Mahamati, he asked again, ‘Is everything the same? Or is everything different? Is everything both of these? Or is everything neither of these? Or does everything appear due to multiple causes?’

  “I answered, ‘That makes eleven kinds of materialism.’

  “Mahamati, he asked again, ‘Is everything neutral? Or is everything karmic? Is there a self? Or is there no self? Does this world exist? Or does this world not exist? Or is there another world? Or is there no other world? Is there liberation? Or is there no liberation? Is everything momentary? Or is everything not momentary? And are space, cessation, and nirvana137 created, Gautama? Or are they not created? And is there an intermediate existence?138 Or is there no intermediate existence?’

  “Mahamati, I answered, ‘Brahman, all these things of which you speak are materialism. This materialism of yours is not what I teach. I only teach that the cause of the three realms and their various ills is the habit-energy of fabrications and projections without beginning. But because you are unable to see that they are merely perceptions of your own mind, you give rise to projections and objectify an external existence. According to followers of other paths, awareness arises from the threefold combination of a self, sense organs, and sense objects, but not according to me. Brahman, I do not teach that there are causes, nor do I do teach that there are no causes.139 I only teach causation as a fabrication of projecting the existence of a subject and an object. This is not something you or others who accept the continuity of a self can understand.’

  “Mahamati, nirvana, space, and cessation are not three things. They are only counted as three things.140

  “Furthermore, Mahamati, this materialist Brahman asked me again, ‘Are ignorance, desire, and karma the cause of the three realms? Or are they not the cause?’

  “I answered, ‘Both of these are also materialism.’

  “He asked again, ‘Does everything have individual and shared characteristics?’

  “I answered, ‘This is also materialism. Brahman, any movement of the mind involving projection of an external object is materialism.’

  “Again, Mahamati, the Brahman asked, ‘Is there any teaching that is not materialism? I am versed in all the doctrines of other schools and in the different expressions, arguments, metaphors, and embellishments of their teachings.’

  “I answered, ‘There is, Brahman, but it is not one of yours. It is not a fabrication, and it is not a doctrine, and it is not a teaching. But it is not not a teaching, and its various expressions are not not embellished with arguments and metaphors.”

  “The Brahman asked, “hat is it that is not materialism, not not a doctrine, and not not a teaching?”

  “I answered, ‘Brahman, there is something that is not materialism, but it is something you followers of other paths cannot understand due to your mistaken attachment to the fabrication and projection of external existence. Projections do not arise when you understand that existence and nonexistence are nothing but perceptions of your own mind. And projections do not arise when you do not grasp external objects. The permanent cessation of projection, this is what I mean by ‘what is not materialism.’ This is my teaching and not yours. Briefly, Brahman, if consciousness involves coming or going, birth or death, joy or suffering, disappearance or appearance, contact or grasping, or if it involves attachment to a combination or a continuity or to a desire or a cause, Brahman, if it involves anything like this, it is your materialism and not mine.’

  “Mahamati, after this materialist Brahman had asked in this manner, and I had answered in this manner, he was silent. Then he left without saying another word.141 But he thought about his own understanding and said to himself, ‘This Buddhist monk is incomprehensible. He teaches no arising, no form, no cause, and that once someone becomes aware that what they perceive are their own projections, projections do not arise.’

  “Mahamati, you asked me earlier why I said anyone who associated with those who engage in materialist eloquence would embrace desires of the flesh and not the Dharma. This is why.”

  Mahamati asked the Buddha, “Bhagavan, what does it mean to embrace desires of the flesh or the Dharma?”

  The Buddha told Mahamati, “It is excellent, excellent, indeed, that you should think to ask about the meaning of such expressions on behalf of beings in the future. Listen carefully, and ponder it well, and I will tell you.”

  Mahamati bowed and said, “May we be so instructed.”

  The Buddha told Mahamati, “Desires of the flesh refer to those that involve clutching or letting go, touching or tasting, attachment to external sensation, addiction to dualistic views, and rebirth once more in a suffering body along with the anxiety, grief and affliction of birth, old age, and death. All such tribulations arise from desire and from associating with materialism or materialists. This is what I and other buddhas refer to as ‘desires of the flesh.’ This is what is meant by embracing desires of the flesh and not embracing the Dharma.

  “And to what, Mahamati, does embracing the Dharma refer? This means understanding what are nothing but perceptions of one’s own mind, seeing that beings have no self and that dharmas have no self, not giving rise to projections, becoming versed in the higher stages, transcending the mind, the will, and conceptual consciousness, having one’s forehead anointed with wisdom by all the buddhas, embracing and fulfilling
the ten inexhaustible vows,142 and gaining effortless mastery of all teachings. This is what is meant by the Dharma. It means not falling prey to any view, any fabrication, any projection, any existence or duality.

  “Mahamati, foolish people and most followers of other paths fall prey to such dualities as permanence and annihilation, but not the wise. Those who accept the doctrine of no causation give rise to views of permanence, while those who accept the destruction of external causes and the nonexistence of conditions give rise to views of annihilation. Mahamati, not seeing anything originate or persist or cease is what I mean by the Dharma. Mahamati, you and the other bodhisattvas should reflect on what is meant by desires of the flesh and the Dharma.”

  The Buddha then repeated the meaning of this in verse:

  1. “The different kinds of materialism / the false teachings of other paths / projections of cause and effect / include no personal attainment

  2. Only this personal attainment of mine / transcends cause and effect / thus I tell disciples / avoid materialist views

  3. What is only mind cannot be seen / nor is a divided mind perceived / when grasper and grasped do not exist / the eternal and momentary are both transcended

  4. The slightest movement of the mind / this is what materialism is / unmoved by projections / are those who see their own mind

  5. ‘It comes’ means something appears / ‘it goes’ means something disappears / those who know what comes and goes / stop giving rise to projections

  6. Permanence or impermanence / effects or no effects / this world or another world / these comprise the materialist way.”

  LXXIVIV144

  Mahamati once more asked the Buddha, “Bhagavan, when you speak of nirvana, what do you mean by nirvana, as followers of other paths also imagine something?’”

  The Buddha told Mahamati, “Listen carefully and ponder it well, and I will explain this to you.

  “Followers of other paths do, indeed, imagine something as nirvana. But what they imagine does not accord with nirvana.”

  Mahamati said, “May we be so instructed, Bhagavan.”

  The Buddha told Mahamati, “For followers of some paths it is the cessation of the skandhas, the dhatus, and the ayatanas, or the absence of worldly desires, or the impermanence of everything they see, or the non-arising of any and all mental activity, or not thinking about past, future, or present states, or putting an end to all sensation, like the extinguishing of a lamp or a fire or the destruction of a seed, or not giving rise to projections. These are among their conceptions of nirvana. But nirvana, Mahamati, is not the destruction of anything.145

  “Mahamati, some think liberation is going from one place to another place, a place where thoughts of an external world cease, like when the wind stops. Some think eliminating the view of the knower and the known is liberation. Some see146 permanence and impermanence as liberation. Some see the different forms they perceive as the cause that gives rise to suffering, and they envision them ending. Unaware that these are nothing but perceptions of their own mind, they become afraid of forms and develop a deep desire to see no form, which they think of as nirvana.

  “Some think nirvana is knowing what is indestructible among the individual or shared characteristics of internal or external dharmas of the past, the present, or the future. Some think of nirvana as the destruction147 of everything, including one’s self, person, being, and life. Relying on the immature wisdom of followers of other paths, some see a primordial nature and a cosmic being,148 and between the two the cosmic being producing an underlying nature, which is likened to a kind of primordial force, which then transforms into tendencies, and the tendencies then acting as the creator, which they view as nirvana.149 Some say it is the end of good and bad karma, some say it is the end of affliction, and some say it is wisdom. 150 Some see a supreme power151 actually responsible for birth and death as nirvana. And some say there is no other cause of birth and death than giving birth to one another, and, due to their ignorance, they think this is nirvana. That this very attachment is the cause is lost on these ignorant beings.

  “Followers of still other paths say finding what leads to truth is nirvana. Some see tendencies152 and the sameness of the combinations that tendencies give rise to or their difference or both of these or neither and think this is nirvana. And some see what nature gives rise to as nirvana, things such as the patterns in a peacock feather or a gemstone or the sharpness of a thorn.

  “Mahamati, some think nirvana is understanding the twenty-five realities153 or upholding the six virtues that protect king and kingdom.154 Some see time as the creator and the seasons as the world and knowing this as nirvana. Some say it is something that exists, some say it is something that does not exist, and some say it is knowing what exists and what does not exist. And some imagine nirvana as seeing the difference between nirvana and whatever one is aware of.155

  “All these different fantasies advanced by followers of other paths fail to establish what they aim to establish and are rejected by the wise. Mahamati, all these conceptions of nirvana suffer from duality, and none of these conceptions of nirvana of other paths includes anything that arises or ceases. Mahamati, each of these nirvanas of other paths has its own doctrine, but none of them are based on the examination of wisdom. Such conceptions unsettle and disturb the mind, and none of them results in nirvana.

  “According to what I teach, Mahamati, nirvana means fully understanding that it is nothing but the perception of one’s own mind and is not something that exists externally and that it transcends the four possibilities. It is seeing what is real without falling prey to dualistic projections that are perceptions of one’s own mind and that are devoid of perceiver or perceived. It is not accepting the validity of any rule or measure or following anyone ignorant of reality. Rather, it is letting everything go in favor of attaining the personal realization of buddha knowledge whereby one knows the two kinds of no-self, avoids the two afflictions, removes the two obstructions, gets free of the two kinds of death,156 advances to the higher stages and the profound Samadhi of the Illusory of the tathagata stage, and transcends the mind, the will, and conceptual consciousness. What I call nirvana, Mahamati, is what you and the other bodhisattvas should cultivate. And you should distance yourselves at once from the views of nirvana held by followers of other paths.”

  The Bhagavan then repeated the meaning of this in verse:

  1. “When followers of other paths view nirvana / they all give rise to fantasies / but the products of imagination / are not the means to liberation

  2. Blind to bondage and the one who binds / no skillful means in sight / such people imagine liberation / but a liberation that never arrives

  3. The different means to knowledge / the philosophies of other schools / all are foolish fantasies / none leads to liberation

  4. All these fools of other paths / misperceive cause and effect / preach existence and nonexistence / from which there is no liberation

  5. Fools delight in fantasies / not in hearing about the truth / words produce three kinds of pain157 / which only truth can eradicate

  6. Like an image in a mirror / appears but isn’t there / in the mirror of projection / fools all see their double

  7. Who doesn’t know the mind or conditions / gives rise to projections of duality / once they know the mind and the world158 / projections no longer arise

  8. The mind is a multiplicity / devoid of seeing or what is seen / objects appear and disappear / or so fools imagine

  9. The three realms as projections / external objects as not existing / perceptions as fabrications / fools can’t comprehend

  10. All sutras speak of projection / but never get free of words / because apart from language / there is nothing of which to speak.”

  LXXV159

  Mahamati then asked the Buddha, “Bhagavan, please tell us about complete enlightenment so that by better understanding the essential nature of a tathagata, I and the other bodhisattvas might enlighten ourselves an
d also enlighten others.”

  The Buddha told Mahamati, “Ask whatever you want, and I will answer accordingly.”

  Mahamati said, “Bhagavan, are the tathagatas, the arhats, the fully enlightened ones created or not created, the result or the cause, what sees or what is seen, what teaches or what is taught, what knows or what is known? Or are they different or not different from such terms as these?”

  The Buddha told Mahamati, “In regard to such terms as these, the tathagatas, the arhats, the fully enlightened ones are neither the result nor the cause. And why not? Because both would be wrong. Mahamati, if tathagatas were the result, they would be created and would be impermanent. And if they were impermanent, then every result would be a tathagata, which is something neither I nor any other buddha would want.160 But if they were not created, they would not attain anything, and their cultivation would be empty, like a rabbit’s horns or a barren woman’s child, because it would not exist.

  “Mahamati, if they are not the result and not the cause, then they neither exist nor do not exist. And if they neither exist nor do not exist, then they are beyond the four possibilities. The four possibilities refer to the mundane world. If they are beyond the four possibilities, then they are not subject to the four possibilities. And it is because they are not subject to the four possibilities that they are perceived by the wise. This is how the meaning of all expressions about a tathagata should be understood by the wise.