The Lankavatara Sutra

by Red Pine

  3 The Sanskrit is nirodha-samapatti. This samadhi in which sensation and perception cease is characteristic of the sixth stage of the bodhisattva path. It is also part of the Hinayana path, whose practitioners interpret this as nirvana. However, Mahayana practitioners see it as transitional and neither allow themselves to be seduced by its bliss, nor do they forsake its bliss for the nothingness of nirvana, nor do they cease giving rise to thoughts. For them, thoughts are not thoughts.

  4 Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit all have variations of “not fall prey to” or “not be confused by” the bliss of this samadhi. I’ve followed Gunabhadra. Based on what follows in this section, Gunabhadra’s translation is clearly the correct interpretation here.

  5 At this stage they eliminate all views of the three realms.

  6 Formless meditations are practiced during the first five stages but only begin to exceed those based on form at the sixth stage. By the seventh stage all meditations are said to be formless.

  7 What is good is nirvana or what leads to nirvana, what is bad is samsara or what leads to samsara.

  8 Gunabhadra alone has “seventh,” all other versions have “sixth.” I have inverted the order of this sentence and the next.

  9 Both here and in Section LXXXII, Gunabhadra has chueh (to be aware/to know), instead of chueh-che (aware ones; buddhas). Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit all have “aware ones/buddhas.” Since elsewhere in the sutra, even Gunabhadra has the buddhas supporting bodhisattvas during samadhi, Gunabhadra’s translation needs amending here.

  10 The four pratisamvid include powers regarding teaching, meaning, expression, and eloquence.

  11 The Sanskrit is vivikta-dharma. Suzuki reads this quite differently as “absolute solitude.”

  12 These ten vows, made at the beginning of the path, include speaking the Dharma in being realms without limit, world realms without limit, space realms without limit, dharma realms without limit, nirvana realms without limit, etc.

  13 In this metaphor, this shore is samsara, the other shore is nirvana, and the river is that of the ever-flowing habit-energy that arises from projections.

  14 Again, the Sanskrit is vivikta-dharma. Bodhiruchi adds a paragraph here in which Mahamati asks about the seeming contradiction of shravakas and pratye-kas reaching the eighth stage but not yet possessing insights characteristic of the first stage, let alone the seventh. The Buddha tells him there are two kinds of such practitioners, the ordinary shravakas and those who have previously practiced the bodhisattva path but who have fallen back into the Hinayana path.

  15 As the Buddha himself states in the next verse, these refer to the seventh and eighth stages, respectively.

  16 The referent of “this abode” is the ninth stage. See also the next verse.

  17 The “two stages” are the ninth and tenth stages, the tenth of which is “supreme.” Thus, the conception of the bodhisattva path in the Lanka is one of ten stages, in which the tathagata stage is the tenth. There is no eleventh stage.

  18 Buddhas experience enlightenment in the highest heaven in the realm of form.

  19 The stage free from projections is the eighth stage. Then again, as the sequence of stages is itself a projection, no stage would be the only stage free from projections.

  20 Section LXXXI. Previously in Section LXXIX, the Buddha dismissed the seven kinds of impermanence advanced by other paths and said the teaching of the tathagatas is neither permanent nor impermanent. Here, Mahamati wonders if this also applies to a tathagata’s body—in or out of nirvana. The question concerns a buddha’s dharma body, not a buddha’s apparition or reward bodies. The Buddha reminds Mahamati that such assertions are inherently flawed, as they are based on a duality that is imaginary and that does not apply to tathagatas or to the knowledge of tathagatas.

  21 If permanent, tathagatas would be equivalent to a creator (or first cause). If impermanent, then they would cease to exist when their bodies ceased to exist. Also, if they are not the creator but the created, they would be like anything else created, as would their knowledge and teaching. Finally, they would be like everything else, and everything else would be like them.

  22 The Sanskrit is karana.

  23 Followers of other paths also held that what was permanent or impermanent was caused or created. But if tathagatas were uncaused, would they not be the same as space, which was also held to be uncaused? Also, if the tathagatas were uncaused, they would not require a short, much less a long, course of practice to reach such attainment.

  24 Previously, the Buddha said “non-arising is another name for the Tathagata.” Followers of other paths held that what does not arise is permanent because by not arising it would not be subject to ceasing. But this would be equivalent to an imaginary fabrication.

  25 This permanence is true permanence and not false permanence. The Dharma doesn’t change whether it is realized or not, whether it is manifest or not, whether it is taught or not. What is realized is permanent, and what realizes is permanent.

  26 This is the Sanskrit term for “wisdom.” Its use in this sutra is rather rare, as the Lankavatara focuses on jnana, or “knowledge.” Prajna literally means “before-knowledge.”

  27 I’ve followed Shikshananda for this verse, which Gunabhadra omits.

  28 As when the seven kinds of impermanence are applied to nirvana.

  29 Section LXXXII. The Buddha explains the relationship, if it can be called that, between the tathagata-garbha and the alaya-vijnana, whereby the former is the cause of the latter but whereby the latter is an illusion. Readers should also refer to the Buddha’s earlier description of the tathagata-garbha as an intrinsically pure jewel wrapped in the rags of the skandhas and without a self (Section XXVIII).

  30 This term refers to a sensory power, a sensory domain, and the form of sensory consciousness that arises when these two meet.

  31 This refers to the fundamental condition of ignorance from which all forms of ignorance arises. The Sanskrit is avidya-vasa-bhumi.

  32 The four dhyana (meditative) heavens are regions in the realm of form, where enlightenment occurs. The fourth dhyana heaven is where thought ceases.

  33 This refers to the Four Noble Truths, the fourth of which is the Eightfold Path of Liberation.

  34 They have seen through the self in persons but not the self in dharmas.

  35 They cease to exist because they are products of the repository consciousness, which has been replaced by or transformed into the tathagata-garbha.

  36 This name (acala: unshakeable) refers to the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path.

  37 These are enumerated in the Avatamsaka Sutra, where they constitute the subject of Chapter 27 (of the forty-chapter version): universal light, subtle light, travel to all buddhalands, purification of the mind, knowledge of the past, light of wisdom, knowledge of adornments, differentiation of beings, the Dharma Realm, and unimpeded teaching.

  38 The Sanskrit term bhuta-koti means “limit/boundary of reality,” and here all three Chinese translations render it shih-chi (reality-boundary). Its range of reference is similar to that of “nirvana,” but without the sense of annihilation. For more on this term, and its counterpart purva-koti (ultimate beginning), see Robert Sharf’s Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism, pages 230-233.

  39 This is a conception of spiritual lineages found in Prajnaparamita literature. It begins with the “dry-wisdom” stage and ends with the pratyeka-buddha, bodhisattva, and buddha stages.

  40 When consciousness is transformed into knowledge, its name is no longer repository consciousness but womb of buddhas (tathagata-garbha).

  41 If there were no repository consciousness, there would be no tathagata-garbha and, thus, no liberation or path leading to liberation.

  42 The Indian gooseberry, or Phyllanthus emblica, the fruit of which is about one inch in diameter.

  43 She was the daughter of King Prasenajit and Queen Mallika of Kosala. In a sutra named after her, she explains that the tathagata-garbha
has two states: empty and not empty. This short text was translated by Gunabhadra in 436. (cf. Taisho Tripitaka, volume 12)

  44 Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda add: “It is not for shravakas and the followers of other paths who are attached to words.”

  45 As for the two kinds of grasping, earlier in this section, the Buddha lists the grasping of individual and shared characteristics. However, near the end of the next section, he lists the grasping of the self and what belongs to the self, of subject and object.

  46 Section LXXXIII. The Buddha explains the all-inclusive nature of the five dharmas, which was a category of analysis and understanding used by the Yogacara, whereby name and appearance are the objects of projection or imagination (and thus false knowledge) and suchness is the object of correct knowledge.

  47 The distinguishing characteristics of this series of categories consist in the characteristics of the first member of the series, namely, the five dharmas.

  48 The Sanskrit is drshta-dharma-sukha-vihara. This meditation is associated with the realm of form and not the realm of desire.

  49 Appearance and name are so inextricably linked that to talk about one is to talk about the other.

  50 Gunabhadra omits the last clause, which is present in Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda and seems called for here.

  51 This is the tenth and final stage of the bodhisattva path. In the Lankavatara, it is also called the tathagata stage.

  52 Vows to liberate beings regardless of the extent of the realms of beings, worlds, space, emptiness, reality, nirvana, etc. See my note in Section LXVIII.

  53 The Sanskrit is citta-caitta-kalapa. The same phrase also occurs in the next section, as well as in numerous other places in the sutra. It refers to the mind in general as well as to any and all varieties of its states and functions.

  54 Only Gunabhadra lists all eight.

  55 As elsewhere in the Lankavatara, negating something does not necessarily result in nothing.

  56 Section LXXXIV. This is a continuation of the previous section and a restatement of the five dharmas as containing all the teachings of the buddhas. At heart, it also comes down to transforming projection, which is responsible for names and appearances, into non-projection, on which correct knowledge and suchness are based. And by correct knowledge is meant the knowledge known to buddhas that is realized for oneself and that cannot be taught.

  57 The different order for the last two items is supported by all editions. Commentators say that correct knowledge followed by suchness, as in the previous section, reflects a systematic approach to the five dharmas, while suchness followed by correct knowledge, as in this section, reflects an experiential approach.

  58 The Sanskrit for this series is: tattva, bhuta, nishcaya, nishtha, prakrti, svabhava, anupalabdhi. Gunabhadra’s translation, which I have followed, does not include prakrti (fundamental).

  59 Section LXXXV. The last section ended with suchness, which is the realm of a buddha’s dharma body. In this section, the Buddha uses the sands of the Ganges as a multipurpose metaphor to demonstrate such a body’s virtues.

  60 Namely, impermanence.

  61 This is meant to encourage people to believe that becoming a buddha is something anyone can do. The udumbara is a flower (some say it is a blue lotus) that blooms once every three thousand years.

  62 This is meant to encourage people to try to do what is difficult.

  63 The purpose of such a statement seems to be twofold. First, people should not become attached to the idea of a buddha because buddhas do not exist. Second, they are, in fact, now seeing an udumbara flower and should take advantage of this rarest of opportunities.

  64 The Sanskrit for “to establish personal understanding” is sva-naya pratyav-asthana . See also Section LXIII, where siddhanta-naya is used with basically the same meaning, referring to “the personal realization” of buddha knowledge. Such understanding cannot be established for others, it can only be realized for oneself

  65 Even though the buddhas are beyond comparison, the sand of the Ganges still serves to exemplify certain qualities of the buddhas, namely the seven that follow.

  66 Every universe goes through four stages: creation, stasis, destruction (by fire), and emptiness. Then it begins again.

  67 In this hypothetical situation, these fools would have to be “in other worlds” because this world would have been burned up.

  68 This statement could be based on witnessing volcanoes spewing lava. But it also follows from the conception of a material world as a cycle of elements, whereby one gives rise to the other.

  69 The intent is to counter those who think the end of the fires of ignorance also means an end of the dharma body.

  70 Because buddhas are no longer subject to birth and death, they cannot become anything other than what they are.

  71 The Buddha’s dharma body is not a physical body but a wisdom body. It does not decrease or increase in size when others become enlightened.

  72 The Sanskrit, dharma-dhatu (dharma realm), is a term with multiple meanings, but here it refers simply to the world of beings in which the Dharma is taught.

  73 Nirvana is often mistaken as leaving this world, the end of the cycle of birth and death. But as interpreted by the Mahayana, it is not a departure but a transformation. Nothing comes, nothing goes. The Sanskrit for “go” is gata. Hence, tatha-gata (thus-go) and that-agata (thus-not go) are common puns.

  74 The question implies that liberation somehow exists outside of birth and death. In this and the above paragraph, “the ultimate beginning (purva-koti) of samsara” is also another name and another view of nirvana.

  75 Gunabhadra translates purva-koti in Mahamati’s question as pen-chi (boundary /limit of the beginning), but in his answer, he translates it as wu-pien (without limit/boundary). Both are standard readings of this term, which refers to what came before samsara, before life and death, while bhuta-koti (ultimate reality) refers to what comes after nirvana. Essentially, they refer to the same thing. See Section LXXXII and my note thereto.

  76 Gunabhadra expands this into six lines. I’ve followed Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit.

  77 Gunabhadra has “this is a buddha’s enlightenment” for the last line, which I’ve transposed to the first line. Otherwise, I’ve followed Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit for this verse. The Buddha is referring to the tathagata-garbha here, which is the alaya-vijnana transformed and thus “unpolluted.” The Buddha has more to say about this relationship between the tathagata-garbha and the alaya-vijnana in the next section.

  78 Section LXXXVI. Mahamati continues his inquiry into the nature of buddhas. If all dharmas are transient, would this not also include those dharmas upon which buddhahood is based? And if so, are buddhas themselves not also momentary? The Buddha’s teaching in this and other Mahayana sutras is that dharmas are not momentary because they do not exist in the first place. But this is only understood by someone at the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path, someone who has attained the forbearance of non-arising.

  79 The Sanskrit is kshana-bhanga (momentary-breakable). Impermanence is among the earliest teachings of the Buddha.

  80 The five skandhas (form, sensation, perception, memory, and consciousness) are sometimes called “grasping” because they represent the domains in which a self is established, or at least conjured.

  81 Uncreated, or unconditioned, dharmas include space, cessation, and nirvana.

  82 Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit all have “five forms of sensory consciousness.” Either version would be correct here, as it is only the eighth form of consciousness that “transmigrates,” which it does in the form of fundamental ignorance.

  83 These refer to the five states of affliction, four of which are lumped together here: views, attachments to desire, attachments to form, attachments to formlessness, and fundamental ignorance, which is separated from the rest here, as it is said to be responsible for “transmigration.”

  84 Section LXXXVII. This section
does not so much explain the previous section as it does its last sentence. The deeper meaning of the Buddha’s teaching of momentariness is no momentariness. The order of this and the next section was apparently confused at an early date, as Gunabhadra, Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit all have the next section before this one. However, such an arrangement is clearly mistaken, and I have reverted to what I assume was the original order. There are also quite a few lines in this section that are handled differently by Bodhiruchi, Shikshananda, and the Sanskrit. I have only indicated the more significant differences.

  85 “Created things” refer to samskrita dharmas, as opposed to the asamskrita (uncreated) dharmas of space, cessation, and nirvana.

  86 This verse, and also the last two lines of the previous verse, outline the view of “transmigration” as the rebirth of ignorance.

  87 Characteristic of the third (Abhasvara) heaven in the second meditation in the realm of form.

  88 Referring to the view that affliction is enlightenment, samsara is nirvana.

  89 For the last two lines, Bodhiruchi has: “the forms that are seen are devoid of the four elements / how can the four elements create them?” Shikshananda has: “the elements have no real existence / why say they can create them?” Suzuki translates the Sanskrit: “realities are characterized with unreality / how can they be causal agencies?”

  90 Section LXXXVIII. As this sutra approaches its conclusion, the practices known as the six paramitas are also reviewed in the light of its unique teaching. The six paramitas include charity, morality, forbearance, vigor, meditation, and wisdom. The word paramita is often interpreted as “the means for reaching the other shore,” with this shore being that of samsara and the other shore being nirvana.

  91 Bodhiruchi and Shikshananda add: “And how are they carried out?”