The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (Sanskrit: लङ्कावतारसूत्रम्, "Discourse of the Descent into Laṅkā", , Chinese: 入楞伽經) is a prominent Mahayana Buddhist sūtra. It is also titled Laṅkāvatāraratnasūtram (The Jewel Sutra of the Entry into Laṅkā, Gunabhadra's Chinese title: 楞伽阿跋多羅寶經 léngqié ābáduōluó bǎojīng) and Saddharmalaṅkāvatārasūtra (The Sutra on the Descent of the True Dharma into Laṅkā). A subtitle to the sutra found in some sources is "the heart of the words of all the Buddhas" (一切佛語心 yiqiefo yuxin, Sanskrit: sarvabuddhapravacanahṛdaya).
The Laṅkāvatāra recounts a teaching primarily between Gautama Buddha and a bodhisattva named Mahāmati ("Great Wisdom"). The sūtra is set in mythical Laṅkā, ruled by Rāvaṇa, the king of the rākṣasas. The Laṅkāvatāra discusses numerous Mahayana topics, such as Yogācāra philosophy of mind-only (cittamātra) and the three natures, the ālayavijñāna (store-house consciousness), the inner "disposition" (gotra), the buddha-nature, the luminous mind (prabhāsvaracitta), emptiness (śūnyatā) and vegetarianism.
The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra was often quoted and paraphrased by Indian philosophers like Chandrakirti and Shantideva, and it also figured prominently in the development of East Asian Buddhism.Ruegg, David Seyfort, ''The Literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India,'' Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1981, p. 7.Christian Lindtner. ‘The Laṅkāvatārasūtra in Early Madhyamaka Literature’. In J. Bronkhorst, K. Mimaki, and T.J.F. Tillemans eds. Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques (Études bouddhique offertes à Jacques May à lʼoccasion de son soixante-cinquième anniversaire) 46 no. 1 (1992): 244-279.Gishin Tokiwa. Lankavatara Sutram. A Jewel Scripture of Mahayana Thought and Practice. A study of the Four-Fascicle Lankavatara Ratna Sutram, p. lxxi-lxxii. Hanazono University, Kyoto. Printed by the Meibunsha Printing Co. Lts., Kyoto, Japan, 2003. It is notably an important sūtra in Chan/Zen Buddhism, as it discusses the key issue of "sudden enlightenment".Sy, Nguyen Dac. "Thought of Buddha Nature as Depicted in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra." PhD diss., University of Delhi, 2012. https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/28355. The text survives in one Sanskrit manuscript from Nepal as well as in Tibetan and Han Chinese translation.
Overview and main themes
Various scholars like DT Suzuki and Takasaki Jikido have noted that the text is somewhat unsystematic and disorganized, resembling the notebook or commonplace book of a Mahayana master which recorded important teachings.Karl-Heinz Golzio (2010). Lankavatara-Sutra: die makellose Wahrheit erschauen, pp 1-4. Barth.Takasaki, Jikido (1980). Analysis of the Lankavatara. In Search of its Original Form, Indianisme et Bouddhisme : Mélanges offerts à Mgr Etienne Lamotte, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste. According to Takasaki Jikido, the Lanka "is, as often said, merely a mosaic collection of small parts put at random within the frame of a sutra."
The present Sanskrit edition contains ten chapters and most scholars consider the introductory chapter (the "Ravana" chapter), the ninth chapter (a dharani) and the last chapter (the Sagathakam verses) as being later additions. Furthermore, not all versions of the sutra contain these chapters (1, 9, 10). However, some verses found in the Sagathakam are also duplicates and are found within the main body of the sutra. Takasaki Jikido has argued that these verse portions might actually be the earliest core of the sutra, around which prose explanations grew.
The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra draws on and explains numerous important Mahayana Buddhist concepts including the philosophy of Yogācāra school, the doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā), and the doctrines of buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha), and the luminous mind (prabhāsvaracitta).Youru Wang, Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism: The Other Way of Speaking. Routledge, 2003, page 58. In the introduction to the sutra (the nidana), the sutra outlines some key teachings which will be expounded on, "the Five Dharmas and the Three Inherent Natures (pañcadharmasvabhāva), the Eight Consciousnesses (vijñāna) and the Two forms of Selflessness (nairātmyādvaya)." Indeed, the sutra later states that within this set of teachings is included "all of the Mahayana".
According to Nguyen Dac Sy, the most important doctrines of the Laṅkāvatāra are the primacy of consciousness (Skt. vijñānavada), the teaching that consciousness as the only reality and that "all the objects of the world, and the names and forms of experience, are manifestations of the mind" as well as the "identification of the Buddha-nature (in the state of tathāgatagarbha) with alayavijñāna".
Other topics discussed in the sutra include Buddhist vegetarianism, the theory of icchantikas, the wrong views of non-buddhists (tirthikas, especially Samkhya), a critique of the sravakayana, the limited nature of language in describing the ultimate truth, the One Vehicle, the bodhisattva path, and the three bodies of the Buddha (trikaya) doctrine.
Svacittamātra
The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra often presents a mind-only philosophy influenced by the idealistic thought of the Yogacara school. According to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra "all things are only manifestations of the mind itself" i.e. all phenomena are "mind-only" (cittamātra) or "ideation-only" (vijñaptimatra).Goddard, Dwight (1932). A Buddhist Bible (Lankavatara sutra, chapter VII), 1st edition; pp.110–111 This idealistic view is explained by the Lanka as the view that "what is seen as something external is nothing but one's own mind" (svacitta-drsya-mātram)."Gishin Tokiwa. Lankavatara Sutram. A Jewel Scripture of Mahayana Thought and Practice. A study of the Four-Fascicle Lankavatara Ratna Sutram, p. xl. Hanazono University, Kyoto. Printed by the Meibunsha Printing Co. Lts., Kyoto, Japan, 2003. According to Gishin Tokiwa, this is not to say that there are no independent external beings conventionally, but rather what it means is that true insight into the nature of reality goes beyond all concepts of internal and external. Gishin Tokiwa sees the theory of svacittamātra as the central message of the sutra.Gishin Tokiwa, "Svacittamatra, the basic standpoint of the Lankavatara Sutra." Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies 26.1, 1977, 34-39 137.1.34.
The sutra often presents Yogacara theories of consciousness, like the eight consciousnesses and the three natures, as well as the "five dharmas".Ehman, Mark A. The Lankavatara Sutra in Charles S. Prebish (ed.) Buddhism: A Modern Perspective, Penn State Press, pp. 112-114, 2010. Furthermore, since, as the sutra states, the whole world "is nothing but a complex manifestation of one's mental activities," all phenomena are empty of self (anatman) and illusory (maya) - "to be regarded as forms seen in a vision and a dream, empty of substance, unborn and without self-nature."
Tokiwa further writes that the Laṅkāvatāra, being closely influenced by Prajñaparamita thought, also tempers this idealistic mind-only view with the idea that ultimate reality transcends being and non-being (bhāvābhāva), and is beyond all views and concepts, even that of "mind" (citta) itself. Thus, even though the Lanka presents a "mind-only" view in some passages, other sections state that the ultimate truth or Suchness transcends even mind, thought, discrimination and subjectivity itself. Furthermore, the reason why all things are beyond being and non-being is closely connected to the idea that all experiences are mind only. It is because all experiences are just reflections of the mind of those deluded beings which experience them that we can say that phenomena have no single characteristic or way of existing. All things are experienced (or not experienced) in various ways (vaicitryam) by different types of living beings, but none of these experiences are fixed or ultimately true, each one is mistaken (bhranti) in some way. At the same time, we can say that this ultimate nature of the emptiness of all characteristics is something that does not change. This ultimate reality, the dharmakaya, is also free from arising, abiding and cessation while also being the ground for the illusory manifestation of the world.
In spite of this however, the view of "mind-only" is still seen as an important way to transcend our current deluded state, as the Lanka sutra states:Through attaining the reality as nothing but our own mind, which is the Self free from manifestation, we return to abiding in the final attainment of prajña. In turn, the view that the world and phenomena exist "externally", outside of mind, is seen as a serious error that leads to delusion and suffering. The Lanka sutra specifically cites the dualistic view of Samkhya philosophy for criticism.
The Five Dharmas According to Saganuma, the schema of the Five Dharmas (pañcadharma), which explains all of reality in terms of five phenomena, is essential for understanding the basic worldview of the Laṅkāvatāra. Indeed, according to Saganuma, the Laṅkāvatāra considers that all Mahayana teachings are included within these five dharmas.
The Five Dharmas are the following:Suzuki, D.T. (1999). The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: A Mahāyāna Text, Introduction, pp. xxxv-xxxvi. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Nimitta (images, appearances), this is what has characteristics like form (rupa), shape, distinctive features, and images (ākāra). Nāma (naming), these are the ideas (saṃjñā) based on the appearances Samkalpa, Vikalpa (discrimination), the distinctions and connections between different names and ideas that allow us to distinguish between them Samyagjñāna (right knowledge), the knowledge gained by bodhisattvas who understand the true nature of things (i.e. Suchness) and who transcend the discriminations of worldly people Tathatā (Suchness), the truth, ultimate reality, which is beyond all words, images and discrimination, beyond all duality and plurality.
The Lanka also closely connects this theory with the Yogacara theory of the three inherent natures. According to the Lanka, image, naming and discrimination correspond to the parikalpita-svabhāva (the "fully conceptualized" nature) and the paratantra-svabhāva (dependent nature), while right knowledge and Suchness correspond to the pariniṣpanna-svabhāva (the fully accomplished nature).
The buddha-nature and emptiness A major topic found in the Laṅkāvatāra are the teachings on tathāgatagarbha (buddha-nature) also called buddhagotra (buddha disposition or buddha lineage) or tathagatagotra, which is explained in many different ways throughout the sutra. The Lanka describes buddha-nature as "the purity of natural luminosity, it is primordially pure, endowed with the thirty-two major marks, and hidden within the bodies of all sentient beings...just like a gem of great value wrapped in a stained cloth, it is wrapped up in the cloth of the skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas, is tainted by the stains of desire, hatred, ignorance, and false imagination but is permanent, eternal, peaceful, and everlasting".
Buddha-nature is also equated with the wisdom of noble beings, "the attainment of the realization of suchness" (tathata) and the perfected nature (pariniṣpanna). Furthermore, the Lanka explains buddha-nature in a positive manner as the naturally luminous mind (prabhāsvaracitta) and also equates it with the "true self" which is realized by "those whose minds are not distracted by emptiness."