Learning About The Lankavatara Sutra- Chan Phap Tuyen – MA
After The Buddha entered Nirvana, Buddhism was divided into many factions. The sects using Pali scriptural texts are called Theravada Buddhism, and the majority of the remaining sects that use Sanskrit Buddhist texts are called Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism was introduced into Sri Lanka, a country with a long Buddhist tradition that is still retained from the 3rd century BCE until now. In Sri Lanka, where the primary religion was mostly Theravada, began to have the need to introduce the essence and features of Mahayana Buddhism, thus the Lankavatara Sutra was born. To what extent does the Lankavatara help us see the new features in the Mahayana text and the features already in Theravada Sutras? Through Lankavatara’s text, one can see a beautiful blend between the two Buddhist traditions Mahayana and Theravada. We can also start to understand somewhat about the origin of Zen Buddhism in China and Buddhism philosophy.
Outline of Origin and Interpretation:
In the title Laṅkāvatāra Sutra, Laṅkā is the name of an island in Ceylon (Srilaṅkā); vatāra means entering, penetrating or penetrating into, or to achieve through. Laṅkāvatāra Sutra is simply translated as “the Sutra that enters into Lanka” (Sri Lanka). Its full title is Saddharmalaṅkāvatāro nāma mahāyāna sūtra which means “The Mahayana Holy Sutra that Entered Lanka.”
This article is based on the translation from Sanskrit into English by the author Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki in 1930. In addition to the English version, there are also Chinese translations, Guṇabhadra’s Song translation, and the Tang version of Śikṣananda. According to Suzuki:
In China, Buddhist scholars profoundly learned and endowed with spiritual insights made three or four attempts to extend over a period of about two hundred and fifty years to give an intelligible rendering of the Lankavatara. The present English translation is based in Sanskrit. It is in the present English edition of Bunyu Nanjo’s published by the Otani University Bunyu published by University Press in 1923.[1]
The period when this sutra appeared was during the most flourishing and famous era in the history of Mahayana Buddhism. Its chronology, according to D.T. Suzuki and M. Winternitz, certainly appeared before 433 CE, when the first Chinese translation came into being. Suzuki stated:
Our present knowledge of Indian history decides the age of Lanka. The one thing that is certain is that it was compiled before 443 CE., when the first Chinese translation is reported to have been attempted.[2]
Laṅkavatāra-sūtra, when translated into Chinese, consisted of four copies created over a period of nearly 300 years, from 420 to 704, but unfortunately, the first Sanskrit original Chinese translation was lost, and there are three copies remaining.[3]
Gunabhadra’s translation is a very important discovery in the history of Zen in China. But according to Suzuki, Guṇabhadra is considered the first Zen Father in China, not Bodhidharma as recognized by historians and meditators. Suzuki stated in the book called,” Record of Master and Disciple in [the Transmission of] the Lanka”:
This is one of the Tung-Huang findings, the transmission line of the Lanka is recorded. The author Tinh Giac, or Ching-Chieh, living probably early in the eighth century, apparently identified Zen Buddhism with the teaching of the Lanka, for his Fathers of the Lanka transmission are also those of Zen of Buddhism. He considers Gunabhadra (Cau Na Bat Da La), the translator of the Sung or four-volume Lanka, the first Father of Zen in China, and not Bodhidharma as is generally done by Zen historians.[4]
Bodhidharma, long ago by the agreement of historians and meditators, is the Head Patriarch of Zen Zong China, passed the Lakāvatāra sutras to his disciple, Dazu Huike (慧可), the second Patriarch of this Zen sect. The Lanka is the main scripture and was passed down until at least the end of the fifth-generation Zen Master/ Lineage Hongren (600-674)in China. Widely circulated to Japan, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia, the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra was also translated into Tibetan and Japanese. In Vietnam, it was translated from Chinese into Vietnamese by Venerable Nun Dieu Khong and Ven. Thich Thanh Tu with the title Lang Gia Tam An Kinh; and by Venerable Thich Chon Thien who translated it from Suzuki’s English version of the sutra, titled Lang Gia Dai Thua Kinh.
Content at a glance:
The Lankavatara Sutra belongs to the Sanskrit in Mahayana Sutras compilation. The very important meaning of Laṅkāvatāra sūtra is to present two main fields, namely Buddhist philosophical psychology and meditation on the world. First, in the field of Buddhist philosophical psychology, Āsaṅga (4th century CE[MS1] ) and Vasubandhu (4th century CE) have exalted the Sutra to its climax. Yogacara chose the Lankavatara as one of the important sutras in their school of philosophy. The sutra said that:
The Mahayana diagnosis of the conditions in which all sentient beings are placed is that they are all nursed by desire (Krishna) as a mother who is accompanied by pleasure (Nandi) and anger (raga), while ignorance (avidya) is a father. To be cured of the disease, therefore, they must put an end to the continuous activities of this dualistic poisoning. When this is done, there is a state called emancipation (Vimoksha) which is full of bliss. The Buddhist question is thus: “How is emancipation possible?” And here rises the Mahayana system of philosophy.[5]
The second field in the Laṅkāvatāra sūtra is the meditation on the world; It is considered as an invaluable treasure that Bodhidharma gave to Huike, the second Patriarch of the Zen lineage in China. Although the only weak point of meditation is “mind-to-mind, unspecified text, special teachings, the direct human mind, Buddha-nature view” (以 心 傳心, 不 立 文字， 教 外 別 傳, 直指人心,见 性 成 佛 – Platform Sutra). But the seal or the mind transmission in each country is slightly different, unlike the transmission of the mind by the Buddha’s “the flower sermon” (拈花微笑)symbolizing the Dharma to Mahākaśyapa on Gṛdhrakūṭa. Thus, the Laṅkāvatāra sūtra is sure to act as a means of fulfilling the transmission and avoiding the doubts of the descendants.
The Lakavatara Sutra in the Suzuki translation has 9 chapters with an extremely rich Introduction. In the introduction of the Lankavatara Sutra, the author introduces the Buddhist terms for those wishing to understand more about Buddhism, making the complexities of Buddhist philosophy clear. In this section, he introduces what Buddha is: “the Buddha of love”, “one Buddha with many names”, “transformation bodies of the Buddha”, “skillful means”, etc. The skillful-means section, in my opinion, is very important. As the author said, the Buddha is like a healer for many different diseases, so there must be many different remedies. The Buddha’s main goal is to heal people, thus “Upaya may be considered in a way due to the infinite differentiation of individual characters rather than to the deliberate contrivance of transcendental wisdom on the part of the Buddha.” In the next part of the introduction, the author introduces and summarizes the important contents of Mahayana scriptures that are very useful to researchers and practitioners. The sutras that are mentioned are the Saddharmapundarika Sutra, the Avalokitesvara-vikurvan-nirdesa, the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Srimala-Sutra, the Sukhavativiyuha Sutra, and the Parinirvana Sutra.
Chapter 1: Ravana, Lord of Lanka, asks for instruction (Rāvaṇadhyeṣanā).
There is a detailed description of the Buddha’s meeting with Rāvaṇa, king of Rākṣasas in Lakā in Sri Lanka. Encouraged by Mahāmati Bodhisattva, King Rāvaṇa of Laṅkā (Lord of Mausoleum) invited the Buddha to answer his doubts and sincerely invited the Buddha to explain the differences between the true Dharma and the false doctrine.
Chapter 2: Collection of All the Dharmas (Sarvadharmasamuccaya).
Arguably this is the longest chapter in the Lankavatara Sutra. Mahamati praised the Buddha with verses, and the Buddha repeated the chants. Mahamati paid homage to the Buddha, read the verse, raised a series of questions, and invited the Tathagata to explain. The Buddha happily explained the content of these questions, as did the Buddhas of the past. The questions mixed into different problems. They include detailed doctrinal questions regarding the tendency to develop how to be liberated from doubts. For example, who is liberated, who is tied up, by what standards are a person freed, etc.; there are questions regarding Ālaya, Manovijñāna, Vijñāna … and various notions about Vijñāna, Śūnyatā, Enlightenment, the One Vehicle, the Triple Vehicle, the Five Skandhas, Nirvana, the Four Forms of Word Discriminations, and Emptiness. There are also hilarious questions, like how food and drinks of all types can be preserved, then interjectory questions like what is the essence of a king, or the essence of a ruler, and so on. There are questions related to Buddha Shakyamuni, such as: why was the Buddha born into the Tuṣita Heaven, what conditions brought him to be born in the Sakya lineage again, and what merits has the Buddha accumulated to became such a holy saint amongst all the Saints, etc., then the Buddha, in turn, explained in-depth the questions that were posed.
Sarvadharmasamuccaya also presented consciousness which is compared to the sea of the ocean. The consciousness of sentient beings is always permanent, and tranquil, but due to the contact of the six senses with the external conditions, causing the internal consciousness to be unstable and changing. As a result, it provokes the other eight consciousness to come into action, the reciprocal effects of regaining each other and transformations arise, and from here on endless lines of samsara and rebirth. Just like the sea is usually calm, but because of the strong winds that gush and push, countless waves are formed that rise and fall endlessly and are ever-changing. The karma of all sentient beings is caused by ignorance-based habitual energies engrained from countless lives, together with the six sense objects, brought about the world of the multifaceted and multicolored realms. Realms are arisen by the mind, and changed by how the mind perceives. Only when the mind peacefully dwells exclusively on one realm with steadfast motionless meditation with two obstacles ended, surpassing the discrimination of the different forms of the realms, then it will attain the tranquil purity of store consciousness. This chapter also discusses Sunyata (emptiness).
Chapter Three: On Impermanence (Anityatā)
This chapter talks about the Buddha nature (Buddhata), Buddhacitta (Buddha of Mind), Lokayatika (Lokayatika), Nirvāṇa (Nirvana), Dharmakaya (Dharma Realm) and Anityatā.
Chapter Four: On Understanding (abhisamayaparivarto nāma caturthaḥ)
The chapter introduces the experiences of the Bodhisattvas at their different levels of entrance into the Tenure realm; Perfect Tranquillisation Attained by Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas; Stages of Boddhisattvahood.
Chapter Five: On the Deduction of the Permanence of Tathagatahood.
The chapter introduces the questioning concepts whether Tathagata is permanent or impermanent. In mentioning about impermanence, this chapter clearly shows the appearances of the aggregates, destinations, and realms; just as it demonstrates the different entities of the consciousnesses’ true nature as anattā. It also mentions about the concept: when the three nature bodies enter into the five dharmas, then each one has its own entities.Furthermore, the three natures, the eight-consciousness and the non-self are all merged into the five dharmas. All dharmas are manifested from the mind, and thus give rise to discrimination and distinction. Afterward, this chapter mentions how all the dhammas that are born have the characteristic of changing and dying. This is also the core principle of the Chapter of Impermanence.
Chapter 6: On Metamorphosis (Nairmāṇikaparivarto nāma saptamaḥ).
The metamorphosis here implicitly points to the transformation of the Buddha, not from karma, neither of the Buddha or his non-Buddha form. The Buddha manifested from many favorable conditions that work in harmony. Likewise, the Manifested Buddha with all his beautiful marks teaches the Dharma, but one cannot say that his realm of practice is self-attaining pure wisdom. The Buddha’s transmission for the Listeners is only secretly said, but the Buddha’s sharing with the Second Vehicle has no difference, all based on the ending of all obstacles and doubts.[6] Thus all have the same taste of liberation. The next chapter raises questions about the good and bad reasons for eating meat (Māṃsabhakṣaṇaparivarto nāmāṣṭamaḥ).
Chapter Seven: On transformation
Mahamati asked the Buddha many questions, such as how to know an Arahat has attained ultimate realization, the realm of Nirvana, “How is the succession of momentary decomposition explained which takes place in the Vijnanas?”, etc. The Buddha answered Mahamati’s questions, such as “the realm of Nirvana where no substratum is left behind”, the seven Vijnanas (manas, manovijnana, etc.). In this chapter the Buddha shares deeply about nirvana; there is no nirvana to Buddhas, “Ultimate intuitive knowledge, Nirvana that leaves no remnant.”
Chapter Eight: On meat eating
According to the Lankavatara Sutra, Mahamati asked the Buddha to share his opinion about the merit and vice of meat-eating. Mahamati pointed out that the world’s flesh-eating preference is caused by greed. When eating meat, sex will increase.
Not eating meat to cultivate compassion. The interns see everyone and everything around them as their only child; the Buddha said:
These meat-eaters thus abandoning their desire for meat taste will seek the Dharma for their food and enjoyment, and, regarding all beings with love as if they were an only child, will cherish great compassion towards them. Cherishing [great compassion], they will discipline themselves at the stages of Bodhisattvahood and will quickly be awakened in supreme enlightenment; or staying a while at the stage of Sravakahood and Pratyekabuddhahood, they will finally reach the highest stage of Pratyekabuddhahood.[7]
From the Mahayana Buddhism point of view, we appear in this world by predestination, and possibly by the creatures around us as our relatives; the Lankavatara Sutra said that:
In this long course of transmigration here, there is no one living being that, having assumed the form of living that, has not been your mother, or father, your brother, or sister, or son, or daughter, or the one or the other, in various degrees of kinship; and when acquiring another form of life may live as a beast, as a domestic of animal, as a bird, or as a womb-born, or as something standing in some relationship to you.[8]
So, what should those who are practicing Boddhisattva and Tathagathahood do when they know so? There is an example of a dog; when he meets a hunter, he runs away because he is afraid and knows the hunter will catch and kill him. So, “let the Bodhisattva, who is disciplining himself, to abide in great compassion, because of its terrifying living beings, refrain from eating meat.”[9] Besides, The Buddha’s body isn’t fed with meat.
According to Lankavatara Sutra, vegetarians will develop spirituality because the two elements of wisdom and compassion are always developed in parallel.
To conclude the study of this chapter, The Buddha said:
Interdiction not to eat any meat is here given to all sons and daughters of good family, whether they are cemetery-ascetics of forest of-ascetics, or Yogins who are practicing the exercises, if they wish the Dharma and are on the way to the mastery of any vehicle, and being possessed of compassion, conceive the idea of regarding all beings as an only child, to accomplish the end of their discipline.[10]
Then The Buddha summarized with 24 main points:
1. Avoid alcohol or meat
2. Meat has an unpleasant odor, causing a bad reputation
3.Good consequences for people who do not eat
4. Make the creature afraid, for the flesh is born of itself
5. Cultivators must always avoid meat, onions, liquor, allium, garlic
6. ” Do not anoint the body with sesamum oil; do not sleep on a bed, perforated with spikes; for the living beings who find their shelter in the cavities and in places where there are no cavities may be terribly frightened. ”
7. Non-carnage will avoid arising of arrogance, imaginations issue, or greed.
8. Emancipation from birth and death.
9. For-profit sentient beings are destroyed.
10. “One who eats flesh, trespassing against the words of the Muni, is evil-minded; he is pointed out in the teachings of the Sakya as the destroyer of the welfare of the two worlds. ”
11. “Those evil-doers go to the most horrifying hell; meat-eaters are matured in the terrific hells such as Raurava, etc.”
12. ” There is no meat to be regarded as pure in three ways: not premeditated, not asked for, and not impelled; therefore, refrain from eating.”
13. Will be reborn in carnivores if eaten.
14. Will be born into the families of the Candela, the Pukkasa, and the Domba.
15. Born among the lowest.
16. “Meat-eating is rejected by me in -such sutras as the Hastikakshya, the Mahamegha, the Nirvana, the Anglimalika, and the Lankavatara.”
17. Will always be devoid of sense.
18. Will be born “in in the family of the Brahmins or of the Yogins, endowed with knowledge and wealth.”
19. “Let one avoid all meat-eating [whatever they may say about], witnessing, hearing, and suspecting; these theorizers born in a carnivorous family understand this not.”
20. No obstacles to the path of liberation.
21. “There may be in time to come people who make foolish remarks about meat-eating, saying, “Meat is proper to eat, unobjectionable, and permitted by the Buddha.”
22. The monk must go to alms and not eat meat.
23. Will be dwelled in compassion.
24. “Therefore, do not eat meat which will cause terror among people, because it hinders the truth of emancipation; [not to eat meat-] this is the mark of the wise. ”
Chapter Nine: The Dharanis (Dhāraṇīparivarto nāma vavamaḥ)
This chapter states that the Buddhas of the past, future, and present because they want to bless this sutra, must speak the Lanka mantra. This chapter introduces chants, along with several pages highlighting the importance of its history, as well as its particularities by the prophecy of important historical figures that will appear in the future.
Reflection about Laṅkāvatāra Sutra
It can be said that the whole content of the Laṅkāvatāra Sutra has not been systematized, so each chapter seems to be disjointed and to be independent of one another, and its consistency is rarely seen. This is probably because the editors/translators want to keep the original. Therefore, although the language is profound, the chapters in the Sutras become fragmented and almost uncorrelated. For example, the second chapter does not seem to have a close relationship with the first chapter and the third chapter. Even more uncorrelated is the ninth chapter, which discusses about the good or the bad of meat-eating, etc. To understand this, we can consider the Sutra as a collection of important doctrines, as shown in the introduction chapter, Suzuki said:
The Lanka is a memorandum kept by a Mahayana master, in which he put down perhaps all the teachings of importance accepted by the Mahayana followers of his day. He apparently did not try to give them any order. It is possible that the reactors were not very careful in keeping faithfully whatever order there was in the beginning, thus giving the text a still more disorderly appearance.[11]
One other important aspect in Suzuki’s translation of The Lankavatara Sutra is the fact that he clarified the origin of Mahayana literature. Suzuki stated:
While we are still in the dark as to how Mahayana developed in India, we know that when it was introduced into China by the missionaries from India and central Asia, it was already regarded as directly coming from the Buddha’s own golden mouth and that what must have developed during several hundred years after his death was taken in a wholesale manner for a system fully matured in his life-time extending over a period of about half a century after his Enlightenment.[12]
Historically, his words had made it clearer that the Mahayana texts were translated into Chinese around 68 CE, rather than to say that the Mahayana literature has just appeared around this time.
Chapter 8 talks about meat-eating. This chapter clearly demonstrates the view of Mahayana Buddhism in practicing compassion by not eating sentient beings. The practice of transformation is like nurturing a little Buddha. That baby is called the Tathagatha’s womb. This womb becomes a complete Buddha only when we nurture wisdom and compassion in parallel. Specifically, according to the Mahayana tradition, there are usually 3 gates when we go to the gates of the pagoda. The main port and 2 side ports; 2 side ports on both sides are the compassion gate and the wisdom gate. When eating the flesh of sentient beings, compassion will be hurt. Besides, there were also issues that needed to be reconsidered, as on page 216 of the Lankavatara Sutra, there was the passage:
There was another king who was carried away by his horse into a forest. After wandering about in it, he committed evil deeds with a lioness out of fear for his life, and children were born to her. Because they descended from the union with a lioness, the royal children were called the Spotted-Feet.
This story is mysterious and confusing because of creating a new individual from humans and lions. Maybe the story’s content shows us the connection between animals and humans; maybe when we eat the lion’s meat, we also eat our own children without our knowledge. Besides, there are problems of non-meat eating that are raised but may not be convincing to listeners, possibly due to a lack of clear explanation; As in paragraph 14, eating meat will be born into the families of the Candela, the Pukkasa, and the Domba. This part is unclear because to be born and the families mentioned above also have many other factors, not only eating meat is being beaten to that families.
Conclusion
The Lankavatara Sutra advocated systematizing several of the important philosophical propositions of Mahayana Buddhism. On the path to enlightenment and liberation, no matter what we cultivate, we do not leave this mind; it is the Alaya or the Tathagatagarbha. The ultimate thing of the practitioner is not to become a great scholar with vast learning of Buddhism but to actually practice and realize the peaceful enlightenment in our mind; it is what the Lankavatara calls the “self-realization of wisdom”, Zen Buddhism calls the “seeing the Buddha-nature”. The realization of Buddha and all sentient beings is the transformation of ignorance into enlightenment, defilement into pureness, and mundane nature into Buddha-nature. The Lankavatara Sutra’s mission is to show us the importance of self-realization, and how intellectual knowledge might not be essentially important in Buddhist practice.[13]
Due to time constraints, so this article I have not compared The Lankavatara Sutra with other Mahayana sutras. There are many topics of interest such as how the mind-only advocacy (vijnaptimatra) or consciousness-only (cittamatra) in this sutra differs from other sutras.
Bibliography
Suzuki, Daisetz T. The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text. London: George Routledge and Sons, LTD, 1932.
Suzuki, Daisetz T. Studies in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: One of the Most Important Texts of Mahayana Buddhism, in which Almost All Its Principal Tenets are Presented, Including the Teaching of Zen. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1998.
[1] Daisetz T. Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text(London: George Routledge and sons, LTD, 1932), v.
[2] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, xlii.
[4] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, xlvi.
[5] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, xvii.
[6] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, 109.
[7] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, 211.
[8] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, 211-2.
[9] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, 213.
[10] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, 218.
[11] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, xi.
[12] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, xxxv.
[13] Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra, xxxix.
[MS1]Cite the date
Essay from the Class May 17th, 2021
Chan Phap Tuyen
