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The Lankavatara Sutra

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The Lankavatara Sutra The Lankavatara Sutra A Mahayana Text Translated for the first time from the original Sanskrit by DAISETZ TEITARO SUZUKI ☸ CONTENTS Preface xi Introduction xiii CHAPTER ONE. RAVANA, LORD OF LANKA, ASKS FOR INSTRUCTION 3 (1)* CHAPTER TWO. COLLECTION OF ALL THE DHARMAS 22 (22) § I. Mahamati Praises the Buddha with Verses 22 (22) § II. Mahamati's "One Hundred and Eight Questions" 23 (23) § III. "The One Hundred and Eight Negations" 31 (34) § IV. Concerning the Vijnanas 33 (37) § V. Seven Kinds of Self-nature (svabhava) 35 (39) § VI. Seven Kinds of First Principle (paramartha), and the Philosophers' Wrong Views regarding the Mind Rejected 35 (39) § VII. Erroneous Views held by Some Brahmans and Sramanas Concerning Causation, Continuation, etc.; The Buddhist Views Concerning Such Subjects as Alayavijnana, Nirvana, Mind-only, etc.; Attainments of the Bodhisattva 36 (40) § VIII. The Bodhisattva's Discipling himself in Self-realisation 39 (43) § IX. The Evolution and Function of the Vijnanas; The Spiritual Discipline of the Bodhisattva; Verses on the Alaya-ocean and Vijnana-waves 39 (43) § X. The Bodhisattva is to Understand the Signification of Mind-only 44 (49) § XI(a). The Three Aspects of Noble Wisdom (aryajnana) 44 (49) § XI(b). The Attainment of the Tathagatakaya 45 (50) § XII. Logic on the Hare's Horns 46 (51) § XIII. Verses on the Alayavijnana and Mind-only 49 (54) § XIV. Purification of the Outflows, Instantaneous and Gradual 49 (55) § XV. Nishyanda-Buddha, Dharmata-Buddha, and Nirmana-Buddha 51 (56) § XVI. The Sravaka's Realisation and Attachment to the Notion of Self-nature 52 (58) § XVII. The Eternal-Unthinkable 53 (59) § XVIII. Nirvana and Alayavijnana 55 (61) § XIX. All Things are Unborn 55 (62) § XX. The Five Classes of Spiritual Insight 56 (63) § XXI. Verses on the Triple Vehicle 58 (65) § XXII. Two Classes of the Icchantika 58 (65) § XXIII. The Three Forms of Svabhava 59 (67) § XXIV. The Twofold Egolessness (nairatmyadvaya-lakshana) 60 (68) § XXV. Assertion and Refutation (samaropapavada) 62 (70) § XXVI. The Bodhisattva Assumes Various Personalities 64 (72) § XXVII. On Emptiness (sunyata), No-birth, and Non-duality 65 (73) § XXVIII. The Tathagata-Garbha and the Ego-soul 68 (77) § XXIX. A Verse on the Philosophers' Discriminations 70 (79) § XXX. The Four Things Needed for the Constitution of Bodhisattvahood 70 (79) § XXXI. On Causation (Six Kinds), and the Rise of Existence 72 (82) § XXXII. Four Forms of Word-discrimination 75 (85) § XXXIII. On Word and Discrimination and the Highest Reality 76 (86) § XXXIV. Verses on Reality and its Representations 77 (88) § XXXV. Mind-only, Multitudinousness, and Analogies, with an Interpolation on the Dualistic Notion of Existence 78 (88) § XXXVI. The Teaching (dharmadesana) of the Tathagatas 84 (96) § XXXVII. Four Kinds of Dhyana 85 (97) § XXXVIII. On Nirvana 86 (98) § XXXIX. Two Characteristics of Self-nature 87 (99) § XL. Two Kinds of the Buddha's Sustaining Power (adhishthana) 87 (100) § XLI. On the Chain of Causation (pratityasamutpada) 90 (103) § XLII. Words (abhilapa) and Realities (bhava) 91 (104) § XLIII. On Eternality of Sound (nityasabda), the Nature of Error (bhranta), and Perversion (viparyasa) 92 (106) § XLIV. On the Nature of Maya 95 (109) § XLV. That All Things are Unborn 96 (110) § XLVI. On Name, Sentence, Syllable, and Their Meaning 97 (112) § XLVII. On Inexplicable Statements (vyakritani) 98 (114) § XLVIII. All Things are and are not (Verses on Four Forms of Explanation) 99 (115) § XLIX. On the Sravakas, Srotaapanna, Sakridagamin, Anagamin, and Arhat; on the Three Knots (samyojani) 100 (116) § L. The Intellect (buddhi), Examining and Discrimnating 105 (122) § LI. The Elements, Primary and Secondary 106 (123) § LII. The Five Skandhas 107 (124) § LIII. Four Kinds of Nirvana and the Eight Vijnanas 108 (126) § LIV. The False Imagination Regarding Twelve Subjects 110 (127) § LV. Verses on the Citta, Parikalpita, Paratantra, and Parinishpanna 112 (130) § LVI. The One Vehicle and the Triple Vehicle 114 (133) CHAPTER THREE. ON IMPERMANENCY 118 (136) § LVII. Three Forms of the Will-body (manomayakaya) 118 (136) § LVIII. The Five Immediacies (pancanantaryani); Desire as Mother and Ignorance as Father 120 (138) § LIX. The Buddha-nature (buddhata) 122 (140) § LX. The Identity (samata) of Buddhahood and its Four Aspects 122 (141) § LXI. Not a Word Uttered by the Buddha; Self-realisation and an Eternally-abiding Reality 123 (142) § LXII. On Being and Non-Being; Realism and Nihilism 125 (144) § LXIII. Realisation and Word-teaching 127 (147) § LXIV. Discrimination, an External World, Dualism, and Attachment 129 (149) § LXV. The Relation between Words (ruta) and Meaning (artha) 133 (154) § LXVI. On Knowledge, Absolute (jnana) and Relative (vijnana) 135 (156) § LXVII. Nine Transformations (parinama) 137 (158) § LXVIII. The Deep-seated Attachment to Existence 138 (160) § LXIX. Self-nature, Reality, Imagination, Truth of Solitude, etc 141 (163) § LXX. The Thesis of No-birth 144 (166) § LXXI. True Knowledge and Ignorance 146 (169) § LXXII. Self-realisation and the Discoursing on it 148 (171) § LXXIII. On the Lokayatika 149 (173) § LXXIV. Various Views of Nirvana 157 (182) § LXXV. Is Tathagatahood Something Made? Its Relation to the Skandhas, to Emancipation, to Knowledge 161 (187) § LXXVI. The Tathagata Variously Designated; Relation Between Words and Meaning; Not a Word Uttered by the Buddha 164 (191) § LXXVII. Causation, No-birth, Self-mind, Nirvana 170 (197) § LXXVIII. Verses on No-birth and Causation 172 (200) § LXXIX. Various Views of Impermanency 176 (204) CHAPTER FOUR. ON INTUITIVE UNDERSTANDING 182 (211) § LXXX. Perfect Tranquillisation Attained by Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas; Stages of Bodhisattvahood 182 (211) CHAPTER FIVE. ON THE DEDUCTION OF THE PERMANENCY OF TATHAGATAHOOD 187 (217) § LXXXI. Permanency of Tathagatahood 187 (217) CHAPTER SIX. ON MOMENTARINESS 190 (220) § LXXXII. The Tathagata-garbha and the Alayavijnana 190 (220) § LXXXIII. The Five Dharmas, and Their Relation to the Three Svabhavas 193 (224) § LXXXIV. The Five Dharmas 197 (228) § LXXXV. Tathagata and Sands of the Ganga 198 (229) § LXXXVI. Momentariness; the Eight Vijnanas 202 (234) § LXXXVII. Three Kinds of the Paramitas 204 (236) § LXXXVIII. Views on Momentariness; Discrimination 206 (238) CHAPTER SEVEN. ON TRANSFORMATION 207 (240) § LXXXIX. On Transformation 207 (240) CHAPTER EIGHT. ON MEAT-EATING 211 (244) CHAPTER NINE. THE DHARANIS 223 (260) SAGATHAKAM 226 (264) APPENDIX Original Edition Published in London in 1932. Based upon the Sanskrit edition of Bunyu Nanjo (1923). Published in Internet by © [email protected], May 2004, 2005. (Rev. 2) For free 207 (240) 207 (240) 211 (244) 223 (260) 226 (264) distribution only. Note: This version of The Lankavatara Sutra have stripped diacritical marks completely for easy text search and Internet friendliness. To view this text with full diacritics go to the non-stripped version here. Revision Log: Rev. 1: May 2004: First OCR, proof-reading and HTML make-up. Rev. 2: Apr 2005: Minor spelling corrections. Non-diacritical version. Rev. 2a: Sep 2005: Minor corrections, thanks to [email protected]. (in progress) (Last correction 16 Jun 2008) PREFACE It is more than seven years now since I began the study of the Lankavatara Sutra quite seriously, but owing to various interruptions I have not been able to carry out my plan as speedily as I wished. My friends in different fields of life have been kind and generous in various ways, and I now send out to the perusal of the English-reading public this humble work of mine. There are yet many difficult and obscure passages in the Sutra, which I have been unable to unravel to my own satisfaction. All such imperfections are to be corrected by competent scholars. I shall be fully content if I have made the understanding of this significant Mahayana text easier than before, even though this may be only to a very slight degree. In China Buddhist scholars profoundly learned and endowed with spiritual insights made three or four attempts extending over a period of about two hundred and fifty years to give an intelligible rendering of the Lankavatara. It goes without saying that these have helped immensely the present translator. May his also prove a stepping board however feeble towards a fuller interpretation of the Sutra! The present English translation is based on the Sanskrit edition of Bunyu Nanjo's published by the Otani University Press in 1923. I am most grateful to Mr Dwight Goddard of Thetford, Vermont, U. S. A., who again helped me by typing the entire manuscript of the present book. To Assist me in this way was indeed part of the object of his third visit to this side of the Pacific. Says Confucius, "Is it not delightful to have a friend come from afar?" The saying applies most appropriately, to this case. It was fortunate for the writer that he could secure the support and help of the Keimeikwai, a corporation organised to help research work of scholars in various fields of culture; for without it his work might have dragged on yet for some time to come. There is so much to be accomplished before he has to appear at the court of Emma Daiwo, to whom he could say, "Here is my work; humble though it is, I have tried to do my part to the full extent of my power." The writer renders his grateful acknowledgment here to all the advisers of the Society who kindly voted for the speedy culmination of this literary task—a task which he tenderly wishes would do something towards a better appreciation by the West of the sources of Eastern life and culture. Whatever literary work the present author is able to put before the reader, he cannot pass on without mentioning in it the name of his good, unselfish, public-minded Buddhist friend, Yakichi Ataka, who is always willing to help him in every possible way. If not for him, the author could never have carried out his plans to the extent he has so far accomplished.
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