Lankavatara Sutra

Category: Mahayana Sutras

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

The Lankavatara Sutra is one of the most important sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. This sutra figured prominently in the development of Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism. It is the cornerstone of Zen, and was translated from Sanskrit into Japanese and English by the foremost exponent of Zen, Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki.

The most important doctrine issuing from the Lanka is that of the primacy of consciousness, often called simply "Mind Only", meaning that consciousness is the only reality. The sutra asserts that all the objects of the world, and the names and forms of experience, are merely manifestations of the mind. It is the erroneous concept of subject/object that ties us to the wheel of rebirth.

The Lanka also suggests another important Mahayana doctrine, and that is the three bodies of Buddhahood, in effect the three levels of enlightened reality :

• transcendental dimension (Sanskrit: dharmakaya) - the ultimate level of enlightenment, which is beyond names and forms
• celestial dimension, (Sanskrit: sambhogakaya) - expression of the symbolic and archetypal dimension of Buddhahood, to which only the spiritually developed have access
• terrestrial or transformational dimension, (Sanskrit: nirmanakaya) - The dimension of Buddhahood to which the unenlightened have access, and where the phenomena of the world exist.

References

• Online version of full text of the Sutra translated and introduced by D. T. Suzuki (710K)
• Lankavatara Sutra, translated into English from the Sanskrit by D.T. Suzuki. Boulder, CO: Prajña Press, 1978, ISBN 0-87773-702-9, first published Routledge Kegan Paul, 1932.
• Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra, by D. T. Suzuki
• The Lankavatara Sutra : An Epitomized Version, (Provenance Editions) by D.T. Suzuki
• The Lankavatara Sutra BIONA online version at the Buddhist Information of North America website.
• Version française du Lankavatara Sutra version of the Suzuki/Goddard translation of the Lankavatara Sutra