The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra

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|BookEssay=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!
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The present English translation is based on the Sanskrit edition of Bunyu Nanjo's published by the Otani University Press in 1923.
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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.
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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.
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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. Materially, no visible results can be expected of this kind of undertaking, and yet a scholar has his worldly needs to meet. Unless we create one of these fine days an ideal community in which every member of it can put forth all his or her natural endowments and moral energies in the direction best fitted to develop them and in the way most useful to all other members generally and individually, many obstacles are sure to bar the passage of those who would attempt things of no commercial value. Until then, Bodhisattvas of all kinds are sorely needed everywhere. And is this not the teaching of the Lankavatara Sutra, which in its English garb now lies before his friend as well as all other readers?
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Thanks are also due to the writer's wife who went over the whole manuscript to give it whatever literary improvement it possesses, to Mr Hokei Idzumi who gave helpful suggestions in the reading of the original text, and to Professor Yenga Teramoto for his ungrudging cooperation along the line of Tibetan knowledge.
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-Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki  Kyoto, November, 1931 (Source: Preface)
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|BookToc=* {{i|Foreword by Alex Wayman |v}}
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* {{i|Preface |vii}}
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* {{i|Introduction xiii
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* {{i|Chapter One. Ravana, Lord of Lanka, Asks for Instruction |3}}
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* {{i|Chapter Two. Collection of all the Dharmas |22}}
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** {{i|I. Mahāmati Praises the Buddha with Verses |22}}
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** {{i|II. Mahāmati's "One Hundred and Eight Questions" |23}}
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** {{i|III. "The One Hundred and Eight Negations" |31}}
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** {{i|IV. Concerning the Vijñānas |33}}
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** {{i|V. Seven Kinds of Self-nature (svabhāva) |35}}
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** {{i|VI. Seven Kinds of First Principle (paramārtha), and the Philosophers' Wrong Views regarding the Mind Rejected |35}}
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** {{i|VII. Erroneous Views held by Some Brahmans and Śramanas Concerning Causation, Continuation, etc.; The Buddhist Views Concerning Such Subjects<br>as Alayavijñāna, Nirvana, Mind-only, etc.; Attainments of the Bodhisattva |36}}
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** {{i|VIII. The Bodhisattva's Discipling himself in Self-realisation |39}}
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** {{i|IX. The Evolution and Function of the Vijũānas; The Spiritual Discipline of the Bodhisattva; Verses on the Alaya-ocean and Vijũāna-waves |39}}
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** {{i|X. The Bodhisattva is to Understand the Signification of Mind-only |44}}
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** {{i|XI (a). The Three Aspects of Noble Wisdom (āryajñāna) |44}}
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** {{i|XI (b). The Attainment of the Tathāgatakāya |45}}
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** {{i|XII. Logic on the Hare's Horns |46}}
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** {{i|XIII. Verses on the Alayavijñāna and Mind-only |49}}
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** {{i|XIV. Purification of the Outflows, Instantaneous and Gradual |49}}
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** {{i|XV. Nishyanda-Buddha, Dharmatā-Buddha, and Nirmāṇa-Buddha |51}}
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** {{i|XVI. The Śrāvaka's Eealisation and Attachment to the Notion of Self-nature |52}}
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** {{i|XVII. The Eternal-Unthinkable |53}}
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** {{i|XVIII. Nirvana and Alayavijñāna |55}}
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** {{i|XIX. All Things are Unborn |55}}
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** {{i|XX. The Five Classes of Spiritual Insight |56}}
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** {{i|XXI. Verses on the Triple Vehicle |58}}
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** {{i|XXII. Two Classes of the Icchantika |58}}
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** {{i|XXIII. The Three Forms of Svabhāva |59}}
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** {{i|XXIV. The Twofold Egolessness (nairātmyadvaya-lakshaṇa) |60}}
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** {{i|XXV. Assertion and Eefutation (samāropāpavāda) |62}}
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** {{i|XXVI. The Bodhisattva Assumes Various Personalities |64}}
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** {{i|XXVII. On Emptiness (śūnyatā), No-birth, and Non-duality |65}}
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** {{i|XXVIII. The Tathāgata-Garbha and the Ego-soul |68}}
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** {{i|XXIX. A Verse on the Philosophers' Discriminations |70}}
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** {{i|XXX. The Four Things Needed for the Constitution of Bodhisattvahood |70}}
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** {{i|XXXI. On Causation (Six Kinds), and the Rise of Existence |72}}
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** {{i|XXXII. Four Forms of Word-discrimination |75}}
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** {{i|XXXIII. On Word and Discrimination and the Highest Reality |76}}
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** {{i|XXXIV. Verses on Reality and its Representations |77}}
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** {{i|XXXV. Mind-only, Multitudinousness, and Analogies, with an Interpolation<br>on the Dualistic Notion of Existence |78}}
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** {{i|XXXVI. The Teaching (dharmadeśanā) of the Tathagatas |84}}
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** {{i|XXXVII. Four Kinds of Dhyāna |85}}
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** {{i|XXXVIII. On Nirvana |86}}
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** {{i|XXXIX. Two Characteristics of Self-nature |87}}
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** {{i|XL. Two Kinds of the Buddha's Sustaining Power (adhishṭhāna) |87}}
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** {{i|XLI. On the Chain of Causation (pratityasamutpāda) |90}}
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** {{i|XLII. Words (abhilāpa) and Realities (bhāva) |91}}
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** {{i|XLIII. On Eternality of Sound (nityaśabda), the Nature of Error (bhrānta),<br>and Perversion (viparyāsa) |92}}
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** {{i|XLIV. On the Nature of Māyā |95}}
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** {{i|XLV. That All Things are Unborn |96}}
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** {{i|XLVI. On Name, Sentence, Syllable, and Their Meaning |97}}
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** {{i|XLVII. On Inexplicable Statements (vyākṛitāni) |98}}
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** {{i|XLVIII. All Things are and are not (Verses on Four Forms of Explanation) |99}}
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** {{i|XLIX. On the Śrāvakas, Srotaāpanna, Sakṛidāgāmin, Anāgāmin, and Arhat;<br>on the Three Knots (saṁyojāni) |100}}
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** {{i|L. The Intellect (buddhi), Examining and Discrimnating |105}}
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** {{i|LI. The Elements, Primary and Secondary |106}}
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** {{i|LII. The Five Skandhas |107}}
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** {{i|LIII. Four Kinds of Nirvana and the Eight Vijñānas |108}}
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** {{i|LIV. The False Imagination Regarding Twelve Subjects |110}}
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** {{i|LV. Verses on the Citta, Parikalpita, Paratantra, and Parinishpanna |112}}
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** {{i|LVI. The One Vehicle and the Triple Vehicle |114}}
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* {{i|Chapter Three. On Impermanency |118}}
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** {{i|LVII. Three Forms of the Will-body (manomayakāya) |118}}
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** {{i|LVIII. The Five Immediacies (pañcānantaryāṇi) ; Desire as Mother and<br>Ignorance as Father |120}}
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** {{i|LIX. The Buddha-nature (buddhatā) |122}}
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** {{i|LX. The Identity (samatā) of Buddhahood and its Four Aspects |122}}
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** {{i|LXI. Not a Word Uttered by the Buddha; Self-realisation and an Eternally-<br>abiding Reality |123}}
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** {{i|LXII. On Being and Non-Being; Realism and Nihilism |125}}
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** {{i|LXIII. Realisation and Word-teaching |127}}
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** {{i|LXIV. Discrimination, an External World, Dualism, and Attachment |129}}
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** {{i|LXV. The Relation between Words (ruta) and Meaning (artha) |133}}
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** {{i|LXVI. On Knowledge, Absolute (jñāna) and Relative (vijñāna) |135}}
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** {{i|LXVII. Nine Transformations (pariṇāma) |137}}
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** {{i|LXVIII. The Deep-seated Attachment to Existence |138}}
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** {{i|LXIX. Self-nature, Reality, Imagination, Truth of Solitude, etc. |141}}
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** {{i|LXX. The Thesis of No-birth |144}}
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** {{i|LXXI. True Knowledge and Ignorance |146}}
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** {{i|LXXII. Self-realisation and the Discoursing on it |148}}
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** {{i|LXXIII. On the Lokāyatika |149}}
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** {{i|LXXIV. Various Views of Nirvana |157}}
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** {{i|LXXV. Is Tathagatahood Something Made? Its Relation to the Skandhas, to Emancipation, to Knowledge |161}}
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** {{i|LXXVI. The Tathagata Variously Designated; Relation Between Words and Meaning; Not a Word Uttered by the Buddha |164}}
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** {{i|LXXVII. Causation, No-birth, Self-mind, Nirvana |170}}
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** {{i|LXXVIII. Verses on No-birth and Causation |172}}
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** {{i|LXXIX. Various Views of Impermanency |176}}
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* {{i|Chapter Four. On intuitive Understanding |182}}
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** {{i|LXXX. Perfect Tranquillisation Attained by Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas; Stages of Bodhisattvahood |182}}
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* {{i|Chapter Five. On the Deduction of the Permanency of Tathagatahood |187}}
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** {{i|LXXXI. Permanency of Tathagatahood |187}}
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* {{i|Chapter Six. On Momentariness |190}}
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** {{i|LXXXII. The Tathāgata-garbha and the Alayavijñāna |190}}
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** {{i|LXXXIII. The Five Dharmas, and Their Relation to the Three Svabhāvas |193}}
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** {{i|LXXXIV. The Five Dharmas |197}}
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** {{i|LXXXV. Tathagata and Sands of the Gangā |198}}
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** {{i|LXXXVI. Momentariness; the Eight Vijñānas |202}}
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** {{i|LXXXVII. Three Kinds of the Pāramitās |204}}
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** {{i|LXXXVIII. Views on Momentariness; Discrimination |206}}
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* {{i|Chapter Seven. On Transformation |207}}
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** {{i|LXXXIX. On Transformation |207}}
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* {{i|Chapter Eight. On Meat-Eating |211}}
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* {{i|Chapter Nine. The Dhāranīs |223}}
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* {{i|Sagāthakam |226}}
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* {{i|Appendix |297}}
 
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Latest revision as of 19:28, 6 August 2020

The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra
Translation of The Sūtra on the Descent into Laṅka (84000)
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Originally published in 1932, this was the first English translation of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra. It was based on the Sanskrit edition of Nanjo Bunyu, published by the Otani University Press in 1923.

Citation Suzuki, D. T., trans. The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: A Mahāyāna Text. Buddhist Tradition Series 40. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2003. First published 1932 by George Routledge and Sons (London).

sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

Descent into Laṅka Sūtra, a very influential text in East Asia and Nepal.

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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