Existence and Enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra

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|BookToc=Foreword xiii
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Preface xv
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Introduction
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0.1. The Purpose of the Study, and the Significance of the
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Lankiivatiira-sutra within Buddhist Doctrinal History 1
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0.2. Dating the Text: Problems of Form and Interpretation 13
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0.3. Methodology and Outline of the Study 23
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Part One: Concepts of Being
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1.0. The Nature of Buddhist Ontology 39
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General considerations .. The practical aim of the
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Yogacara Philosophy
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1.1. The Threefold Meaning of Tathagata-garbha and its
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Relation to Alaya-vijfi.ana: the Essence of Being 51
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Preliminary considerations .. Tathagata-garbha as
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essential, supramundane, pure dharma, and its
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contrast with the Hindu Atman It Tathagata-garbha
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as embryo, and the dynamics of Buddhahood •
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Tathagata-garbha as womb or matrix of Buddhahood .. Conclusion
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1.2. The Five Skandhas: the Temporal Manifestation
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of Being
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Introduction .. Brief overview of the Atman
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controversy prior to the Lailkiivaliira-siitra II Rupa,
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or the formative elements of the five Skandhas ..
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Nama, or the formless elements of the five Skandhas ..
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The Skandhas and the empirical self, or personality ..
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The Skandhas and the trans-empirical Self, the
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Tathagata .. The five Skandhas and the denial of
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metaphysical dualities Q Concluding remarks on
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the notion of Self and its varieties
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1.3. Dharmadha:tu: the Spatial or Cosmic Dimension
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79
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of Being 117
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Introductory remarks .. Dharmadhatu as cosmic Law:
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the fundamental structure of the universe '" Dharmadhatu
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as universal Void: the ground of Being • Concluding
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observations
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Part Two: Concepts of Knowing
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2.0. Buddhist Epistemology, Buddhist Dialectics 135
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Truth, untruth, half-truth, "the truth" • The tetralemma
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logic: a thousand years of Buddhist dialectics " The early
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use of the tetralemma in the Pali canon '" Rationality and
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irrationality in Nagarjuna's relativistic logic • Epistemology
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in the Lankiivaliira-siitra: a radical critique of language, logic,
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and knowledge • Conclusions and preview of part two
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2.1. The Epistemological Reduction of the Citta-ma:tra
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(Mind-only) Doctrine 169
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Preliminary considerations It Citta as the empirical mind •
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Citta as the transcendental Mind " Citta-matra as explanation for the triple world (Tribhava) " Concluding words and
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the connection between Lailkiivaliira and Zen
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2.2. __ From Mind to No-mind: the Transcendental Leap
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beyond Empirical Cognition 209
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Introduction It The five Dharmas or epistemic categories ..
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The three Svabhavas or modes of cognition It The attainment of Aryajfiana: transcendental Wisdom or Gnosis ..
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Concluding remarks
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2 • .3. The Conjunctive System of the Eight Vijfianas:
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the IntegJ;"ation of Both Mind and No-mind States of
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Consciousness 237
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2.4.
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3.0.
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Introductory remarks It Jfiana and Vijfiana: abstract
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intuition versus concrete knowledge co Khyati- and
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Vastuprativikalpa-vijfiana: the perceptual and the objectdiscriminating knowledge .. The inner revolution
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(Paravrtti): the return to the tranquil state of pure
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consciousness (Alaya-vijfiana) .. Conclusion
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The Disjunctive Theory of Causation: Things are
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Neither this, Nor that, for They Are All Subject to
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Causes and Conditions (Hetu-pratyaya)
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Introduction .. The expansion of the relevance of
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causation: from the psychological to the cosmicphilosophical principle .. Causation as a possible
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theoretical basis for a monistic view of the world It
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Causation as a teaching device .. Excursus: highlighting
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Nagarjuna's thought in respect to causation .. The
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soteriological value of the theory of causation .. Concluding observations
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Final Overview
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Appendix
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Notes
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Bibliography
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Index
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261
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287
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295
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323
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357
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365
 
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This book offers a systematic analysis of one of the most important concepts characterizing the Yogācāra School of Buddhism (the last creative stage of Indian Buddhism) as outlined and explained in one of its most authoritative and influential texts, Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. Compiled in the second half of the fourth-century A.D., this sūtra not only represents a comprehensive synthesis of both early and late religio-philosophical ideas crucial to the understanding of Buddhism in India, but it also provides an insight into the very early roots of the Japanese Zen Buddhism in the heart of the South Asian esotericism.

The first part of the book outlines the three-fold nature of Being, as conceptualized in Buddhist metaphysics. The author uses an interpretive framework borrowed from the existentialist philosophy of Heidegger, in order to separate the transcendental Essence of Being from its Temporal manifestation as Self, and from its Spatial or Cosmic dimension. The second part clarifies the Buddhist approach to knowledge in its religious, transcendental sense and it shows that the Buddhists were actually first in making use of dialectical reasoning for the purpose of transcending the contradictory dualities imbedded in the common ways of perceiving, thinking, and arguing about reality. (Source: SUNY Press)

Citation Sutton, Florin Giripescu. Existence and Enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra: A Study in the Ontology and Epistemology of the Yogācāra School of Mahāyāna Buddhism. SUNY Series in Buddhist Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. https://archive.org/details/lankavatarafgsuttonexistenceandenlightenmentinthelankavatarasutraastudyintheonto_202003_621_R/mode/2up.

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

Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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

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

SUNY - State University of New York

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