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The wisdom of The Lankavatara Sutra

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M ahamati, the Tathagatas do not teach a doctrine that is dependent
upon letters. As to letters, their being or non-being is not attainable;
it is otherwise with thought that is never dependent upon letters. Again,
Mahamati, anyone that discourses on a truth that is dependent upon letters
is a mere prattler because truth is beyond letters. For this reason, it
is declared in the canonical text by myself and other Buddhas and
bodhisattvas that not a letter is uttered or answered by the Tathagatas.
For what reason? Because truths are not dependent on letters....

Therefore, Mahamati, let the son or daughter of a good family take
good heed not to get attached to words as being in perfect conformity with
meaning, because truth is not of the letter. Be not like the one who
looks at the fingertip. When a man with his fingertip points out
something to somebody, the fingertip may be taken wrongly for the thing
pointed at. In like manner, simple and ignorant people are unable even
unto their death to abandon the idea that in the fingertip of words there
is the meaning itself, and will not grasp ultimate reality because of
their intent clinging to words, which are no more than the fingertip....
Be not like one who, grasping his own fingertip, sees the meaning there.
You should rather energetically discipline yourself to get at the meaning
itself.

temple_buddhist

quote 4351 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Lankavatara Sutra 76

B lessed One, what is meant by this term Nirvana?" Replied the Buddha,
"When the self-nature and the habit-energy of all the
sense-discriminations, includ- ing ego (alaya), intellect (manas), and the
faculty of judgment (manovijnana), from which issue the habit-energy of
wrong speculations--when all these go through a revulsion, I and all the
Buddhas declare that there is Nirvana. The way and the self-nature of
this Nirvana is emptiness, which is the state of reality."

temple_buddhist

quote 4307 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Lankavatara Sutra 38

B y reason of the habit-energy stored up by false imagination since beginningless time, this world is subject to change and destruction from moment to moment; it is like a river, a seed, a lamp, wind, a cloud; like a monkey who is always restless, like a fly who is ever in search of unclean things and defiled places, like a fire which is never satisfied. Again, [thought] is like a water-wheel or a machine: it goes on rolling the wheel of transmigration, carrying varieties of bodies and forms... causing the wooden figures to move as a magician moves them. Mahamati, a thorough understanding concerning these phenomena is called comprehending the egolessness of persons.

temple_buddhist

quote 4268 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Lankavatara Sutra 24

M ahamati, when the bodhisattvas face and perceive the happiness of the Samadhi of perfect tranquilization, they are moved with the feeling of love and sympathy owing to their original vows [made for the salvation of all beings, saying, "So long as they do not attain Nirvana, I will not attain it myself"] and they become aware of the part they are to perform as regards the inexhaustible vows. Thus, they do not enter Nirvana. But the fact is that they are already in Nirvana, because in them there is no rising of discrimination. With them the discrimination of grasped and grasping no more takes place; as they recognize that there is nothing in the world but what is seen of the Mind itself, they have done away with the thought of discrimination concerning all things. They have abandoned adhering to and discriminating based upon the faculties of cognition (citta), analysis (manas), and judgment (manovijnana), and external objects, and self-nature. However, they have not given up the things promoting the cause of Buddhism. Because of their attachment to the inner insight which belongs to the stage of Tathagatahood, whatever they do all issues from this transcendental knowledge.

temple_buddhist

quote 4202 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Lankavatara Sutra 80

T he doing away with the notion of cause and condition, the giving up of a causal agency, the establishment of the Mind-only--this I state to be no-birth.

The getting-rid of the idea that things are caused, the removal of the dualism of imagined and imagining, the being liberated from the alternatives of being and non-being--this I state to be no-birth.

No external [separate] existence, no non-existence, not even the grasping of mind; things are like a dream, a hair-net, Maya, a mirage... this is what characterizes no-birth.

It is only in accordance with general convention that a chain of mutual dependence is talked of; birth has no sense when the chain of dependence is severed.

If [someone holds that] there is anything born somewhere apart from concatenation [the chain of mutual relations], he is one who is to be recognized as an advocate of no-causation as he destroys concatenation.

If concatenation worked [from outside] like a lamp revealing all kinds of things, this means the presence of something outside concatenation itself.

All things are devoid of self-nature [separate existence], have never been born, and in their original nature are [transparent] like the sky; things separated from concatenation belong to the discrimination of the ignorant.

When this entire world is regarded as concatenation, as nothing else but concatenation, then the mind gains tranquillity.

temple_buddhist

quote 4159 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Lankavatara Sutra 78

T he world of the ignorant is observed as the continuation of birth and death, whereby dualisms are nourished, and because of the perversion [the truth] is not perceived.

There is just one truth, which is Nirvana--it has nothing to do with intellection. The world seen as subject to discrimination resembles a plantain tree, a dream, a mirage.

The Mind as norm is the abode of self-nature which has nothing to do with the realm of causation; of this norm, which is perfect existence and the highest Absolute, I speak.

Of neither existence nor non-existence do I speak, but of Mind-only which has nothing to do with existence and non-existence, and which is thus free from intellection.

Suchness, emptiness, Absolute Truth... these I call Mind-only.

temple_buddhist

quote 4152 | The Lankavatara Sutra

W hen appearances and names are put away and all discrimination ceases, that which remains is the true and essential nature of things and, as nothing can be predicated as to the nature of essence, is called the "Suchness" of Reality. This universal, undifferentiated, inscrutable Suchness is the only Reality, but it is variously characterized as Truth, Mind-essence, Transcendental Intelligence, Perfection of Wisdom, etc. This Dharma of the imagelessness of the Essence-nature of Ultimate Reality is the Dharma which has been proclaimed by all the Buddhas, and when all things are understood in full agreement with it, one is in possession of Perfect Knowledge.

temple_buddhist

quote 4101 | The Lankavatara Sutra

T here are two classes of those who may not enter the Nirvana of the Tathagatas: there are those who have abandoned the Bodhisattva ideals, saying, they are not in conformity with the sutras, the codes of morality, nor with emancipation. Then there are the true Bodhisattvas who, on account of their original vows made for the sake of all beings, saying, "So long as they do not attain Nirvana, I will not attain it myself," voluntarily keep themselves out of Nirvana. But no beings are left outside by the will of the Tathagatas; some day each and every one will be influenced by the wisdom and love of the Tathagatas of Transformation to lay up a stock of merit and ascend the stages. But, if they only realized it, they are already in the Tathagata's Nirvana for, in Noble Wisdom, all things are in Nirvana from the beginning.

temple_buddhist

quote 2625 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.356, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

N irvana is the realm of Dharmata-Buddha; it is where the manifestation of Noble Wisdora that is Buddhahood expresses itself in Perfect Love for all; it is where the manifestation of Perfect Love that is Tathagatahood expresses itself in Noble Wisdom for the enlightenment of all -there, indeed, is Nirvana.

temple_buddhist

quote 2624 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.356, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

N irvana is where the Bodhisattva stages are passed one after another; is where the sustaining power of the Buddhas upholds the Bodhisattvas in the bliss of the Samadhis; is where compassion for others transcends all thoughts of self; is where the Tathagata stage is finally realised.

temple_buddhist

quote 2623 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.356, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T he Tathagata's Nirvana is where it is recognized that there is nothing but what is seen of the mind itself; is where, recognizing the nature of the self-mind, one no longer cherishes the dualisms of discrimination; is where there is no more thirst nor grasping; is where there is no more attachment to external things. Nirvana is where the thinking-mind with all its discriminations, attachments, aversions and egoism is forever put away; is where logical measures, as they are seen to be inert, are no longer seized upon; is where even the notion of truth is treated with indifference because of its causing bewilderment; is where getting rid of the four propositions, there is insight into the abode of Reality. Nirvana is where the twofold passions have subsided and the twofold hindrances are cleared away and the twofold egolessness is patiently accepted; is where, by the attainment of the "turning-about" in the deepest seat of consciousness, self-realization of Noble Wisdorn is fully entered into,-that is the Nirvana of the Tathagatas.

temple_buddhist

quote 2622 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.355, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T he Dharma which establishes the Truth of Noble Wisdom belongs to the realm of the Dharmata-Buddha. To the Bodhisattvas of the seventh and eight stages, Transcendental Intelligence is revealed by the Dharmata-Buddha and the Path is pointed out to them which they are to follow. In the perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom that follows the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva's individualized will control, he no longer lives unto himself, but the life that he lives thereafter is the Tathagata's universalized life as manifested in its transformations. In this perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom the Bodhisattva realizes that for Buddhas there is no Nirvana.

temple_buddhist

quote 2621 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.355, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T here are Bodhisattvas here and in other Buddha-lands, who are sincerely devoted to the Bodhisattva's mission and yet who cannot wholly forget the bliss of the Samadhis and the peace of Nirvana-for themselves.

temple_buddhist

quote 2620 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.354, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

A s to the notion of Nirvana as held by disciples and masters who still cling to the notion of an ego-self, and who try to find it by going off by themselves into solitude: their notion of Nirvana is an eternity of bliss like the bliss of the Samadhis-for themselves. They recognize that the world is only a manifestation of mind and that all discriminations are of the mind, and so they forsake social relations and practice various spiritual disciplines and in solitude seek self-realization of Noble Wisdom by self-effort. They follow the stages to the sixth and attain the bliss of the Samadhis, but as they are still clinging to egoism they do not attain the "turning-about" at the deepest seat of consciousness and, therefore, they are not free from the thinking-mind and the accumulation of its habit-energy. Clinging to the bliss of the Samadhis, they pass to their Nirvana, but it is not the Nirvana of the Tathagatas. They are of those who have "entered the stream"; they must return to this world of life and death.

temple_buddhist

quote 2619 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.353, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

S ome imagine that Nirvana is where self-nature exists in its own right, unhampered by other self-natures, as the variegated feathers of a peacock, or various precious crystals, or the pointed-ness of a thorn. Some conceive being to be Nirvana, some non-being, while others conceive that all things and Nirvana are not to be distinguished from one another. Some, thinking that time is the creator and that as the rise of the world depends on time, they conceive that Nirvana consists in the recognition of time as Nirvana. Some think that there will be Nirvana when the "twenty-five" truths are generally accepted, or when the king observes the six virtues, and some religionists think that Nirvana is the attainment of paradise. These views severally advanced by the philosophers with their various reasoning are not in accord with logic nor are they acceptable to the wise. They all conceive Nirvana dualistically and in some causal connection; by these discriminations philosophers imagine Nirvana, but where there is no rising and no disappearing, how can there be discrimination? Each philosopher relying on his own textbook from which he draws his understanding, sins against the truth, because truth is not where he imagines it to be. The only result is that it sets his mind to wandering about and becoming more confused as Nirvana is not to be found by mental searching, and the more his mind becomes confused the more he confuses other people.

temple_buddhist

quote 2618 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.353, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

A s to the Nirvanas discriminated by the philosophers: there really are none. Some philosophers conceive Nirvana to be found where the mind-system no more operates owing to the cessation of the elements that make up personality and its world; or is found where there is utter indifference to the objective world and its impermanency. Some conceive Nirvana to be a state where there is no recollection of the past or present, just as when a lamp is extinguished, or when a seed is burnt, or when a fire goes out; because then there is the cessation of all the substrata, which is explained by the philosophers as the non-rising of discrimination. But this is not Nirvana, because Nirvana does not consist in simple annihilation and vacuity.

temple_buddhist

quote 2617 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.352, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T hose who are suffering or who fear suffering, think of Nirvana as an escape and a recompense. They imagine that Nirvana consists in the future annihilation of the senses and sense-minds; they are not aware that Universal Mind and Nirvana are One, and that this life-and-death world and Nirvana are not to be separated.

temple_buddhist

quote 2616 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XIII, p.352, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T hen said Mahamati: Pray tell us, Blessed One, more about the Dharmakaya?
The Blessed One replied: We have been speaking of it in terms of Buddhahood, but as it is inscrutable and beyond predicate we may just as well speak of it as the Truth-body, or the Truth-principle of Ultimate Reality (Paramartha). This Ultimate Principle of Reality may be considered as it is manifested under seven aspects: First, as Citta-gocara, it is the world of spiritual experience and the abode of the Tathagatas on their outgoing mission of emancipation. It is Noble Wisdom manifested as the principle of irradiancy and individuation. Second, as jnana, it is the mind-world and its principle of intellection and consciousness. Third, as Dristi, it is the realm of dualism which is the physical world of birth and death wherein are manifested all the differentiations of thinker, thinking and thought-about and wherein are manifested the principles of sensation, perception, discrimination, desire, attachment and suffering.
Fourth, because of the greed, anger, infatuation, suffering and need of the physical world incident to discrimination and attachment, it reveals a world beyond the realm of dualism wherein it appears as the integrating principle of charity and sympathy. Fifth, in a realm still higher, which is the abode of the Bodhisattva stages, and is analogous to the mind-world, where the interests of heart transcend those of mind-world appears as the principle of compassion and self-giving. Sixth, in the spiritual realm where the Bodhisattvas attain Buddhahood, it appears as the principle of perfect Love (Karuna). Here the last clinging to an ego-self is abandoned and the Bodhisattva enters into his self-realization of Noble Wisdom which is the bliss of the Tathagata's perfect enjoyment of his inmost nature. Seventh as Prajna it is the active aspect of the Ultimate Principle wherein both the forth-going and the in-coming principles are alike implicit and potential, and wherein both Wisdom and Love are in perfect balance, harmony and Oneness.
These are the seven aspects of the Ultimate Principle of Dharmakaya, by reason of which all things are made manifest and perfected and then reintegrated, and all remaining within its inscrutable Oneness, with no signs of individuation, nor beginning, nor succession, nor ending. We speak of it as Dharmakaya, as Ultimate Principle, as Buddhahood, as Nirvana; what matters it? They are only other names for Noble Wisdom.
Mahamati, you and all the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas should avoid the erroneous reasonings of the philosophers and seek for a self-realization of Noble Wisdom.

temple_buddhist

quote 2615 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.350/351, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T hen said Mahamati: Blessed One, you speak of the sameness of all the Buddhas, but in other places you have spoken of Dharmata-Buddha, Nishyanda-Buddha and Nirmana-Buddha.
As though they were different from each other; how can they be the same and yet different?
The Blessed One replied: I speak of the different Buddhas as opposed to the views of the philosophers who base their teachings on the reality of an external world of form and who cherish discriminations and attachments arising there from; against the teachings of these philosophers I disclose the Nirmana-Buddha, the Buddha of Transformations. In the many transformations of the Tathagata stage, the Nirmana-Buddha establishes such matters as charity, morality, patience, thought-fullness, and tranquillization; by right-knowledge he teaches the true understanding of the maya-like nature of the elements that make up personality and its external world; he teaches the true nature of the mind-system as a whole and in the distinctions of its forms, functions and ways of performance. In a deeper sense, The Nirmana-Buddha symbolizes the principles of differentiation and integration by reason of which all component things are distributed, all complexities simplified, all thoughts analyzed; at the same time it symbolizes the harmonizing, unifying power of sympathy and compassion; it removes all obstacles, it harmonizes all differences, it brings into perfect Oneness the discordant many. For the emancipation of all beings the Bodhisattvas and Tathagatas assume bodies of transformation and employ many skillful devices, -this is the work of the Nirmana-Buddha.
For the enlightenment of the Bodhisattvas and their sustaining along the stages, the Inconceivable is made realizable. The Nishyanda -Buddha, the "Out-flowing-Buddha, through transcendental Intelligence, reveals the true meaning and significance of appearances, discrimination, attachment; and of the power of habit-energy which is accumulated by them and conditions them; and of the un-bornness, the emptiness, the egolesness of all things. Because of Transcendental Intelligence and the purification of the evil out-flowings of life, all dualist views of existence and non-existence are transcended and by self-realization of Noble Wisdom the true imagelessness of Reality is made manifest. The inconceivable glory of Buddha hood is made manifest in rays of Noble Wisdom; Noble Wisdom is the self-nature of the Tathagatas. This is the work of the Nishyanda-Buddha. In a deeper sense, the Nishyanda-Buddha symbolizes the emergence of the principles of intellection and
compassion but as yet undifferentiated and in perfect balance, potential but unmanifest. Looked at from the in-going side of the Bodhisattvas, Nishyanda-Buddha is seen in the glorified bodies of the Tathagatas; looked at from the forth-going side of Buddhahood, Nishyanda-Buddha is seen in the radiant personalities of the Tathagatas ready and eager to manifest the inherent Love and Wisdom of the Dharmakaya.

Dharmata-Buddha is Buddhahood in its self-nature of Perfect Oneness in whom absolute Tranquility prevails. As Noble Wisdom, Dharmata-Buddha transcends all differentiated knowledge, is the goal of intuitive self-realization, and is the self-nature of the Tathagatas. As Noble Wisdom, Dharmata-Buddha is inscrutable, ineffable, unconditioned. Dharmata-Buddha is the Ultimate Principle of Reality from which all things derive their being and truthfulness, but which in itself transcends all predicates. Dharmata-Buddha is the central sun which holds all, illumines all. Its inconceivable Essence is made manifest in the "out-flowing" glory of Nishyanda-Buddha and in the transformations of Nirmana-Buddha.

temple_buddhist

quote 2614 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.349-350, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T he sun radiates its splendor spontaneously on all alike and with no words of explanation; in like manner do the Tathagatas radiate the Truth of Noble Wisdom with no recourse to words and to all alike

temple_buddhist

quote 2613 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.348, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

A gain Mahamati, there has always been an eternally-abiding Reality. The "substance" of Truth abides forever whether a Tathagata appears in the world or not. So does the Reason of all things (dharmata) eternally abide; so does Reality abide and keep its order. What has been realized by myself and all other Tathagatas is this Reality (Dharmakaya), the eternally-abiding self-orderliness of Reality; the "suchness" (tathata) of things; the realness of things (bhutata); Noble Wisdom which is Truth itself.

temple_buddhist

quote 2612 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.348, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T he self-realisation of Noble Wisdom by all the Tathagatas is the same as my own self-realisation of Noble Wisdom; there is no more, no less, no difference; and all the Tathagatas bear witness that the state of self-realisation is free from words and discriminations and has nothing to do with the dualistic way of speaking, that is, all beings receive the teachings of the Tathagatas through self-realisation of Noble Wisdom, not through words of discrimination.

C

temple_buddhist

quote 2611 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.348, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

W hen the twofold passions are destroyed, and the twofold hindrances are cleared away, and the twofold egolessness is fully understood, and the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva is attained - that which remains is the self-nature of the Tathagatas. When the teachings of the Dharma are fully understood and are perfectly realized by the disciples and masters, that which is realized in their deepest consciousness is their own Buddha-nature revealed as Tathagata.

temple_buddhist

quote 2610 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.346, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

H owever, there is another sense in which the Tathagatas may be said to be permanent. Transcendental Intelligence rising with the attainment of enlightenment is of a permanent nature. This Truth-essence which is discoverable in the enlightenment of all who are enlightened, is realizable as the regulative and sustaining principle of Reality, which forever abides. The
Transcendental Intelligence attained intuitively by the Tathagatas by their self-realization of Noble Wisdom, is a realization of their own self-nature,-in this sense the Tathagatas are permanent. The eternal-unthinkable of the Tathagatas is the “suchness" of Noble Wisdom realized within themselves. It is both eternal and beyond thought. It conforms to the idea of a cause and yet is beyond existence and non-existence. Because it is the exalted state of Noble-Wisdom, it has its own character. Because It is the cause of highest Reality, it is its own causation. Its eternality is not derived from reasoning based on external notions of being and non-being, nor of eternality nor non-eternality. Being classed under the same head as space, cessation, Nirvana, it is eternal. Because it has nothing to do with existence and non-existence, it is no creator; because it has nothing to do with creation, nor with being and non-being, but is only revealed in the exalted state of Noble Wisdom, it is truly eternal.

temple_buddhist

quote 2609 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.346, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T he triple world originates from the discrimination of unrealities and where discrimination takes place there is duality and the notion of permanency and impermanency, but the Tathagatas do not rise from the discrimination of unrealities. Thus, as long as there is discrimination there will be the notion of permanency and impermanency; when discrimination is done away with, Noble Wisdom, which is based on the significance of solitude, will be established.

temple_buddhist

quote 2608 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.346, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

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