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Wisdom and teachings of
Mahayana

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T hough they all honor, praise and esteem me, they do not fully understand the meaning and significance of the words they use; not having their own self-realization of Truth they cling to the words of their canonical books, or to what has been told them, or to what they have imagined, and fail to see that the name they are using is only one of the many names of the Tathagata. In their studies they follow the mere words of the text vainly trying to gain the true meaning, instead of having confidence in the one "text" where self-confirming Truth is revealed, that is, having confidence in the self-realization of Noble Wisdom.

temple_buddhist

quote 2605 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.344, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T hey address me by different names not realizing that they are all names of the one Tathagata. Some recognise me as Tathagata, some as The Self-existent One, some as Gautama the Ascetic, some as Buddha. Then there are others who recognize me as Brahma, as Vishnu, as Ishvara; some see me as Sun, as Moon; some as a reincarnation of the ancient sages; some as one of "the ten powers"; some as Rama, some as Indra, and some as Varuna. Still there are others who speak of me as The Un-born, as Emptiness, as "Suchness," as Truth, as Reality, as Ultimate Principle; still there are others who see me as Dharmakaya, as Nirvana, as the Eternal; some speak of me as sameness, as non-duality, as un-dying, as formless; some think of me as the doctrine of Buddha-causation, or of Emancipation, or of the Noble Path; and some think of me as Divine Mind and Noble Wisdom.

temple_buddhist

quote 2604 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XII, p.344, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

E ntering upon the eighth stage, with the "turning-about" at the deepest seat of consciousness, the Bodhisattva will become conscious that he has received the second kind of Transcendental-body (Manomayakaya). The transition from mortal body to Transcendental-body has nothing to do with mortal death, for the old body continues to function and the old mind serves the needs of the old body, but now it is free from the control of mortal mind. There has been an inconceivable transformation-death by which the false imagination of his particularized individual personality has been transcended by a realization of his oneness with the universalized mind of Tathagatahood, from which realization there will be no recession.

temple_buddhist

quote 2603 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XI, p.341, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T he Bodhisattva's Nirvana is perfect tranquillization, but it is not extinction nor inertness; while there is an entire absence of discrimination and purpose, there is the freedom and spontaneity of potentiality that has come with the attainment and patient acceptance of the truths of egolessness and imagelessness. Here is perfect solitude, undisturbed by any gradation or continuous succession, but radiant with the potency and freedom of its self-nature which is the self-nature of Noble Wisdom, blissfully peaceful with the serenity of Perfect Love.

temple_buddhist

quote 2602 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XI, p.341, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T o the Bodhisattvas of the eighth stage, life is past and is remembered as it truly was a passing dream.

temple_buddhist

quote 2601 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch XI, p.341, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

H e is master of the Dhyanas and enters into the Samadhis, but to reach the higher stages one must pass beyond the Dhyanas, the immeasurables, the world of no-forrn, and the bliss of the Samadhis into the Samapattis leading to the cessation of thought itself.
The dhyana-practiser, dhyana, the subject of dhyana, the cessation of thought, once-returning, never-returning, all these are divided and bewildering states of mind. Not until all discrimination is abandoned is there perfect emancipation.

temple_buddhist

quote 2600 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch IX, p.336, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T hen Mahamati said to the Blessed One: You have spoken of an astral-body, a "mind-vision-body" (manomayakaya) which the Bodhisattvas are able to assume, as being one of the fruits of self-realization of Noble Wisdom: pray tell us, Blessed One, what is meant by such a transcendental body?
The Blessed One replied: There are three kinds of such transcendental bodies: First, there is the one in which the Bodhisattva attains enjoyment of the Samadhis and Samapattis. Second, there is the one which is assumed by the Tathagatas according to the class of beings to be sustained, and which achieves and perfects spontaneously with no attachment and no effort. Third, there is the one in which the Tathagatas receive their intuition of Dharmakaya.
The transcendental personality that enters into the enjoyment of the Samadhis comes with the third, fourth and fifth stages as the mentations of the mind-system become quieted and waves of consciousness are no more stirred on the face of Universal Mind. In this state, the conscious-mind is still aware, in a measure, of the bliss being experienced by this cessation of the mind's activities.
The second kind of transcendental personality is the kind assumed by the Bodhisattvas and Tathagatas as bodies of transformation by which they demonstrate their original vows in the work of achieving and perfecting; it comes with the eighth stage of Bodhisattvahood. When the Bodhisattva has a thorough-going penetration into the maya-like nature of things and understands the dharma of imagelessness, he will experience the "turning-about" in his deepest consciousness and will become able to experience the higher Samadhis even to the highest. By entering into these exalted Samadhis he attains a personality that transcends the conscious-mind, by reason of which he obtains supernatural powers of self-mastery and activities because of which he is able to move as he wishes, as quickly as a dream changes, as quickly as an image changes in a mirror. This transcendental body is not a product of the elements and yet there is something in it that is analogous to what is so produced; it is furnished with all the differences appertaining to the world of form but without their limitations; possessed of this "mind-vision-body" he is able to be present in all the assemblages in all the Buddha-lands. Just as his thoughts move instantly and without hindrance over walls and rivers and trees and mountains, and just as in memory he recalls and visits the scenes of his past experiences, so, while his mind keeps functioning in the body, his thoughts may be a hundred thousand yojanas away. In the same fashion the transcendental personality that experiences the Samadhi Vajravimbopama will be endowed with supernatural powers and psychic faculties and self-mastery by reason of which he will be able to follow the noble paths that lead to the assemblages of the Buddhas, moving about as freely as he may wish. But his wishes will no longer be self-centered nor tainted by discrimination and attachment, for this transcendental personality is not his old body, but is the transcendental embodiment of his original vows of self-yielding in order to bring all beings to maturity.
The third kind of transcendental personality is so ineffable that it is able to attain intuitions of the Dharmakaya, that is, it attains intuitions of the boundless and inscrutable cognition of Universal Mind. As Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas attain the highest of the stages and become conversant with all the treasures to be realized in Noble Wisdom, they will attain this inconceivable transformation-body which is the true nature of al the Tathagatas past, present and future, and will participate in the blissful peace which pervades the Dharma of all the Buddhas.

temple_buddhist

quote 2599 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch IX, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

F ear, anger, hatred and pride; these are purified by study and meditation and that, too, must be attained gradually and not instantaneously.

temple_buddhist

quote 2598 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.326, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T o do all this the Bodhisattva should keep himself away from all turmoil, social excitements and sleepiness; let him keep away from the treatises and writings of worldly philosophers, and from the ritual and ceremonies of professional priestcraft. Let him retire to a secluded place in the forest and there devote himself to the practice of the various spiritual disciplines, because it is only by so doing that he will become capable of attaining in this world of multiplicities a true insight into the workings of Universal Mind in its Essence. There surrounded by his good friends the Buddhas, earnest disciples will become capable of understanding the significance of the mind-system and its place as a mediating agent between the external world and Universal Mind and he will become capable of crossing the ocean of birth-and-death which rises from ignorance, desire and deed.

temple_buddhist

quote 2597 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.323-26, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T hat is, the goal of tranquillization is to be reached not by suppressing all mind activity but by getting rid of discriminations and attachments.

temple_buddhist

quote 2596 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.323, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

H aving attained this exalted and blissful state of realisation as far as it can be attained by disciples, the Bodhisattva must not give himself up to the enjoyment of its bliss, for that would mean cessation, but should think compassionately of other beings and keep ever fresh his original vows; he should never let himself rest in nor exert himself in the bliss of the Samadhis.

temple_buddhist

quote 2595 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.323, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T he exalted state of self-realization as it relates to an earnest disciple is a state of mental concentration in which he seeks to identify himself with Noble Wisdom. In that effort he must seek to annihilate all vagrant thoughts and notions belonging to the externality of things, and all ideas of individuality and generality, of suffering and impermanence, and cultivate the noblest ideas of egolessness and emptiness and imagelessness; thus will he attain a realization of truth that is free from passion and is ever serene. When this active effort at mental concentration is successful it is followed by a more passive, receptive state of Samadhi in which the earnest disciple will enter into the blissful abode of Noble Wisdorn and experience its consummations in the transformations of Samapatti. This is an earnest disciple's first experience of the exalted state of realization, but as yet there is no discarding of habit-energy nor escaping from the transformation of death.

temple_buddhist

quote 2594 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.323, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T o practice dhyana, the earnest disciple should retire to a quiet and solitary place, remembering that life-long habits of discriminative thinking cannot be broken off easily nor quickly.

temple_buddhist

quote 2593 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.321, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T hen Mahamati asked the Blessed One, saying: What are the steps that will lead an awakened disciple toward the self-realization of Noble Wisdom?
The Blessed One replied: The beginning lies in the recognition that the external world is only a manifestation of the activities of the mind itself, and that the mind grasps it as an external world simply because of its habit of discrimination and false-reasoning. The disciple must get into the habit of looking at things truthfully. He must recognize the fact that the world has no self-nature, that it is un-born, that it is like a passing cloud like an imaginary wheel made by a revolving firebrand, like the castle of the Gandharvas, like the moon reflected in the ocean, like a vision, a mirage, a dream. He must come to understand that mind in its essence-nature has nothing to do with discrimination nor causation; he must not listen to discourses based on the imaginary terms of qualifications; he must understand that Universal Mind in its pure essence is a state of imagelessness, that it is only because of the accumulated defilements on its face that body-property-and-abode appear to be its manifestations, that in its own pure nature it is unaffected and unaffecting by such changes as rising, abiding and destruction; he must fully understand that all these things come with the awakening of the notion of an ego-soul and its conscious mind.

temple_buddhist

quote 2592 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.320, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

W hen earnest disciples have gotten rid of all their evil habit-energy and been able to realize the twofold egolessness, then they will not be intoxicated by the bliss of the Samadhis and will be awakened into the super-realm of the good non-outflowings.

temple_buddhist

quote 2591 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.320, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

S o long as the mind is distracted and is making conscious effort, there can be no culmination as regards the various vehicles; it is only when the mind is alone and quiet that it is able to forsake the discriminations of the external world and seek realization of an inner realm where there is neither vehicle nor one who rides in it.

temple_buddhist

quote 2590 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.320, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

R ealization itself is within the inner consciousness. It is an inner experience that has no connection with the lower mind-system and its discriminations of words, ideas and philosophical speculations. It shines out with its own clear light to reveal the error and foolishness of mind-constructed teachings, to render impotent evil influences from without, and to guide one unerringly to the realm of the good non-outflowings.

temple_buddhist

quote 2589 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.319, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

A s to the fourth; he must have a true conception of what constitutes self-realization of Noble Wisdom. First, it is not comparable to the perceptions attained by the sense-mind, neither is it comparable to the cognition of the discriminating and intellectual-mind. Both of these presuppose a difference between self and not-self and the knowledge so attained is characterized by individuality and generality. Self-realization is based on identity and oneness; there is nothing to be discriminated nor predicated concerning it. But to enter into it the Bodhisattva must be free from all presuppositions and attachments to things, ideas and selfness.

temple_buddhist

quote 2588 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.316, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

A s to the first; he must recognize and be fully convinced that this triple world is nothing but a complex manifestation of one's mental activities; that it is devoid of selfness and its belongings; that there are no strivings, no comings, no goings. He must recognize and accept the fact that this triple world is manifested and imagined as real only under the influence of habit-energy that has been accumulated since the beginningless past by reason of memory, false-imagination, false-reasoning, and attachments to the multiplicities of objects and reactions in close relationship and in conformity to ideas of body-property-and-abode.

As to the second; he must recognize and be convinced that all things are to be regarded as forms seen in a vision and a dream, empty of substance, un-born and without self-nature; that all things exist only by reason of a complicated network of causation which owes its rise to discrimination and attachment and which eventuates in the rise of the mind-system and its belongings and evolvements.

As to the third; he must recognize and patiently accept the fact that his own mind and personality is also mind-constructed, that it is empty of substance, unborn and egoless. With these three things clearly in mind, the Bodhisattva will be able to enter into the truth of imagelessness.

temple_buddhist

quote 2587 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.316, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

M ahamati then asked the Blessed One, saying- Pray tell us, Blessed One, what clear understandings an earnest disciple should have if he is to be successful in the discipline that leads to self-realization?
The Blessed One replied: There are four things by the fulfilling of which an earnest disciple may gain self-realization of Noble Wisdom and become a Bodhisattva- Mahasattva: First, he must have a clear understanding that all things are only manifestations of the mind itself; second, he must discard the notion of birth, abiding and disappearance; third, he must clearly understand the egolessness of both things and persons; and fourth, he must have a true conception of what constitutes self-realization of Noble Wisdom. Provided with these four understandings, earnest disciples may become Bodhisattvas and attain Transcendental Intelligence.

temple_buddhist

quote 2586 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.316, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T hen said Mahamati: Pray tell us, Blessed One, what is the nature of Self-realization by reason of which we shall be able to attain Transcendental Intelligence?
The Blessed One replied: Transcendental Intelligence rises when the intellectual-mind reaches its limit and, if things are to be realized in their true and essence nature, its processes of mentation, which are based on particularized ideas, discriminations and judgments, must be transcended by an appeal to some higher faculty of cognition, if there be such a higher faculty. There is such a faculty in the intuitive-mind (Manas), which as we have seen is the link between the intellectual-mind and Universal Mind. While it is not an individualized organ like the intellectual-mind, it has that which is much better direct dependence upon Universal Mind. While intuition, does not give information that can be analyzed and discriminated, it gives that which is far superior, self-realization through identification.

temple_buddhist

quote 2585 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch VII, p.315, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T he doctrine of the Tathagata-womb is disclosed in order to awaken philosophers from their clinging to the notion of a Divine Atman as transcendental personality, so that their minds that have become attached to the imaginary notion of "soul" as being something self-existent, may be quickly awakened to a state of perfect enlightenment. All such notions as causation, succession, atoms, primary elements, that make up personality, personal soul, Supreme Spirit, Sovereign God, Creator, are all figments of the imagination and manifestations of mind. No, Mahamati, the Tathagata's doctrine of the Womb of Tathagatahood is not the same as the philosopher's Atman.

temple_buddhist

quote 2584 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch.IV, p.314, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

W e are taught that this Buddha-nature immanent in every one is eternal, unchanging, auspicious. Is not this which is born of the Womb of Tathagatahood the same as the soul-substance that is taught by the philosophers? The Divine Atman as taught by them is also claimed to be eternal, inscrutable, unchanging, imperishable. Is there, or is there not a difference?
The Blessed One replied: No, Mahamati, my Womb of Tathagatahood is not the same as the Divine Atman as taught by the philosophers. What I teach is Tathagatahood in the sense of Dharmakaya, Ultimate Oneness, Nirvana, emptiness, unbornness, unqualifiedness, devoid of will-effort. The reason why I teach the doctrine of Tathagatahood is to cause the ignorant and simple-minded to lay aside their fears as they listen to the teaching of egolessness and come to understand the state of non-discrimination and imagelessness.

temple_buddhist

quote 2583 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch.IV, p.314, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

T herefore, let every disciple take good heed not to become attached to words as being in perfect conformity with meaning, because Truth is not in the Letters.

temple_buddhist

quote 2582 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch.IV, p.311, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

S elf-realization is an exalted state of inner attainment which transcends all dualistic thinking and which is above the mind-system with its logic, reasoning, theorizing, and illustrations.

temple_buddhist

quote 2581 | The Lankavatara Sutra
Ch.IV, p.311, in Dwight Goddard, A Buddhist bible

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