The Lankavatara Sutra: Translation and Commentary (NONE)

But what sets the Lanka apart is that it points readers beyond the teachings of the early Yogacara to their own minds. Pointing directly at the mind was and still is a hallmark of the Zen school of Buddhism. And the man who brought Zen to China was from the area just north of Lanka near the seaport of Kanchipuram.

“Thus do bodhisattvas attain the forbearance of non-arising and dwell at the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path, where they exchange the body characterized by the mind, will and consciousness, the five dharmas, the modes of reality, and the two kinds of no-self, for a projection body and become adept at delighting in the personal realization of b

nor do they forsake its bliss for the nothingness of nirvana, nor do they cease giving rise to thoughts. For them, thoughts are not thoughts.

Gandharvas are gods known for their skill as musicians who are devoted to pleasure and who live in the sky. Thus, their cloud-like cities are often used as a metaphor for illusions. While the deer represent those who seek pleasure in the realm of desire, the gandharvas represent those who seek pleasure in the realm of form.

Thus, both the teaching of Zen and the use of Gunabhadra’s translation of the Lankavatara in its transmission began in the Loyang area in the first half of the sixth century.

These refer to projections and views of one’s own realm without realizing they are perceptions of one’s own mind. Due to their obliviousness, Mahamati, such foolish people maintain dualistic views and doctrines of existence and nonexistence as their self-existent, higher truth.

“truths that transcend words.”

Of course, drinking the tea of the mind doesn’t take place in space, nor does it occur in a crowd. Hence, the Buddha offers this ancient advice: “If bodhisattvas wish to understand the realm of projection in which what grasps and what is grasped are nothing but perceptions of their own minds, they should avoid social intercourse and sleep and culti

and warmth and movement of the material elements arise without a creator,