Lankavatara Sutra

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The Lankavatara Sutra ( Skt. Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra ; Chinese  楞伽經 , Pinyin Leng QIE jīng , W.-G. Leng-chia ching ; Jap. Ryoga kyō ; Tib. : Long kar gshegs pa'i mdo , to German about: " Sūtra about the arrival ( Buddhas ) in Lankā" ( laṅkā (लंका)) is a Sanskrit term for a mythological place that roughly corresponds to today's Sri Lanka ) is one of the most important sutras of Mahāyāna Buddhism . Traditionally, it is regarded as the literal transmission of the Buddha, even if it was probably first written between the first half of the fourth and first half of the fifth centuries.

history

The contents of the sutra take a central position for the manifestations of Chinese , Japanese and Tibetan Buddhism . It belongs to the six orthodox scriptures of the Yogācāra schools like the Faxiang . It is also the cornerstone of Chinese Chan Buddhism and its Japanese variant, Zen Buddhism. It was brought to China by Bodhidharma towards the end of the fifth century and reached Japan in the eighth century, in the ninth Tibet. Well-known translations into Chinese are:

  1. Lengqiejing sijuan (楞伽 經 四卷), made by Dharmakṣema (approx. 385–433) in the period from 412 to 433; lost
  2. Lengqie abatuoluo baojing (楞 伽阿 跋 多 羅 寶 經), 4 fascicles , partly made by Gunabhadra (394–468)
  3. Rulengqiejing (入 楞伽 經), 10 fascicles, made by Bodhiruci (? -527)
  4. Dasheng rulengqie jing (大乘 入 楞伽 經), 7 fascicles, made by Śikṣānanda (approx. 7th - 8th centuries)

It was translated into English and Japanese by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki . A German translation from the Sanskrit text has been available since 1995 .

content

The sutra takes a critical look at the brahmanistic schools of Indian philosophy such as the Sāṅkhya and the Pāśupata and sets out possible correspondences with the Mahāyāna . Furthermore, characteristic themes of Yogācāra such as the doctrine of Tathāgatagarbha and the eight kinds of consciousness (aṣṭa-vijñānāni ) discussed.

The core statement of the sutra revolves around the concept of " cittamātra ": this describes the totality of the psychic-spiritual as the basis for the diversity of phenomena, i.e. H. both the subjective-psychic and the objective-material. Cittamātra means "mind alone", in the broader context "all being is just mind". The playful texts of the sutra are intended to help this statement become a religious experience . Everything that is, is to be recognized as a purely spiritual, but not in the sense of solipsism , but that did things only in our consciousness are .

Since consciousness with its means of separation and differentiation is understood as the basis for the conventional conception of the world, it is at the same time the fundamental starting point to overcome the false dichotomies of subject and object and finally the suffering cycle of rebirth in samsara .

Quotes

Quoted from the translation by Karl-Heinz Golzio (see literature):

118. “I teach him who puts colors together how to make the picture. The picture is not in the colors, nor in the canvas, nor on the board. "
135. “Assertion and refutation are not known in the cittamātra; those who are not wise, who do not understand that the mind is in body, possession and abode, move in assertion and refutation. "
136. "When those born of the Buddha see that the world is nothing but mind, then they will adopt a body of change that is free of actions and formations, but endowed with powers, higher mental powers and self-control."

literature

  • Karl-Heinz Golzio: Lankavatara Sutra. See the flawless truth. The doctrine of the highest consciousness and absolute knowledge . OW Barth Bei Scherz; Bern, Munich and Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-502-65385-2 .
  • Christian Lindtner: The Lankavatarasutra in Early Indian Madhyamaka Literature, Copenhagen. Asian Studies, XLV, 1 (1992), pp.244-279.
  • B. Nanjio (ed.): The Laṅkāvatāra sūtra, Kyoto, Otani University Press 1923 (in Nāgarī) Internet Archive (PDF 11.8 MB)
  • DT Suzuki: Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi 1998 (1st ed. 1930), ISBN 81-215-0833-9
  • Daisetz T. Suzuki (1932). The Lankavatara Sutra; a Mahayana text, London: Routledge

Web links