LAṄKĀVATĀRA-SŪTRA

The Laśkāvatāra-sūra (Discourse on the Descent into Laṅka) is a text in the MahĀyĀna tradition, probably composed sometime around the fourth century c.e., that purports to be a teaching given by the Buddha on the island of Sri Lanka. The sūtra discusses a number of important Mahāyāna doctrines, including the nondifference of identity between saṂsĀra (or the cycle of rebirth) and nirvĀṆa, and includes an entire chapter devoted to a denunciation of meat-eating. Its organization and presentation are haphazard, which has led a number of scholars to conclude that it is a compendium of heterogeneous materials that saw significant later interpolation. There are three extant Chinese (Lengqie abadolo bao jing) and two Tibetan (Lang Kar gShegs pa'i mdo) translations of the text, and one Sanskrit manuscript from Nepal, which was used by Bunyū Nanjio in 1923 to construct a critical edition.

The Laśkāvatāra-sūra is often associated with the Indian Yogācāra tradition because it discusses a number of basic doctrines associated with it, such as the LAN storehouse consciousness (ĀlayavijÑĀna), the womb of the tathāgata (tathĀgatagarbha), and mind-only (cittamātra). However, the Laśkāvatāra-sūra is not mentioned in the works of Yogācāra "founders" AsaṄga (ca. 320–ca. 390) or Vasubandhu (fourth century c.e.). It was far more influential in East Asia, and it played a prominent role in the development of the Chan tradition. Its importance in East Asia is attested by the fact that there are fifteen Chinese commentaries on it, the most important of which is by Fazang (643–712). It is also one of the nine core Mahāyāna texts (Navagrantha) of Newari Buddhism in Nepal.

See also:Chan School; Yogācāra School

Bibliography

Sutton, Florin G. Existence and Enlightenment in the Laśkāvatāra-sūra: A Study in the Ontology and Epistemology of the Yogācāra School of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991.

Suzuki, Daisetz T., trans. Laśkāvatāra-sūra (1932). Reprint, Boulder, CO: Prajñā Press, 1978.

John Powers