Buddha-nature (as Depicted in the Lankavatara-sutra)
by Nguyen Dac Sy | 2012 | 70,344 words
This page relates ‘Early period (e): The Anuttarashraya-sutra’ of the study on (the thought of) Buddha-nature as it is presented in the Lankavatara-sutra (in English). The text represents an ancient Mahayana teaching from the 3rd century CE in the form of a dialogue between the Buddha and Bodhisattva Mahamati, while discussing topics such as Yogacara, Buddha-nature, Alayavijnana (the primacy of consciousness) and the Atman (Self).
1. Early period (e): The Anuttarāśraya-sūtra
The sūtra translated into Chinese by Paramārtha under the name Wu-shang-yi-jing (T16n669, pp. 468a-77c) consists of 4 main chapters whose titles are also four Buddha’s precious aspects (ratna, gotra):
1. Tathāgatadhātuparivarta (ru-lai-jie; Buddha’s Realm)
2. Tathāgatabodhi (pu-ti; Buddha’s Bodhi),
3. Tathāgataguṇa (ru-lai-gong-de; Buddha’s Merits),
4. Tathāgatakriyā (ru-lai-shi; Buddha’s Works).
The title Anuttarāśraya (The Supreme Dependence) seems to mean the Tathāgata that possesses these four supreme aspects upon which people should depend. The comparison of Jikido Takasaki shows that the Anuttarāśraya-sūtra was composed after the Ratnagotravibhāgaśāstra as a kind of sutralization of the latter. He analyzes that besides the similarities with the Ratnagotravibhāga, a stronger factor which shows that this Sūtra is an imitation of the śāstra is that this sūtra refers to certain passages which are quotations from other sūtras in the Ratna as if they were its own sentences. He concludes the Anuttarāśrayasūtra is a composition based upon the Ratnagotravibhāgaśāstra, re-shaping its contents into the frame of sūtra style and keeping its stress on the bodhi aspect, which is the highest basis (anuttarāśraya).[1]
This sūtra also sets forth the theories of the Three Bodies of Buddha without giving their names. It is stated in the sūtra:
阿難. 無上菩提攝三身盡. 是故名為菩提行處. 阿難. 何者無上菩提常住法. 而此常住有二種法為作因緣. 一者不生不滅. 二者無窮無盡. 是名菩提常住法.[2]
Ānanda, what are the practices and abodes of the bodhi? Three bodies are manifested by three reasons. First the reason of profound meaning, second the reason of the magnificent and great cause, and third the reason of immeasurable merit.[3]
Like the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, the Anuttarāśraya-sūtra also confirms the potential supreme Buddhahood of the Icchantikas if they practice the Mahāyāna doctrines that the Buddha teaches.[4]
Thus, the Anuttarāśraya-sūtra systematizes the ideas of the Buddha-nature that were presented in the Tathāgatagarbha texts prior its time. For that reason, this Sūtra is not much important in the study of the Buddha-nature.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Jikido Takasaki, Aṅguttaranikāya Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga, pp. 50-51
[3]:
[4]:
一闡提人棄背正法.生死臭穢深心貪樂.為除此惑我說修行願樂大乘.依因此法得最淨果 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T16n669], p. 472a09).