Buddha-nature (as Depicted in the Lankavatara-sutra)
by Nguyen Dac Sy | 2012 | 70,344 words
This page relates ‘Early period (f): The Other Texts’ 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 (f): The Other Texts
There are some other texts that do not have important role in the early period of the Tathāgatagarbha literature because they either are two short or imitate ideas of the texts prior to them.
-The Sūtra of Neither Increasing Nor Decreasing, translated into Chinese by Bodhiruci in 525 CE under the title Foshuobuzengbujianjing[1] is a short text of the Tathāgatagarbha literature. The sūtra discusses the relationship between sentient beings and the Dharmakāya, or Dharmadhātu as being one of equivalence within the medium of the Tathāgatagarbha. The sermon begins with a question by Śāriputra as to whether the total number of sentient beings who transmigrate through the three realms and six destinies ever increases or decreases. The Buddha responds by explaining how views of increase and decrease are equivalent to the mistaken extremes of eternalism and nihilism. He then goes into depth explaining the nature of the Tathāgatagarbha in relation to the dharma body and sentient beings.
-The Candrottarādārikā-sūtra was translated in 591 CE by Jñānagupta (Dunajueduo) under the name Foshuoyueshangnujing[2] . This sūtra contains the story of the reception of the prediction of Buddhahood by Vimalakīrti (Weimojie) and his pure wife (Niangyueshangnu).
-The Aṅgulimālika-sūtra (yangjuemoluojing)[3] , the Jñānāloka-sūtra, and some other unimportant texts also belong to this period of the Tathāgatagarbha literature.
Summing up, the scriptures of the Tathāgatagarbha literature in the first period have presented the theory of the Buddha-nature in its pure and simple meaning which were not mixed or concerned with the concept of Ālayavijñāna of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism. The Buddha-nature and other concepts associated with it in this early period of the Tathāgatagarbha literature have contributed the important thoughts in the rise and development of many Chinese Buddhist schools such as the Nirvāṇa, Sanlun, Chan, Tiantai and so on. From this initial fundamental concept of the Buddha-nature, the Tathāgatagarbha literature continued to develop its thoughts with mentioning the theory of Ālayavijñāna in the next period.
Footnotes and references:
[2]:
Fo-shuo-yue-shang-nu-jing佛說月上女經 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T14n480]).
[3]:
Yang-jue-mo-luo-jing 央掘魔羅經 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T2n120]).