Buddha-nature (as Depicted in the Lankavatara-sutra)
by Nguyen Dac Sy | 2012 | 70,344 words
This page relates ‘Introduction (Hinayana and Hindu philosophy)’ 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).
Introduction (Hīnayāna and Hindu philosophy)
Study of the attitude of the Mahāyāna scriptures in general and the Laṅkāvatārasūtra in particular towards Non-Buddhist thought is an interesting work of scholars from the past to present. It is easy to find in many Mahāyāna scriptures the accounts which criticize the Hīnayāna conservative thought as well as non-Buddhist wrong views such as jīva, puruṣa, ātman, permanence and nihilism, oneness and difference, etc.; however, passages which discuss the Upaniṣads and its main doctrine of Brahman as the universal principle are difficult to find. In the earliest Mahāyāna scriptures, such as the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra, Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, Avataṃsakasūtra, etc., and even in the later works of some eminent Buddhist monks such as Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Maitreyanātha, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, no discussion was made of the terms such as Upaniṣad, Brahman, etc.
The Laṅkāvatārasūtra and all other texts of the Tathāgatagarbha literature also do not mention anything about the terms of Upaniṣad, Vedānta and Brahman, though many passages in the sūtra are opposed to the views of Hīnayāna and Hindu philosophy as the heretics.
Study of the authenticity of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra and its mention of the heretic thought is very worthy for our attention in confirming the Buddhist orthodoxy of the Buddha-nature which is akin to the Vedāntic doctrine of Brahman as presented in the Vedāntic scriptures.
As already mentioned above in the Introduction of this thesis, the earliest Sanskrit scripture of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra was composed in about 250 CE and was translated into Chinese by Śikṣānanda in about 420 CE (which was lost) and by Guṇabhadra in 4 fasciculi in 443 CE. Based on this earliest Sanskrit scripture, Āryadeva, who lived in the third century CE, wrote two śāstras (commentaries) to criticize the heretical views of Hīnayāna and Hindu philosophy mentioned in the sūtra. His two commentaries on the Laṅkāvatārasūtra are very useful in identifying the orthodoxy of the Sūtra within the context of Buddhism as well as its position to the Hindu philosophical systems.