Buddha-nature (as Depicted in the Lankavatara-sutra)

by Nguyen Dac Sy | 2012 | 70,344 words

This page relates ‘Alayavijnana and Tathagatagarbha’ 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).

Among Mahāyāna scriptures, the Laṅkāvatārasūtra is the unique Sūtra that explicitly equates Tathāgatagarbha with Ālayavijñāna, while other texts such as the Śrīmālā Sūtra and the Ratnagotravibhāga only suggest an implicit adding to the Tathāgatagarbha by the Ālayavijñāna.

There are several places in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra where the Tathāgatagarbha is synonymous with Ālayavijñāna.

Mahāmati, the Tathāgatagarbha holds within it the cause for both good and evil, and by it all the forms of existence are produced. Because of the influence of habit-energy that has been accumulating variously by false reasoning since beginningless time, what here goes under the name of Ālayavijñāna is accompanied by the seven Vijñānas which give birth to a state known as the abode of ignorance. It is like a great ocean in which the waves roll on permanently but the [deeps remain unmoved; that is, the Ālaya] body itself subsists uninterruptedly, quite free from fault of impermanence, unconcerned with the doctrine of egosubstance, and thoroughly pure in its essential nature.”[1]

In this passage, the Tathāgatagarbha going under the name of Ālayavijñāna is considered as the essence which produces all forms of existence. The process that all forms of existence are created based on the storing ability of the Tathāgatagarbha and on the influence of the habitenergy accumulated by the wrong thinking from the beginningless time. It is worthy to mention here that although Tathāgatagarbha continuously holds within it the “cause for both good and evil”, i.e. seeds of mind, and bears the activity of habit-energy; the Tathāgatagarbha exists permanently, quite free from fault of impermanence, unconcerned with the doctrine of ego-substance, and thoroughly pure in its essential nature.

However, the Laṅkāvatārasūtra skillfully incorporates this inherent pure Tathāgatagarbha into the psychological scheme of the other seven consciousnesses.

The sūtra says:

As to the other seven Vijñānas beginning with the Manas and Manovijñāna, they have their rise and complete ending from moment to moment; they are born with false discrimination as cause, and with forms and appearances and objectivity as conditions which are intimately linked together; adhering to names and forms, they do not realise that objective individual forms are no more than what is seen of the Mind itself; they do not give exact information regarding pleasure and pain; they are not the cause of emancipation; by setting up names and forms which originate from greed, greed is begotten in turn, thus mutually conditioned and conditioning. When the sense-organs which seize [upon the objective world] are destroyed and annihilated, the other things immediately cease to function, and there is no recognition of pleasure and pain which are the self-discrimination of knowledge;thus there is the attainment of perfect tranquillisation in which thoughts and sensations are quieted, or there is the realisation of the four Dhyānas, in which truths of emancipation are well understood; whereupon the Yogins are led to cherish herein the notion of [true] emancipation, because of the not-rising [of the Vijñānas]. [But] when a revulsion [or turning-back] has not taken place in the Ālayavijñāna known under the name of Tathāgatagarbha, there is no cessation of the seven evolving Vijñānas.‖[2]

The paragraph explains very clearly all the rise and end of the system of consciousnesses. It also emphasizes on the state of revulsion which if it has not taken place in the Ālayavijñāna known under the name of Tathāgatagarbha, there is no cessation of the seven evolving Vijñānas, no enlightenment and no liberation. Revulsion (āśrayaparāvṛtti; zhuanyi) or abrupt transformation in mind is like the state of sudden enlightenment (dunwu) or seeing into real nature (jianxing) in Chan Buddhism. It takes place once when the mind has cleared of adventitious impurities and the Buddha-nature reveals. Chan Buddhism appeared in China in the sixth century CE when Bodhidharma, the founder of this school, came to this country in 520 CE.[3]

Thought and practice of Chan Buddhism can be summarized in the following verses attributed to Bodhidharma:

A special transmission outside the scriptures; (教外別傳)
No dependence upon words and letters; (不立文字)
Direct pointing to the human mind; (直指人心)
Seeing into one‘s own nature and attaining Buddhahood. (見性成佛)[4]

Chan becomes easy to understand because of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra. By identifying the Tathāgatagarbha or the Buddha-nature with the Ālayavijñāna, the Laṅkāvatārasūtra gives Chan an evidence that in the human mind there is the Buddha-nature. So just directly pointing to the human mind and seeing into the nature of human mind, the Buddha-nature is realized and the Buddhahood is attained. Therefore, it is said that Bodhidharma handed the copy of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra in four fasciculi to his first disciple Hui-ke with saying, “As I observe, there are no other sūtras in China but this, you take it for your guidance, and you will naturally save the world.” By the non-existence of other sūtras, Bodhidharma evidently meant that there was at that time no sūtra other than the Laṅkāvatārasūtra in China, which would serve as a guide-book for the followers of Chan Buddhism.2

Although the Tathāgatagarbha is the inherent essence within human mind, it is not easy to realize. Only the great Bodhisattva can understand and comprehend it clear because Tathāgatagarbha or Ālayavijñāna is the inconceivable state of nondualism and no-self which cannot attain through the letters of the canonical texts.

The sūtra writes:

“For this reason, Mahāmati, let those Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas who are seeking after the exalted truth effect the purification of the Tathāgatagarbha which is known as Ālayavijñāna.[5]

“Mahāmati, if you say that there is no Tathāgatagarbha known as Ālayavijñāna, there will be neither the rising nor the disappearing [of an external world of multiplicities] in the absence of the Tathāgatagarbha known as Ālayavijñāna.[6]

Thus, the union of Ālayavijñāna with Tathāgatagarbha established the important position of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra in thought and practice of Chan Buddhism in particular and of Mahāyāna Buddhism in general. The ontic status as essentially original pure mind of the Ālayavijñāna is considered as the essence of living beings. The Tathāgatagarbha as inherently bright and pure, fundamentally undefiled and endowed with the Buddha‘s qualities which are hidden in the body of every being like a gem seen as a stone through greed, anger, illusion, and false imagination. The Tathāgatagarbha is not defiled by the Vijñānas, but the evolution of the Vijñānas is depending on Tathāgatagarbha, like waves and the ocean. This relationship does not belong to the realm of the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and the heretic philosophers.

The Laṅkāvatārasūtra finally refers to the Śrīmālā Sūtra to explain the reason why the Buddha teaches the identification of Tathāgatagarbha and Ālayavijñāna.

This, Mahāmati, was told by me in the canonical text relating to Queen Śrīmālā, and in another where the Bodhisattvas, endowed with subtle, fine, pure knowledge, are supported [by my spiritual powers]—that the Tathāgatagarbha known as Ālayavijñāna evolves together with the seven Vijñānas. This is meant for the Śrāvakas who are not free from attachment, to make them see into the egolessness of things; and for Queen Śrīmālā to whom the Buddha‘s spiritual power was added, the [pure] realm of Tathagatahood was expounded. This does not belong to the realm of speculation as it is carried on by the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and other philosophers, except, Mahāmati, that this realm of Tathagatahood which is the realm of the Tathāgata-garbha-ālayavijñāna is meant for those Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas who like you are endowed with subtle, fine, penetrating thought-power and whose understanding is in accordance with the meaning; and it is not for others, such as philosophers, Śrāvakas, and Pratyekabuddhas, who are attached to the letters of the canonical texts. For this reason, Mahāmati, let you and other Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas discipline yourselves in the realm of Tathagatahood, in the understanding of this Tathāgatagarbha-ālayavijñāna, so that you may not rest contented with mere learning.[7]

Thus, according to this quotation, there are two reasons that the Buddha teaches the identification of Tathāgatagarbha and Ālayavijñāna, that is (1) to help philosophers, Śrāvakas, and Pratyekabuddhas see into the egolessness of things and (2) to expose them the pure realm of the Tathagatahood. These ideas will be presented in the following sections.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra, p. 190 (Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra, p. 220)

[2]:

Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra, p. 191 (Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra, p. 221)

[3]:

Kenneth K. Saṃyuttanikāya. Chen, Buddhism in China, p. 351.

[4]:

Dīghanikāya.Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011). Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 1762 Studies in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, p. 45.

[5]:

Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra, p. 192 (Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra, p. 222)

[6]:

Ibid.

[7]:

Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra, p. 192 (Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra, p. 223)

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