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The Lankavatara Sutra: Translation and Commentary
Having translated The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra, and following with The Platform Sutra, Red Pine now turns his attention to perhaps the greatest Sutra of all. The Lankavatara Sutra is the holy grail of Zen. Zen’s first patriarch, Bodhidharma, gave a copy of this text to his successor, Hui-k’o, and told him everything he needed to know was in this book. Passed down from teacher to student ever since, this is the only Zen sutra ever spoken by the Buddha. Although it covers all the major teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, it contains but two teachings: that everything we perceive as being real is nothing but the perceptions of our own mind and that the knowledge of this is something that must be realized and experienced for oneself and cannot be expressed in words. In the words of Chinese Zen masters, these two teachings became known as “have a cup of tea” and “taste the tea.”
This is the first translation into English of the original text used by Bodhidharma, which was the Chinese translation made by Gunabhadra in 443 and upon which all Chinese Zen masters have relied ever since. In addition to presenting one of the most difficult of all Buddhist texts in clear English, Red Pine has also added summaries, explanations, and notes, including relevant Sanskrit terms on the basis of which the Chinese translation was made. This promises to become an essential text for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding or knowledge of Zen.
This is the first translation into English of the original text used by Bodhidharma, which was the Chinese translation made by Gunabhadra in 443 and upon which all Chinese Zen masters have relied ever since. In addition to presenting one of the most difficult of all Buddhist texts in clear English, Red Pine has also added summaries, explanations, and notes, including relevant Sanskrit terms on the basis of which the Chinese translation was made. This promises to become an essential text for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding or knowledge of Zen.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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573 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 14, 2025
This was another translation of Buddhism by Red Pine. This individual has created another analysis and commentary on a sutra about achieving spiritual heightening, knowledge, and self-actualization. The text was a conversation between Buddha and Mahamati and the path to self-actualization. I have come to enjoy reading these sutras and they way these are arranged and published. I would recommend this to anyone interested in Buddhism. Thanks!
May 29, 2022
A great introduction to the Lankavatara Sutra. Lots of notes and consistent with RP's previous work. I don't think it will replace Suzuki Daisetzu's translation because SD has another volume (Studies in the Lanka) that could almost be the 2nd volume of his translation. In the '2nd volume' he provides what's needed to thoroughly grasp this sutra.
July 17, 2014
It is a good thing that I love tea.
January 27, 2013
Red Pine has invited the reader in to a deeper connection of the Buddhas teachings without telling the reader what to think or pursue in their own unfolding of consciousness. Excellent resource for the philosophy student as well as the novice.
December 3, 2021
According to the Translator's Preface of this book, "Zen traces its genesis to one day around 400 B.C when the Buddha held up a flower and a monk named Kashyapa smiled." (p.1) In this quote, it states how Zen traces back to 400 B.C. when Buddha held up a flower and Kashyapa smiled.
Moreover on the next page of the book, it mentions how the title of the book contains a combination of "lanka" and "avatara" Moreover on page 2 it states; "Chinese commentators say lanka means "unreachable Maybe it does, but I don't know what they base this on. The only definition I can find is that the word refers to the island we now call Sri Lanka... which mean "to go to" or "to go beyond." But if that were true, it would be "reachable." (p. 2) Chinese commentators say lanka means unreachable. However further interpretations mean to go to, which suggests that lanka means reachable; another interpretation is that it originates from an island.
Further on down the line in the translators preface on p. 15 it states "Of course, the Lanka consists in more than these two phrases. But if you keep these two in view, you won't be distracted by the attractions of the Buddha's teahouse. Written in language that would later become part of the Yogacara school of Buddhism, the Lanka provides a view of how the mind works and how the path to enlightenment works."
On the same page it later sates; "The five dharmas divide our worlds into name, appearance, projection, correct knowledge, and suchness; the three modes of reality do the same with imagined reality, dependent reality, and perfected reality; and the eight forms of consciousness include the five forms of sensory consciousness, conceptual consciousness, the will or self consciousness, and an eighth form, known as repository consciousness where the seeds from our previous thoughts, words and deeds are stored and from which they sprout and grow." (p.15-16)
What does this mean? When you name something you are defining it. When God commanded Adam to multiply and be fruitful, he also suggested for him to name the animals of which he claimed. Naming something is like giving a generality of definitions towards one definition. Appearance is only that, an appearance. We never see the object in full but only part of an object. And imagined reality can go back to reality vs illusion. A quote on page 31 can help us with this analysis;
"The Lord of Lanka felt an awakening and transformation of his consciousness, as he realized what appeared was nothing but the perceptions of his own mind, and he found himself in a realm free from such projections."
However it is important to remember, as it suggests in p.61 that this is all in the formation of the mind.
"A statement about birth is about no birth. A statement about permanence is about no permanence." It goes on like that for different terms but you get the idea. What is, is its opposite. A statement about birth negates itself. It is all an illusion, because as the mind perceives the world in a solipsistic sense.
The Lankavatara Sutra translated by Red Pine is a thoughtful, engaging text both for the serious scholar of Buddhism and also for the weary traveler of Buddhism. Ancient texts contain great meaning that only matters if we gain meaning and understanding from them.
Moreover on the next page of the book, it mentions how the title of the book contains a combination of "lanka" and "avatara" Moreover on page 2 it states; "Chinese commentators say lanka means "unreachable Maybe it does, but I don't know what they base this on. The only definition I can find is that the word refers to the island we now call Sri Lanka... which mean "to go to" or "to go beyond." But if that were true, it would be "reachable." (p. 2) Chinese commentators say lanka means unreachable. However further interpretations mean to go to, which suggests that lanka means reachable; another interpretation is that it originates from an island.
Further on down the line in the translators preface on p. 15 it states "Of course, the Lanka consists in more than these two phrases. But if you keep these two in view, you won't be distracted by the attractions of the Buddha's teahouse. Written in language that would later become part of the Yogacara school of Buddhism, the Lanka provides a view of how the mind works and how the path to enlightenment works."
On the same page it later sates; "The five dharmas divide our worlds into name, appearance, projection, correct knowledge, and suchness; the three modes of reality do the same with imagined reality, dependent reality, and perfected reality; and the eight forms of consciousness include the five forms of sensory consciousness, conceptual consciousness, the will or self consciousness, and an eighth form, known as repository consciousness where the seeds from our previous thoughts, words and deeds are stored and from which they sprout and grow." (p.15-16)
What does this mean? When you name something you are defining it. When God commanded Adam to multiply and be fruitful, he also suggested for him to name the animals of which he claimed. Naming something is like giving a generality of definitions towards one definition. Appearance is only that, an appearance. We never see the object in full but only part of an object. And imagined reality can go back to reality vs illusion. A quote on page 31 can help us with this analysis;
"The Lord of Lanka felt an awakening and transformation of his consciousness, as he realized what appeared was nothing but the perceptions of his own mind, and he found himself in a realm free from such projections."
However it is important to remember, as it suggests in p.61 that this is all in the formation of the mind.
"A statement about birth is about no birth. A statement about permanence is about no permanence." It goes on like that for different terms but you get the idea. What is, is its opposite. A statement about birth negates itself. It is all an illusion, because as the mind perceives the world in a solipsistic sense.
The Lankavatara Sutra translated by Red Pine is a thoughtful, engaging text both for the serious scholar of Buddhism and also for the weary traveler of Buddhism. Ancient texts contain great meaning that only matters if we gain meaning and understanding from them.
February 26, 2018
I can't help but feel very skeptical of major aspects of the Lankavatara Sutra from a Marxist viewpoint. The central message of the Lankavatara Sutra, and of the Yogacara School as a whole, is that reality is essentially an illusion created by the mind. And yet we see experientially in the world that, in the dialectic between mind and matter, matter is the decisive force. It's certainly possible that the world is an illusion generated by our perceptions, but given the vast amount of evidence to the contrary, it's unlikely.
Given the illusory character of reality, the Lankavatara Sutra posits a middle way between essentialism and nihilism. According to the text, the Buddha's wisdom recognizes that the world does not exist. But the Buddha's compassion recognizes that the world does not not exist. We may compare this to a statement given in the first chapter of the Daodejing: "Always rid yourself of desires in order to observe its [the Dao's] secrets / But always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations." This seems compelling and ties into a sort of dialectical way of thinking about difference and unity. The Buddha likens phenomena to the ocean and its waves. According to the Buddha, there are both no distinctions and not no distinctions between the ocean and its waves; they are both the interpenetrating and yet distinct. This is similar to Fazang's commentary on the Flower Ornament Sutra. And 1200 years before Deleuze.
And yet I can't help, as a Marxist, but think about the political implications. Buddhism has its root (if I may generalize for a second) individual cultivation of a certain kind of wisdom about the nature (or non-nature) of things. So there is essentially no political element. When Mahamati asks about power and wealth and kings, the Buddha cryptically replies, "A statement about kings is about no kings." And yet, in Mahayana Buddhism, there is the element of the bodhisattva, who forgoes enlightenment in order to assist others in their own paths to enlightenment. Here comes a political element in the form of compassion. Yet what would a politics based on compassion look like? Certainly we can make a link to Deleuze and Guattari's suggestion of revolutionary politics based on the process of de-individuation. And yet, the Lankavatara Sutra has no answer for if one considers the exploitative nature of class society. Does compassion for all living beings lead to ultimate nonviolence and a rejection of revolutionary politics, or does compassion for the many outweigh compassion for the few, opening up the potential for revolutionary politics? The text would seem to lean towards the latter, which is a position that fundamentally reproduces class society.
Given the illusory character of reality, the Lankavatara Sutra posits a middle way between essentialism and nihilism. According to the text, the Buddha's wisdom recognizes that the world does not exist. But the Buddha's compassion recognizes that the world does not not exist. We may compare this to a statement given in the first chapter of the Daodejing: "Always rid yourself of desires in order to observe its [the Dao's] secrets / But always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations." This seems compelling and ties into a sort of dialectical way of thinking about difference and unity. The Buddha likens phenomena to the ocean and its waves. According to the Buddha, there are both no distinctions and not no distinctions between the ocean and its waves; they are both the interpenetrating and yet distinct. This is similar to Fazang's commentary on the Flower Ornament Sutra. And 1200 years before Deleuze.
And yet I can't help, as a Marxist, but think about the political implications. Buddhism has its root (if I may generalize for a second) individual cultivation of a certain kind of wisdom about the nature (or non-nature) of things. So there is essentially no political element. When Mahamati asks about power and wealth and kings, the Buddha cryptically replies, "A statement about kings is about no kings." And yet, in Mahayana Buddhism, there is the element of the bodhisattva, who forgoes enlightenment in order to assist others in their own paths to enlightenment. Here comes a political element in the form of compassion. Yet what would a politics based on compassion look like? Certainly we can make a link to Deleuze and Guattari's suggestion of revolutionary politics based on the process of de-individuation. And yet, the Lankavatara Sutra has no answer for if one considers the exploitative nature of class society. Does compassion for all living beings lead to ultimate nonviolence and a rejection of revolutionary politics, or does compassion for the many outweigh compassion for the few, opening up the potential for revolutionary politics? The text would seem to lean towards the latter, which is a position that fundamentally reproduces class society.
September 12, 2020
The Lankavatara Sutra is an investigation into reality as we perceive it. The Sutra attempts to point to an ultimate reality (bhutakoti) from within our perceived reality. Many who read this book will get caught on the thing doing the pointing (the sutra) and not the thing itself (bhutakoti) because the text is attempting to describe an ungraspable and unteachable thing.
The evasiveness of the concept makes the Sutra a necessarily difficult read. I do not believe it is a good place to start for curious philosophers or nascent Buddhists. However, it offers a tremendous amount for the prepared mind and Red Pine's footnotes are invaluable.
Neither the Sutra nor the translator are afraid of repeating themselves. This was tremendously helpful for me. For example, consider the attributes of knowledge - how learning changes the way we act and think. The Lankavatara Sutra claims that fully embodying the Dharma has no attributes nor does it not have no attributes. It's pretty confusing. The "third way" - the path between having no attributes and having attributes - appears throughout the Lankavatara Sutra. The Buddha points out the frivolity of the distinction through analogy. Pieces of the ocean cannot be sliced into distinct sections and yet the ocean's wave are a distinct phenomenon with no clear beginning or end.
This is just one such analogy that appears in many different forms with many different contexts. I can't say that I live in a world full of rich emptiness after reading this Sutra, but I can say it has helped me enjoy a cup of tea.
The evasiveness of the concept makes the Sutra a necessarily difficult read. I do not believe it is a good place to start for curious philosophers or nascent Buddhists. However, it offers a tremendous amount for the prepared mind and Red Pine's footnotes are invaluable.
Neither the Sutra nor the translator are afraid of repeating themselves. This was tremendously helpful for me. For example, consider the attributes of knowledge - how learning changes the way we act and think. The Lankavatara Sutra claims that fully embodying the Dharma has no attributes nor does it not have no attributes. It's pretty confusing. The "third way" - the path between having no attributes and having attributes - appears throughout the Lankavatara Sutra. The Buddha points out the frivolity of the distinction through analogy. Pieces of the ocean cannot be sliced into distinct sections and yet the ocean's wave are a distinct phenomenon with no clear beginning or end.
This is just one such analogy that appears in many different forms with many different contexts. I can't say that I live in a world full of rich emptiness after reading this Sutra, but I can say it has helped me enjoy a cup of tea.
August 8, 2017
Splendido sutra sui concetti fondamentali buddhisti. Ha risposto a molte delle mie domande su questa dottrina: se esiste il se', cos'è il Nirvana e l'Illuminazione; cos'è e cosa ne impedisce il raggiungimento; cos'è la coscienza e il Samsara. All' inizio ho trovato il modo di argomentare molto complesso, ma successivamente l'ho apprezzato, pur avendo richiesto una buona dose di pazienza e determinazione per procedere. È senz'altro un testo fondamentale per chi vuole comprendere la teoria buddhista Mahayana della Realizzazione. La sua lettura mi ha veramente soddisfatta, tanto che sarò stimolata a rileggerlo in un prossimo futuro. L'autore ha corredato il libro di una ottima introduzione, di utilissime e chiare note a fine pagina, e di un glossario fine testo. Tutto questo mi ha permesso di affrontare con comprensione il sutra che di per sè è abbastanza difficile, esprimendo concetti non usuali per noi occidentali.
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June 6, 2020The tragedy of Buddhism is that in striving to 'go beyond' metaphysical and mythical thinking ('gone, gone, gone beyond going, there lies awakening' as the better-known Heart Sutra proclaims), it nevertheless cannot resist attempting to close the 'linguistic loop' laid bare by any rejection of metaphysics. The 'nothingness of nothingness' is the essence of this attempt. However, it seems to me that closing the 'linguistic loop' can never be achieved as long as thinking means wording; every attempt at 'going beyond' while also telling the tale of that 'going beyond' is bound to end up in a sophistic endless regression and ultimately in failure. No one who has taken on the challenge of turning language back on itself to reveal the 'unspeakable' - from Nagarjuna to Wittgenstein - has escaped this trap. And yet there is desperate and moving poetry in a lot of these attempts at 'going beyond' and I would argue that that is the standard by which they should be judged, not their failure to convey the unconveyable. The Lankavatara occasionally works as poetry (although RP's translation is more stultifying and academic than in his Bodhidharma book for example; perhaps no fault of his own) but it is unapologetically a ritualistic (as well as religious) text, unconcerned with style or aesthetics.
July 13, 2024
Se Il Sutra del Diamante e il Sutra del Cuore sono l’essenza distillata dello Zen nella sua forma più pura, Il Lankavatara Sutra scava fino alle sue fondamenta.
Là dove il Sutra del Diamante offre un immediato risveglio, il Lankavatara Sutra scolpisce.
Lettura imprescindibile per quanto certamente più complessa. La traduzione di Red Pine mi sembra cristallina e accompagna approfonditamente nella lettura.
Sono contento di averlo letto con più maturità e solo successivamente al Sutra del Diamante, per quanto precedente. Forse non avrei saputo approcciarlo alla stessa maniera di oggi.
Là dove il Sutra del Diamante offre un immediato risveglio, il Lankavatara Sutra scolpisce.
Lettura imprescindibile per quanto certamente più complessa. La traduzione di Red Pine mi sembra cristallina e accompagna approfonditamente nella lettura.
Sono contento di averlo letto con più maturità e solo successivamente al Sutra del Diamante, per quanto precedente. Forse non avrei saputo approcciarlo alla stessa maniera di oggi.
February 11, 2020
If you read this type of thing much you won’t be surprised by the frequent repetitions and pretzel logic. Red Pine’s lucid translation and extensive notes probably make this English version of the sutra as clear as it could ever be, but it would take something along the lines of cosmic intervention to turn it into an enjoyable read.
June 1, 2020
È il testo base da cui partire per indagare sulle origini dello Zen. È forse anche il più difficile da comprendere semplicemente leggendolo. Il traduttore fa capire bene l’impresa ardua a cui si è sottoposto citando le varie fonti e relative opinioni dei traduttori cinesi.
August 19, 2023
Well this was challenging! The Lankavatara Sutra's statement that nothing is real and everything is a projection seems simple at first, but becomes complicated after exploring it for 200+ pages. I found Red Pine's commentary to be helpful.
August 29, 2024
Great translation/commentary, as always with Red Pine.
It took a while to get into the flow of it but each section builds towards future sections, most ideas are explained multiple times from different angles
It took a while to get into the flow of it but each section builds towards future sections, most ideas are explained multiple times from different angles
April 14, 2019
I'm not sure about Red Pine's commentary.
January 18, 2020
Anything Bill “Red Pine” Porter translates is worth reading.
July 26, 2020
This is Zen.
August 24, 2021
A storehouse of wisdom
This Sutra was the only Sutra that Bodhidharma brought with him from India to China. It is a storehouse of wisdom for anyone treading the bodhisattva path.
This Sutra was the only Sutra that Bodhidharma brought with him from India to China. It is a storehouse of wisdom for anyone treading the bodhisattva path.
September 10, 2021
An otherwise esoteric Zen Sutra made accessible by Red Pine's wonderful translation and fantastic footnotes.
Definitely one to read slowly and carefully for spiritual and Zen practitioners alike.
Definitely one to read slowly and carefully for spiritual and Zen practitioners alike.
June 21, 2022
Extremely difficult, but extremely valuable.
March 27, 2023
Very hard text to read but a foundational text nevertheless.
March 28, 2024
Great author & translator. Great book for anyone studying Buddhism.
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August 26, 2025"This is a difficult paragraph in any language, and all three Chinese translations differ quite a bit, as does the Sanskrit. I've followed Gunabhadra, I think."
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