The Lankavatara Sutra: An Epitomized Version

by Dwight Goddard (Editor), D.T. Suzuki (Translation)

Said to contain the words of the Buddha on the nature of ultimate wisdom, the Lankavatara was influential in the general doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism, in particular Zen. Translated by D.T Suzuki and edited by Dwight Goddard, this epitomized version was intended to make the sutra more widely accessible.

Genres: Buddhism

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 11, 2014

About the author

American writer Dwight Goddard (1861-1939) studied at a monastery in Kyoto, Japan, for a year and was among the first Westerners to bring Zen Buddhism to the United States. His most famous book is The Buddhist Bible (1938).

Reviews

[Richard Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a colleague who lends me books like this, I think based on the fact that I have travelled in Buddhist countries and expressed some interest in the culture. Like many Buddhist texts this offers insights of wisdom. But it is wrapped up in much that is impenetrable for those like me who either aren't really educated in this kind of thinking or who can't be bothered to spend to much time pondering the words, and instead just read them. I think this is slightly more accessible for the lay reader than other texts, and the words, even when impenetrable do just flow over you. It's also very short at 102 pages.

One challenge is that much of the time it gives definitions and descriptions, but then implies you can't really understand them until you have reached a higher state of enlightenment. A state, I fear, I am not going to reach anytime soon.

There may be a brilliant book here, but I can only comment on my experience of reading it - 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

[Bruce Leeds · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t reward this publisher by buying the softcover or hardcover version of this book. The hardcover version is loaded with errors, and Monkfish Books evidently tried to correct the errors in the softcover version, but left out an entire paragraph from the original Goddard version on page 57.

It is a real pity about the softcover book, since it is a nice size, with good clear font. I wanted to have the Monkfish Book softcover version to carry around as a self-contained book rather than carrying Goddard’s huge A Buddhist Bible, but I ended up buying a used copy of the same text, which is called Self-Realization of Noble Wisdom, no longer in print unfortunately. That version does not have any missing text.

[Jughead · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent partial translation of the Lanka, done with the help of D. T. Suzuki. Serves as a nice introduction to the Lanka.