Status Updates From The Lankavatara Sutra: An E...

The lecture on Buddhism comes to a close by asserting that each term mentioned by the Blessed One is open to a form-and-formless interpretation yet there seems to be way too many distinctions about these unknowable aspepts such as Paramitss, Samadhis and Nirvana. Each is made into many parts, suggesting that what is known and revealed by the Blessed One remain hidden behind masks of the Buddha from other Buddhalands.

The Blessed One seems to be more and more on the offensive when answering Mahamati’s questions, as if the ignorant and stupid people will never learn the invaluable lessons about Nirvana, the Tathagata or any Buddhist teaching. All done, however, with Zen-like compassion that it almost seems like any clever fool must realize that everything one understands must prove incorrect before one gets a truer understanding.

The question of actual authorship notwithstanding, these insights from the distant path are surprisingly prescient and psychological. Like Commander Chakotay claims, “long before Jung invented active imagination” the insights presented in this dialogue makes one wonder if the Blessed One had really seen it all before completing the Nirvana escape while inspiring many to appreciate all aspects on this incarnation.