Here are some of my translation bits from the Lankavatara Sutra. The title is a contraction of Lanka-avatara. Lanka is the place name, meaning the legendary island realm that is now the earthly Sri Lanka, and the Sanskrit word avatara has the meaning of "descent" or "going down," so it has the same sort of idiom expression as the English "going down the country."
The Sutra begins with a story about the Buddha going down to Lanka and the castle of the Naga King where many beings of many realms are assembled, including Ravana, Lord of the Rakshasas, who asks the Buddha for his teaching. Upon hearing the Buddha and experiencing the "turning around" of awareness at the seat the Lord of Lanka awakens to his own realization that everything in the whole universe is only the manifestation of mind (cittamatra). Then the Sutra transitions to the primary dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva-mahasattva Mahamati (Great Intelligence) who has the role of interlocutor to bring out the many perspectives and nuances of the realization of mind-only.
Here are some sections and bits I have translated from the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit made in the Song [of the
Southern Dynasty (420-479)] by the Indian Tripitaka
Gunabhadra in 4 Scrolls.
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Mahamati bodhisattva-mahasattva again addressed the Buddha declaring, “World Honored One, only resolve to articulate the characteristics of one’s own realization of noble knowing (arya-jnana) as well as the One Vehicle (Ekayana). If you articulate the characteristics of one’s own realization of noble knowing as well as the One Vehicle, then I, as well as the additional bodhisattvas, will be skilled at the characteristics of one’s own realization of noble knowing as well as the One Vehicle that does not come from another and will penetrate the Buddha Dharma.”
The Buddha told Mahamati, “Listen attentively; listen attentively, and ponder well! I shall articulate it for you.”
Mahamati addressed the Buddha declaring, “Yes, do so, and I will receive the teaching.”
The Buddha told Mahamati, “The previous sages actually knew and conveyed it to each other by handing it down, that the bifurcations have no nature. Bodhisattva-mahasattvas alone in a place of calm, by their own realization of observation that does not come from another, leave views and bifurcations behind to climb higher and higher, to progress, and to enter the ground of the Tathagata. This is called the characteristic of one’s own realization of noble knowing.
Mahamati, what is said to be the characteristic of the One Vehicle? To designate it: I articulate the One Vehicle to attain the realization of the Way of the One Vehicle. What is said to be the attainment of the realization of the Way of the One Vehicle? To designate it: the place of Suchness that does not give birth to the antithetical conceptualizations, such as the antithetical conceptualizations of containing and the contained, is called the realization of the One Vehicle.
Mahamati, of those who realize the One Vehicle, excepting only the Tathagatas, none of the others of the outside ways, of listener disciples, of conditionally enlightened ones, Brahma, the King of Heaven, and so forth, are able to attain it. For this reason the articulation is called the One Vehicle.”
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Mahamati, I articulate the mentally created Dharmabody as a signification of the Tathagata’s name. That which is that unborn is not this objective realm of all the outside paths, the listener-disciples, the conditionally realized ones, or Bodhisattvas of the [first] seven stages. Mahamati, that ‘unborn’ is exactly a different name of the Tathagata. . .
Mahamati, it may be there are within the multitude of beings those who know me as the Tathagata,
those who know me as the All Knowing One,
those who know me as the Buddha, the Awakened One,
those who know me as the Savior of the World,
those who know me as the Self Enlightened One,
those who know me as the Guiding Teacher
those who know me as the Broad Guide
those who know me as the All Guide
those who know me as the Ascetic (Rishi)
those who know me as Brahma,
those who know me as Vishnu,
those who know me as Ishvara, the Lord,
those who know me as the Supreme One, (pradhana)
those who know me as Kapila [an ancient sage (identified by some with Vishnu) founder of the Sāṅkhya philosophy]
those who know me as of the Culmination of Reality (Bhutakoti)
those who know me as the Moon,
those who know me as the Sun,
those who know me as Life,
those who know me as the Unborn,
those who know me as the Unextinguished,
those who know me as Emptiness
those who know me as Suchness,
those who know me as Truth,
those who know me as the Apex of the Real,
those who know me as the Dharma Nature
those who know me as Nirvana,
those who know me as Eternity,
those who know me as the Universal,
those who know me as the Nondual,
those who know me as the Signless,
those who know me as Liberation,
those who know me as the Way, and
those who know me as the Cognition-born.
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For those multitude of beings,
to destroy the various afflictions,
by knowing their superior and inferior roots
for [each of] them I articulate a gate for crossing over (a “paramita gate”).
The roots of faults and afflictions differ,
yet with all the kinds of Dharma,
I only articulate the Dharma of the One Vehicle,
this is the standard for the Great Vehicle.
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Mahamati Bodhisattva again
addressed the Buddha and declared, “World Honored One, as the World Honored One
articulates the fulfillment of the Six Paramitas (literally, ways of crossing over) so that the Buddhas become
correctly enlightened, what categories act as the six?”.
The Buddha told Mahamati, “The Paramitas have three kinds to be differentiated. They are designated the "mundane," the "transmundane," and the "superlatively transmundane.
“Mahamati, those which are the mundane Paramitas are the “I and mine” that actually accepts reckoning and actually accepts two-sided bifurcation in order to receive every kind of birthplace and the instances of ease in color, sound, fragrance, and touch by fulfilling Dana Paramita; likewise Morality (sila), Patience, Vigor, Meditation (dhyana-samadhi), and Wisdom (jnana-prajna). So it is, the spiritual fluency of ordinary people can reach birth in Brahma’s heaven.
“Mahamati, as for those which are the transmundane Paramitas, because the listener disciples (sravakas) and the conditionally enlightened (pratyekabuddha) fall into accepting nirvana they practice the Six Paramitas for the ease of oneself and the ease of nirvana.
“Those which are the superlatively transmundane Paramitas are so because by perceiving, as manifestations of one’s own mind, the antithetical conceptualization that measures what is received [from the senses] and arrives at the dualities of one’s own mind, they do not give birth to antithetical conceptions, in the various destinations what is received is not divided, and the characteristics of the forms of one’s own mind are not reckoned or attached to. Because it is for the peaceful ease of the multitude of beings, they give birth to the Paramita of Giving and arouse supreme skillful means (upaya).
“Namely, in relation to conditions the precept of not giving birth to antithetical conceptualizations is the Paramita of Morality (śīla-pāramitā).
“From the beginning, middle, and end of the night to diligently exert skillful means, to cultivate and practice in accord with skillful means, and to not give birth to antithetical conceptualizations is the Paramita of Vigor (vīryaparamita).
“To entirely extinguish the antithetical conceptualizations and not fall into accepting the nirvana of the listener-disciples is the Paramita of Meditation (dhyanaparamita).
“The absence of antithetical conceptualizations of one’s own
mind, to investigate knowing-wisdom, to not fall into bifurcations,
to overcome the turnings of former lives when not able to destroy them, and to
attain one’s own realization of the noble destination is the Paramita of Wisdom (prajnaparamita)."
