LA?K?VAT?RA-S?TRA

The La?k?vat?ra-s?ra (Discourse on the Descent into La?ka) is a text in the Mah?y?na tradition, probably composed sometime around the fourth century c.e., that purports to be a teaching given by the Buddha on the island of Sri Lanka. The s?tra discusses a number of important Mah?y?na doctrines, including the nondifference of identity between sa?s?ra (or the cycle of rebirth) and nirv??a, and includes an entire chapter devoted to a denunciation of meat-eating. Its organization and presentation are haphazard, which has led a number of scholars to conclude that it is a compendium of heterogeneous materials that saw significant later interpolation. There are three extant Chinese (Lengqie abadolo bao jing) and two Tibetan (Lang Kar gShegs pa'i mdo) translations of the text, and one Sanskrit manuscript from Nepal, which was used by Buny? Nanjio in 1923 to construct a critical edition.

The La?k?vat?ra-s?ra is often associated with the Indian Yog?c?ra tradition because it discusses a number of basic doctrines associated with it, such as the LAN storehouse consciousness (?layavijÑ?na), the womb of the tath?gata (tath?gatagarbha), and mind-only (cittam?tra). However, the La?k?vat?ra-s?ra is not mentioned in the works of Yog?c?ra "founders" Asa?ga (ca. 320–ca. 390) or Vasubandhu (fourth century c.e.). It was far more influential in East Asia, and it played a prominent role in the development of the Chan tradition. Its importance in East Asia is attested by the fact that there are fifteen Chinese commentaries on it, the most important of which is by Fazang (643–712). It is also one of the nine core Mah?y?na texts (Navagrantha) of Newari Buddhism in Nepal.

See also:Chan School; Yog?c?ra School

Bibliography

Sutton, Florin G. Existence and Enlightenment in the La?k?vat?ra-s?ra: A Study in the Ontology and Epistemology of the Yog?c?ra School of Mah?y?na Buddhism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991.

Suzuki, Daisetz T., trans. La?k?vat?ra-s?ra (1932). Reprint, Boulder, CO: Prajñ? Press, 1978.

John Powers