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楞伽阿跋多羅寶經

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Text ID
KR6i0327
Date
443–443
Dynasty
劉宋

Léngqiéābáduōluó bǎo jīng 楞伽阿跋多羅寶經

Treasure Sūtra of the Descent into Laṅkā (Skt. Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra) translated by 求那跋陀羅 (Qiúnàbátuóluó / Guṇabhadra, 譯)

About the work

T670 in four fascicles is the earliest of three extant Chinese translations of the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra, completed by 求那跋陀羅 in the Liú-Sòng capital Jiànkāng. The text is one of the foundational sūtras of East Asian Mahāyāna doctrine: it brings together Yogācāra epistemology (the ālayavijñāna and its eight-consciousness model), tathāgatagarbha doctrine (the identity of ālayavijñāna and tathāgatagarbha), and a critique of philosophical realism via the doctrine of cittamātra (mind-only). T670 is also the founding text of the Chinese Chán 禪 tradition: Bodhidharma 菩提達摩 is reported to have transmitted T670 to his disciple Huìkě 慧可 as the doctrinal seal of the East Asian Chán lineage, the so-called “Laṅkāvatāra masters” (楞伽師) being the first generations of the Chán school.

Prefaces

The Taishō text preserves a Sòng-period preface by Jiǎng Zhīqí 蔣之奇 (1031–1104), Cháoyìdàfū 朝議大夫 and Zhí Lóngtúgé 直龍圖閣 (Imperial Library), prepared for a major Sòng printing of the sūtra. Jiǎng’s preface frames the Laṅkāvatāra programme of “consciousness-only” and “the seal of the Buddha-mind”, and stresses its centrality to the Chán school’s lineage-claim. The preface’s date is not preserved in the body of T670, but Jiǎng Zhīqí’s other writings allow us to date it to the late 1080s or 1090s.

Abstract

The translation is unanimously ascribed to 求那跋陀羅 (Guṇabhadra, 394–468). The date is precisely fixed by the colophon and the Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集 (T2145) at Yuánjiā 元嘉 20 (443), at the Dàochǎngsì 道場寺 in Jiànkāng. The translation team included Bǎoyún 寶雲 (the principal scribe) and disciples whose names are preserved in the Gāosēng zhuàn (T2059, 344b).

T670 is the most concise of the three Chinese versions (cf. T671 of 菩提流支 in 10 fascicles and T672 of 實叉難陀 in 7 fascicles), but in some respects the most influential. Its compactness made it the preferred recitation text in Chán circles, and it was glossed by 宗泐 / 如玘 in the early Ming (T1789) as the basis for renewed Chán study of the sūtra. The Sanskrit Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra is preserved in editions by Nanjio (1923) and the Vaidya/Suzuki critical edition; comparison shows that T670 corresponds to a recension lacking the long verse “Sagāthaka” appendix that survives in the Sanskrit and in T671.

Structural Division

T670 is divided into four chapters in four fascicles, each chapter occupying one juan: 一切佛語心品 (All-Buddhas-Speech-of-Mind) — the same title repeated four times with the suffix 第一 / 第二 / 第三 / 第四. This single-title chapter structure is a notable feature of the Guṇabhadra recension and contrasts sharply with the eighteen chapters of T671 and the ten of T672.

Related canonical texts: KR6i0328 (入楞伽經 / T671), KR6i0329 (大乘入楞伽經 / T672); commentary KR6i0332 (楞伽阿跋多羅寶經註解 / T1789).

Translations and research

  • Suzuki, D. T. The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1932. The classic English translation, made primarily from the Sanskrit but with constant reference to T670.
  • Suzuki, D. T. Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1930.
  • Red Pine [Bill Porter]. The Lankavatara Sutra: Translation and Commentary. Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2012. Translation of T670 (Guṇabhadra).
  • Sutton, Florin G. Existence and Enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. Albany: SUNY, 1991. Doctrinal study.
  • Takasaki Jikidō 高崎直道. Ryōgakyō 楞伽経. Bukkyō Daizōkyō 25. Tokyo: Daizō Shuppan, 1980.
  • McRae, John R. The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch’an Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986. The foundational study of the Laṅkāvatāra-school in early Chán.

Other points of interest

T670 is the source-text for two of the most famous doctrinal sets in East Asian Mahāyāna: (i) the eight-consciousness scheme of the ālayavijñāna and the seven pravṛtti-vijñānas; and (ii) the fivefold dharma (五法), the threefold nature (三性 / tri-svabhāva), the eightfold consciousness (八識), and the twofold non-self (二無我) — the doctrinal infrastructure of Chinese Yogācāra. The sūtra’s chapter on prohibiting meat-eating (《遮食肉品》, present in T671 and T672 but partially in T670) became the scriptural foundation of East Asian monastic vegetarianism.

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