Lankavatara Sutra: Four Practices

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Bodhidharma is said to have used the Lankavatara Sutra himself and then passed it on to Huike saying:

I have here the Lankavatara in four fascicles which I now pass to you. It contains the essential teaching concerning the mind-ground of the Tathagata, by means of which you lead all sentient beings to the truth of Buddhism.

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Here are the four practices that it recommends:

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There are four practices the mastery of which enables bodhisattvas to become great practitioners. And which four? Becoming adept at distinguishing the perceptions of one's own mind, perceiving the nonexistence of external existence, avoiding views of arising, duration, and cessation. And delighting in the personal realization of buddha knowledge. These are the four practices the mastery of which enables bodhisattvas to become great practitioners.

And how do bodhisattvas become adept at distinguishing the perceptions of their own minds? They regard the three realms like this: as merely distinctions of the mind, devoid of a self and what belongs to a self, as motionless and free from coming or going, the result of the habit-energy of erroneous fabrications without beginning, and the various forms and phenomena of the three realms involving their body, their possessions, and the world around them as perceptions of those fabrications. This is how bodhisattvas become adept at distinguishing the perceptions of their own minds.

And how do bodhisattvas become adept at perceiving the nonexistence of external existence? Since everything is a dream or mirage, they regard the self-existence of everything that exists as the result of the habit-energy of erroneous projections without beginning. This is how bodhisattvas become adept at perceiving the nonexistence of external existence.

And how do bodhisattvas become adept at avoiding views of arising, duration, and cessation? Since whatever exists is like an illusion or a dream and its existence does not arise from itself, from another, or from a combination of both, but as a distinction of one's own mind, they therefore see external existence as nonexistent, consciousness as not arising, and conditions as not combining but arising due to projections. When they see that all internal or external harms in the three realms cannot be grasped and are devoid of self-existence, their views of arising cease. And once they know that the self-existence of everything is illusory, they attain the forbearance of non-arising, they avoid views of arising, duration, and cessation. This is how bodhisattvas become adept at distinguishing and avoiding views of arising, duration and cessation.

And how do bodhisattvas become adept at delighting in the personal realization of buddha knowledge? Upon attaining the forbearance of non-arising, they dwell at the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path, where they are able to transcend characteristics of the mind, will and consciousness, the five dharmas, the modes of reality and the two kinds of no-self, and where they acquire a projection body.

-- Lankavatara Sutra Red Pine Translation

Submitted June 04, 2019 at 01:49AM by Nimtrix1849 http://bit.ly/2IapIOg