Lankavatara Sutra (D.T. Suzuki)
The Invasion of Buddhism by Samkhya
[My 4-star Amazon review of “Lankavara Sutra: A Mahayana Text” by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki.]
I'm going to begin this review by suggesting that readers also check out my (two-star) review of Red Pine's "Lankavatara Sutra" to get a more complete picture of this important Mahayana text. Although D.T. Suzuki's text has flaws, at least he, in contrast to Red Pine, understands the essential points in this text - that it is all about Mind (the Alaya, the Unborn Substratum), that this Mind is a metaphysical substance, and that the world is the objectification, or manifestation, of this Mind. This point of view, called "cittamatra" (or Consciousness-only), is in diametrical opposition to Red Pine's point of view, called "vijnaptimatra," which is that the world is nothing but ideas, with no Reality or realities behind them, and that all "dharmas" (or things) are mere mental projections, or cognitions, or representations, of one's individual mind.
The Lankavatara Sutra is a hybrid, or mishmash, of three different schools: Yogacara, Madhyamika, and Samkhya, which is the yoga philosophy of Patanjali. If you really want to understand the Lankavatara Sutra, you need to study Patanjali, and the text I recommend for this is "Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali" by Swami Hariharananda Aranya. To anyone who has has studied Patanjali and Advaita Vedanta, it is obvious that the Mind that the Blessed One (or Buddha) discourses on in the Lankavatara Sutra is the same Metaphysical "Substance" as the Self, or Atman, or Siva. In fact, throughout this "Hinduized" text, awakening to, and as, Mind is equated to Self-realization, which is a synonym for Nirvana, or Buddhahhood.
The Lankavatara Sutra is not an easy, amenable read. It is, as Buddhist scholar Edward Conze puts it, "an unwieldy system of viewpoints, paths, and categories, explained in difficult technical terminology." It is convoluted, repetitious, replete with contradictions, and flies off on speculative metaphysical tangents that have no bearing on the central theme of Mind-realization. A major reason for the contradictions is that the text is the work of more than one author, at differerent times. For example, as Suzuki points out, the section against meat eating is clearly a later addition to the root text, and was added to mitigate criticism against Buddhism for condoning flesh consumption.
A major problem with this text is that it briefly mentions, but fails to elaborate and integrate, important elements of the Buddhahood project, such as baptism and the Dharmamegha (or Dharma Cloud). A couple times in the text, the Blessed One, in a sentence, mentions Buddhas baptizing Bodhisattvas, but nothing more is said, and no details are provided, about this Spirit (or Shakti)-transmission.
The Blessed One equates Mind Awakening with the Tenth or final stage of Buddhahood, known as the Great Dharmamegha. This is likewise the final stage of Self-realization in Patanjali's Yoga system; hence Buddhism coincides with Hindu yoga at this point.
What is the Dharmamegha? Although I'm not a fan of the late Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), he summarizes it nicely: "Dharmamegha means that the Self-nature has started showering you, and you yourself become bathed in it, drown in it."
In the Lankavatara Sutra, the Blessed one describes the Bodhisattva's final stage thus: "Going through the successive stage of Bodhisattvahood, he finally reached the state of the Dharma Cloud [Dharmamegha]."
To the spiritual cognoscenti, The Dharmamegha (or Dharma Cloud) is the unobstructed descent of Anugraha Shakti, or the Holy Spirit, or the Sambhogakaya: the Blessing/Blissing Power that makes a Buddha a Blessed One. When this Clear-Light Energy unites with contracted Mind or Siva (mano-vijnana and klista-manas, which Suzuki improperly designates as just "manas") in the Tathagatagarbha (the womb of the Buddhas, which is akin to the Hindu Heart-cave, or "Hridayam"), then Mind shines freely as Bodhicitta, or Siva-Shakti, or Cit-Ananda.
If you really want to deeply grok the Lankavatara Sutra, you will have to expand your spiritual horizons beyond Madhyamika and Zen, and in addition to Patanjali, also study Dzogchen, Hindu Kashmir Shaivism, Ramana Maharshi's esoteric teachings, and Adi Da's Daism.
A final point: In this text, the Blessed One repeatedly depicts people as "ignorant, "stupid" and "simple minded." But we now live in a dumbed-down, politically correct world, and when I do this in my Amazon reviews, I catch hell. If you don't believe me, check out the reactions (comments and negative votes) to my review of Red Pine's "Lankavatara Sutra."
[My 4-star Amazon review of “Lankavara Sutra: A Mahayana Text” by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki.]
I'm going to begin this review by suggesting that readers also check out my (two-star) review of Red Pine's "Lankavatara Sutra" to get a more complete picture of this important Mahayana text. Although D.T. Suzuki's text has flaws, at least he, in contrast to Red Pine, understands the essential points in this text - that it is all about Mind (the Alaya, the Unborn Substratum), that this Mind is a metaphysical substance, and that the world is the objectification, or manifestation, of this Mind. This point of view, called "cittamatra" (or Consciousness-only), is in diametrical opposition to Red Pine's point of view, called "vijnaptimatra," which is that the world is nothing but ideas, with no Reality or realities behind them, and that all "dharmas" (or things) are mere mental projections, or cognitions, or representations, of one's individual mind.
The Lankavatara Sutra is a hybrid, or mishmash, of three different schools: Yogacara, Madhyamika, and Samkhya, which is the yoga philosophy of Patanjali. If you really want to understand the Lankavatara Sutra, you need to study Patanjali, and the text I recommend for this is "Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali" by Swami Hariharananda Aranya. To anyone who has has studied Patanjali and Advaita Vedanta, it is obvious that the Mind that the Blessed One (or Buddha) discourses on in the Lankavatara Sutra is the same Metaphysical "Substance" as the Self, or Atman, or Siva. In fact, throughout this "Hinduized" text, awakening to, and as, Mind is equated to Self-realization, which is a synonym for Nirvana, or Buddhahhood.
The Lankavatara Sutra is not an easy, amenable read. It is, as Buddhist scholar Edward Conze puts it, "an unwieldy system of viewpoints, paths, and categories, explained in difficult technical terminology." It is convoluted, repetitious, replete with contradictions, and flies off on speculative metaphysical tangents that have no bearing on the central theme of Mind-realization. A major reason for the contradictions is that the text is the work of more than one author, at differerent times. For example, as Suzuki points out, the section against meat eating is clearly a later addition to the root text, and was added to mitigate criticism against Buddhism for condoning flesh consumption.
A major problem with this text is that it briefly mentions, but fails to elaborate and integrate, important elements of the Buddhahood project, such as baptism and the Dharmamegha (or Dharma Cloud). A couple times in the text, the Blessed One, in a sentence, mentions Buddhas baptizing Bodhisattvas, but nothing more is said, and no details are provided, about this Spirit (or Shakti)-transmission.
The Blessed One equates Mind Awakening with the Tenth or final stage of Buddhahood, known as the Great Dharmamegha. This is likewise the final stage of Self-realization in Patanjali's Yoga system; hence Buddhism coincides with Hindu yoga at this point.
What is the Dharmamegha? Although I'm not a fan of the late Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), he summarizes it nicely: "Dharmamegha means that the Self-nature has started showering you, and you yourself become bathed in it, drown in it."
In the Lankavatara Sutra, the Blessed one describes the Bodhisattva's final stage thus: "Going through the successive stage of Bodhisattvahood, he finally reached the state of the Dharma Cloud [Dharmamegha]."
To the spiritual cognoscenti, The Dharmamegha (or Dharma Cloud) is the unobstructed descent of Anugraha Shakti, or the Holy Spirit, or the Sambhogakaya: the Blessing/Blissing Power that makes a Buddha a Blessed One. When this Clear-Light Energy unites with contracted Mind or Siva (mano-vijnana and klista-manas, which Suzuki improperly designates as just "manas") in the Tathagatagarbha (the womb of the Buddhas, which is akin to the Hindu Heart-cave, or "Hridayam"), then Mind shines freely as Bodhicitta, or Siva-Shakti, or Cit-Ananda.
If you really want to deeply grok the Lankavatara Sutra, you will have to expand your spiritual horizons beyond Madhyamika and Zen, and in addition to Patanjali, also study Dzogchen, Hindu Kashmir Shaivism, Ramana Maharshi's esoteric teachings, and Adi Da's Daism.
A final point: In this text, the Blessed One repeatedly depicts people as "ignorant, "stupid" and "simple minded." But we now live in a dumbed-down, politically correct world, and when I do this in my Amazon reviews, I catch hell. If you don't believe me, check out the reactions (comments and negative votes) to my review of Red Pine's "Lankavatara Sutra."
