This page is part of my exploration of Mahayana Buddhism.
So far I have found the Lankavatara sutra largely impenetrable. I include it because Chan tradition says it was the only sutra Bodhidharma brought from India:
The Chan tradition stems from the imposing figure of Bodhidharma, the alleged founder of the tradition who came to China as a Buddhist missionary in the fifth or sixth century C.E. Unlike other missionary monks who brought along stacks of texts, Bodhidharma brought only one: the Lankavatara Sutra. He derived his teachings from this scripture, which had an enormous impact on early Chan history. His message was simple: Buddhism must be practiced and realized, not theorized based on concepts—hence the axiom of “not dependent on words or language.—Guo Gu
Translations and some commentary:
This page is part of my exploration of Mahayana Buddhism.
2024-09-21
By Val Delane
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0