Editing Bodhidharma (section)

=== The ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' ===
[[File:Daruma-Bodhidharma.jpg|thumb|Bodhidharma ([[Chinese characters|Chinese]]: 達磨; [[Hiragana]]: だるま; [[Romanization of Japanese|Romaji]]: ''Daruma''), painted by [[Miyamoto Musashi]], swordsman, artist and philosopher who was close to [[Takuan Sōhō|Takuan Soho]], a monk of the [[Rinzai school|Rinzai sect]], who was linked to the [[Samurai|samurai caste]]]]
There are early texts which explicitly associate Bodhidharma with the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra''. Daoxuan, for example, in a late recension of his biography of Bodhidharma's successor [[Dazu Huike|Huike]], has the sūtra as a basic and important element of the teachings passed down by Bodhidharma:

{{blockquote|In the beginning, Dhyana Master Bodhidharma took the four-roll ''Laṅkā Sūtra'', handed it over to Huike, and said: "When I examine the land of China, it is clear that there is only this sutra. If you rely on it to practice, you will be able to cross over the world."{{sfn|Broughton|1999|p=62}}}}

Another early text, the "[[Lengqie shizi ji|''Record of the Masters and Disciples of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'']]" ({{zh|t=楞伽師資記|p=Léngqié Shīzī Jì}}) of Jingjue (淨覺; 683–750), also mentions Bodhidharma in relation to this text. Jingjue's account also makes explicit mention of "sitting meditation" or zazen:<ref group="web">{{cite web |title=''Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō'', Vol. 85, No. 2837, p. 1285b 17(05) |url=http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T85/2837_001.htm |url-status=live |archive-date=2008-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605003404/http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T85/2837_001.htm}}</ref>

{{blockquote|For all those who sat in meditation, Master Bodhi[dharma] also offered expositions of the main portions of the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'', which are collected in a volume of twelve or thirteen pages […] bearing the title of "Teaching of [Bodhi-]Dharma".{{sfn|Dumoulin|Heisig|Knitter|2005|p=89}}}}

In other early texts, the school that would later become known as Chan Buddhism is sometimes referred to as the "Laṅkāvatāra school" (楞伽宗 ''Léngqié zōng'').{{sfn|Dumoulin|Heisig|Knitter|2005|p=52}}

The ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'', one of the [[Mahayana sutras]], is a highly "difficult and obscure" text{{sfn|Suzuki|1932|loc=[http://lirs.ru/do/lanka_eng/lanka-intro.htm#preface Preface]}} whose basic thrust is to emphasize "the inner [[Bodhi|enlightenment]] that does away with all duality and is raised above all distinctions".{{sfn|Kohn|1991|p=125}} It is among the first and most important texts for [[East Asian Yogācāra]].{{sfn|Sutton|1991|p=1}}

According to Suzuki, one of the recurrent emphases in the ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' is a lack of reliance on words to effectively express reality:

{{blockquote|If, Mahamati, you say that because of the reality of words the objects are, this talk lacks in sense. Words are not known in all the Buddha-lands; words, Mahamati, are an artificial creation. In some Buddha-lands ideas are indicated by looking steadily, in others by gestures, in still others by a frown, by the movement of the eyes, by laughing, by yawning, or by the clearing of the throat, or by recollection, or by trembling.{{sfn|Suzuki|1932|loc=XLII}}}}

In contrast to the ineffectiveness of words, the sūtra instead stresses the importance of the "self-realization" that is "attained by noble wisdom"{{sfn|Suzuki|1932|loc=XI(a)}} and, according to Suzuki, occurs "when one has an insight into reality as it is":{{sfn|Suzuki|1932|loc=XVI}} "The truth is the state of self-realization and is beyond categories of discrimination".{{sfn|Suzuki|1932|loc=IX}} According to Suzuki, reflecting his own emphasis on [[kensho]], the sūtra goes on to outline the ultimate effects of an experience of self-realization:

{{blockquote|[The [[bodhisattva]]] will become thoroughly conversant with the noble truth of self-realization, will become a perfect master of his own mind, will conduct himself without effort, will be like a gem reflecting a variety of colours, will be able to assume the body of transformation, will be able to enter into the subtle minds of all beings, and, because of his firm belief in the truth of Mind-only, will, by gradually ascending the stages, become established in Buddhahood.{{sfn|Suzuki|1932|loc=VIII}}}}