如是我聞 一時婆伽婆 住大海濱 摩羅耶山 頂上楞伽城中 與大比丘僧 及大菩薩衆俱 其菩薩摩訶薩 皆悉成就 無量三昧 自在之力 善能了知 一切衆生 心行差別 以衆多百千陀羅尼門 而自莊嚴 超度三昧 大神通力 入一切法 自相共相 無礙智慧 善知諸地 上上轉勝 如實不動 爾時楞伽王 從海而出 現兜率天 往詣佛所 是時如來 正自思惟 往昔所說 自身法境界
rú shì wǒ wén yī shí pó qié pó zhù dà hǎi bīn mó luó yē shān dǐng shàng léng qié chéng zhōng yǔ dà bǐ qiū sēng jí dà púsà zhòng jù qí púsà mó hē sà jiē xī chéng jiù wú liàng sān mèi zì zài zhī lì shàn néng liǎo zhī yī qiē zhòng shēng xīn xíng chā bié yǐ zhòng duō bǎi qiān tuó luó ní mén ér zì zhuāng yán chāo dù sān mèi dà shén tōng lì rù yī qiē fǎ zì xiāng gòng xiāng wú ài zhì huì shàn zhī zhū dì shàng shàng zhuǎn shèng rú shí bù dòng ěr shí léng qié wáng cóng hǎi ér chū xiàn dōu shuài tiān wǎng yì fó suǒ shì shí rú lái zhèng zì sī wéi wǎng xī suǒ shuō zì shēn fǎ jìng jiè
Key Message
The aspiration to hear the Dharma is the beginning. Even the king of demons emerges from the sea and ascends to heaven to request the teaching.
▸The full title of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (楞伽經) is the 'Laṅkāvatāra-āryā-ratna-sūtra' (楞伽阿跋多羅寶經), containing the teachings the Buddha expounded on Laṅkā Mountain (楞伽山), which rises dramatically on the southern coast of Sri Lanka.
The full title of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (楞伽經) is the 'Laṅkāvatāra-āryā-ratna-sūtra' (楞伽阿跋多羅寶經), containing the teachings the Buddha expounded on Laṅkā Mountain (楞伽山), which rises dramatically on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The first chapter, 'The Chapter of the Invitation by King Rāvaṇa' (羅婆那王勸請品), describes the setting and the occasion that gives rise to the sutra. King Rāvaṇa (羅婆那王, Laṅkādhipati), seeing the Buddha dwelling atop Laṅkā Mountain, emerges from the sea, ascends to Tuṣita Heaven, and invites the Buddha to teach. Laṅkā Mountain is known from the great Indian epic Rāmāyaṇa as the kingdom of the demon-king Rāvaṇa; the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra reappropriates this symbolic place as the space of the Buddha's teaching. This prologue declares that the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra is a transcendent teaching unfolding not in an ordinary location but in a mythic space that transcends the boundaries of the human world.