Saturday, July 18, 2009

Lankavatara Sutra, Chapter 2, Section XIV

Again, using Suzuki's translation:

How, O Blessed One, is the outflow purified that takes place from recognising an external world which is of Mind itself? Is the purification instantaneous or gradual?



  • The purification of beings when they recognise an external world as real which is of Mind itself is gradual and not instantaneous.


  • On the other hand: The purification of beings is like a mirror indiscriminately and instantaneously reflecting in it forms and images; (56) in the same way, Mahāmati, the purification by the Tathagata of all beings is instantaneous, who makes them free from discrimination and leads them to the state of imagelessness.


  • The Tathagata, by making all beings discard the habit-energy which issues from the erroneous views they entertain in regard to an external world which is of the Mind, instantaneously reveals to all beings the realm of unthinkable knowledge which belongs to Buddhahood.


In other words, it takes time to get there, but "gradual" and "instantaneous" are yet again a dualism.

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