1. GUNABHADRA 求那跋陀羅 First Lanka Master

求那跋陀羅 Gunabhadra 394–468

THE LANKAVATARA PATRIARCH

Although the Records of the Laṅkā Masters and Disciples 楞伽師資記 were not written until the 8th century around 723 by Jingjue (淨覺, 683-c. 760), a disciple of two notable masters of Hongren, Shenxui and and Hsüan-tse, they describe all of the masters of the early period as devotees of the Lankavatara, but that does not exclude their adherence to other sutras.

The work is an important historical text recently recovered from Dunhuang and has been unknown for possibly one thousand years. It considers Guṇabhadra as the First Patriarch of the Chan School, and says that the four folio translation of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra passed from Bodhidharma to Huike was his work, and underlies the title of work – the Records of the Laṅkā[vatāra] Masters.

Remember, however, that this was not a trustworthy historic record in the sense that it showed a certain bias of the writer, favoring the idea of direct transmissions, looking for specific connections to support a Lanka lineage.

His idea not being to develop a thread to Buddha himself would then naturally include Gunabhadra.

What we should be considering then at this moment is the influence of the Lankavatara Sutra on each master with regard to his teachings, development and, most of all, the Meditations and Contemplations. Naturally there were other sutras and shastras constantly being translated and what must not be ignored is the combination of the teachings of these sutras upon the individual masters and Chan development, not the lineages.

求那跋陀羅 Gunabadrha 394–468

Guṇabhadra (求那跋陀羅, 394–468) means "merit worthy" (功德賢). He was from central India. Being of Brahmin caste like so many other Dharma followers, he learned astrology, literature, medicine, and mantra practices.

However, after studying the Heart Treatise on the Abhidharma, (阿毗曇心論) he turned to the teachings of the Buddha, renounced family life, and became a monk.

Guṇabhadra then studied the Tripiṭaka of the Small Vehicles, followed by Mahāyāna teachings.

With profound understanding of the Mahā-Prajñā-Pāramitā Sūtra, 大般若波羅蜜多經 and the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra of Buddha Adornment, 大方廣佛華嚴經卷四十, he began to teach.

In 435, the twelfth year of the Yuanjia (元嘉) years of the Liu Song Dynasty (劉宋, 420–479), Guṇabhadra went to China by sea accompanied by Gunavarma. Emperor Wen (文帝) sent an emissary to welcome and take them to the Qihuan Temple (祇洹寺) in Jiankang (建康), the present-day Nanjing.

With the help of Huiyan (慧嚴), Huiguan (慧觀), and student monks, he translated the Kindred Āgama (Samyuktāgama in 50 fascicles -one of the Four Āgamas in the Chinese Canon).

Because of his contribution to the Mahāyāna teachings, people called him Mahāyāna. Altogether, he translated fifty-two sūtras in 134 fascicles, including the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, which was to take a central place, the Śrīmālāsutra, called The Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala 胜鬘经 and the Sūtra of the Great Dharma Drum 大法鼓經.

Guṇabhadra died in 468, at the age of seventy-five.

The record has quotations from a large range of mostly Mahāyāna sūtras and śāstras, including the Laṅkāvatāra, Vimālakirti, Saddharma-puṇḍarīka, Avatamsaka, and several Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.

According to the Record, the notion of “pacifying the mind” (安心) originally stems from Guṇabhadra, who describes it in four forms:

1. The mind contrary to the principle – that of the common people;

2. The mind in accord with the principle – the disciple's seeking of nirvāna;

3. The mind which enters by principle – where the bodhisattvas have abandoned obstructions and revealed the principle;

4. The mind which is the principle itself, which is the mind of the Buddha.

It is important to note that “pacifying the mind” is held to be the essential teaching by which Bodhidharma brought about Huike’s realization, as recorded in the Transmission of the Lamp:

Here, the notion of “the mind is not apprehend-able” is almost identical with of the Prajñāpāramitā and Śūnyavāda teachings.

The Record uses several consecutive sūtra citations to indicate Guṇabhadra’s position.

The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, which states that when “the Buddhas use their five eyes to observe the minds of living beings and all dharmas, they are ultimately not seen.”

The Avatamsaka Sūtra, where it is stated that “only with no views is one able to see.”

The Record contains the earliest reference to the transmission of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra to Huike along with the kaśaya, and the treatise on the Four Practices for Entering the Path (入道四行) prefaced by Tanlin (曇林/曇琳/法林).

This early text thus gives two clear relationships to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, first taking its translator and exponent Guṇabhadra as the First Patriarch, and secondly, by taking it as the sole sūtra explicitly transmitted from Bodhidharma to Huike.

This transmission is also recorded in the Xu Biographies, and it is worth detailing it here:

At first, the Chan Master Bodhidharma passed on the four folios of the Laṅkāvatāra [Sūtra], saying:

“As I observe this land of the Han [people] (China), only by this sūtra will the good people, relying on which, be able to liberate themselves.” … Therefore [Huike] had [his disciples] Masters Na, [Hui]man and others, always maintain the four folio Laṅkāvatāra [Sūtra] as the essential teaching."

We must then ask why Bodhidharma is then taken as the first Patriarch by those wishing to establish a lineage to Buddha?

The contrived legend tells us that Prajnatara taught Bodhidharma for many years, and gave him Mind Transmission, making him conveniently the 28th Patriarch, although the concept of lineage was not invented until several centuries later.

Perhaps because he went to China at the behest of his master Prajnatara to teach rather than translate. Perhaps because a lineage back to Buddha was more plausible. So we see that, like an urban legend, it is related that Bodhidharma brought Chan style Buddhism to China, which we see is not the case and actually nothing at all is actually known about this meditative wall-facing technique that makes it specifically direct.

We see this reflected in another text discovered in the Dunghuang cave.

It is 歷代法寶記, the Record of the Succession of the Dharma-treasure, written by a Huineng follower, to contest the position of the 楞伽師資記, the Records of the Laṅkā Masters and Disciples, for it insists that the first Father of the Lanka as representing the Dharma-treasure was Bodhidharma and not Gunabhadra, who was mere translator and not the revealer of the inner meaning of the Sutra.

We then have served the battle between the path of Sutra influence and lineage.