The influence of Lankavatara sutta in Zen Buddhist Teachings.

Abstract

6th century AD was the period which paved the way for various philosophical schools. The Buddhist philosophy received a very special place among the other philosophical teachings in India at that time. The Gautama Buddha introduced these teachings which are pointed towards the person’s wisdom in the world. In early ages many people ordained and predicated their targets and later they attempted to introduce Buddhism in variety of ways with that opportunity Buddhism was divided into Nikayas and as a result of that at 4-5-6 centuries AD Buddhism was propagated to the south East Asian countries. Two views about Theravada and Mahayana which were originated in India were propagated to the kingdoms such as Tibet, Burma, China, Korea and Japan. Among those traditions Zen Buddhist tradition acquired the priority and it was developed cantering japan. This tradition was known as Chan in China and later known as Zen in Japan. According to that the main aim of this research is to prove that Zen Buddhist tradition has the influence of Mahayana sutta Lankavatara apart from early Buddhism. In that how these Lankawatara teachings have influenced Zen Buddhist tradition, what are Zen Buddhist teachings in Lankawatara sutta apart from early Buddhism, and here discover the early Buddhist and Lankavatara teachings in Zen Buddhist tradition. The theory of this research is to analyse data associating literary sources. According to that it is possible to deduce that there is an influence of Lankawatara sutta in Zen Buddhist tradition.