DESCRIPTION

While the Tientai and Huayan schools were developing in East Asia during the early centuries of the Common Era based upon the Lotus Sutra, Avataṃsaka Sutra, and other ‘mainstream’ Mahāyāna sutras, there was a new school of Buddhism developing in India called the Yogacara, also known as the ‘mind-only’ school of Buddhism.

PART ONE: THE THIRD TURNING OF THE DHARMA WHEEL

While the ‘panjiao’ classification system(s) we discussed in the two previous sessions were being developed, there is an additional classification of sutras that came to be adopted during the medieval period known as the ‘The Three Turnings of the Dharma Wheel.’ These three phases of the Buddha’s teachings are most often presented as the Hinayana, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayana, however, this does not appear to be the original meaning or interpretation. To understand the concept of the Three Turnings it is helpful to keep in mind a Yogacara teaching known as the Three Natures. This is the teaching that all dharmas (conditional or unconditional) simultaneously ‘posses’ three natures:

Parikalpita - an imputed and fictional nature

Paratantra - a relative and conditional nature

Pariniṣpanna - a perfect and complete nature  

The Three Turnings concept considers the original teachings, as recorded in the sutras of the agamas / nikāyas, to be incomplete because the Buddha only explained the imputed, fictional nature of phenomena. It was not until the Prajñāpāramitā and other Mahāyāna sutras that the Buddha explained the relative, conditional (and therefore empty) nature of all things. But this teaching was still not the absolute, final truth. It was not until the final revelations of sutras such as the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra that the third and final nature of phenomena was explained.

FIRST TURNING

“When my knowledge and vision of the Four Noble Truths as they really are in their three phases and twelve aspects was thoroughly purified in this way, then I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with its devas, Mara, and Brahma, in this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, its devas and humans…”

And when the Wheel of the Dhamma had been set in motion by the Blessed One, the earth-dwelling devas raised a cry, “ At Baraṇasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any ascetic or brahmin or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world.”

- Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56:11)

SECOND TURNING

“Prajñāpāramitā fully possesses the three turnings and twelve aspects of the Dharma wheel” - Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Chapter 8

At that time, hundreds of thousands of heavenly sons, leaping with joy, proclaimed in unison in the sky: "We have seen the Dharma wheel turn again in Jambudvīpa."

Subhūti said to the heavenly sons, "It is neither the first turning nor the second turning. Why? In the dharma of Prajñāpāramitā, there is no turning and no returning."⁠

- Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Chapter 9

THIRD TURNING

At that time, Paramarthasamudgata Bodhisattva addressed the Buddha saying, “World-Honored One! “In the beginning, in the country of Benares at the resort of seers, in the Deer Park, the World-honored One first turned the Wheel of the Correct Dharma by the characteristics of the Four Truths only for those generating the śrāvaka vehicle. This was marvelous and most rare, Dharma such as nobody, whether gods or humans, had been able to turn in the world before. However, at the time of this turning, there was something superior, there was room, and this lack of understanding led to all kind of interpretations and occasioned controversy.”

“World-Honored One! During the second period of time, only for those generating the cultivation of the Great Vehicle, [you] turned the Wheel of the Correct Dharma by characteristics with a secret intent based upon all dharmas being completely without inherent nature, without arising, without ceasing, being originally quiescent with the inherent nature of Nirvāṇa. This was marvelous and most rare, however, at the time of this turning, there was also something superior, there was still room, and this lack of understanding led to all kind of interpretations and occasioned controversy.”

“World-Honored One! Now, during the third period, universally for those generating every vehicle, you turn the Wheel of the Correct Dharma by revelatory characteristics based upon the nature of all dharmas being completely without inherent nature, without arising, without ceasing, being originally quiescent with the inherent nature of Nirvāṇa, lacking inherent nature. The most marvelous, absolutely most rare! No turning of any Dharma Wheel in the world is superior, there is no room. This is the meaning of truth, without interpretation or place for controversy.”

PART TWO: UNLOCKING THE SECRET

The Saṃdhi-nirmocana Sūtra and the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra are two texts often associated with the ‘Mind-Only’ or ‘Consciousness-Only’ schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Saṃdhi-nirmocana Sūtra became very influential among the ‘northern’ school, imported into China under the name Faxiang 法相 by the pilgrim monk Xuanzang upon his return from India in the 7th Century and his translation of key Yogacara texts. The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, on the other hand, was influential among the ‘southern’ schools of Mind-Only Buddhism, as the name is a reference to Sri Lanka, and it is associated with the early ‘Bodhidharma-centric’ lineages that would become to be the Chan/Zen tradition.

PART THREE: MULTI-LECTICS

A technique many Mahāyāna sutras use to deliver teachings is to have not only the Buddha and a disciple engage in discourse, but to also have a bodhisattva present, adding a third ‘layer of wisdom’ in contrast to the ‘relative’ or ‘conventional’ wisdom of the śrāvaka (’voice hearer’), as the disciples are called. There may even be a fourth or a fifth perspective in the form of a householder or divine being, so as to create even further distinctions in accomplishment. And while the sutras of mainstream Mahāyāna Buddhism, up to and including and the grand Avataṃsaka Sūtra make narrative and discursive attempts to disguise the allegorical nature of the roles of characters by making them seem ‘real’ in some kind of historical sense, the Saṃdhi-nirmocana Sūtra blurs the line between text, sound, names, and meaning.

Take, for example, the second chapter, in which a bodhisattva called Vidhivatpariprcchaka (’Logical Questioner’) questions another bodhisattva, called Gambhirārthasamdhinirmocana (’Revealing the Secret Meaning’), about the secret meaning of the Buddha’s teachings. Over the course of the chapter each bodhisattva is therefore doing what their name implies, and all of this ‘takes place in front of the Buddha.’ When the subject of their conversation is taken into consideration - nonduality and the illusory nature of all phenomena due to being mere verbal fabrications - the reader cannot help but feel like the bodhisattvas are two hemispheres of a higher mind contemplating the nature of enlightenment.

SUGGESTED READING

6️⃣ Arthur Waley, The Real Tripitaka (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd), p. 85-94