Just An Illusion

Quite a lot was said the other day in that passage from the Lankavatara Sutra, and it deserves a little more contemplation.  

The line, "All that is seen in the world is devoid of effort and action because all things in the world are like a dream, or like an image miraculously projected," is quite expansive with all of its "alls." "All that is seen" and "all things in the world" doesn't leave out much.    

The line is reminiscent of the famous passage in the Diamond Sutra, "So you should view this fleeting world -- a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightening in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream."  That  passage closes and completes the Diamond Passage, but the similar passage begins on the very first page of the Lankavatara Sutra, or at least the edited version of D.T. Suzuki's translation.  In other words, the Lankavatara begins where the Diamond Sutra ends.

In Red Pine's expanded translation, the passage includes the Buddha's references to the person to whom he's speaking, King Ravana, the ten-headed king of Lanka.  The Buddha says, "Lord of Lanka, the appearances of beings are like paintings; they are not conscious and not subject to karma.  The same is true of dharmas and non-dharmas.  There is no one who speaks, nor is there anyone who hears.  Lord of Lanka, everything in the world is like an illusion."

D.T. Suzuki's "effort and action" are his translation of the "cause and effect" of karma.  So the rather unwieldy "All that is seen in the world is devoid or effort and action" is merely saying "Things as they appear are not subject to karma," because appearances are like a painting or an illusion.   There is no one who speaks and no one who listens, the Buddha tells King Ravana.  Everything in the world is like an illusion.