The History of Buddhist Thought c26.6

c26.6

in a simpler form.¹ Still it appears to be later than the Prajñāpāramitā group of sūtras. Much of it is in verse, and the polemical matter seems to be further removed from the period when Mahāyāna had to defend itself against the older Buddhist schools. It shows its hostility to the careers of disciples and pratyekabuddhas, but more prominent than these are the tīrthakaras, the “heretics”, who in this sūtra are the representatives of the orthodox schools such as Nyāya and Sānkhya, which are mentioned by name. The full title is *Saddharma-lankāvatāra*, “the entrance of the good doctrine into Lankā.” Lankā usually means Ceylon, but here there is no traceable reference to the Pāli legend of Buddha’s three visits to Ceylon. Lankā is here a city on the peak of Mount Malaya,² and it is the citadel of Rāvaṇa, the rākshasa with ten heads. The literary reference comes rather from the *Rāmāyaṇa*, but the monster of the epic appears here as a good Buddhist layman.