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The author, focusing on the portion of the text called “Sagathakam” in the Lankatavara Sutra, has made an attempt to clarify the idiom of 4th Century India by amplifying some pivotal concepts. The “Sagathakam”, probably written in verse form to facilitate memorization and comprehension, are at the heart of Mahayana Buddhism and deserve a second look,



These uncompromising verses, if fully penetrated, have the potential to resolve the crippling materialistic dead-ends so prevalent in our modern world.

Quite frequently any attempt to introduce a powerful paradigm shattering subject matter will be met with consternation, anger and disbelief and only repetition and carefully crafted phrase turning, combined with a riveted focus on the part of those examining the material, can set up the possibility of releasing the deadening headlock of conditioning. The Sutra has said what can be said, and even in its strange idiom is able to produce the spark of that “basic” that brings down the house of cards. But, the attempt to draw an epistemology out of an experiential

ontology that stands uniquely on its own is fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is mistakening the menu for the food. Shen Hui and Huang Po were both called grandmothers for saying too much, and how many walked away with menus thinking that they tasted the food is hard to say; but, in any case, Mind itself has nowhere to go.