Reading Śikṣānanda’s Chinese Version of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra: Reflections on Key Doctrines, Influences, and the Challenges of Translation.

Presentations in this panel revolve around passages drawn from Śikṣānanda’s early eighth-century Chinese translation of the *Laṅkāvatārasūtra* (Taishō no.672), which is the focus of a new translation project. The *Laṅkāvatārasūtra* is well-known as an influential if also unorthodox source of Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda thought that was particularly impactful in East Asia. With reference also to other versions of the text, the panel will attend to key passages from Śikṣānanda’s version concerning aspects of earlier Buddhist thought inherited by the *Laṅkāvatārasūtra* and (re)formulated by it, including the substratum consciousness (*ālayavijñāna*), karmic ‘seeds’ that burden it (*bīja*), and some notion of ‘buddha-nature’ (*tathāgatagarbha*). In discussion, the panel will reflect on questions arising from translating Śikṣānanda’s Chinese into English: how best to render its philosophical and doctrinal profundity (and obscurity); what distinguishes it from our other versions of the text, and the perennial difficulties surrounding the translation of what are already translated Buddhist texts.