The Lankavatara Sutra

The Lankavatara Sutra (Sanskrit: Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra) is a prominent Mahayana Buddhist text that recounts a teaching primarily between Buddha Gautama and a bodhisattva Mahamati. The name of this sutra roughly translates as "Scripture of the Descent into Lanka" and takes place in Lanka, the island fortress capital of Ravana (the king of rakshasa demons). In Lankavatara Sutra Buddha points out that Bodhisattvas, on account of their unlimited compassion for sentient beings, work for the salvation of all and take the ten vows of a Bodhisattva. While mentioning all major teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, this sutra focuses on two teachings: that objects of the material world are merely manifestations of the mind and that the knowledge of this must be realized and experienced for oneself and cannot be expressed in words.