A Buddhist Mahāyāna Account of the Origin of Language: The Descent into Laṅkā Scripture (Laṅkāvatārasūtra)

The section presents some text excerpts from the Descent into Laṅkā Scripture (Laṅkāvatārasūtra), an Indian Buddhist Mahāyāna scripture (ca. 3rd–5th century CE). These provide a narrative of sorts of how language develops from the pre-embryonic stage, through gestation, and finally to its manifestation as linguistic behavior, all with an emphasis on the role of language in the falsification of reality and in the construction of phenomena. Pivotal in this account is the notion of speech as stemming from vikalpa—conceptual discrimination—which is seen as responsible not just for manifest discursive thought and behavior, but also for deeper epistemic distinctions and fundamental concept formation. Traced to the deepest and subliminal levels of our mental activity, conceptual linguistic activity is considered to be causally induced and causally effective, and as such, actively involved in the construction of the life world.