At the heart of the Lankāvatāra Sūtra stands a radical vision of “mind-only,” in which all phenomena are understood as manifestations or projections of consciousness rather than independently existing things. The sutra analyzes this in terms of multiple modes of consciousness, with particular emphasis on the ālaya-vijñāna, the storehouse consciousness that holds karmic seeds and underlies ordinary experience. What is habitually taken as an external world is described as arising from these seeds and the discriminating activity of mind, so that the familiar subject–object split is revealed as illusory. This analysis is not offered as mere speculation, but as a way of pointing beyond conceptual fabrications toward a more direct apprehension of reality.

Closely intertwined with this teaching on consciousness is the doctrine of Buddha-nature, or tathāgatagarbha, which the sutra presents as an inherent potential for awakening present in all sentient beings. This Buddha-nature is portrayed as pure and luminous, yet obscured by adventitious defilements and karmic tendencies that operate through the storehouse consciousness. The path, therefore, is framed as a process of uncovering what is already there, rather than acquiring something new from outside. In this light, the analysis of mind serves to show how delusion arises and how the obscurations that veil this innate potential can be removed.

The sutra further emphasizes the emptiness of all dharmas and the non-dual nature of reality, urging a transcendence of all fixed views and conceptual constructions. Dualities such as self and other, existence and non-existence, are treated as products of discriminating thought rather than features of ultimate truth. By exposing the illusory character of these distinctions, the text encourages a mode of insight that no longer clings to either eternalist or nihilistic extremes. This non-dual perspective is not presented as another theory to adopt, but as the fruit of a direct, non-conceptual realization.

In terms of spiritual practice, the Lankāvatāra Sūtra speaks of a profound “turning around” (parāvṛtti) or transformation at the deepest level of consciousness. Liberation is described as the conversion of the eight consciousnesses into wisdom, a purification of the storehouse consciousness in which karmic seeds and afflictions lose their power. This transformation is associated with an immediate recognition of one’s true nature, highlighting the possibility of sudden enlightenment grounded in direct insight rather than mere intellectual understanding. Ethical conduct, meditative absorption, and the cultivation of wisdom all serve this turning, but the decisive factor is the self-realization of noble wisdom that sees through the mind’s own projections.