Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra in the context of "Buddha-nature"

Ravana (Sanskrit: रावण, romanized: Rāvaṇa, lit. 'roaring') is the principal antagonist of the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana and its several other versions. He is traditionally depicted as a ten-headed rakshasa (demon) king of Lanka. In the Ramayana, Ravana is described as the eldest son of sage Vishrava and Kaikasi. He abducted Rama's wife, Sita, and took her to his kingdom of Lanka, where he held her in the Ashoka Vatika. Rama, with the support of vanara King Sugriva and his army of vanaras, launched a rescue operation for Sita against Ravana in Lanka. Ravana was subsequently slain, and Rama rescued his beloved wife Sita.

Ravana was well-versed in the six shastras and the four Vedas, including the Shiva Tandava Stotra. Ravana is also considered to be the most revered devotee of Shiva. Images of Ravana are often seen associated with Shiva at temples. He also appears in the Buddhist Mahayana text Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, in Buddhist Jatakas, as well as in Jain Ramayanas. In Vaishnava scriptures, he is depicted as one of Vishnu's cursed doorkeepers.

Bodhiruci (Chinese: 菩提流支; pinyin: pú tí liú zhī) was a Buddhist monk from North India (6th century CE) active in the area of Luoyang, China. He was appointed as master translator at Yongning (永寧寺) temple by emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei. In his translations, Bodhiruci was assisted by the central Indian monk Ratnamati (勒那摩提).

Bodhiruci translated various important texts including the Ten Stages Sutra (Chinese: 十地経論) and the commentary on this sutra by Vasubandhu (Shidi jing lun 十地經論). He translated the Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra as well as Vasubandhu's commentary titled Stanzas of the vow to be reborn [in the Pure Land] in the Sūtra [of the Buddha] Infinite Life (Wuliangshou jing youbotishe yuansheng jie 無量壽經優波提 舍願生偈). He also translated Sūtra of the descent to Laṅka (Ru lengqie jing 入楞伽經), and a Sūtra of Buddha names (Foming jing 佛名經).