The Surangama Sutra

by Hsuan Hua

  Knowing that Ānanda was succumbing to the carnal influence of the spell, the Thus-Come One ended his meal immediately and returned to the monastic grounds. The king, his senior ministers, the elders, and the other laity, desiring to hear the essentials of the Dharma, followed after the Buddha. Then from the crown of his head28 the World-Honored One poured forth invincible light which was as dazzling as a hundred gems. The Buddha Śakyamuni made appear within that light a Buddha who, seated in full-lotus posture on a thousand-petaled sacred lotus, proclaimed a spiritually powerful mantra.29

  The Śūraṅgama Mantra is the king of the kings of mantras. It is extremely important. Students of the Buddha’s Dharma who can learn this mantra in their present lives will not have been born as a human in vain. (I, 97–8)

  The Buddha instructed Mañjuśri to go to Ānanda and protect him with the spiritually powerful mantra and, once the evil spell had been defeated, to give support to Ānanda and also to the young Mātaṅga woman, and to encourage both to return with him to where the Buddha was.

  * * *

  As noted in the introduction, this and all other headings and sub-headings have been added by the present translators as an aid to understanding.↩

  ‘’I” refers to Ānanda, the Buddha Śākyamuni’s cousin and attendant, who recited the Buddha’s teachings to the assembly of enlightened disciples after the Buddha’s nirvana. He is both protagonist and narrator of this Sutra.↩

  The grove was donated to the Buddha’s order by Prince Jetri (Skt. Jetṛ). It was part of a park called the Garden of the Benefactor of Orphans and the Childless; the park itself was donated to the Buddha by the Buddhist layman Anāthapiṇḍada.↩

  Skt. bhikṣu, Ch. biqiu 比丘, a fully ordained Buddhist monk. The Sanskrit for nun is bhikṣuṇī, Ch. biqiuni 比丘尼.↩

  Skt. anāsrava. “Outflows” refers to the flowing out of vital energies toward the objects one perceives, including objects of desire.↩

  That is, teaching using the words of the Buddha.↩

  Skt. vinaya.↩

  The realm of desire, the realm of form, and the realm beyond form. See part 9.11.↩

  Skt. Pratyekabuddhas. See the introduction, note 56 and part 4, note 18.↩

  Skt. aśaikṣa, Ch. wu xue 無學. Those who need no further instruction are the Solitary Sages and the Arhats at the fourth stage, as opposed to śaikṣa (Ch. you xue 有學) Arhats, who are at the first three stages and who still need instruction — including Ānanda, who at the outset of the Sutra is at the first stage.↩

  Skt. bodhi, Ch. pu ti 菩提, full awakening.↩

  Skt. pravāraṇa, the final days of the monastic retreat during the rainy season.↩

  The ten directions are north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, above, and below.↩

  They did not yet understand the “Hidden Basis” mentioned in the Sutra title.↩

  This is the first of the excerpts from the Ven. Master Hsüan Hua’s commentary quoted in the present volume. To ensure a clear distinction between the passages of the Sutra text and the passages of commentary, the commentary excerpts are indented and are set in a contrasting typeface. The references, given in parentheses at the end of each passage or paragraph of commentary, cite the volume and page number at which the excerpts may be found in the Buddhist Text Translation Society’s 2003 edition of this Sutra. The excerpts have been edited for brevity and conformity with the present translation.↩

  Skt. Tathāgata, Ch. ru lai 如來, an honorific title for the Buddha.↩

  The kalaviṅka is an Indian bird with a pure and penetrating call. The “Immortal” is the Buddha.↩

  The Sanskrit word sangha means “community.” Here, and most often in the Buddhist traditions of Asia, “Sangha” refers specifically to the monastic community of monks and nuns, both fully ordained and in training.↩

  That is, not skipping any households on his route.↩

  Skt. dānapati, almsgiver.↩

  The royal and warrior class of ancient Indian society.↩

  A tribe of outcastes in ancient Indian society.↩

  Skt. Bhagavān, Ch. shi zun 世尊, an honorific title of a Buddha.↩

  An ancient Indian sage who was the founder of the Sāṅkhya School.↩

  The Brahma Heavens belong to the realm of form and correspond to the level of single-minded meditation known as the first dhyāna. See part 9.11b.↩

  The Mātaṅga were a non-Aryan tribal people.↩

  Ch. jie ti 戒體. The phrase indicates the moral fortitude that arises from receiving and following the Buddhist precepts.↩

  At the crown of the Buddha’s head is a fleshy prominence (Skt. uṣṇīṣa), which is the first of the thirty-two hallmarks that are distinctive characteristics of the bodies of all Buddhas.↩

  The Śūraṅgama Mantra, see part 8. In general, mantras are spoken phrases whose primary meanings are not cognitive but whose meanings and powers lie on a spiritual level that transcends ordinary verbal understanding.↩

  The Nature and Location of the Mind

  The Request for Dharma

  When Ānanda saw the Buddha, he bowed and wept in sorrow. He regretted that, since time without beginning, he had devoted himself to erudition but had not fully developed his practice on the Path. Respectfully and repeatedly he asked the Buddha to explain for him the elementary steps that lead to attainment in the wondrous practices of calming the mind, contemplative insight, and meditation in stillness1 — practices through which the Thus-Come Ones from all ten directions had become fully awakened.

  Meanwhile, as many Bodhisattvas as there are sand-grains of the River Ganges, along with the great Arhats, Solitary Sages, and others from the ten directions, all eagerly wished to listen. They sat down and waited silently to hear instruction from the Sage.

  Then the World-Honored One, before the great assembly, extended his golden-hued arm, circled his hand on the crown of Ānanda’s head,2 and said to Ānanda and to all gathered there, “There is a samādhi called ‘The Great and Royal Śūraṅgama that Is Spoken from above the Crown of the Buddha’s Head and that Is the Perfection of the Myriad Practices.’ It is a wondrous and magnificent Path, the unique portal through which the Buddhas in all ten directions have passed in order to transcend the conditioned world. You should all now listen attentively.” Ānanda humbly bowed and waited for compassionate instruction.

  Why was Ānanda unable to resist the evil spell, even though he was already a first-stage Arhat? He had been practicing samādhi with his conscious mind.3... For instance, when he listened to sutras, he remembered the principles that the Buddha spoke of. But the conscious mind which remembers the principles cannot lead to the fundamental solution, and so when Ānanda encountered a demonic influence, he failed to recognize it.... The conscious mind is subject to coming into being and ceasing to be and is not ultimate.... If instead one bases one’s practice on the true nature which neither comes into being nor ceases to be, one can develop a samādhi which neither comes into being nor ceases to be. That is a genuine samādhi, one that cannot be affected by outside forces.... The power of such a samādhi can be victorious in any set of circumstances, agreeable or disagreeable. In the midst of them all, one can remain “still and just as one is, fully and forever luminous.” That is genuine samādhi. If happy situations make you happy and sad events make you sad, you’re being influenced by circumstances. If you keep jumping from joy to anger to sorrow to happiness, you’re being influenced by circumstances. Instead, you should be like a mirror, which reflects what appears in it and then is still.... That is to have genuine wisdom. (I, 146–7)

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “You and I are members of the same family,4 and we share the affection that is natural among relatives. At the time you first made the resolve to become enlightened, what excellent attributes did you see in my Dharma that immediately led you to reject the deep familial affection and conjugal love found in the world?”

  Ānanda said to the Buddha, �
�I saw the thirty-two hallmarks5 of the Thus-Come One, which were so supremely wondrous and incomparable that his entire body shone like crystal, with an interreflecting radiance. I often thought to myself that a body with such hallmarks could not be the consequence of an act of sexual love. Why? The energies of desire are coarse and murky. Foul and putrid intercourse results in a turbid merging of procreative substances; such things as that cannot generate a body with such a wondrous, pure, magnificent, and brilliant concentration of purple-golden light. That is why I admired the Buddha and why I let the hair fall from my head6 so I could follow him.”

  The Buddha said, “Excellent, Ānanda! All of you should know that since time without beginning, all beings have been undergoing death and rebirth over and over simply because they have not been aware of the pure understanding which is the essential nature of the everlasting true mind. Instead, the workings of their minds are distorted, and because the workings of their minds are distorted, they are bound to the cycle of death and rebirth.

  “Now you all wish to inquire about unsurpassed enlightenment and to discover the truth of your own nature. You should answer my questions straightforwardly, because that is the path that the Thus-Come Ones everywhere throughout the ten directions have taken as they freed themselves from death and rebirth. Their minds and their words were straightforward, and therefore, at every point in their progress from the first stage to the last, they were never in the least evasive.

  “Now, Ānanda, I ask you this: when, in response to the thirty-two hallmarks of the Thus-Come One, you first made the resolve to attain full awakening, just what was it that saw those hallmarks, and who was it that took delight in them and loved them?”

  Ānanda said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, I delighted in them and loved them with my mind and eyes. Because I saw with my eyes the excellent hallmarks of the Thus-Come One, my mind admired and delighted in them. In this way I became resolved to extricate myself from death and rebirth.”

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “It is as you say: your mind and eyes were the reason for your admiration and delight. Someone who does not know where his mind and eyes are will not be able to overcome the stress of engagement with perceived objects.7 Consider, for example: when bandits invade a country and the king sends forth his soldiers to drive them out, the soldiers must first know where the bandits are. It is the fault of your mind and eyes that you are bound to the cycle of death and rebirth. I am now asking you: precisely where are your mind and eyes?”

  The Location of the Mind

  A. Ānanda Proposes That the Mind Is in the Body

  “World-Honored One,” Ānanda then said to the Buddha, “The ten classes of beings8 in all the worlds believe that the conscious mind dwells in the body; and as I regard the blue-lotus eyes of the Thus-Come One, I know that they are part of the Buddha’s face. Clearly they are also part of his body. It is evident that those physical organs which respond to four kinds of perceived objects9 are part of my face, and so, my conscious mind, too, is surely found within my body.”

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Now as you sit in the Dharma Hall of the Thus-Come One, you can see Prince Jetri’s Grove. Where is the grove?”10

  “This great and sacred Dharma Hall, with its many stories, World-Honored One, is in the Garden of the Benefactor of Orphans and the Childless, and the Prince Jetri’s Grove is outside the hall.”

  “Ānanda, what is the first thing that you see from your place in the hall?”

  “World-Honored One, here in the hall I am looking first at the Thus-Come One. I can also see the great assembly; then, as I gaze out, I see the grove in the park.”

  “Why is it, Ānanda, that when you look out, you can see the grove in the park?”

  “World-Honored One, since the doors and windows of this great hall have been thrown open wide, I can be in the hall and yet see into the distance.”

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “It is as you say. Someone in the hall can see far into the grove and park when the doors and windows are open wide. Now, could that person in the hall not see the Buddha and yet see outside the hall?”

  Ānanda answered, “It would not be possible, World-Honored One, to be in the hall and be able to see the grove and fountains, and yet not be able to see the Thus-Come One.”

  “Ānanda, the same is true of you. You have the intelligence to understand everything clearly. If your mind, with its clear understanding, were inside your body, then the inside of your body would be what your mind would first come into contact with and have knowledge of. Are there beings that see the inside of their bodies first, before they can observe things outside?11 Even if they could not see their heart, liver, spleen, or stomach, they still at least would detect the growing of their nails and hair, the twisting of their sinews, and the throbbing of their pulse. Why then are you not able to see these things? And since your mind is definitely not visually cognizant of what is inside your body, how can it have knowledge of what is outside your body? Thus you can know that when you say the mind that is aware and makes distinctions is inside the body, you state what is impossible.”

  B. Ānanda Proposes That the Mind Is Outside the Body

  Ānanda bowed and said to the Buddha, “Now that I have listened to the Thus-Come One explain the Dharma in this way, I realize that my mind must be located outside my body instead. Why do I say this? For example, a lamp lit in a room will certainly illuminate the inside of the room first, and then its light will stream through the doorway and reach the recesses of the hall beyond it. Since beings do not see inside their bodies but only see outside them, it is as if the lamp were placed outside the room, so that it cannot shed its light inside the room. This principle is perfectly clear and beyond a doubt; it conforms to the Buddha’s ultimate teaching — and so it can’t be wrong, can it?”12

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “The monks who followed me to Śrāvastī to receive their alms in sequential order have by now returned to Prince Jetri’s Grove, and they are eating their meal with their fingers.13 I have finished my meal, but consider the monks: can all of them be full when only one person has eaten?”

  Ānanda answered, “No, World-Honored One. Why not? These monks are all Arhats, but their physical bodies, their own separate lives, are distinct. How could one person cause everyone to be full?”

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Then if your mind that sees, is aware, discerns, and knows really were outside your body, your body and mind would be separate and unrelated to each other. The body would not be aware of what the mind has knowledge of, and the mind would have no knowledge of what the body is aware of. Now as I hold up my hand, which is as soft as cotton, does your mind distinguish it when your eyes see it?”

  Ānanda said, “It does, World-Honored One.”

  The Buddha told Ānanda, “Then if your mind and eyes work together to perceive my hand, how can the mind be outside? In this way you can know that when you say the mind that is aware and makes distinctions is outside the body, you state what is impossible.”

  The Buddha shows that if the mind which is aware, knows, and makes distinctions were outside the body, then there would be no connection between them.... The body would not be aware of the mind or be influenced by it. If your awareness were in your body, your mind would not have an awareness of it.... But if your mind knows what your eyes are seeing, how can you say that your mind is outside your body?... Note, though, that the Buddha does not say that the mind is inside the body. He has already made clear that that, too, is a mistake.... Ānanda only knows how to analyze the Buddha’s teachings by means of his conscious mind, which comes into being and ceases to be. He is not aware of his everlasting true mind. (I, 179–81)

  C. Ānanda Proposes That the Mind Is in the Eye-Faculty

  Ānanda said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, it is as the Buddha has said. Because I do not see inside my body, my mind is not located there, and because the body and the mind work together and are not separate from each other, my mind is not outside my
body either. Now that I think of it, I know just where the mind is.”

  The Buddha said, “Where is it, then?”

  Ānanda said, “Because the mind that discerns and is aware knows nothing of what is inside but can see what is outside, I believe, upon reflection, that the mind is hidden in the eyes. For instance, let us say that someone places transparent crystal cups over his eyes. Although the crystal cups cover his eyes, they will not obstruct his vision. In this way his eyes can see, and discernments are made accordingly. And so my mind that is aware and knows does not see inside because it is in the eye-faculty. It gazes at what is outside the body, seeing clearly and without impediment, for the same reason: the mind is hidden in the eyes.”

  Ānanda says, “I believe” and “upon reflection.” It’s still his ordinary mind at work. We reflect and consider with the ordinary mind, the mind that comes into being and ceases to be.

  Ānanda does not yet understand what the Buddha is driving at. In general, people can’t expect to understand the Śūraṅgama Sūtra having studied it only this far. You have to study the entire Sutra; then you will come to understand it.... There’s no sense in saying to yourself, “I don’t understand this Sutra, so I’m not going to study it.” It’s precisely because you don’t understand it yet that you should study it. (I, 183)

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Let us assume the mind is hidden in the eyes, as you assert in your instance of the crystals. When the person in your example places crystal cups over his eyes and looks at the mountains, the rivers, and all else on this great earth, does he see the crystal cups too?”