The Surangama Sutra

by Hsuan Hua

  If you do not put an end to your sexual desire and yet keep up your spiritual practice and sit in meditation every day, you will be practicing on the one hand and will have outflows on the other. Everything you gain will be dissipated. Whatever you gain in your practice will be lost tenfold in outflows.... Unable to renounce sexual desire, you still sit in meditation with the hope of getting enlightened, with the aim of gaining a little bit of confused bliss. This is just like cooking sand in the hope of getting rice. It’s useless....

  There’s something else to be said here. If you can put an end to sexual desire, then even if you are together with the opposite sex all day long, no problem will arise.... If one really has no sexual desire, then:

  The eyes see things,

  But inside there is nothing.

  The ears hear sounds,

  But the mind doesn’t know.

  No matter how pleasing a sound comes to the ear, your mind is unaware of it. Then you’ve gotten someplace. And if you can reach the point that you can walk, sit, and even lie down together with someone of the opposite sex without there being any incident, without any sexual desire arising, then you have something that will count. It’s not that your mind still races, but you grit your teeth and tell yourself firmly that you can guard your mind against sexual desires. That doesn’t count. It has to be that not one thought arises, that your mind does not move, that there is no trace of lust in your heart. If even just occasionally you are aware of what the opposite sex is all about, then you’ve failed the test. (VI, 15–7)

  “You must purge yourself of the most subtle promptings of sexual desire, both physical and mental, to the point that you have purged even the act of purging. Then there will be hope that you may realize the full awakening of the Buddhas.

  “What I have said is what Buddhas teach. Māra, the Evil One,4 teaches otherwise.”

  On Killing

  “Also, Ānanda, in all worlds, beings in the six destinies whose minds are free of all desire to kill will not be bound to an unending cycle of deaths and rebirths. No matter how much you may practice samādhi in order to transcend the stress of entanglement with perceived objects, you will never transcend that stress until you have freed yourself from thoughts of killing. Even very intelligent people who can enter samādhi while practicing meditation in stillness are certain to fall into the realm of ghosts and spirits upon their rebirth if they have not renounced all killing. The best among them will become ghosts of great power; those at intermediate levels will become flying yakṣas or leaders of ghostly hordes; those at the lowest levels will be rākṣasas that travel along the ground. These ghosts and spirits will attract groups of disciples and will tell them that they have realized the supreme enlightenment. After my nirvana, in the time of the Dharma’s ending, these ghosts and spirits will spread like wildfire across the worlds as they make the claim that eating meat will not obstruct the path to enlightenment. I have instructed the monks that there are five situations in which eating meat will not compromise purity. Ānanda, but even then I have used spiritual power to change the meat so that all traces of sentience have been removed.

  The five circumstances in which eating meat will not compromise purity are eating the flesh of an animal that one did not see killed; eating the flesh of an animal whose killing one did not hear; eating the flesh of an animal that one knows was not killed for one’s own sake; eating the flesh of an animal that died a natural death; and eating the flesh of an animal whose corpse has been scavenged by birds. (VI, 22)

  “I have compassion also for those who wish to live purely but who live among humid marshlands or in hot deserts where grains and vegetables cannot be grown. Out of great kindness and by means of my spiritual power, I change the meat they eat so that it is without sentience. It is merely called meat and merely tastes like meat. But, after my nirvana, how will people who eat the flesh of beings deserve to be called disciples of Śākyamuni?

  “You should understand that these people who eat flesh may gain some modicum of mental awakening while practicing samādhi, but they are all great rākṣasas who in the end must fall into the sea of death and rebirth. They are not disciples of the Buddha. Such people kill and devour each other, feeding on each other in an endless cycle. How could they possibly get out of the three realms?

  “When you teach people in the world to practice samādhi, teach them to renounce all killing. That is the second of the clear and definitive instructions on purity that have been given by the Thus-Come One and by all the Buddhas of the past, World-Honored Ones.

  “Therefore, Ānanda, one who enters samādhi while practicing meditation in stillness without renouncing all killing is like one who hopes that nobody will hear him shout if he stops up his own ears. He is trying to conceal what is perfectly evident. Bodhisattvas and pure monks walking on country paths will not even tread on living grasses,5 much less uproot them. How then can it be compassionate to gorge on other beings’ blood and flesh? Monks who will not wear silks from the East,6 whether coarse or fine; who will not wear shoes or boots of leather, nor furs, nor birds’ down from our own country; and who will not consume milk, curds, or ghee, have truly freed themselves from the world. When they have paid their debts from previous lives, they will roam no longer through the three realms.

  “Why? To wear parts of a being’s body is to involve one’s karma with that being, just as people have become bound to this earth by eating vegetables and grains. I can affirm that a person who neither eats the flesh of other beings nor wears any part of the bodies of other beings, nor even thinks of eating or wearing these things, is a person who will gain liberation.

  Milk and milk products are not actually prohibited by the vinaya or by the Bodhisattva precepts. This passage of the Sutra text is describing those who hold the precept against killing with a maximum of purity.... There is room for flexibility here, but to avoid using anything that has any connection with living creatures is an extremely good thing. (VI, 26)

  “What I have said is what Buddhas teach. Māra, the Evil One, teaches otherwise.”

  On Stealing

  “Also, Ānanda, in all worlds, beings in the six destinies whose minds are free of all desire to steal will not be bound to an unending cycle of deaths and rebirths. No matter how much you may practice samādhi in order to transcend the stress of experiencing perceived objects, you will never transcend that stress until you have freed yourself from thoughts of stealing. Even very intelligent people who can enter samādhi while practicing meditation in stillness will be certain to fall into an evil realm upon their rebirth if they have not renounced stealing. The best among them will become energy-devouring nature-spirits; those at intermediate levels will be succubae or incubi; and those at the lowest levels will be unwholesome people possessed by such spirits. These unwholesome beings will attract groups of disciples and will tell them that they have realized the supreme enlightenment. After my nirvana, in the time of the Dharma’s ending, many such strange and unwholesome spirits will sweep like wildfire across the world. By cunning and deceit they will establish their claim to be good and wise teachers who have reached the level of a sage. Their boasting will delude the ignorant and will instill fear that will rob people of their good judgment. Wherever they go, these unwholesome spirits will destroy families and reduce households to penury.

  When I was in China I knew about some spectacular examples of these people. They could plunge a knife into the crown of their heads and yet not die. The spirit possessing them would remove the blade by the use of a mantra in such a way that the person didn’t even bleed. Some would pound nails into their shoulders, and from the nails they would hang as many as four scythes weighing more than ten pounds each and then spin them. It was awesome to watch. The people who watched them were terrified. Sometimes these demons and followers of wrong paths were really talented. When you look into the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, you realize that long ago the Buddha described all the different kinds of beings in the world very clearly. Therefor
e, having read the Śūraṅgama Sūtra or heard it being read, you should be able to recognize whatever you come up against in the future. (VI, 32–3)

  “I teach the monks to make their almsrounds in whatever place they find themselves so that they may let go of craving and become enlightened. The monks do not cook for themselves; and leading the rest of their lives this way, they wander from place to place in the three realms so that, at the end of their lives, they will not have to return. How then can thieves wear a monk’s robe for the sake of personal gain, meanwhile engaging in all manner of acts which they falsely claim are in accord with the Buddha’s Dharma? They slander those who have entered the monastic life, saying that fully ordained monks are merely following the path of the Lesser Vehicle. In this way they confuse countless beings and lead them astray, and they will all fall into the Unrelenting Hell.

  Why did the Buddha teach his monastic disciples to receive almsfood? First, when laypeople give food to members of the Sangha, they can be sure of blessings in the future and can put an end to their suffering and distress. Second, when monks go out for alms, they eat whatever they are given. If the food is good, they eat it; if it’s bad, they eat it just the same. In this way, they get rid of their craving. If you cook for yourself, you’ll think, “What I made today wasn’t so good; tomorrow, though, I’ll make something delicious. The day after that, I’ll make something even better, and the day after that I’ll make something simply spectacular.” There’s no end to it.... But when a monk goes out on his almsround, there is no opportunity to pick and choose. He simply eats his fill and then forgets about it. (VI, 38–9)

  “I affirm that, after my nirvana, a monk whose resolve in the practice of samādhi is unshakable can, in a single moment, repay his debts from all his previous lives since time without beginning by burning lamp-oil on his body before an image of the Buddha, or else by burning off a part of one of his fingers, or else by burning a piece of incense on his body.7 Then he will be able to bid a final farewell to this world and be forever free of outflows. He may not immediately understand how to advance towards supreme enlightenment, but he will have firmly committed himself to the Dharma. Without such small acts of physical renunciation, he will have to be reborn as a person again, even if he has attained freedom from all influences. He will still have to repay his debts from previous lives, just as, to repay my debts, I had to eat horse-feed.

  In a former life, the Buddha Śākyamuni was a Brahmin engaged in teaching spiritual practice to five hundred pure youths. At that time, there was another Buddha in the world. One day, when that Buddha went on his almsrounds with the monks, he instructed them to have the donors put a little extra in their bowls to accommodate a monk who was sick and could not go out. As they returned from their rounds, they passed by the mountain where the Brahmin who was to be the Budddha Śākyamuni dwelt. When this Brahmin got a whiff of the food from their especially full bowls, he became jealous. He said to his disciples, “Why do those bald monks get to eat so well? They should only be allowed horse-feed.” His five-hundred disciples all agreed with him, of course, chiming in, “Right! They are only fit to eat horse-feed.” After he became a Buddha, Śākyamuni took five hundred disciples to a certain country to spend the rainy-season retreat. The king of that country gave them a cordial welcome but then would not make any offerings of food to them. Eventually a horse-trainer in the country became aware that the Buddha and his monks were not being given any offerings of food, so he shared with the monks the grain that he fed his horses. Even though the Brahmin was eventually to become the Buddha Śākyamuni, and though his five hundred pure youths were to become five hundred Arhats, they still had to repay the debt from that slander they indulged in during a former life, and for ninety days they had to eat horse-feed. (VI, 42–3)

  “Therefore, when you teach people in the world to practice samādhi, teach them to renounce stealing. That is the third of the clear and definitive instructions on purity that have been given by the Thus-Come One and by all the Buddhas of the past, World-Honored Ones. Ānanda, one who enters samādhi while practicing meditation in stillness but who does not renounce stealing is like one who tries to fill a leaking cup with water. He may keep on trying for countless eons, but he will never fill it up.

  “Let a monk own nothing except his robes and his almsbowl; let him give to hungry beings the alms he does not need; let him greet the assembly by bowing with joined palms; let him take scoldings and beatings as praise; let him truly renounce his mind and body by sharing his flesh, bones, and blood with other beings; and let him never confuse beginners by misconstruing the Thus-Come One’s teachings which are not definitive:8 I can affirm that such a monk truly practices samādhi.

  When someone scolds you, you should act as if he is speaking some language you don’t understand.... If someone hits you, just pretend you bumped into a wall. Suppose you were careless and walked into a wall and were left with a big lump on your head. If you then turned around and socked the wall with your fist, saying, “Why did you bump into me?” you’d only end up with an injured hand as well. If someone strikes you and you view it as if you’d bumped into a wall, the whole matter will end right there. (VI, 45)

  “What I have said is what Buddhas teach. Māra, the Evil One, teaches otherwise.”

  On Making False Claims

  “Ānanda, beings in the worlds’ six destinies may be entirely free, in body and in mind of killing, stealing, and sexual desire, but their samādhi will not be pure if they make false claims.9 If they do, they will be possessed by demons of craving or by demons of delusion, and they will lose sight of their potential for becoming a Buddha. They will say that they have achieved what they have not achieved and that they have become what they have not become. Wishing that worldly people might hold them in the highest honor, they will say that they have reached the stage of entering the stream,10 or that they must be reborn once only, or that they need not be reborn, or that they are Arhats11 or Solitary Sages, or that they are Bodhisattvas at one of the Ten Grounds or at one of the stages previous to the Ten Grounds.12 In this way, in their craving for offerings, they encourage people to bow to them and to repent before them.

  Even if you are a Bodhisattva or a Buddha, you cannot say that you are. You must keep silent about it down to your last breath. You can only arrange for it to become known publicly after your death. While you are alive, the only reason to claim that you are a Bodhisattva or Buddha would be to induce people to believe in you so that they will give you money. As soon as people believe, then the offerings start to pour in. To make such claims is merely to practice deceit. (VI, 49)

  “These people who have no trust in the Dharma13 have ruined their potential for becoming a Buddha just as a tāla tree will die if it is cut down. The Buddha predicts that such people will destroy their foundation in the Dharma and that they will never regain right knowledge and right viewpoints. They will sink into the sea of three kinds of suffering and will be unable to enter samādhi.

  The tāla tree, found in India, grows to great heights, but if it is chopped down, it will not grow again. These people destroy their seeds for future enlightenment, and so the seeds cannot come to fruition, just as a tāla tree that has been cut down cannot grow again. Such people are bereft of sense and insight. Immersed in the sea of three kinds of suffering, they cannot attain samādhi. The three kinds of sufferings referred to here are the suffering caused by knives, which refers to the hell of the mountain of knives; the suffering of blood, which refers to the hell of bleeding, in which one’s entire body bleeds without cease; and the suffering of fire, which refers to the hell of burning. These people fall into these three terrible hells. (VI, 50–1)

  “It is my command that after my nirvana, in the time of the Dharma’s ending, the Bodhisattvas and the Arhats will appear before beings in whatever bodily form may be appropriate for rescuing them from the cycle of death and rebirth. The Bodhisattvas and Arhats may appear as elder monks or nuns, or as white-robed laity, or as
kings, as high officials, as pure youths or maidens, or even as courtesans, widows,14 libertines, thieves, slaughterers, or traffickers in stolen goods. Working side by side with these people, in order to lead them to enter samādhi, the Bodhisattvas and Arhats praise the Buddha’s Vehicle. but they should never speak casually to people who have not yet studied the Dharma, saying, ‘I am actually a Bodhisattva,’ or ‘I am actually an Arhat,’ thus carelessly revealing the Buddha’s hidden intent. They can only reveal themselves at the end of their lives, and then only in private.15 Anyone who in any other way claims to be a Bodhisattva or an Arhat is deluding people with an egregious lie.

  Bodhisattvas appear as different sorts of people because they want to convert those sorts of people. They employ four methods of attraction: giving, speaking kind words, benefiting others, and working alongside others. They may give wealth, Dharma, or courage — three kinds of giving.... But in giving in these various ways, they do not crave or expect repayment.... They make their gift and forget it. Then the three aspects of giving — the giver, the gift, and the recipient — are empty. (VI, 52–3)

  “Therefore, when you teach people in the world to practice samādhi, teach them to refrain from making false claims. This is the fourth of the clear and definitive instructions on purity that have been given by the Thus-Come One and by all the Buddhas of the past, World-Honored Ones.

  “Ānanda, one who does not refrain from making false claims is like someone who molds a piece of excrement into the shape of a piece of sandalwood incense in the hope that it will then be fragrant. That cannot be. I have taught the bhikṣus that the straightforward mind is the place for awakening and that there must be nothing whatever false in their cultivation of a stern and proper manner in all four comportments.16 Why then would they make a public claim about their attainment, saying they had reached the level of a sage? One who makes such false claims is like a pauper who claims to be king. Such a one is deliberately seeking his death. Even less should one claim the title of Dharma-King!17 If your direction is not true at the start, you will veer away from the goal. One who seeks the enlightenment of the Buddhas in this way is like one who tries to bite his own navel. Who could expect to succeed? Monks whose minds are as straight as lute-strings and who are entirely genuine and truthful will never encounter demons when they enter samādhi. I can affirm that such people are certain to realize the unsurpassed wisdom and enlightenment of the Bodhisattvas.