The Surangama Sutra

by Hsuan Hua

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

  * * *

  That is, across the sea of afflictions to the shore of nirvana.↩

  The six destinies are gods, humans, animals, ghosts, denizens of the hells, and asuras. See part 9.↩

  “Definitive” here renders Ch. jueding 決定. The meaning seems to be the same as Ch. liao yi 了義, which in turn renders the Skt. nitartha, teachings that are definitive in that they require no further elaboration. The opposite of nitartha is Skt. neyartha, Ch. bu liao yi 不了義, teachings that are not definitive, in that they need further explanation to elucidate, among other things, the particular circumstances in which the teaching was given. The text uses bu liao yi 不了義 below (see note 8).↩

  Skt. Pāpāyān, Ch. boxun 波旬, “evil one,” an epithet of Māra, king of the demonic legions who inhabit the sixth heaven of the realm of desire.↩

  Lest they harm or kill sentient beings hidden in the grasses.↩

  That is, China. The prohibition applies to all silk, whatever its source. The prohibition appears in the Eleventh Naihsarghika-Payantika of Bhikshu Precepts, Fascicle 7, Four Division Vinaya. It reads as follows: “At that time, the Buddha was in the country called 曠野 (Wilderness). The group of six Bhikshus wanted to use silk together with other materials to make new sleeping mats. They looked for silk either already made or not, either dyed or not, either new or used. They went to the family that raised silkworms and said that they needed silk. The householder told them to wait for a little while until silkworms matured. The group of six Bhikshus waited there and watched. Pupas made noises when cocoons were exposed. When laypeople saw this, they criticized the Bhikshus and said: ‘Śākyamuni’s disciples kill living beings and have no remorse. How can they beg for silk to make new sleeping mats and yet claim that they practice proper Dharma?’”↩

  It is worth noting here that the Buddha recommends these asceticisms only for “monks whose resolve in the practice of samādhi is unshakable” — in other words, only for fully ordained monastics who are well advanced in their spiritual practice. The Ven. Master Hsüan Hua commented elsewhere that without real mastery of samādhi, such sacrificial practices will likely backfire because, unless the practitioner has gained complete and unshakable detachment, the practice will be intensely painful and will engender regret, remorse, and anger against the Buddha and his teachings, resulting in a loss in merit and samādhi rather than a gain. To one monk who asked for permission to burn off a finger, Master Hsüan Hua, in refusing permission, replied, “Why don’t you burn off your deluded thoughts instead?” The more moderate practice of searing the skin with incense-charcoal, however, is not an uncommon practice among both monastics and laity.↩

  Ch. bu liao yi 不了義. See note 3 above.↩

  In condemning lying in general, the Buddha here focuses on a specific and particularly egregious instance.↩

  The Buddha now mentions the four stages of the Arhat.↩

  The term “Arhat” may refer only to the fourth stage, as here, or to all four stages.↩

  See part 9.4 on the fifty-seven stages of the Bodhisattva’s enlightenment.↩

  Skt. icchantika.↩

  The inclusion of widows in this last group testifies to the particularly demeaned and dependent state of widowed women in traditional Indian society.↩

  That is, to their close disciples whom they have named as their successors.↩

  Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.↩

  That is, a Buddha.↩

  The Śūraṅgama Mantra

  Establishing a Place for Awakening

  “Ananda, you have asked about guarding and focusing the mind, and I have now told you about the wondrous method that will lead practition-ers to enter samādhi. If you seek to become a Bodhisattva, you must first follow the four instructions on purity so that your comportment may be as pure as the glistening frost. Then very naturally you will no more be able to commit the three errors of the mind and the four errors of speech than a tree is able to leaf out in freezing weather. How could anything demonic happen to someone who faithfully follows the four instructions on purity, Ānanda? How much the more will that person be protected if his mind is not paying attention to sights, sounds, odors, flavors, tangible objects, or objects of cognition!

  The “wondrous method that will lead practitioners to enter samādhi” refers to gaining completely unobstructed understanding through the ear-faculty by turning the hearing around to listen to one’s true nature so that one can realize supreme enlightenment.

  The Buddha has just said that anyone who seeks to become a Bodhisattva must follow these four rules of purity: not taking life, not stealing, not committing acts of sexual misconduct, and not making false claims. The prohibition against sexual misconduct refers not only to physical acts of lust but also to lust in the mind. You must get rid of both in order to transcend the stress of entanglement with perceived objects. You should become as pure as the glistening frost. Then, quite naturally, you will become enlightened. Then the three evils of the mind — greed, anger, and delusion — will have no cause to come forth, and the four errors of speech — coarse language, hurtful speech, lies, and duplicity — will not occur. (VI, 64–5)

  “As for people who cannot get rid of their stubborn habits, teach them to recite single-mindedly the mantra of supreme efficacy, which is called ‘Mahā-Sitātapatra’ — the ‘Great White Canopy.’1 This is the mantra spoken by the Buddha whom I make appear from my unconditioned mind — the Buddha who is seated invisible to ordinary sight, amidst a blaze of light on a precious lotus-fl ower at the crown of my head.

  What is most important is to recite the mantra single-mindedly. Don’t have two minds about it; don’t recite the mantra and doubt its usefulness at the same time. That is to be caught between belief and doubt. You are one person, but you end up with two minds. One mind thinks that perhaps there is some usefulness to the recitation, while the other mind says, “What am I doing reciting things that I don’t even understand?” Watch out for that kind of dividedness. Recite single-mindedly.

  The Sanskrit word “mahā” means “great,” and “sitātapatra”2 refers to the white canopy that appears in space above you when you recite. The size of the canopy depends on the level of your skill. If your skill is great and lofty, there will be no disasters for thousands of miles around you while you recite this phrase of the mantra. If you have only a small amount of skill, the canopy will only cover your own head and will protect you alone. When a greatly virtuous and highly accomplished member of the Sangha recites this line of the mantra, his or her entire country can benefit from it. The entire area will be free from calamities, great disasters will turn into small ones, and small disasters won’t happen at all. Now at this Dharma-assembly we are holding to explain the Śūraṅgama Sūtra,3 a lot of people are practicing this esoteric Dharma of the Buddha, so I believe that all of America is benefiting from it. Americans may not be aware of it, but our practice is saving many of their lives. It is all done invisibly, and they never have any idea of who has saved them or even that they have been saved. Nor do we wish them to know. This is a case of there being no giver and no recipient. The three aspects of giving — giver, gift, and recipient — are empty. When we rescue people, it is not necessary to get them to thank us. This is just what is wonderful about it. (VI, 66–7)

  “Consider, moreover, that in previous lifetimes during many eons, you and the young Mātaṅga woman developed affinities with each other, which led to habits of love and devotion. It has not been for one lifetime only, nor even for one eon only. Yet hearing me proclaim the Dharma freed her mind forever from the entanglements of love. Now she is an Arhat,4 though she had been a mere courtesan, someone who had never intended to undertake spiritual cultivation. But by the hidden aid of the mantra’s power, she quickly became one who needs no further instruction. You Hearers of the Teaching in this assembly who seek to board the greatest
of vehicles in your resolute quest to become Buddhas should reach your goal with no more effort than the wind needs to scatter a handful of dust into the air. Is there any danger that you will meet with difficulty?

  “Those who wish to establish a place for awakening in the time of the Dharma’s ending should begin by undertaking to follow the monks’ prohibitory precepts. They should seek a teacher, an elder monk who himself observes the precepts with purity. Further, they must receive precepts5 from a member of the Sangha who is truly pure; otherwise they will not succeed in following those precepts. After the practitioners have received precepts, they should put on new clothes or newly washed clothes, and then in a quiet place burn incense and recite one hundred and eight times the efficacious mantra spoken by the Buddha who is made to appear from the mind of the Thus-Come One. Then they may establish the place for awakening and safeguard its boundaries.

  “These spiritual practitioners should ask the peerless Thus-Come Ones throughout the ten directions — each without departing from his own land — to pour down a light of great compassion on the head of each practitioner. Then, Ānanda, in the time of the Dharma’s ending, pure monks, nuns, and white-robed laity and other almsgivers, in whose minds all sexual desire and all craving have been extinguished and who follow the Buddha’s pure precepts, should enter a place for awakening and there make the vows of a Bodhisattva. If they can bathe before re-entering their place of awakening and if they can continue their practice throughout the six periods of the day and the six periods of the night without sleep for twenty-one days, I myself will appear before them to bless each one of them by circling my hand over the crown of his head, and I will help each one become enlightened.

  The four great vows of a Bodhisattva are:

  Beings can’t be counted, but I vow to save them all.

  Afflictions have no limit, but I vow to end them all.

  Dharmas can’t be numbered, but I vow to learn them all.

  The Buddhas’ bodhi is supreme; but I have vowed to realize it. (VI, 72)

  Ānanda said respectfully to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, I have received the Thus-Come One’s supremely compassionate instruction, and my mind has already awakened. I myself know how to practice so that I can realize the enlightenment of one who needs no further instruction. But suppose spiritual practitioners should wish to establish a place for awakening in the time of the Dharma’s ending. How may they safeguard its boundaries in accord with the Buddha’s rules concerning purity?”

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “People in the time of the Dharma’s ending who wish to establish a place for awakening should begin by finding a strong white ox living in the Himalayas. It should be an ox that feeds upon rich and fragrant grasses and drinks only the pure waters of the mountain snows. The dung of such an ox will be of an exceptional purity.6 Those who wish to establish a place for awakening may mix this pure ox-dung with sandalwood incense and spread the mixture upon the ground.

  “The dung of an ox that does not live in the Himalayas will be foul-smelling and too unclean to be applied to the ground of a place for awakening. If that is all the spiritual practitioners can obtain, then instead they should look for a spot on the plain where yellow loam7 can be found. They should dig up the loam from a depth of about five and a half feet8 and then mix it with sandalwood incense, aloeswood incense, storax,9 frankincense, saffron, teak resin, birthwort,10 basil, spikenard,11 and cloves. They should grind these ten fragrant substances into a powder, sift them together with the loam, and spread the mixture as a paste on the ground of the place for awakening. The place should be octagonal and sixty-five feet across.12

  “A lotus made of gold, silver, copper, or wood should be placed in the center of the place for awakening, and a bowl filled with dew collected during the eighth lunar month should be placed in the center of the flower. An abundance of flower petals should be made to float upon the water in the bowl. Eight round mirrors should be arranged around the flower and bowl so that the mirrors face outward in each of the eight directions. Next, sixteen lotus flowers and sixteen elegant censers should be placed in front of the mirrors; the censers should alternate with the flowers. Only aloeswood incense should be burned in these censers, and they should be burned in such a way as to produce no flames.

  “The practitioners should make fried cakes with sixteen jars of the milk of a white cow and then set the cakes out onto sixteen dishes. They should place raw sugar upon sixteen other dishes. Upon sixteen other dishes they should place gruel made from milk and rice; and in the same manner, storax, honeyed ginger, clarified butter, and filtered honey should be distributed so that there are sixteen dishes of each of these eight kinds of offerings. These should be distributed by setting dishes containing each of the eight offerings behind each of the sixteen flowers as offerings to the Buddhas and great Bodhisattvas.

  “At mealtime and at midnight, the practitioners should prepare a pint13 of honey and mix it three times with clarified butter. They should place a small burner in front of the place for awakening, prepare a decoction of storax, bathe charcoal with the decoction, and then ignite the charcoal, letting it blaze forth. The butter and honey should be tossed upon the flames. As long as it lasts, the fragrant smoke will be an offering to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

  There are many practices like this in the Esoteric school. Monks of this school often burn combinations of honey and butter and offer them to the Buddhas. They burn not only that but anything else of value, such as gold, jewels, and other valuable materials. They burn them first, then offer them to the Buddhas. (VI, 78)

  “Outside the four walls of the room in which the place for awakening is located, the practitioners should hang banners and arrangements of flowers. Further, they should adorn the walls inside the room with images of the Thus-Come Ones and the Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. Centered on the wall facing south, images of the Buddha Vairocana, the Buddha Śākyamuni, the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Buddha Akṣobhya, and the Buddha Amitābha should be displayed. On one side of those images, an image of one of the imposing manifestations of the Bodhisattva Who Hears the Cries of the World should be shown;14 and on the other side, an image of the Bodhisattva-King Vajra-Treasury.15 On either side of the door, images should be placed of Lord Śakra, King Brahma, Fire-Head,16 the Blue Durgā,17 Kuṇḍalī-rāja, Bhṛkuṭi, and the Four Celestial Kings, together with Vināyaka. Also, eight mirrors should be suspended from the ceiling in such a way that they directly face the other mirrors which have already been set up in the place for awakening. The mirrors will then reflect each other in infinite repetitions.

  The Buddha Akṣobhya is in the east; he is also known as the Buddha Master Healer. The name “Akṣobhya” means “unmoving.” The east is usually associated with movement, but the Buddha of the east does not move. Amitābha is the Buddha of the West; his name means “infinite light.” The alternative form of his name is “Amitāyus,” which means “infinite life.”... The Bodhisattva-King Vajra-Treasury is a Dharma-protector; his stern countenance can be terrifying to behold. Beside them, images of the Lords Śakra and Brahma are to be displayed. Śakra is the lord of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three; Brahma is lord of the Great Brahma Heaven. “Uccḥuṣma” means “Fire-Head.” Blue Durgā has a blue face and is a Dharma-protector. Kuṇḍalī-rāja is a vajra-spirit; his name means “releasing the knots of resentment.” Bhŗkuṭi is also a Dharma-protector. Vināyaka is one of the names of the god Gaṇeśa, who has an elephant’s head and a man’s body. He too is a Dharma-protector.... The bizarre appearances of these Dharma-protectors are intended to instill awe in people so that they will behave themselves. At the door of the place for awakening, then, these images are placed on both sides for protection. (VI, 78–9)

  “During the first seven days, the practitioners should bow with the utmost sincerity to the Thus-Come Ones, the great Bodhisattvas, and the Arhats of the ten directions. During the six periods of the day and the six periods of the night, the practitioners should recite t
he mantra continuously while circumambulating the place for awakening, single-mindedly repeating the mantra one hundred and eight times. During the next seven days, the practitioners should focus their minds on the Bodhisattva’s vows, not letting their minds turn aside from them. My instructions to you in the monastic code have included teachings about the making of vows.

  “During the last seven days, the practitioners should single-mindedly recite the Buddha’s Mantra of the White Canopy continuously throughout the twelve periods of the day and night. On the final day, the Thus-Come Ones from all ten directions will appear at the same time. They and their light will be reflected in the mirrors as each of them circles his right hand on the crown of the head of each of the practitioners. If people can practice samādhi in an excellent place for awakening like this in the age of the Dharma’s ending, their bodies and minds will become as pure and bright as crystal. But, Ānanda, if the precept-master from whom a monk received precepts was not pure, or if any of the other monks in his group is not pure, then the practice in the place of awakening is unlikely to be successful.