The Surangama Sutra

by Hsuan Hua

  There is a lot of sorcery in southern China, and also in Southeast Asia, based on mantras and spells. If you eat something poisoned by these sorcerers, you will be forever under their control and will have to do as they command. If you don’t, you will die. In a world as large as this, many strange things exist. Don’t suppose that if you haven’t seen something, it cannot be. You may not believe that the strange things being discussed here exist, but they exist nonetheless (VI, 125).

  “Ānanda, this mantra is always attended, day and night, by Bodhisat-vas in the lineage of the Bodhisattva-King Vajra-Treasury. Their numbers are eighty-four thousand ten billion trillion times the number of sand-grains in the River Ganges. Each of them is accompanied by a vast retinue of vajra-brandishing followers. These Bodhisattvas in the lineage of the Bodhisattva-King Vajra-Treasury will always be present to protect beings who recite this mantra and who are resolved to become enlightened. Indeed they will even protect beings whose minds are scattered and disorderly and lack samādhi, but who can nevertheless recite the mantra from memory.

  “In ways that are hidden, all these Bodhisattvas in the lineage of the Bodhisattva-King Vajra-Treasury will focus their minds upon hastening these beings toward developing spiritual awareness. These beings will then suddenly recall everything that happened to them during eighty-four thousand times as many eons as there are sand-grains in the River Ganges. They will understand these past events thoroughly and with complete certainty. From that time onward until their last rebirth they will never be born in inauspicious places where there are yakṣas, rākṣasas, pūtanas, kaṭapūtanas, kumbhāndas, piśācas, pretas, and other ghosts,25 some of whom are visible and some of whom are not, and some of whom are intelligent and some of whom are not.

  “Good people who, in eon after eon, read this mantra, recite it from memory, write it out, wear it on their bodies, or keep it in a safe place, making various offerings to it, will not be reborn into poverty or into lowly circumstances or in an unpleasant place. If they themselves have not earned any karmic rewards, the Thus-Come Ones of the ten directions will transfer their own merit to them. Therefore, for an inexpressibly great number of uncountable eons as many as the sand-grains in the River Ganges, they will be born in the same generation in which a Buddha has been born. Their merit will be immeasurably great, and they will be as close to the Buddhas as the seeds of the akṣa are to each other. They will become permeated with the fragrance of spiritual practice. They will never be separated from the Buddhas.

  “Further, the mantra can enable people who have broken their precepts to regain their purity. It can enable people who have not received precepts to become precepted. It can enable people who have not been vigorous to become vigorous. It can enable people who are lacking in wisdom to become wise. It can enable people who are impure to quickly become pure. It can enable people who do not follow the precepts concerning a pure diet26 to succeed in following those precepts.

  “Ānanda, suppose good people who recite this mantra violated precepts before the mantra has been given to then. Then, when they begin to recite the mantra, that karma from their precept-breaking offenses, whether grave or slight, will be immediately erased.

  Someone who has violated the precepts can return to purity by reciting the Śūraṅgama Mantra, but this does not mean a mere casual recitation. Such a person must enter the mantra-recitation samādhi, in which the mantra wells up from the heart and the mantra and the person reciting it become one. The person cannot forget the mantra; it recites itself.... All other thoughts are wiped away, and all that remains in the mind is the recitation of the Śūraṅgama Mantra. It’s like flowing water that goes on and on, rolling in from afar in wave after wave. It’s like the wind that comes up invisibly but makes its presence known. When recitation reaches that state, it can enable people who have broken the precepts to regain the purity of the precepts. It can cause those who have not received the precepts to obtain them. It can cause those who are not vigorous to become vigorous. People who aren’t inclined to progress, who don’t investigate the Buddha’s Dharma, can spontaneously become vigorous from reciting the Śūraṅgama Mantra over a long period of time. It can enable those who lack wisdom to gain wisdom.... It can lead people who eat meat to become vegetarian, because they will no longer desire the flavor of meat. (VI, 133–5)

  “These people may have taken intoxicants, or they may have eaten plants of the onion family or other impure foods, but the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, vajra-brandishing warriors, gods, immortals, ghosts, and spirits will not consider that a transgression. These people may wear old and tattered clothes or clothes that have not been washed, but they will still be pure, whatever they do and wherever they are. Even if they do not set up a place for awakening, or do not enter a place for awakening, or do not follow the practice regimen, still, if they recite this mantra, their merit will be the same as if they had entered the place for awakening and had followed the practice regimen.27 They may even have committed the five unnatural crimes,28 which are deserving of the Unrelenting Hell; or they may be monks who have committed the four major offenses deserving of expulsion or nuns who have committed the eight major offenses deserving of expulsion;29 yet their grave karma will be wiped away without a trace remaining, like a sand dune that has been scattered in a gale.

  “Ānanda, there may be beings who, either in their present life or in their previous lives, have never repented of the serious and minor offenses they have committed during countless, innumerable eons in the past. But if they can read, recite from memory, or write out the mantra, or wear it on their person, or keep it where they are dwelling, either in their homes or where they are staying temporarily, then their accumulated karma will melt away as snow is melted by boiling liquid. Before long they will gain patience with the state of mind in which no mental objects arise.

  “Moreover, if women who do not have children, and who wish to conceive, can recite the mantra sincerely and from memory, or if they wear this Mantra of the White Canopy, they will bear sons and daughters who are blessed with virtue and wisdom.

  The mantra should be worn above the heart, not below it, as a matter of respect. If you are not respectful toward the mantra, its efficacy will be depleted with regard to you. (VI, 141)

  “If people who recite the mantra from memory wish for a long life, they will live a long life. What they wish to accomplish they will quickly accomplish. In the same way, they will also have health, good fortune, beauty, and strength. At the end of their lives, they will be reborn into whatever country in the ten directions they wish. They will certainly not be reborn among uncivilized people or at a lower level of society. By no means will they be born into any form that is less than human.

  “Ānanda, suppose that in a village, a district, a province, or in an entire country, there is famine or plague, or perhaps in that place there is war, or the marauding of bandits, or the strife of rebellion, or other calamities. Then the spiritual mantra should be written out and placed on the four city gates, or in caityas30 or on banners. The citizens of the country should be instructed to come to welcome the mantra with honor, to venerate it respectfully, and to sincerely make offerings to it. The citizens should also be instructed to wear the mantra on their bodies and place it in their homes. Then all the disasters will disappear.

  No matter what Dharma you practice, you must find the Middle Way. True enough, mantras are efficacious, but you must also develop your samādhi-power. Here the Sutra stresses the efficacy of the mantra, but the essential point of the Sutra is its instructions in the Dharma of reversing the hearing to hear the true nature within.... Recite the mantra, but even while reciting you should be turning your light around to illumine within. (VI, 145)

  “Ānanda, in any country and in any place where this mantra exists among the people, the celestial dragons are pleased, the weather is clement, the harvests are abundant, and all the people are happy and at peace. Further, the mantra can prevent disasters indicated by the positions of inauspic
ious celestial bodies. People will not suffer untimely deaths, nor will they be bound, fettered, or shackled. Day or night they will sleep peacefully, free from evil dreams.

  “Ānanda, among the eighty-four thousand inauspicious heavenly bodies that indicate the coming of disasters in the Sāha world, twenty-eight major heavenly bodies are the more inauspicious among them, and among these, eight are the most influential. These heavenly bodies appear in a variety of forms. Their appearance can indicate the visitation of calamities upon living beings and the occurrence of uncanny events. But in any place where this mantra exists, all such calamities are prevented. An area of eighty-four miles31 around such a place will be safeguarded so that no calamitous influence will ever be able to enter.

  “These are the reasons why the Thus-Come One has proclaimed this mantra. In the future it will protect all who have just begun their spiritual practice so that they can enter samādhi and have peace and great tranquility in body and mind. Furthermore, they will not be harmed or vexed by any demon, ghost, or spirit, nor by any enmity, vulnerability to disaster, or karmic debt incurred in previous lives since time without beginning.

  “Supposing that, besides you and others in the assembly who still need instruction, spiritual practitioners in the future establish a place of awakening and keep the precepts in accord with the instructions; supposing that they have received precepts from precept-masters who have maintained purity as members of the Sangha; and supposing that they harbor no doubts as they uphold this essential mantra; then if these good people do not gain a spiritual awakening while in this present body given them by their parents, the Thus-Come Ones of the ten directions have not told the truth.”

  Vows of Protection

  When these words had been spoken, countless hundreds of thousands of vajra-brandishing warriors placed their palms together and bowed before the Buddha all at the same time, and they said to him respectfully, “In accord with what the Buddha has said, we will devote ourselves to protecting all those who undertake this practice on their path to enlightenment.”

  Then the King of the Brahma Heaven, the Lord Śakra, and the Four Celestial Kings bowed together before the Buddha, and they said to him respectfully, “If indeed there be good people who undertake a spiritual practice in accord with this Dharma, we will devote all our effort to protect these people so that their wishes will be fulfilled during their present lives.”

  Then Vināyaka and countless ghost-kings and ghost-generals, including great yakṣa-generals and kings of rākṣasas, pūtanas, kumbhāṇḍas, and piśācas, also placed their palms together, bowed before the Buddha, and said to him respectfully, “We too vow to protect these people and to lead them to quickly fulfill their resolve to become enlightened.”

  Further, innumerable sun-lords, moon-lords, rain-lords, cloud-lords, thunder-lords, lightning-lords, and other such lords, together with monitoring gods of the year,32 and the retinues of the lords of the heavenly bodies, all bowed to the Buddha from their places in the midst of the assembly. They said to him respectfully, “We too will protect all these people in their spiritual practice so that they will be free of fear and will be secure and at peace in the places for awakening that they have established.”

  Moreover, countless mountain-spirits and sea-spirits, and myriads of other spirits that move on land, through water, and in the air, together with the wind-kings of the air and the gods on the four planes of formlessness33 paid obeisance to the Thus-Come One at the same time. They said to him respectfully, “We too will protect these people in their spiritual practice so that they can become enlightened without ever being troubled by demonic influences.”

  Then Bodhisattvas in the lineage of the Bodhisattva-King Vajra-Treasury, numbering eight-four thousand million billion34 times the number of sand-grains in the River Ganges, stood up in the midst of the great assembly, bowed before the Buddha, and said to him respectfully, “World-Honored One, like these others, we all became enlightened long ago, but we have chosen not to enter nirvana. Instead, we continue in our meritorious work of constant attendance upon those whose practice is centered on this mantra, and during the time of the Dharma’s ending, we will protect all who correctly practice this samādhi.35

  “World-Honored One, these beings who cultivate their minds by correctly practicing this samādhi may be seated in their place of awakening, or they may be walking upon the roads, or their minds may not be focused while they are relaxing in their villages, but in any case we and our followers will constantly attend upon them and stand guard over them. Even if the demon-king who presides over the Heaven of Pleasure Derived from What Others Create36 should seek to have his way with these beings, he will be utterly unable to do so. Lesser ghosts and spirits will be able to approach no closer than seventy miles from these good people — unless these ghosts and spirits are also resolved to become enlightened and are joyfully practicing meditation in stillness. World-Honored One, with our gem-encrusted vajra-implements we will smash to bits the skulls of evil demons if ever they or members of their retinues should seek to intrude upon these good people in order to disrupt their practice. We will always help these good people fulfill their wishes.”

  These demons can develop tremendous psychic powers, and they abound throughout the world, causing unrest and instigating trouble. If you recite the Śūraṅgama Mantra, then all the demons throughout the world are forced to behave to some extent. If no one can recite the Śūraṅgama Mantra, they will run rampant and will recklessly devastate this world. (VI, 158)

  * * *

  That is, the Śūraṅgama Mantra.↩

  For recitation of the mantra, sitātapatra is represented by the Chinese transliterations sa-dan-duo buo-da-la and xi-dan-duo buo-da-la. The phrase appears as lines 95, 365, and 531 in the mantra.↩

  At the Buddhist Lecture Hall, San Francisco, 1968. See the introduction, p. li.↩

  At the third stage.↩

  That is, make formal vows to follow moral precepts in a ceremony of transmission presided over by a senior monk.↩

  In India to this day, farmers use the dry droppings of oxen for fuel and to plaster the walls of their houses.↩

  Probably loess, an unstratified deposit of yellow-brown loam, common in both India and China, as well as in North America and Europe.↩

  1.65 meters, Ch. wu chi 五尺, five chi; one chi is equivalent to 33 centimeters in modern measure and the same in the Tang period, when the Sutra was translated into Chinese.↩

  A balsam secreted by the liquidambar tree in response to injuries in the bark, common in ancient commerce for its value as a fragrance.↩

  A widespread family (aristolochiaceae) of evergreen and deciduous woody vines and herbaceous perennials used in the treatment of wounds.↩

  A flowering plant of the valerian family. Its rhizomes can be crushed and distilled into an intensely aromatic amber-colored essential oil, used since ancient times as a perfume and in the Āryuvedic tradition as a sedative.↩

  19.8 meters, Ch. zhang liu 丈六, six zhang; one zhang equals ten chi 尺 (see note 8 above).↩

  Half a liter, Ch. ban sheng 半升, half of a sheng; the sheng is equivalent to slightly more than a liter.↩

  See part 6.2, p. 245.↩

  Ch. jin gang zang wang pusa 金剛藏王普薩. This may be Vajrapāṇi. His followers are the vajradhara, who brandish the vajra-implement (sometimes translated as “thunderbolt”).↩

  Fire-Head (Skt. Uccḥuṣma) is the eighteenth of the twenty-five sages who speak in part 6.1 above.↩

  The Goddess Beyond Reach, an eight-armed form of Pārvatī, is often depicted riding a tiger or a lion. She is the mother of Gaṇeśa, who here is called Vināyaka.↩

  That is, he is not yet an Arhat at the fourth stage.↩

  The Venerable Master Hua Hsüan gave a detailed series of lectures explaining the meaning and use of each of the 554 lines of the mantra. See Tripitaka Master Hua, Shurangama Mantra Verses and Commentary, in fi ve vols., trans. Buddhist Text Translatio
n Society (Talmage, California: Dharma-Realm Buddhist University, 1981).↩

  The uṣṇīṣa.↩

  The numbering of the five groups and the individual lines are added for reference and are not recited as part of the mantra. In the Chinese text, the mantra is given in transliterated syllables, which convey approximate equivalents to the sound of the original syllables of the Sanskrit-related language that was used in India for the recitation of Buddhist mantras. The present translation gives a transliteration of the Chinese syllables according to the standard pinyin transliteration system. Readers who wish to recite the mantra from these pages should be familiar with the pinyin system.↩

  That is, predictions that at such and such a time and place, these beings will become Buddhas.↩

  In India, sutras were often recorded on the leaves of the fan palm (borassus flabelliformus).↩

  Of this list of four writing surfaces, the third one, zhi 紙, paper, did not exist in ancient India. It was invented in China around 100 C.E. The Chinese translators evidently chose zhi as a recognizable substitute for the writing surface which was mentioned in the original Sanskrit but which did not exist in China. The present choice of “papyrus” is a guess at the original.↩