The Surangama Sutra

by Hsuan Hua

  “All the Buddhas, World-Honored Ones of the past, while calmly abiding in samādhi and while practicing contemplative insight, applied their contemplative insight to all these states. By means of their enlightened understanding, they analyzed these subtle demonic activities. Once you can clearly recognize these demonic states when they occur, you will be able to cleanse your mind of those defilements, and you will not fall prey to wrong views. Then the demonic states associated with the aggregates will be eradicated, and the celestial demons will be utterly defeated. Ghosts and spirits of great power will be frightened out of their wits and will run for their lives. Animal-possessing ghosts and nightmare-ghosts will no longer dare to show themselves. You will reach your goal of full awakening without having experienced the slightest weariness, and you will all progress directly to full awakening. Even those whose roots in the Dharma are inferior will be able to make progress toward nirvana without becoming confused or discouraged.

  “In the time of the Dharma’s ending, some beings who like to practice samādhi may not have sufficient intelligence to practice meditation in stillness correctly or to explain the Dharma correctly. You should be concerned lest they fall under the influence of the kind of wrong views that I have been describing. Devote yourselves to teaching these beings how to hold in their minds the dhāraṇī-mantra spoken at the crown of the Buddha’s head.73 If they cannot learn to recite it from memory, teach them to write it out and to place it in their meditation halls or else to wear it close to their bodies. Then no demon will be able to disturb them.

  “You should hold in the greatest reverence all the teachings of the Thus-Come Ones of the ten directions. These are my final instructions.”

  You should respect and honor the wonderful Śurāṅgama Samādhi and the method of breaking through to enlightenment by directing the hearing inward to listen to your inherent nature. You should also revere the Dharma of the Śurāṅgama Mantra, which is the supreme and most honored dhāraṇī of the Buddhas.... The Śurāṅgama Samādhi is the Dharma of the nature of all the Thus-Come Ones of the ten directions; it is the mother of all Buddhas. It is the ultimate, most thorough, and subtly wonderful Dharma for progress in self-cultivation, the most important method, the most important instruction about the road you should take to attain the wisdom and vision of the Buddhas. (VIII, 280)

  The Five Aggregates Arise from Delusion

  Then Ānanda once again stood up amidst the great assembly and bowed reverently, having fully retained in his memory the instructions he had heard the Buddha give. He said respectfully to the Buddha, “The Buddha has said that the five categories of delusion which characterize the five aggregates are the basis of the deluded activity of the mind. We have never before received from the Thus-Come One such a detailed explanation. Now, when these five aggregates disappear, do they do so all at once, or do they disappear in sequence, one after the other? And if they do disappear in sequence, what are the defining characteristics of each of the five aggregates? I only hope that the Thus-Come One, out of his great kindness, will explain this, so that all of us in this great assembly can purify our minds and make our vision clear. In this way we will be able to act as guides for beings in the future time of the Dharma’s ending.”

  Don’t get the wrong idea here. When Ananda speaks out again in the assembly, it’s certainly not the case that he is showing off. It’s not that he wants everyone to notice him. He is seeking the Dharma on behalf of all beings,... including you and me, who are his fellow practitioners from a different time. (VIII, 282)

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “In the subtle, true, wondrous understanding, in the fundamental, awakened, perfect purity, no death or rebirth remains, nor any defilement, not even space itself. All these arise out of deluded mental activity. From within the true essence which is the fundamental, original, awakened, wondrous understanding, delusion arises and brings about the world of perceived objects. We might compare the situation to Yajñadatta’s confusion about the face he saw in the mirror.74 His delusion did not arise from any cause. People’s deluded thinking leads them to conclude that what is subject to causes and conditions must have an independent existence. Others, not even understanding about causes and conditions, assert that things come into being on their own. The nature of space itself is that it, too, arises from illusion. The notion that things come into being due to causes and conditions and the notion that they come into being on their own are mere speculations born of beings’ deluded minds.

  The Buddha says that in the essential, true, wondrous understanding and complete purity of fundamental enlightenment, neither death nor rebirth exists, nor do worldly defilements and even space itself. This is the Matrix of the Thus-Come One, the fundamental suchness of reality that is inherent in us all. It’s not that some people have it and other people don’t. We are all endowed with the essential, true, and wondrous understanding — the complete purity of fundamental enlightenment. Within it there is not a single defilement, not a single phenomenon; there isn’t anything at all. If you can return to this source, you will be free of ignorance, lust, greed, stupidity, and delusion.... The aim of our practice is to return to that place that is within us all. (VIII, 284–5)

  “Ānanda, one who understands where delusion comes from will say that it comes about due to certain causes and conditions. One who under-stands that there can be no place of origin for delusion will know that there is no place where causes and conditions can arise. We hardly need to mention the people who know nothing of causes and conditions and who say that all phenomena come into being on their own. Therefore, based on what the Thus-Come One has already shown you, you should understand that the fundamental cause for the coming into being of the five aggregates is the deluded activity of the mind.

  “Your body came into being because of mental activity on the part of your parents, but if there were no such activity in your mind as well, you would not have been born. It is through such mental activity that life is perpetuated. I already mentioned to you that thinking about something sour can cause the mouth to water, and that merely thinking about climbing up to the edge of a precipice can cause your feet to ache.[^k75] In fact, there is no precipice under your feet, nor is there anything sour in your mouth. If there were no connection between your body and deluded thinking, what would cause your mouth to water when there is mention of something sour? From this you should know that the body which you now have is an instance of the illusion of solid matter. This is the first of the delusions of the mind.75

  “As we have said, merely the thought of approaching a precipice can cause your feet actually to ache. In this way even a sense-perception caused by deluded mental activity can affect your physical body. You now experience what is pleasing and beneficial and what is displeasing and harmful. These two kinds of experience, which affect you in rapid succession, are an instance of the illusion of sense-perception. This is the second of the delusions of the mind.

  If you could stop the activities of your mind completely,... the Matrix of the Thus-Come One would manifest. It is your own inherent treasure; it is the landscape of your homeland; it is your original countenance. But at the slightest movement of your faculties of perception, your true nature will be obscured by a covering of clouds. (VIII, 300)

  “Thus your thoughts and concerns exert control over your physical body. Suppose there were no relation between your body and your thoughts; what then would be the agency that exerts control over your body? In fact, your body tries to obtain various things that you have been thinking about. In other words, when the thought of a perceived object arises in the mind, that thought evokes the body’s response, which is to seek to obtain or to avoid that object. This is true not only when you are awake and thinking but also when you are asleep and dreaming. These are instances of the activity of cognition creating an illusory understanding. This cooperative functioning of mind and body constitutes the third delusion of the mind.

  “Then there are the systematic changes in your body w
hich never stop — such incessant and imperceptible changes as the lengthening of your fingernails, the growth of your hair, the lessening of your vitality, and the wrinkling of your face. Each of these continues as day and night succeed one another. Yet you fail to be aware of them. If these systematic changes are not part of you, Ānanda, then why does your body undergo them? If in fact they are truly a part of you, how is it that you are not aware of them? The uninterrupted succession of thought after thought characterizes the aggregate of mental formations. This subtle and hidden mental activity constitutes the fourth delusion of the mind.

  “Further, if you were to attain a permanent state of refined mental clarity that is pure and unmoving, you would no longer be able to experience seeing, hearing, tactile awareness, and cognition.76 If your mind were in fact to attain this refined level of reality, it would no longer contain any traces of those habitual distorted mental activities. How then is it that you may have entirely forgotten about some strange sight that you once saw years ago, and yet the memory has not entirely disappeared, because when you suddenly see something very like that same strange sight, you recall perfectly the first time you saw it? This place of refined clarity that you wrongly suppose to be pure and unmoving is in fact permeated with an endless succession of countless mental impressions.

  Although you have temporarily forgotten about it, the memory is stored in your eighth consciousness,... where it is stored as a natural process. There isn’t anyone keeping track. (VIII, 305)

  “You should know, Ānanda, that this subtle clarity is not the true mind. It is, rather, like a rapidly flowing stream that seems at first glance to be calm and still. Although you do not see it, there is nevertheless a current. Similarly, if in your consciousness aggregate there were no source of deluded mental activity, what else could be the repository of your deluded mental activities? Until your six faculties merge and become interchangeable, you will never be able to put an end to your deluded mental acts. That is why at present this subtle clarity of mind is still bound up with subtle habits belonging to seeing, hearing, tactile awareness, and mental awareness.77 In the same way, these false mental impressions lying within what seems to be the clarity of the consciousness aggregate seem to exist and yet not to exist. This extremely subtle and barely discernable activity constitutes the fifth kind of distortion of the mind.

  “The five aggregates, Ānanda, are simply the development of these five kinds of deluded mental activity.

  “Now you also wish to know what the defining attributes of each of the aggregates are and how coarse or refined they are. Form and emptiness are the defining attributes of the aggregate of form. Contact and separation are the defining attributes of the aggregate of sense-perception. What is recorded and what is not recorded are the defining attributes of the aggregate of cognition. Coming into being and perishing are the defining attributes of the aggregate of mental formations. Entering into the state of deep clarity and being stored in that deep clarity are the defining attributes of the aggregate of consciousness. These five aggregates arise in successive layers, beginning with the coming into being of consciousness. Their perishing begins with the ceasing to be of the aggregate of form. You may suddenly reach an understanding of the principle of the aggregates, and on that basis you may presume the aggregates will all vanish together. But, in fact, they do not all vanish at once; they must be ended in sequence.

  The five aggregates arise in layers.... They arise first in the aggregate of consciousness, and to eliminate them one must begin with the aggregate of form. (VIII, 308)

  “I have already explained this to you with the example of untying my scarf.78 What is it that you did not understand, so that you ask me about it again? You should thoroughly understand the source of deluded acts of mind, and then you should transmit this teaching to future practitioners during the time of the Dharma’s ending. Lead them to recognize their delusion so that they come to abhor the fact that it arises within themselves. Let them know of nirvana so that they cease to long for further existence in the three realms.”

  The Merit of Teaching the Śūraṅgama Dharma

  “Suppose, Ānanda, that someone gathered together as many of the seven precious things as would fill the realm of space to its farthest reaches in all ten directions. Suppose that this person then offered all these precious things to as many Buddhas as there are motes of dust, with his mind intent in every moment on reverently serving these Buddhas. What do you think? By making such an offering to the Buddhas, would this person merit many blessings?”

  Ānanda replied, “The reaches of space are infinite, and so these precious things would be beyond counting. Yet someone once gave the Buddha a mere seven coins, and as a result, at the end of his life, he was reborn and became a universal monarch. How much greater must be the reward of blessings that would come to this other person who offers to the Buddhas as many of the seven precious things as would fill the Buddhas’ lands everywhere to the ends of space. Even if one were to ponder this for countless eons, one could not conceive of the extent of his reward.”

  The Buddha said to Ānanda, “The Buddhas, the Thus-Come Ones, never speak falsely. Imagine then the situation of some other person who has committed the four grave offenses and the ten offenses that merit expulsion. He deserves to fall immediately into the Unrelenting Hell and then gradually to pass through the Unrelenting Hells of all the other worlds throughout the ten directions. Now, suppose this same person were to explain this Dharma, even for just a moment, to beings who in the time of the Dharma’s ending had not learned about this teaching. Then as a consequence of that one moment of explanation, this person’s offenses would vanish, and the hells in which he had deserved to suffer would be transformed into lands of peace and delight. In fact, the blessings merited by such a person would exceed by hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of times the blessings merited by the other person I just mentioned, the one who made those offerings of precious things. The difference would be so great that no calculation or example could express it.

  “Ānanda, even in an infinite number of eons I could not fully describe the benefit that beings will gain from reciting this Sutra and from holding this mantra in their minds. By relying on this teaching that I have given you, and by practicing just as I have instructed you, you will go directly to full awakening without creating any more karma that would lead to entanglement in the demonic.”

  The Buddha had now finished speaking this Sutra. Monks, nuns, precept-holding laymen, and precept-holding laywomen, as well as gods and asuras from all the worlds, and also Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and Solitary Sages from other worlds, together with sages, ascetic masters, pure young people, and ghosts and spirits of great power who had made the initial resolve to attain full awakening — all who were there felt great joy. They bowed in reverence and departed.

  * * *

  See part 5, note 28.↩

  See part 2.4.↩

  That is, the Śūraṅgama Samādhi.↩

  The six types of spiritual power are the power of celestial vision, which sees what is ordinarily invisible, including the past and the future; the power of celestial hearing; knowledge of previous lives; knowledge of others’ thoughts; extraordinary bodily powers; and the ending of outflows. Only enlightened beings have ended outflows; the other powers are available to the unenlightened. See Buddhist Text Translation Society, trans., The Buddha Speaks of Amitābha Sūtra: A General Explanation with Commentary by the Ven. Master Hsüan Hua, 2nd ed. (Burlingame, CA: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2003), 7–8.↩

  See part 5.2 above.↩

  This is a a description of what happens if the practitioner does not overrate or otherwise misconstrue any of the following ten demonic states. These states are separate situations that may or may not arise and that the practitioner may or may not succumb to — an array of alternatives, of possible pitfalls, rather than a fixed list of tests to be passed through in sequence. The same is true of the other four sets of ten demon
ic states described in the sections that follow.↩

  That is, the darkness described above, experienced by the practitioner whose thoughts have come to a halt.↩

  The words heard in the air are actually spoken by dissociated elements of the practitioner’s mind. While this may seem to describe a psychotic state, it can also be a symptom of the dismantling of the false, constructed ego.↩

  The body of a Buddha that is equivalent to the Dharma-Realm.↩

  That is, objects that would ordinarily be unseen even in daylight.↩

  This paragraph describes a successful completion of an encounter with the aggregate of sense-perception. The paragraphs that follow describe ten demonic states of mind that practitioners may experience and that may put their spiritual progress in jeopardy. This pattern is repeated in the sections below on the aggregates of cognition, mental formations, and consciousness. In this section on the aggregate of sense-perception, the text does not state explicitly whether these states involve possession by external demons or by demonic inner afflictions. The translation is based on the second interpretation. By exception, the tenth state involves an external demon.↩