TheThe SurangamaSurangama SutraSutra Translated by Upasaka Lu K'uan Yu (Charles Luk) HAN DD ET U 'S B B O RY eOK LIBRA E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.buddhanet.net Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc. The øåraïgama Såtra (Leng Yen Ching) Chinese Rendering by Master Paramiti of Central North India at Chih Chih Monastery, Canton, China, A.D. 705 Commentary (abridged) by Ch’an Master Han øhan (1546-1623) Translated by Upàsaka Lu K’uan Yu¨ (Charles Luk) Comment Enlightenment in Mahàyàna Buddhism consists in transmut- ing the mind into the Great Mirror Wisdom. And so the øåraïgama Såtra points directly at the Mind which when stirred by the first thought creates the basic illusion of an ego and splits the Whole into subject and object. In consequence it is still a primary source for the Ch’an or Zen school. In this såtra the Buddha began by stripping ânanda of this attachment to the illusory body and mind before reveal- ing the One Mind. To teach how this One Mind can be real- ised he asked twenty-five Bodhisattvas to describe the different methods by which each had attained Enlighten- ment. Avolokitesvara’s method was judged the most suitable for mankind today. The Buddha disclosed the cause of transmigration through the six worlds and of the attainment of the four saintly planes, describing these ten regions in some detail. Finally he detailed and warned against clinging to the various mental states experienced when practising the øåraïgama Samàdhi. We in the West know of the Creation according to the Bible, but readers will now find in this såtra how man and his world came into being as taught by the Buddha. Cover Design: Miao Yin Translator Lu K’uan Yu’s translation from the Chinese of this important såtra is based on Ch’an Master Han Shan’s late sixteenth century commentary, portions of which are included in the footnotes. Lu K’uan Yu was born in Canton in 1898. His first Master was the Hutuktu of Sikong, an enlightened Great Lama. His second Master was the Venerable Ch’an Master Hsu Yun, the Dharma-successor of all five Ch’an sects of China. Lu K’uan Yu now lives in Hong Kong and devotes him- self to presenting as many Chinese Buddhist texts as possible so that Buddhism can be preserved at least in the West, should it be fated to disappear in the East as it seems to be. v Contents of the øåraïgama Såtra Comment . iii Translator . v Preface . 15 I The Noumenon in the Tathàgata Store . 24 ânanda’s Weakness — The Reason for this Sermon . 25 Meditative Study of All as Void (øamatha) . 26 Wiping Out the Five Aggregates & Eight Consciousnesses to Expose the Unreality of Ego . 27 Revealing the Bright Samàdhi . 38 Origin of Inversion . 39 Actual Inversion . 41 The Inverted Mind . 41 Probe into the false mind . 41 Thinking is unreal . 41 The sixth consciousness is empty . 42 The seventh consciousness is unreal . 43 Refuting all inversion . 45 The Inverted Perception . 45 A bright Light to reveal the One Reality . 46 Returning perception to Mind . 46 Inverted Men . 48 The worlding's inverted views . 49 The Hinayanist’s inverted views . 50 The heretics’ inverted view of annihilation . 52 The inverted behaviour . 55 Delusion and Enlightenment are of the same source . 56 vi Wiping Out the Unreal . 59 The Non-existence of Discriminative Perception . 59 ânanda’s wrong view . 59 Unreality of illusory causes . 59 Falseness of both sense organs and consciousness . 60 All phenomena returnable to causes are unreal . 61 Borrowing The Essence Of Perception To Pick Out Causal Externals . 61 Setting up the essence of perception . 62 Picking out causal externals . 62 The nature of perception . 63 The (Underlying) Nature of Perception is Not the Essence of Perception . 63 The capacity of perception . 64 Picking out causal objects . 64 The essence of perception . 65 The Essence of Perception Mistaken for Externals . 65 Refuting this misconception . 65 True perception . 66 Wiping Out the Capacity of Perception to Reveal the True Mind . 66 The capacity of seeing . 66 Breaking up the capacity of seeing . 67 Revealing the Real . 67 Eradicating Attachment to the Ego to Reveal the One Reality . 68 Rooting Out ânanda’s Misconception of Objects Being and NOT BEING Perception . 69 Misconception of objects BEING perception . 69 Misconception of objects NOT BEING perception . 70 Ma¤ju÷rã’s Helpful Interposition . 72 Wiping Out Âlaya’s Self-Evidencing to Reveal One Reality . 74 ânanda’s Discrimination . 74 vii Wiping Out ânanda’s Discrimination . 74 Rooting out the self as such . 74 Eliminating cause and condition . 75 Revealing the essential Bodhi . 75 Brushing away wrong assumptions . 76 Eliminating the Essence of Perception to Reveal Inceptive Enlightenment 76 Wiping Out ânanda’s Discrimination . 76 Revealing the Inceptive Bodhi . 77 Individual Karma . 80 Collective Karma . 81 Revealing the Independent Basic Bodhi to Expose the Unfettered Absoluteness (Bhåtatathatà) . 83 Wiping Out All Traces of the False to Enter the Abstruse to Reveal the Bhåtatathatà . 84 Direct Pointing to the One Mind . 86 Fusing Myriads of Things with the Absolute to Reveal the Identity of Phenomenon with Noumenon . 87 Fusing the Five Aggregates . 87 The First Aggregate Råpa . 87 The Second Aggregate Vedanà . 88 The Third Aggregate Sa¤j¤a . 89 The Fourth Aggregate Saüskàra . 90 The Fifth Aggregate Vi¤àna . 90 Fusing the Six Entrances . 91 Entrance through the Eyes . 91 Entrance through the Ears . 92 Entrance through the Nose . 93 Entrance through the Tongue . 93 Entrance through the Body . 94 Entrance through the Intellect . 95 viii Fusing the Twelve âyatana (Six Sense Organs & Six Sense Data) . 96 Eyes & Form . 96 Ears & Sound . 97 Nose & Smell . 98 Tongue & Taste . ..