The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Five: The Twenty-five Sages' Perfect Penetration Methods — Cūḍapanthaka

Original text:周利槃特迦。即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我阙诵持。无多闻性。最初值佛。闻法出家。忆持如来一句伽陀。于一百日。得前遗后。得后遗前。佛愍我愚。教我安居调出入息。我时观息。微细穷尽。生住异灭。诸行刹那。其心豁然。得大无碍。乃至漏尽。成阿罗汉。住佛座下。印成无学。佛问圆通。如我所证。返息循空。斯为第一。

Explanation: Cūḍapanthaka rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: I was unable to recite and hold the sūtras and verses well, and my memory was poor. When I first encountered the Buddha and heard Him teach the Dharma, I followed Him and left home to cultivate the Way. I wanted to memorize a single verse, but for one hundred days, whenever I memorized the first part, I forgot the latter part, and whenever I memorized the latter part, I forgot the first part. Out of compassion for my foolishness, the Buddha taught me to dwell in one place and focus solely on regulating the out-breath and in-breath.

I then began to contemplate the breath. The more I contemplated the breath, the subtler it became, until gradually the breath ceased entirely and I entered the fourth dhyāna. After emerging from meditation, I further contemplated the arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of the breath, as well as the momentary arising and ceasing of all bodily formations and the momentary arising and ceasing of the aggregate of volitional formations. My mind suddenly opened in clarity, and I realized the emptiness of all formations and the emptiness of the five aggregates. My mind no longer had any obstruction regarding the world of the five aggregates. Thus my afflictions were completely severed, and I became a great arhat of the fourth fruit. Dwelling beneath the Buddha's seat, I was certified by the Buddha as being beyond training (aśaikṣa). When the Buddha asked about the dharma gate of perfect penetration, it was just as I had realized: turning back to contemplate the breath, gradually deepening until suddenly entering emptiness, realizing that all formations are empty — this is my foremost dharma gate.

Cūḍapanthaka was rather dull with respect to Dharma principles and lacked the power of memorization. The Buddha, knowing his disposition, taught him the method of contemplating the breath. The method of realizing the fruits was not approached through theory, but through actual bodily formations. Contemplating the breath, the mind gradually became stilled on the breath; the meditative concentration grew ever deeper, the mind ever subtler, and the breath ever finer, until at a certain point of subtlety it ceased. Thus Cūḍapanthaka contemplated the phenomena of the arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of the breath, and then gradually contemplated through to the phenomena of the arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of the operation of the five-aggregate body, thereby realizing the emptiness of the dharmas of the formations of the five aggregates and attaining the fruit of arhatship. Therefore, actual practice requires personal, embodied effort; only when the mind is stilled on one object can the wisdom of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) arise. Only through the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā can one attain meditative absorption (samādhi), gain purity of the Dharma eye, transcend birth and death, and attain liberation. Those whose power of contemplative practice is insufficient should cultivate meditative concentration more; those whose cultivation is not effective should carefully search for the causes and appropriately adjust the direction and methods of their practice. Only by cultivating deeply along one path can one achieve accomplishment.

True cultivation can never be accomplished by playing clever; one must be down-to-earth, leaving footprints with every step. Without resolving firmly to cultivate meditative concentration, everything is a castle in the air.