The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Nine, Original Text (Part One)

Original text: 又彼定中诸善男子，见色阴销，受阴明白。于明悟中得虚明性。其中忽然归向永灭。拨无因果，一向入空。空心现前，乃至心生长断灭解。悟则无咎，非为圣证。若作圣解，则有空魔入其心腑。乃谤持戒，名为小乘。菩萨悟空，有何持犯。其人常于信心檀越，饮酒啖肉，广行淫秽。因魔力故，摄其前人不生疑谤。鬼心久入，或食屎尿与酒肉等。一种俱空，破佛律仪，误入人罪。失于正受，当从沦坠。

Explanation: 若作圣解，则有空魔入其心腑。乃谤持戒，名为小乘。菩萨悟空，有何持犯。

This phenomenon has already occurred now, which shows that māras are constantly watching every Buddhist practitioner, and once they find an opportunity, they will surely "bless" them well.

Quite a few people feel that they have awakened, and then say there is no need to keep the Three Refuges, the Five Precepts, and the Bodhisattva Precepts—those are the precepts with marks kept by ordinary beings, and bodhisattvas need not keep precepts in this way. Once a bodhisattva awakens, the mind becomes empty, and the mind then possesses the markless precepts. However, only after attaining the bhūmis does one have the capacity to keep part of the true markless precepts; only bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above can truly have a markless mind and practice the path of effortless conduct. An ordinary being who has not genuinely eliminated self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), with afflictions fully present—what capacity or qualification does such a person have to keep the markless precepts? Even if one has truly seen one's true mind and attained enlightenment, without eliminating afflictions it is impossible to be markless; one cannot keep the markless precepts, and even the precepts with marks are very hard to keep.

Why was the Śūraṅgama Sūtra the first to be destroyed? It is precisely because the Śūraṅgama Sūtra can everywhere enable people to awaken to the true mind and realize enlightenment, resolving the great matter of birth and death, and later it exposes the evil deeds of māras thoroughly and completely. Therefore we must strive to study the Śūraṅgama Sūtra well, lest we be destroyed by the māra king prematurely.

Some people really need to be careful in learning the Dharma and cultivating practice. They blindly cling to emptiness, refusing to acknowledge that anything exists, yet have not realized it; in the end they become so "empty" that they deny cause and effect, act recklessly and wildly, and finally end up so miserable as to fall into the three evil destinies and hell—let's see who comes to save you then.

How many people study the Dharma for two and a half days, understand just a tiny bit, and then clamor loudly proclaiming that they have realized and awakened, without even knowing what they have realized. Those who especially love to be regarded as sages are utter ordinary beings; their ordinary-being appearance is plainly revealed. For such people, the māra king and little demons can capture them with ease, using them to undermine the Buddhadharma; after being used and becoming useless, they will fall into the three evil destinies to undergo retribution. Some people cast their nets waiting for māras to come. Māras have never left the Sahā world; they stare fixedly at these Buddhist practitioners, drilling in through any gap they find. Once they possess someone and "bless" them, that person becomes a so-called sage, going around expounding the sutras and speaking on the Dharma, breaking the Buddha's disciplinary rules and destroying Buddhism.

It is not that those who study shallow Dharma are prone to māra-possession while those who study profound Dharma are not—it is not like that. As the Buddha taught in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, when one's Buddhist practice reaches a certain stage, those who delight in various states and consider themselves to have become sages or immortals are the ones prone to māra-possession. Those who go around all day saying they have awakened, whose bodily, verbal, and mental actions are worse than an ordinary being's—such people are the ones prone to māra-possession and easily used by māras. Other people have no value for exploitation, nor do they give māras any opening to exploit.