Explanation of Selected Passages from the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Original text:狂心顿歇，歇即菩提。富楼那，妄性如是，因何为在？汝但不随分别世间、业果、众生三种相续，三缘断故，三因不生，则汝心中演若达多狂性自歇，歇即菩提。胜净明心，本周法界，不从人得，何藉劬劳肯綮修证。

Explanation: What is to be ceased is the madness of the mind, not the extinguishing of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. When Yajñadatta saw the head in the mirror, he thought his own head was lost, and ran about everywhere searching for his head. Taking the five aggregates as the self, taking all realms of experience as the self, taking the manas as the self, one then craves the self and craves all dharmas—this is the madness of the mind.

Because of this madness of the mind, one does not recognize one's own inherent tathāgatagarbha, and takes the functions and activities of the tathāgatagarbha to be the functions and activities of the manas itself. When one cultivates practice to the point of ceasing this mad mind, one can then realize the original mind, the tathāgatagarbha.

Sentient beings have always been searching outwardly for their true self, not knowing that the tathāgatagarbha is right within their own five aggregates, and that all dharmas are He. When we do not search outwardly, but turn back to seek within our own body and mind, we can easily find Him—He was never anywhere else. In the end one arrives at this conclusion: the supremely pure, luminous, and wondrous tathāgatagarbha has always pervasively existed throughout the eighteen dharmadhātus; He is not obtained from anyone else, nor was He attained through arduous cultivation and realization at such great cost and effort. He is the family treasure originally present in one's own treasury, merely undiscovered due to karmic obstructions.