How to Attain Enlightenment Through Practicing the Shurangama Sutra

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra is the text that elucidates the doctrine of Tathāgatagarbha with the utmost clarity, rightfully serving as the gateway to enlightenment. It enables us to realize the true nature of all dharmas, though the depth of realization varies according to individual capacity, ultimately culminating in the profound wisdom of the path-seed. When practitioners possess the complete conditions of the six pāramitās and have perfected precepts, concentration, and wisdom, the moment causes and conditions ripen, upon reading the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, they will instantly attain enlightenment.

Without a foundation in meditative concentration, lacking the attainment of the anāgamya-samādhi (the meditation preceding the first dhyāna), and without genuine experiential investigation, enlightenment is out of the question. There exists a significant difference and distance between merely having the anāgamya-samādhi and having fully perfected it. Many have not even attained the anāgamya-samādhi, let alone perfected it; thus, they remain extremely far from enlightenment. When the anāgamya-samādhi is not perfected, one cannot engage in investigation with the manas (the seventh consciousness); one can only operate at the analytical level of the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna), which is superficial and incapable of deep contemplation. With insufficient concentration, the mind cannot remain fixed on a single point; thoughts frequently scatter and wander, preventing the birth of true wisdom. Such is the paramount importance of meditative concentration.

When the causes and conditions ripen, enlightenment will occur suddenly and irreversibly, like a snap—this is sudden enlightenment. Gradual understanding, on the other hand, is merely analytical knowledge derived by the conscious mind and lacks practical efficacy.

Dedication Verse:

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