The Method of Cultivating Manas: Observing the Nasal Whiteness in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Manas Training Chapter)

Original text from the Shurangama Sutra: Sundarananda immediately rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and addressed the Buddha, saying: "When I first left home and followed the Buddha on the path, although I upheld the precepts, my mind was always scattered and restless in Samadhi, and I had not yet attained the state without outflows. The World-Honored One instructed me and Kaudinya to contemplate the whiteness at the tip of the nose. Initially, I diligently contemplated for twenty-one days and saw the breath entering and leaving my nose like smoke. My body and mind became inwardly luminous, perfectly penetrating the world, which everywhere became empty and pure, like crystal. Gradually, the smoky appearance faded, and the breath at the nose turned white. My mind opened, outflows were exhausted, and all incoming and outgoing breaths transformed into light, illuminating the worlds of the ten directions. I attained Arhatship. The World-Honored One predicted that I would attain Bodhi. The Buddha inquired about perfect penetration. I achieved it through the cessation of breath. When the breath ceased for a long time, luminosity arose. With perfect luminosity, outflows were extinguished. This I consider foremost."

When Sundarananda first left home, due to his scattered mind, he could not achieve Samadhi or realize the fruition of the path without outflows. The World-Honored One then instructed him and Kaudinya to contemplate the breath at the tip of their noses turning white. Sundarananda contemplated for only twenty-one days and saw the incoming and outgoing breath in his nose resembling smoke. His body, mind, and the world all became clear and luminous, enabling him to perfectly perceive the entire world transforming into emptiness and purity, as transparent as crystal. Gradually, the smoky appearance of the breath entering and leaving the nostrils vanished, turning white instead. Within this Samadhi, wisdom opened, afflictions were completely severed, and all breath entering and leaving the tip of the nose transformed into light, illuminating the worlds of the ten directions. He attained the fruition of Arhatship. The World-Honored One predicted that he would ultimately attain unsurpassed Bodhi. His method of perfect penetration involved the cessation of breath entering and leaving the tip of the nose. Over time, wisdom arose, and with its perfection, afflictions were extinguished.

The Samadhi achievement attained by Sundarananda is the fruition of contemplation by the manas (mind root). It is a realization attained through cultivation, not a product of intellectual analysis by the conscious mind. No function of the conscious mind can perceive the true reality and essence of phenomena; therefore, it cannot yield such fruition. The fruition arises from the cultivation and realization of the manas, because the manas can perceive the true reality of phenomena, perceive the true nature of the great thousandfold world, and perceive the emptiness of the five aggregates. This true reality cannot be conceived by the conscious mind through thought, because the dharmas contacted by the conscious mind are separated by one layer from those contacted by the manas, rendering them even more illusory. The manas is closely connected to the Tathagatagarbha; the dharmas it contacts are "substance-accompanied appearances" (带质境), coming directly from the "substance realm" (本质境) without any intermediate dharmas. In contrast, the dharmas contacted by the conscious mind are manifestations produced after the manas has contacted them. For the conscious mind to perceive true reality is extremely difficult; it must rely solely on the manas.

I have not cultivated this method myself and cannot clearly explain the specific process of cultivation or its supreme results. However, the general starting point for cultivation is objective contemplation—without adding the conscious mind's functions of intellectual analysis regarding the breath. Instead, one directly perceives the breath at the tip of the nose with the intuitive faculty of the manas, gradually attaining single-pointedness, and enters Samadhi through the equal balance of concentration and wisdom. In any contemplation method, once the conscious mind's functions, such as thinking, are activated, one is no longer in a state of contemplation. One departs from the present state, becoming inaccurate, and the results become unreliable, failing to arise from the Samadhi state. The more the conscious mind is used, the greater the obstruction to the contemplation of the manas, and the further one strays from the path.

Therefore, to train the contemplation of the manas, one must use the method of direct perception, eliminating the thinking of the conscious mind, allowing the conscious mind to serve only a guiding function, leaving the rest to the manas. The contemplation of the manas is objective and actual contemplation, free from unrealistic, non-veridical imaginings. It can lead the transformation of states, causing the environment to follow the mind, rather than the mind following the environment, thereby transforming the body, mind, and world. The starting point may seem simple, but the actual practice is difficult. The reason lies in the multitude of psychological attachments and worldly affairs that entangle the mind, preventing it from entering a quiet, single-pointed state of contemplation. Without the emergence of concentration and wisdom, naturally, there can be no talk of attaining the fruition of realization.