The Esoteric Significance of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra
Section Three: The Parable of Yajñadatta Illustrating That Delusion Has No Cause
1. Original text: 富楼那言。我与如来。宝觉圆明。真妙净心。无二圆满。而我昔遭。无始妄想。久在轮回。今得圣乘。犹未究竟。世尊。诸妄一切圆灭。独妙真常。敢问如来。一切众生。何因有妄。自蔽妙明。受此沦溺。
Explanation: Pūrṇa said, "The Tathāgata and I both originally possess the same incomparably precious wondrous true mind, perfectly bright, complete in all dharmas, subtle, pure, and unconditioned; nothing is more perfect or more wondrous than He. The Buddha has already completely realized Him, with nothing incomplete or unfinished, without delusion or falsity; but I, from the past until now, have been transmigrating endlessly amid delusive thoughts. Although I have now attained the noble vehicle, it is still not ultimate—it is merely the liberation from birth-and-death of the Small Vehicle, and I have not yet embarked on the path of the Great Vehicle.
World-Honored One, when all the various delusive thoughts have been completely extinguished through cultivation, only the perfect wondrous true mind remains, forever existing, permanently abiding, unchanging. So I wish to ask the World-Honored One: on account of what do all sentient beings have so many delusive thoughts that obscure their own wondrous true mind, causing them to sink and suffer without end?"
Original text: 佛告富楼那。汝虽除疑。余惑未尽。吾以世间。现前诸事。今复问汝。汝岂不闻。室罗城中。演若达多。忽于晨朝。以镜照面。爱镜中头。眉目可见。嗔责己头。不见面目。以为魑魅。无状狂走。于意云何。此人何因。无故狂走。富楼那言。是人心狂。更无他故。
Explanation: The World-Honored One told Pūrṇa, "Although you have removed your doubts, a trace of confusion remains unextinguished. I will now question you using things that presently exist in the world. Have you not heard that in the city of Śrāvastī there was a man named Yajñadatta, who one morning suddenly looked at his face in a mirror? He became enamored of the head in the mirror, whose brows and eyes could be clearly seen, and became angry at his own head, wondering why it had no face or eyes. He then believed himself to be a demon, not a normal person, and ran about wildly without cause. Pūrṇa, what do you think of this—what reason did this person have to run about wildly without cause?" Pūrṇa said, "This person's mind was deranged; there was no other reason."
Original text: 佛言。妙觉明圆。本圆明妙。既称为妄。云何有因。若有所因。云何名妄。自诸妄想。展转相因。从迷积迷。以历尘劫。虽佛发明。犹不能返。如是迷因。因迷自有。识迷无因。妄无所依。尚无有生。欲何为灭。
Explanation: The Buddha said: "The wondrous enlightened nature is originally pure and perfect, originally perfect, bright, and wondrous. Since you call delusive thoughts false and illusory, what cause could falsity have? If it had a cause, how could it be called false? Sentient beings have had delusive thoughts since beginningless kalpas; taking these delusive thoughts as causes, they in turn give rise to new delusive thoughts, from old delusion new delusion is produced, and having passed through kalpas as numerous as dust-motes, they have remained deluded and inverted all along.
Although the Buddha has continuously expounded the original enlightenment and wondrous brightness for sentient beings, they still cannot return to their self-nature. What cause does such delusion have? Delusion exists because of delusion itself, with no other cause. Recognizing that delusion fundamentally has no cause, delusive thoughts have nothing to rely on and no cause; delusive thoughts originally never arose, so what is the point of wanting to extinguish them?"
2. Original text: 得菩提者。如寤时人。说梦中事。心纵精明。欲何因缘。取梦中物。况复无因。本无所有。如彼城中。演若达多。岂有因缘。自怖头走。忽然狂歇。头非外得。纵未歇狂。亦何遗失。
Explanation: One who has realized bodhi and returned to the origin is like a person who, after waking, recounts the events of a dream; his mind is already clear and awake. What conditions could make him grasp at and cling to the people, things, and events in the dream, and what reason would he have to refuse to let go of dream objects? Moreover, delusive thoughts fundamentally have no cause of arising, and delusive thoughts fundamentally do not exist—they never existed in the first place. It is like Yajñadatta in that city—what conditions were there for him to become terrified over his head and run about in madness? If he suddenly rested his madness, he would know that he had a head all along and need not seek it externally. Even if he had not rested his madness, his head was never lost!
Original text: 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: The Buddha said: "Pūrṇa, such is the nature of falsity—what cause could there be for its existence? There is no cause. You need only not follow your discriminating delusive thoughts, not take discriminating delusive thoughts as real; then the conditions for the three continuities—the threefold world, karmic retribution, and sentient beings—are severed, delusive thoughts cease, and there is no more falsity; the false appearances of the threefold world, karmic results, and sentient beings will all cease to exist, and what remains is the real. In that case, the Yajñadatta in your mind—his madness will cease of itself, and ignorance will be extinguished. What remains unextinguished is the bodhi mind. This supremely pure and bright fundamental mind originally pervades the entire dharma realm and originally exists; it is not obtained from anyone. Why should you toil laboriously and painstakingly seek it externally, hoping to obtain it from outside?"
Original text: 譬如有人。于自衣中。系如意珠。不自觉知。穷露他方。乞食驰走。虽实贫穷。珠不曾失。忽有智者。指示其珠。所愿从心。致大饶富。方悟神珠。非从外得。
Explanation: It is like a person who had a wish-fulfilling jewel sewn inside his own clothing but forgot about the jewel himself; having no wealth to enjoy, he went destitute and alone to another land, living a life of begging. Although this person was very poor, the jewel was never lost. Suddenly a wise person told him, "There is a wish-fulfilling jewel in your clothing at such-and-such a place," and so he found the jewel, took it out and enjoyed it, and from then on lived a wealthy life with all his wishes fulfilled. Thereafter he understood that this marvelous jewel was not obtained from outside, but was his own inherent family treasure.
3. Original text: 即时阿难。在大众中。顶礼佛足。起立白佛。世尊。现说杀盗淫业。三缘断故。三因不生。心中达多。狂性自歇。歇即菩提。不从人得。斯则因缘。皎然明白。云何如来。顿弃因缘。我从因缘。心得开悟。
Explanation: At that moment Ānanda, in the midst of the assembly, bowed at the Buddha's feet, stood up, and said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, you now say that with the three karmic actions of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct, if the three conditions that give rise to them are severed, the three causes that produce them will not arise, and the madness of the Yajñadatta in sentient beings' minds will cease of itself. Once it ceases, that mind is the bodhi mind, and this bodhi mind is not obtained from another. Yet these causes and conditions are extremely clear and evident—why does the Tathāgata suddenly reject causes and conditions, saying they were not born of causes and conditions? It was precisely from these causes and conditions that my mind attained enlightenment."
Original text: 世尊。此义何独。我等年少。有学声闻。今此会中。大目犍连。及舍利弗。须菩提等。从老梵志。闻佛因缘。发心开悟。得成无漏。今说菩提。不从因缘。则王舍城。拘舍黎等。所说自然。成第一义。惟垂大悲。开发迷闷。
Explanation: "World-Honored One, the principle that dharmas arise from causes and conditions applies not only to us young śrāvakas still in training, but also to Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Śāriputra, Subhūti, and others in this assembly—beyond-training great arhats—who all heard the Buddha's teaching on causes and conditions from the aged brahmins, awakened their minds, and attained the state of the untainted great arhats. Now you say that bodhi is not born from causes and conditions; then the 'naturalism' taught by Kakuda and other non-Buddhists of Rājagṛha would become the ultimate truth. May you, out of great compassion, dispel our confusion and distress."
Here Ānanda misunderstood the meaning of bodhi that the Buddha taught; he thought the Buddha was still speaking of the Small Vehicle bodhi born of causes and conditions as before, not knowing the true, inherently complete, wondrously bright great bodhi of the tathāgatagarbha mind. The tathāgatagarbha neither arises nor ceases—how could it be a dharma born of causes and conditions? Neither cause nor condition, and also not naturalism—this is the tathāgatagarbha.
4. Original text: 佛告阿难。即如城中。演若达多。狂性因缘。若得灭除。则不狂性。自然而出。因缘自然。理穷于是。阿难。演若达多。头本自然。本自其然。无然非自。何因缘故。怖头狂走。
Explanation: The Buddha told Ānanda, "For example, take Yajñadatta in the city: if the causes and conditions of his madness were extinguished, then his non-mad nature would naturally manifest. The principles of causality and naturalism are exhausted at this point. Ānanda, Yajñadatta's head was originally there naturally; it was originally so of itself—without being so, it would not be itself. On account of what causes and conditions did he become terrified of his head and run about madly?"
Original text: 若自然头。因缘故狂。何不自然。因缘故失。本头不失。狂怖妄出。曾无变易。何藉因缘。本狂自然。本有狂怖。未狂之际。狂何所潜。不狂自然。头本无妄。何为狂走。若悟本头。识知狂走。因缘自然。俱为戏论。
Explanation: "If the head exists naturally, and certain conditions made him go mad, why did it not also naturally, due to some conditions, lose the head? The originally existing head cannot be lost; due to mad terror, the false idea that his head was lost appeared, but in any case his head underwent no change and was not lost. How could it then rely on causes and conditions to alternately exist and not exist?
If madness existed naturally—if mad terror were originally present—then before the madness appeared, where was the frenzy hidden? If non-madness existed naturally, then the head was originally present and not false, so why did he run about madly, contradicting the natural non-mad state? If one awakens to the originally existing head and recognizes the mad running, then both causes-and-conditions and naturalism are mere conceptual proliferation, because both are arising-and-ceasing dharmas, not originally existing dharmas."
Original text: 是故我言。三缘断故。即菩提心。菩提心生。生灭心灭。此但生灭。灭生俱尽。无功用道。
若有自然。如是则明。自然心生。生灭心灭。此亦生灭。无生灭者。名为自然。犹如世间。诸相杂和。成一体者。名和合性。非和合者。称本然性。本然非然。和合非合。合然俱离。离合俱非。此句方名。无戏论法。
Explanation: Therefore I said that after the three conditions of the continuities of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct are severed, the remaining bodhi mind, the tathāgatagarbha, manifests. When the bodhi mind is born and the arising-and-ceasing mind is extinguished, this is still arising and ceasing; when both the phenomena of ceasing and of arising are exhausted, from then on no further effort need be applied on the path of bodhi—it proceeds naturally and effortlessly.
If there were a natural nature, it would be evident that a natural mind is born and the arising-and-ceasing mind extinguished—but this too is a dharma of arising and ceasing. Only what is without arising and ceasing can be called natural. It is like in the world when various appearances mix together to form one body—this is called the nature of combination; what is not combined is called the inherent nature, a dharma that originally exists. The inherently existing is not the natural nature; what is combined is not a oneness of combination. When both combination and naturalness are departed from, and neither departure nor combination applies—only this statement can be called the dharma without conceptual proliferation, because what it points to is that unarising, unceasing, originally existing dharma, not the dharmas of causality and naturalism, not a dharma of synthesis.
5. Original text: 菩提涅槃。尚在遥远。非汝历劫。辛勤修证。虽复忆持。十方如来。十二部经。清净妙理。如恒河沙。只益戏论。汝虽谈说。因缘自然。决定明了。人间称汝。多闻第一。以此积劫。多闻熏习。不能免离。摩登伽难。何因待我。佛顶神咒。摩登伽心。淫火顿歇。得阿那含。于我法中。成精进林。爱河干枯。令汝解脱。
Explanation: Realizing bodhi and nirvāṇa is still far from you; it requires you to cultivate and realize through many kalpas of diligent effort to accomplish. Although you can remember the twelve divisions of the sūtras spoken by the Tathāgatas of the ten directions, with pure and wondrous principles as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, this only adds to conceptual proliferation. Although you can discourse on causes-and-conditions and naturalism with complete clarity, and people of the world call you foremost in learning, yet with your learning accumulated and cultivated over many kalpas, you could not escape the ordeal of Mātaṅgī. Why did you have to wait for the power of my divine mantra from the Buddha's crown? The fire of lust in Mātaṅgī's mind was instantly extinguished, and she attained anāgāmin, becoming a forest of diligence within my dharma; her river of craving dried up completely, and only then were you liberated.
In this passage the World-Honored One sternly rebuked Ānanda for merely being learned without genuine practice, and thus having no power of the Path; when he encountered Mātaṅgī and was trapped, he still needed the World-Honored One to rescue him. As soon as Mātaṅgī heard the Śūraṅgama mantra, her lustful mind ceased, and she became a third-fruit practitioner, extinguishing all craving and no longer lusting after Ānanda; only then was Ānanda freed—truly not easy. A person's craving accumulated over beginningless kalpas is extremely firm and very hard to extinguish; only by relying on the Buddha's power can craving be eliminated.
Original text: 是故阿难。汝虽历劫。忆持如来。秘密妙严。不如一日。修无漏业。远离世间。憎爱二苦。如摩登伽。宿为淫女。由神咒力。消其爱欲。法中今名。性比丘尼。与罗睺罗母。耶输陀罗。同悟宿因。知历世因。贪爱为苦。一念熏修。无漏善故。或得出缠。或蒙授记。如何自欺。尚留观听。
Explanation: Therefore, Ānanda, although throughout the kalpas you have always been able to remember and hold the Tathāgata's secret and wondrous principles of cultivation and realization, this is not as good as cultivating for a single day the untainted dharma that severs afflictions, distancing yourself from the two sufferings of the world—hatred and love. For example, Mātaṅgī had been a prostitute in past lives; due to the divine power of my Śūraṅgama mantra, her craving and lust were eliminated, and she left home to cultivate the path within my dharma, being named Bhikṣuṇī Xing. Together with Rāhula's mother Yaśodharā, she awakened to their past-life causes, knowing the various causes of their successive lifetimes and understanding that craving and love are truly suffering; with a single thought they cultivated the untainted wholesome dharma, and as a result one escaped the bondage of birth-and-death of craving, and the other received the prediction of future buddhahood. But how can you, Ānanda, deceive yourself, still remaining at the stage of hearing and studying the dharma through the ears, and not hasten to actual cultivation and realization?
This passage again rebukes and urges Ānanda to quickly engage in actual practice, not to remain satisfied with extensive learning and take it as fulfillment, lacking the power of the Path. Buddhist practitioners in the final age of the dharma today are even worse than Ānanda, even more satisfied with the lip-service skill of what goes in the ear and out the mouth, taking emotional speculation and intellectual understanding as actual realization, deceiving themselves and then deceiving others—not even one percent, one thousandth, or one ten-thousandth of Ānanda. This passage in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra precisely points out the pain point of practitioners' cultivation: merely remaining at the level of the conscious mind's learning and study, without truly cultivating in accordance with the dharma. If the manas is not cultivated, no matter how much the mind consciousness cultivates, liberation is impossible. The phenomena of the final dharma age are far more serious than this; the most prominent special case is taking the mind consciousness's hearing and study as actual realization—a great misunderstanding—and without knowing to reflect on oneself, when death arrives, regret will come too late.
