The Esoteric Significance of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra
Section Eight The Two Fundamental Inversions
Original text: 尔时阿难。在大众中。即从座起。偏袒右肩。右膝著地。合掌恭敬。而白佛言。我是如来。最小之弟。蒙佛慈爱。虽今出家。犹恃憍怜。所以多闻。未得无漏。
Explanation: At this time, Ānanda rose from his seat in the midst of the assembly, bared his right shoulder (with the right shoulder exposed—this was how monastics dressed in the past), placed his right knee on the ground with the left knee bent like a bow (this is called the "hu kneel," kneeling on one knee), joined his palms respectfully, and said to the World-Honored One: "I am the Buddha's youngest brother. I have constantly received the Buddha's loving care. Although I have now left the household life, I still rely on the Buddha's fond favor and affection for me; therefore I have only studied widely and learned much, without true cultivation and realization, and have not attained the state without outflows (anāsrava)."
Because Ānanda delighted in the Buddha and had a mind that delighted in the Buddha, he had always taken this mind to be his true self, his true mind. So the Buddha asked him: "Where is this so-called true mind of yours?" Ānanda then named seven places—inside, outside, and in between—and the World-Honored One refuted and negated each of them one by one. Ānanda truly could not think of where the true mind was, so he again asked the Buddha to reveal the path of cultivation.
Ānanda's extensive learning was the good roots he had accumulated since beginningless kalpas by steeping himself in and hearing the Buddha-dharma. In this life, Ānanda cultivated following the Buddha; as the Buddha's attendant, he followed the Buddha everywhere to listen to sūtras and hear the Dharma, studying widely and learning much. After listening to sūtras and hearing the Dharma, he did not truly practice, because he believed that the Buddha, cherishing and pitying him, would surely bestow the fruits of the Path upon him in full, so that he need not cultivate them himself; because he had no real practice, he had not attained the state without outflows, and afflictions and habitual tendencies both remained.
This "outflow" refers to the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; being without outflows means having no afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. After studying the Buddha-dharma and hearing it, one must additionally cultivate meditative concentration (dhyāna), and then, within concentration, deeply and subtly deliberate and engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā); only through contemplative practice can one actually realize the Buddha-dharma and attain the corresponding fruition. Afterwards one must further cultivate profound meditative concentration—at the very least, one must have the concentration of the first dhyāna; only by attaining the first dhyāna can one eradicate greed, hatred, delusion, conceit, and various afflictions. After the afflictions are eradicated and one reaches the state without outflows, one can fully possess the power of the Path, not be overturned by the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and none of the wholesome dharmas can leak away—this is called being without outflows. Without the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, wholesome dharmas will not leak away; with the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, wholesome dharmas cannot last and will still leak away. Therefore, being without outflows means having eradicated the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion.
Ānanda, cultivating and studying with the Buddha, had already attained the first fruit (srotāpanna), but the first fruit still corresponds to the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; in his mind consciousness and manas, the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion had not been eradicated. Those of the first and second fruits both still have the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. Only after attaining the fruit and then cultivating to the first dhyāna, under the operative force of the first dhyāna, can one eradicate greed and eradicate hatred, and afterwards eradicate delusion. Only when the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are eradicated can one reach the state without outflows. Ānanda had only attained the first fruit through extensive learning; he had not even attained the second fruit, he had no first-dhyāna concentration, and still less had he attained the third or fourth fruits; therefore he had not reached the state without outflows. Of course, Ānanda deliberately did not attain higher fruits and deliberately did not eradicate afflictions in order to serve as the Buddha's attendant; otherwise he could not have been the Buddha's attendant.
Original text: 不能折伏。娑毗罗咒。为彼所转。溺於媱舍。当由不知。真际所诣。
Explanation: Because Ānanda still had the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion and had not reached the state without outflows, he could not subdue the Kapila spell; he was grasped by the power of the spell and sank into the brothel of Mātaṅgī. The reason he underwent such a tribulation was precisely because he did not know his own true mind.
The Kapila spell is a non-Buddhist spell. The mother of Mātaṅgī the prostitute, who cultivated non-Buddhist methods, recited this Kapila spell and thereby drew Ānanda into the prostitute's house. Because Ānanda had no power of the Path, he could not subdue this non-Buddhist spell and was instead subdued by it, and so, without realizing it, he followed the spell into the prostitute's house. If Ānanda had eradicated his afflictions, the power of this spell would have had no effect on him. Why was it that as soon as Ānanda heard the non-Buddhists' deviant spell, his mind was paralyzed by it, so that he unknowingly walked into the prostitute's house? It was because his mind was paralyzed, and the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion accumulated since beginningless kalpas within the fundamental nature of his manas then took effect.
This so-called paralysis means that the conscious mind temporarily lost its ability to think and deliberate, losing its ability to persuade and guide the manas; at that point the manas was governed entirely by afflictive habitual tendencies. Because there was no mind consciousness to control, guide, and persuade the manas through deliberation and contemplative practice, and because the manas itself had the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion and had not reached the state without outflows, the greedy nature of the manas itself then manifested without his awareness, and he followed the deviant spell into the prostitute's house. That is why Ānanda said he had sunk into the brothel: "sunk" means being forcibly pressed down by the power of the spell, drowning in that house, unable to extricate himself.
Ānanda encountered this tribulation because he had not eradicated the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. Why had he not eradicated them? Because he did not know where his true fundamental reality was, had not realized his own true mind, had not found his own master, and had always taken the functions of the deluded mind and false awareness to be his true self; thus he had not eradicated the outflow of afflictions, and so he was overturned by the evil spell, and this tribulation occurred. Fortunately, Ānanda deliberately underwent this tribulation, so that we have the good fortune to hear such a supremely excellent Śūraṅgama Sūtra.
Original text: 惟愿世尊。大慈哀愍。开示我等。奢摩他路。令诸阐提。隳弥戾车。作是语已。五体投地。及诸大众。倾渴翘伫。钦闻示诲。
Explanation: Ānanda then begged the World-Honored One, saying: "May the World-Honored One, with great compassion and pity, take pity on us and reveal to us the path of śamatha, so that those icchantikas who have severed their good roots may destroy their deviant knowledge and wrong views and enter the right path to attain liberation." After Ānanda finished speaking, he prostrated with the five parts of his body touching the ground, and all the assembly present were longing and hoping for the World-Honored One to reveal the path of śamatha as soon as possible, respectfully wishing to hear the World-Honored One expound the path of cessation and contemplation (śamatha-vipaśyanā) for attaining buddhahood.
The "five parts of the body touching the ground" include the head and the four limbs. When paying homage and bowing to the Buddha, some touch the ground with the head and some do not. At this time, Ānanda's two arms and two legs, plus his head, all lay prostrate on the ground, his entire body pressed flat against the ground—this is called the five parts of the body touching the ground. This shows that Ānanda had subdued his own arrogant mind, completely believed in and submitted to the World-Honored One, and before the Buddha there was no longer that self.
The path of śamatha is the path of cessation and contemplation. Through the cultivation of this cessation and contemplation, one can realize pure nirvāṇa, realize the unsurpassed Buddha-dharma, reach the realm of quiescence, and attain accomplishment. The path to buddhahood does not depart from concentration and wisdom, does not depart from cessation and contemplation; with both cessation and contemplation, practicing them together, one can realize the Buddha-dharma and finally reach the state of pure nirvāṇa.
Ānanda requested the World-Honored One to reveal the path of cessation and contemplation, the path to accomplishment in cultivation. If one can reach the state of cessation and contemplation, one can enable all icchantikas to destroy the Mleccha. "Icchantika" means that such people have already severed their good roots and severed the seed of becoming a Buddha. Only with good roots can one believe in and accept the Mahāyāna Buddha-dharma, believe that within one's own mind there is a true tathāgatagarbha that is unborn and undying, and believe that all dharmas are born from the true mind, the self-nature. But such people precisely do not believe this and moreover slander it; therefore they become non-Buddhists (tīrthikas), severing the Buddha-nature lineage. They do not believe that sentient beings have the Tathāgata's wisdom and virtuous marks within their minds, do not believe that within sentient beings' bodies there is a tathāgatagarbha that is unborn and undying, luminously and eternally abiding. Such people not only do not believe but also slander; they are icchantikas who have severed their great good roots and will certainly fall into hell.
Ānanda said that as long as the Buddha could reveal this path of śamatha, he could enable such people who have severed their great good roots to destroy the Mleccha. "Destroy" means to demolish; "Mleccha" refers to deviant views and evil views. Destroying the Mleccha means enabling icchantikas to demolish their evil views and deviant views and obtain right view.
Original text: 尔时世尊。从其面门。放种种光。其光晃耀。如百千日。普佛世界。六种震动。如是十方。微尘国土。一时开现，佛之威神。令诸世界。合成一界。其世界中。所有一切。诸大菩萨。皆住本国。合掌承听。
Explanation: Then the World-Honored One radiated from his face various kinds of light, radiant beams of various brilliant colors; the light shimmered and was extremely dazzling, as dazzling as the light of a hundred or a thousand suns. After the World-Honored One emitted the light, all the Buddha-worlds appeared, and all the Buddha-lands underwent the six kinds of quaking. Likewise, the Buddha-lands of the ten directions, as numerous as dust motes (the ten directions refer to east, west, south, north, southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest, above, and below—ten directions in total), also underwent the six kinds of quaking. So many Buddha-lands simultaneously manifested the majestic spiritual power of the World-Honored One Śākyamuni; then the World-Honored One used his spiritual power to merge all the Buddha-worlds of the ten directions into a single world. In all these worlds, all the great bodhisattvas remained in their own original Buddha-lands, palms joined, respectfully listening to the World-Honored One expound the subtle wondrous Dharma and reveal the path of śamatha.
The World-Honored One observed that the assembly present had all come to request the Dharma, so he manifested auspicious signs to strengthen the assembly's faith, enabling them to believe and accept the Mahāyāna Buddha-dharma the World-Honored One taught; the World-Honored One's manifestation of spiritual powers and auspicious signs served precisely this purpose. The six kinds of quaking refer to the sound of the quaking rising from the west and descending in the east; rising from the south and descending in the north; rising from above and descending below; and then arising and descending in the reverse direction—the sounds have these six modes of quaking in total, hence called the six kinds of quaking, an auspicious sign.
Original text: 佛告阿难。一切众生。从无始来。种种颠倒。业种自然。如恶叉聚。
Explanation: The Buddha said to Ānanda: All sentient beings, since beginningless kalpas, have had all kinds of inversions—inversions in their thoughts and views, inversions in their cognition of all things and principles. Because of these various inversions, the karmic seeds were naturally stored in the tathāgatagarbha, and then blossomed and bore fruit, producing karmic results. This phenomenon is just like a cluster of akṣa fruits: three seeds joined together, inseparable. Sentient beings' afflictions, karmic actions, and karmic seeds are always linked together, causing sentient beings to transmigrate endlessly through death and birth.
The akṣa cluster is a kind of fruit from India; this fruit seems to be three fruits joined together, inseparable—this is called the akṣa cluster. Because sentient beings' views are inverted, they create karmic actions; then the karmic seeds are stored, and the karmic seeds manifest again to produce karmic retribution. Sentient beings' inverted views, plus karmic seeds, plus karmic retribution—these three are like the akṣa cluster, inseparable. As long as you have wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), you create unwholesome karma; having created unwholesome karma, there are karmic seeds; having karmic seeds, there is karmic retribution. Thus wrong views, karmic seeds, and karmic retribution, like the akṣa cluster, follow one another life after life. This is the fundamental cause of sentient beings' transmigration through birth and death—the presence of evil wrong views.
Original text: 诸修行人。不能得成。无上菩提。乃至别成。声闻缘觉。及成外道。诸天魔王。及魔眷属。
Explanation: All cultivators, although they wish to escape the cycle of birth and death, because their views are inverted and their practice is disordered, do not receive the moistening of the Buddha's true Dharma and do not recognize the correct principles of cultivation; therefore they do not attain unsurpassed bodhi and still seek the Dharma outside the mind. Some even merely cultivate to become śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, or non-Buddhists, subduing the conscious mind and gaining a state of meditative concentration, ascending to the heavens at the end of life to enjoy pleasures; or, having cultivated some merit, they become māra kings or the māra king's retinue in later lives.
Those who are somewhat better, because they do not recognize the fundamental mind and do not seek the unsurpassed nirvāṇa, can only attain the bodhi of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, merely eradicating the various illusory marks of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the eighteen realms; they cannot accomplish the perfect Buddha-way or perfectly achieve omniscience (sarvākārajñatā). Such disordered cultivation due to not recognizing the fundamental mind is like boiling sand hoping to turn it into a delicious meal: even if one cultivates for kalpas as numerous as dust motes, one cannot make a delicious meal. Because sand is not the basis for rice; when the cultivation at the causal stage is not genuine, the fruition stage will not be the true destination—it has long since bent off toward another path. Why is this so?
Original text: 皆由不知。二种根本。错乱修习。犹如煮沙。欲成嘉馔。纵经尘劫。终不能得。
Explanation: The Buddha said: The fundamental reason sentient beings have not entered the great way of unsurpassed bodhi and have not cultivated to become Buddhas is that they do not know the two fundamental roots and cultivate in a disordered manner. Those who cultivate in disorder originally wanted to become Buddhas and wanted to escape the cycle of birth and death, but because their views were inverted and their methods of cultivation were wrong, they ultimately did not succeed. It is like someone washing sand clean and putting it into a pot, originally intending that after it is cooked he can eat it as rice to fill himself, but it does not become rice, because what is being boiled is sand, not rice; sand is forever sand and will not become rice. If anyone wants to boil sand into the most delicious meal to fill his belly, even after passing as long as dust-mote kalpas, he will never succeed. This is the result brought about by incorrect views and disordered cultivation.
It is the same with our studying Buddhism now: right view is very important. If one's views are not correct and one cultivates according to deviant views, even after dust-mote kalpas one still will not attain accomplishment. Why is it that some Buddhist students study for one lifetime, three lifetimes, and others cultivate for many kalpas, yet still do not achieve accomplishment in cultivation? It is because the views they first encountered were deviant views, which could not lead them onto the right path of cultivation; therefore they cannot achieve accomplishment in cultivation and cannot become Buddhas.
The Buddha said that sentient beings have eight inversions in total: taking non-self as self, taking impermanence as permanence, taking impurity as purity, and taking suffering as happiness—these are four. The other four are the opposite: sentient beings take self as non-self, take permanence as impermanence, take purity as impurity, and take happiness as suffering.
The first inversion: sentient beings take non-self as self. The five aggregates are without self, are not the self; they arise and cease, change and transform, and have no self-nature, yet sentient beings believe the five aggregates are real, eternally constant and unchanging, and are the self and what the self possesses. This is sentient beings' view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and wrong view. Because of this view of self, there are knots and bonds within the mind: the knot of the view of self, the knot of grasping at views, and the knot of grasping at precepts and observances. Because of these knots, they bind themselves within the six realms and cannot escape, with unceasing birth, death, and suffering.
The second inversion: taking impermanence as permanence. The five aggregates are impermanent, the eighteen realms are impermanent, seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are impermanent, yet sentient beings take them to be eternally constant and unchanging, chasing after them without letting go, so that existence in the three realms is unceasing, the living beings in the six realms are unceasing, karmic actions are unceasing, and suffering and distress are unceasing.
The third inversion: taking impurity as purity. Sentient beings' physical bodies are impure, their seeds are impure, their entry into the womb is impure, their abiding in the womb is impure, their food and drink are impure, and their conscious minds are defiled and impure, yet sentient beings take them to be pure, clinging with craving and grasping without letting go; therefore the cycle of birth and death is unceasing.
The fourth inversion: taking suffering as happiness. Sentient beings have transmigrated through the six realms since beginningless kalpas, dying and being born, revolving endlessly, enduring every torment, suffering beyond words. Yet sentient beings lack wisdom and never awaken; they delight in and crave the six realms, love and cherish the self, crave and grasp the five aggregates, and cling to the eighteen realms, unwilling to let go—like worms in a cesspit craving the cesspit, like foolish children in a burning house absorbed in play.
The four inversions opposite to these: The first inversion is taking the permanent as impermanent. True suchness and Buddha-nature are permanent; the great nirvāṇa is permanent, yet sentient beings take them to be impermanent, treating Him as a false name, as illusory and not truly existent, as a relative and mutually conditioned dharma, as arising and ceasing, as the spiritual self (ātman) of the mind consciousness, and thus deny Him and abandon Him. Therefore they cannot strive to seek the great nirvāṇa and cannot realize nirvāṇa; the result is still endless birth and death and transmigration.
The second inversion is taking self as non-self. The undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) at the Buddha-stage is the true, eternally unchanging self; the mind of great nirvāṇa is the true self, yet sentient beings discard it like worn-out shoes and instead take the thought-free numinous awareness of the mind consciousness as the self, as the real, as the mind-essence that can reach future lives; therefore they cannot eradicate the view of self and cannot attain true nirvāṇa.
The third inversion is taking purity as impurity. The mind of great nirvāṇa is tranquil and quiescent, pure and undefiled, without greed, hatred, or delusion, wondrously bright and limpid, apart from all defilement. Yet sentient beings believe it has arising and ceasing, defilement, and change, and abandon it while accepting the ignorant, perceiving deluded mind—discarding gold and picking up dirt and stones—and thus they are impoverished in foreign lands, wandering and homeless.
The fourth inversion is taking happiness as suffering. Nirvāṇa is tranquil; quiescence is happiness—no seeing, no hearing, no awareness, no knowing, no clamor, no tumult, having relinquished all feeling. Yet sentient beings take this as suffering: they do not delight in tranquility but delight in seeing and hearing; they do not delight in quiescence but delight in clamor. Therefore their delusions and karma are unceasing, they transmigrate through the hells (niraya), endure every hardship, and can hardly accomplish the Buddha-way.
The above eight inversions are precisely the eight wrongs. With wrong views blazing and the mind-ground turbid and defiled, even cultivating to the end of kalpas there is no time of escape—like boiling sand hoping to make a delicious meal, there is no possibility of success.
Original text: 云何二种。阿难。一者无始。生死根本。则汝今者。与诸众生。用攀缘心。为自性者。
Explanation: What are the two for sentient beings? Ānanda, the first, the fundamental root of birth and death since beginningless kalpas, is that you and all sentient beings take the deluded mind that seizes upon sense objects to be your own true mind and self-nature.
All sentient beings take this deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, which seizes upon the objects of the six dusts, to be the unborn and undying true mind, believing it to be real. This is like taking a thief for one's son and robbing one's own household treasures, squandering the family wealth and wandering through birth and death. Taking the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses as oneself, as real and imperishable, is the view of self and wrong view. Because of the view of self, one binds oneself within the six realms, not leaving the three realms, not escaping birth and death.
One important part of eradicating the view of self is eradicating the wrong view that takes the functions and operations of the seven consciousnesses as the self. This is very hard to eradicate, because sentient beings' manas has for long kalpas clung to the functions of the six consciousnesses as its own, unwilling to let go; its ignorance is deep and heavy, its craving and defilement unceasing, and it also clings to the manas's own functions as real and imperishable. If one does not long steep oneself in the correct views of the Buddha-dharma, does not steep oneself in the principle of the Four Noble Truths, does not steep oneself in the Mahāyāna prajñā teachings, one will not have the wisdom and ability to acknowledge the falsity of the seven consciousnesses, and cannot thoroughly eradicate the view of self; if the three fetters are not severed, the three evil destinies cannot be avoided.
Whether Ānanda or other cultivating sentient beings, all take the grasping, conditioning mind that can seize upon the myriad dharmas of the six dusts as their own true mind, as their own self-nature. Cultivating with such inversion, one fundamentally cannot achieve any accomplishment. This is a fundamental reason why sentient beings, since beginningless kalpas, have fallen into birth and death and cannot escape—taking the deluded mind as the true mind.
Original text: 二者无始。菩提涅槃。元清净体。则汝今者。识精元明。能生诸缘。缘所遗者。由诸众生。遗此本明。虽终日行。而不自觉。枉入诸趣。
Explanation: The Buddha said: The second inversion is that, since beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have all had a true bodhi mind, also called the nirvāṇa mind, an unborn and undying pure essence, a true mind self-nature without ignorance. Now, that essence of consciousness of yours, originally bright and at ease, can give birth to all dharmas, yet does not belong to any conditions or dharmas. All sentient beings do not know that this originally awakened bright mind exists and have lost it. In that case, although everyone diligently cultivates every day, they are not aware that they possess such a pure essence of bodhi and nirvāṇa; taking the false as true, they create karmic actions and fall, life after life, into the birth-and-death transmigration of the six realms.
The bodhi mind and nirvāṇa mind that have existed since beginningless kalpas are originally extremely pure, without a trace of defilement, without a trace of ignorance. Although in its marks it is nothing, its essence and functions truly exist. This bodhi mind is originally pure; you need not, through later cultivation, produce a pure mind. All the states, dharmas, and conditions that sentient beings encounter while living in the world are all born from this pure essence; and that which does not belong to all these conditions and states is the essence of bodhi and nirvāṇa of each sentient being. But all sentient beings have lost this originally luminous pure essence, or simply do not know that they have a true pure mind, a nirvāṇa mind; for countless kalpas, through death and birth, they have never awakened to this mind. Because they have not awakened to this wondrous bright true mind and take the five aggregates as the self, they have toiled through beginningless kalpas rushing about in the six realms, undergoing birth and death in vain, without any benefit.
As for the cause of falling into the birth-and-death transmigration of the six realms, the Buddha has already explained: it is caused by not knowing the two fundamental roots. The first fundamental root is taking the deluded mind as the true mind; the second fundamental root is that one originally has a true mind, the originally bright mind that can understand all dharmas, but sentient beings do not know it and have lost it, have not realized Him, have not found Him, and thus still cannot escape from the cycle of birth and death.
