Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume 5: The Twenty-five Sages' Perfect Penetration Dharma Gates — Subhūti

Original text:须菩提。即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我旷劫来。心得无碍。自忆受生如恒河沙。初在母胎。即知空寂。如是乃至十方成空。亦令众生证得空性。蒙如来发性觉真空。空性圆明。得阿罗汉。顿入如来宝明空海。同佛知见。印成无学。解脱性空。我为无上。佛问圆通。如我所证。诸相入非。非所非尽。旋法归无。斯为第一。

Explanation: Subhūti rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: Since beginningless kalpas, my mind has been unobstructed and has penetrated all dharmas; I can recall that the number of times I have taken rebirth is as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. When I first entered the womb this time, while still in my mother's womb, I already knew that the world is empty and quiescent, and so on, even knowing that the worlds of the ten directions are all empty and quiescent, with not a single dharma existing; I have also successively taught sentient beings to realize the emptiness of all dharmas.

Through the Tathāgata's teaching and blessing, I awakened to the true emptiness of the intrinsically awakened essence. As this emptiness became increasingly perfect and luminous, I thereby became a great arhat, and instantly entered the Tathāgata's precious, luminous ocean of emptiness, in accord with the Buddha's knowledge and vision, and was certified by the Buddha as having reached the fourth fruit, the stage beyond training (aśaikṣa). In the liberating merit of the mind-ground and in the degree of emptiness attained by the mind-nature, I am foremost among the Buddha's disciples. The Buddha asked me about the gateway to perfect penetration; just as I have realized it, all marks with characteristics have transformed into non-existence and been emptied, and both the mind that empties and the dharmas that are emptied are exhausted and emptied—what previously existed as dharmas has now, in turn, all ceased to be and is all empty. This is the foremost gateway to perfect penetration by which I revolve dharmas back into emptiness.

Since beginningless kalpas, Subhūti's mind has been unobstructed, with no impediments in the mind-ground, and he has possessed the six superknowledges, including the recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti); therefore, while in the womb, he already knew that dharmas are empty. Of course, this knowing must have been the knowing of the manas; the manas had already realized emptiness beginningless kalpas ago, so no matter the circumstances or the identity, Subhūti always knew emptiness. Then, after the mind consciousness arose in the womb, because there were no obstructions, the mind consciousness also knew that all dharmas are empty. The manas knows first, and the mind consciousness knows afterward—only this is true knowing, ultimate and perfect knowing. The emptiness that Subhūti realized encompasses both the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna; therefore Subhūti not only realized the fourth fruit of arhatship but also instantly awakened to the Tathāgata's precious, luminous ocean of emptiness, being identical with the Buddha's knowledge and vision. From this, one can see that Subhūti was at least an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva, and had realized the fruits of more than two incalculable kalpas of cultivation. In fact, according to the Buddhist sūtras, Subhūti was a Buddha who came again; the Buddha's ten great disciples were all Buddhas manifesting in the appearance of arhats, working together with the Buddha to deliver the sentient beings of the Sahā world.