The Shurangama Sutra, Volume Nine, Original Text (I)

Original text: 又彼定中诸善男子，见色阴销，受阴明白。于明悟中得虚明性。其中忽然归向永灭。拨无因果，一向入空。空心现前，乃至心生长断灭解。悟则无咎，非为圣证。若作圣解，则有空魔入其心腑。乃谤持戒，名为小乘。菩萨悟空，有何持犯。其人常于信心檀越，饮酒啖肉，广行淫秽。因魔力故，摄其前人不生疑谤。鬼心久入，或食屎尿与酒肉等。一种俱空，破佛律仪，误入人罪。失于正受，当从沦坠。

Explanation: 若作圣解，则有空魔入其心腑。乃谤持戒，名为小乘。菩萨悟空，有何持犯。

This phenomenon has already occurred now, which shows that demons are constantly spying on every Buddhist practitioner, and once they find an opportunity, they will surely bestow their "blessing" wholeheartedly.

Quite a few people feel that they have awakened, and then say there is no need to observe the Three Refuges, the Five Precepts, and the Bodhisattva Precepts — those are the marked precepts kept by ordinary worldlings, and bodhisattvas need not keep precepts in that way. Once a bodhisattva awakens, the mind becomes empty, and the mind then possesses the formless precepts. However, the true formless precepts can only be partially observed after attaining the bhūmis; only bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above can have minds that are truly formless, practicing effortless conduct. An ordinary worldling who has not genuinely eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), whose afflictions are complete, what ability or qualification does such a person have to keep the formless precepts? Even if one has truly seen the mind and attained enlightenment, without eradicating afflictions, it is impossible to be formless, one cannot keep the formless precepts, and even the marked precepts are very difficult to keep.

Why was the Śūraṅgama Sūtra the first to be destroyed? It is precisely because the Śūraṅgama Sūtra everywhere enables people to see the mind and attain realization, resolving the great matter of birth and death, and later exposes the evil deeds of demons thoroughly. Therefore we must strive to study the Śūraṅgama Sūtra well, lest we be destroyed by the demon king prematurely.

Some people really need to be careful in learning the Dharma and cultivating practice — blindly insisting on emptiness, refusing to acknowledge that anything exists, without yet having realized it, and in the end becoming so "empty" that they deny cause and effect, acting recklessly and wildly, and finally falling so low as to reach the hells and the three evil destinies — who will come to save you then?

How many people study the Dharma for two and a half days, understand just a tiny bit, and then clamorously proclaim that they have realized and awakened, without even knowing what they have realized. Those who especially love being sages are utter ordinary worldlings, their worldling marks plainly exposed. For such people, the demon king and little demons can capture them with ease, making use of them to undermine the Buddhadharma; after being used and becoming useless, they will fall into the three evil destinies to receive retribution. Some people cast their nets waiting for demons to come; demons have never left the Sahā world, staring fixedly at these Buddhist practitioners, drilling in wherever they find a gap — once they possess someone and bestow their "blessing," that person becomes a so-called sage, everywhere expounding the sutras and preaching the Dharma while violating the Buddha's discipline, destroying Buddhism.

It is not that those who study shallow Dharma are prone to demonic possession while those who study profound Dharma are not — it is not like that. The Buddha taught in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra that those who, after studying Buddhism to a certain degree, delight in various states and consider themselves to have entered sagehood and become immortals are the ones prone to demonic possession. Those who all day long claim they have awakened, whose bodily, verbal, and mental actions are worse than those of ordinary worldlings — such people are prone to demonic possession and easily used by demons. Other people have no value for the demons to exploit, nor do they give demons the opportunity to take advantage of them.