How to Protect Against Demonic Disturbances

The more crucial the point of cultivation, the more demons come to interfere; the more sublime the point, the more demons come to interfere. The higher one's level of cultivation, the greater the interference, whereas in trivial aspects of practice no demons come to disturb at all. Therefore, the more crucial the dharma one cultivates, and the deeper the dharma one cultivates, the more careful and cautious one must be. In particular, if someone is fond of supernatural powers, demons will grant you such powers, and then you will be controlled by demons, unable to escape their grasp.

The Śūraṅgama Mantra is a protective talisman; you must recite it frequently, and it is even better if you can memorize it—then demons will be unable to do anything to you. If all Buddhist practitioners could recite and memorize the Śūraṅgama Mantra, the demon king would withdraw from the Sahā world, the Buddha-dharma would continue on, and the Śūraṅgama Sūtra would not perish.