World  Sacred  Scriptures

The wisdom of The Surangama Sutra

53 quote(s)  | Page 2 / 3




A t first there was one essential brightness, which split into a sixfold combination. If but one part ceases and returns, all six functions will stop as well.


quote 7974  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 6, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




T his is similar to a person pointing his finger at the moon to show it to someone else. Guided by the finger, the other person should see the moon. If he looks at the finger instead and mistakes it for the moon, he loses not only the moon but the finger also.


quote 7972  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 2, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




T herefore, creating knowledge within enlightened perception is fundamental ignorance. To be devoid of perception within enlightened perception is the non out?ow true purity of Nirvana.


quote 7970  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 5, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




B ased on wonderful understanding that neither ceases to be nor comes into being, I unite with the Treasury of the Tathagata. Thus the Treasury of the Tathagata is the unique and wonderful enlightened brightness which completely illumines the Dharma Realm. That is why, within it, the one is limitless; the limitless is one. In the small appears the great; in the great appears the small.


quote 7969  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




T he truly wonderful enlightened brightness is the same way. You recognize space , and space appears. Recognizing earth, water, fire, and wind, each will appear. If all are recognized, all will appear.


quote 7968  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




A wareness arises because of defiling objects. Phenomena exist because of the sense organs. The phenomena and the perception are both devoid of their own natures. They support each other like intertwining reeds.


quote 7967  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 5, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




E ach person regarded his physical body as being like a particle of dust blown about in the emptiness of the ten directions; sometimes visible, sometimes not, or as being like a single bubble ?oating on the clear, vast sea, appearing from nowhere and disappearing into oblivion.


quote 7966  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




A ll mundane phenomena became the wonderfully bright primal mind of Bodhi. The essence of the mind became completely pervasive, containing the ten directions.


quote 7963  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




Y ou should know that from beginningless time all beings are continually born and continually die, simply because they do not know the everlasting true mind with its pure nature and bright substance. Instead they engage in false thinking. These thoughts are not true, and so they lead to further transmigration.


quote 7961  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 1, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




I f within the true and eternal nature one seeks coming and going, confusion and enlightenment, or birth and death, one will never find them.


quote 7960  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 2, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




O ne who obtains Bodhi is like a person who awakens to tell of the events in a dream; since his mind will remain awake and clear, why would he want to hold onto the things in a dream?


quote 7957  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




I f the three karmas are not all involved, and there is perhaps just one act of killing and one of stealing, then the person must enter the Thirty-six Hells.


quote 7942  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 8, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




I f the three karmas of body, mouth50, and mind commit acts of killing, stealing, and lust, the person will enter the Eighteen Hells.


quote 7941  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 8, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 

50 Words




Y ou love my mind; I adore your good looks. Due to such causes and conditions we pass through hundreds of thousands of eons in sustained mutual entanglement.


quote 7934  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




Y ou owe me a life; I48 must repay my debt to you. Due to such causes and conditions we pass through hundreds of thousands of eons in sustained cycle of birth and death.


quote 7933  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 

47 ???????????????
48 “I” here and in the succeeding passage refers to any ordinary person.




I f while repaying his past debts46 by undergoing rebirth as an animal, such a living being pays back more than he owed, he will then be reborn as a human to rectify the excess.


quote 7932  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 8, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 

46 His past karmic debts




S uppose a person eats a sheep. The sheep dies and becomes a person; the person dies and becomes a sheep. The same applies in all rebirths among the ten categories. Through death after death and birth after birth, they eat each other.


quote 7931  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




K illing, stealing, and lust are the basic roots. From such causes and conditions comes the continuity of karma and retribution.


quote 7920  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




T hese living beings, who do not recognize the fundamental mind, all undergo rebirth for limitless kalpas. They do not attain true purity, because they keep getting involved in killing, stealing, and lust, or because they counter them and are born according to their not killing, not stealing, and lack of lust. If these three karmas are present in them, they are born among the troops of ghosts. If they are free of these three karmas, they are born in the destiny of gods.


quote 7919  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 9, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




A ccordingly, extract one organ, free it from adhesion, and subdue it at its inner core. Once subdued, it will return to primal truth and radiate its innate brilliance. When that brilliance shines forth, the remaining five adhesions will b e f re e d to accomplish total liberation.


quote 7890  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 4, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




C ollecting one’s thoughts constitutes the precepts; from the precepts comes Samadhi; and from Samadhi arises wisdom. These are called the Three Non-Outflow Studies34.


quote 7838  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 6, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 

34 Threefold Learning.




W hen you teach people of the world to cultivate Samadhi, they must first of all cut off the mind of sexual desire. This is the first clear and decisive instruction on purity given by the Tathagatas, the Buddhas of the past, the Bhagavans.


quote 7803  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 6, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 




I t is because beings are impeded by transitory defilements and afflictions that they do not realize Bodhi31 or become Arhats.


quote 7802  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 1, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 

31 Perfect Enlightenment.




T he Tathagatas20 of the ten directions escaped birth and death because their minds were straightforward. Since their minds and words were consistently that way, from the beginning, through the intermediate stages to the end, they were never in the least evasive.


quote 7749  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 1, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 

20 Tathagata: A title of the Buddha, which means “one who has thus come or gone”. (??:??????,??:?????????)




G reat hero with great strength, great kindness, and compassion, please further search out and dispel my subtlest doubts, cause me18 to quickly attain the supreme enlightenment, and sit in Way-places in worlds of the ten directions.


quote 7745  |   The Surangama Sutra
Book 3, translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. 

17 ????????????????????????
18 “Me” here refers to Venerable Ananda, who was endowed with the most retentive memory and was known as the Guardian of the Dharma.



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