–Volume9(Par2)
Author: Fafu
Translator : Gemini
Dear Dharma Friends,Welcome to this episode of the podcast provided by the Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated of Australia.
Today, we will deeply explore the Fifty Skandha-Daimons section in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.
I. Eliminating the Three Karmas
The Buddha teaches: “Ānanda, if the Three Karmas (body, mouth, and mind) are not severed, each retains its own particularity. Because of each particularity, all particularities share a common lot, which is not without a definite place.”
What does this mean? If we do not cease the evil deeds created by the body, mouth, and mind, and do not sever the private desires and emotional consciousnesses that develop in accordance with afflictions, we will ultimately be pulled by our respective karmic powers into the corresponding realms of collective karma. Therefore, to cultivate fundamentally, we must begin by eliminating these Three Karmas. This is the first step in practice.
II. Eliminating the Three Delusions
The Sūtra clearly states: “You who endeavor to practice and wish to attain Bodhi must eliminate the Three Delusions.”
These Three Delusions include the Delusion of Ignorance, the Delusions of Views and Thoughts, and the Dust-like Delusions. The Buddha warns: “If the Three Delusions are not exhausted, even if one obtains spiritual powers, they are all merely worldly, conditioned functions. If the residual habits are not destroyed, one falls into the demonic path.”
If we cannot thoroughly eliminate these delusions, even the spiritual powers we gain are just “conditioned functions” in the mundane world—merely a sign of worldly cleverness. What is even more frightening is that if the “residual habits are not destroyed,” one will “fall into the demonic path.” These Three Delusions are as numerous as dust and sand; their root is Ignorance, and they are manifested through the Delusions of Views and Thoughts. Ignorance is precisely their foundation.
III. Melting Away All Thoughts
The Buddha instructs: “When you sit in the place of enlightenment, melt away all thoughts.”
“Melting away all thoughts” means that internally, we do not follow delusive thoughts, and externally, we do not follow the various continuous phenomena. We must act according to the principles of wisdom. When “those thoughts are exhausted,” the Wonderful Bright True Mind—which is “apart from all thoughts, perfectly refined and illuminating”—can manifest.
1. Transcending the Kalpa of Turbidity and Breaking the Form Skandha
The scripture mentions: “If the eyes become bright and clear, and the ten directions are completely open, with no more darkness, this is called the exhaustion of the Form Skandha.”
This indicates that the practitioner transcends material obstacles and the constraints of time. Through “refining the wonderful luminosity, the Four Great Elements cease to interweave”. We are no longer attached to the four elements of the body, and can even reach the state where “the body can transcend obstacles”, and “the body is inwardly transparent, enabling one to pick out internal filth (worms) while the body remains intact.” Furthermore, when “this is called the merging of dusts, setting aside the nature of the Four Great Elements,” the practitioner “only recognizes the Self-Nature as oneself, not believing the Four Great Elements are real.” Even if the body is “burnt by fire or struck by a knife, there is no awareness,” like “whittling wood.”
During our practice, various wonderful and extraordinary “good states” may appear:
- The body can transcend obstacles.
- The body is inwardly transparent, seeing the five organs and six viscera, and even picking out internal contaminants while the body remains intact.
- Hearing the sound of the Dharma in the air, or hearing the subtle meaning simultaneously preached in the ten directions.
- Inner light shines forth, filling the ten directions with the color of deep gold, and all beings transform into the Tathāgata, suddenly seeing the Buddha Vairocana.
- The empty space in the ten directions becomes the color of seven treasures or a hundred treasures.
- Seeing objects in a dark room at midnight as if it were daylight, and the objects in the dark room do not disappear.
- The four limbs suddenly become like grass and wood, with no feeling when burnt by fire or struck by a knife, like whittling wood.
The Buddha clearly points out that these are only temporary “functions,” “temporarily attained like this,” and are “not proof of Sainthood”. “Do not take it as a Holy mind, and it is called a good state. If you take it as a Holy realization, you will be afflicted by evil forces.”
What does this mean? It means that when these states appear, we must never “be self-righteous, mistake the false for the true, not follow impulsive feelings, and not give rise to any thoughts” that we have attained a holy fruit, leading to a “mind of arrogance.”
IV. Conclusion
The Buddha stresses: “As long as you are not self-righteous, the Fifty Skandha-Daimons will automatically pass.” Conversely, if the “Master is deluded”—meaning the “wisdom of the Self-Nature cannot manifest”—then the “Guest gets the opportunity”. The internal delusive afflictions and external demons will take advantage of the emptiness, leading to “falling and scattering without recourse to rescue.”
Thank you all!
