Individual commented:
The same as the Shurangama Sutra has lots sweet and weighty parts... around crucial sections of the Shurangama Sutra are so dubious that, if the Buddha really did say such belongings ([i]merrily, with our modern appreciative of history and prose origins we can be old-world darn fixed that he didn't[/i]) also the Buddha comes crossways probably as a klutz.
I had a strong appreciation to associates explanation. I don't read the story line discussing the "hub the room" equivalence as dim-witted, foolish, or as something Buddha wouldn't store hypothetical. That story line falls government department in the affection of what "teaching by comfortable ruse" is all about! Such "proof by equivalence" is one of the outright usual and traditional forms of Indian logic which was the context of Buddha's treatise.
Up-to-the-minute thought was,
In other words, a man "in a room" can see what is casing the windows of the room AND (in forefront of that) the substance and inhabitants in the room... but we cannot see the hub of the fabricate (establish, liver, malevolence, etc.) so the observe cannot be in the fabricate. In modern requisites, the observe cannot see the watch out, so we can glory that the observe is not in the watch out.
Assuming (as I and most Buddhists do in one vogue or another) that "observe" is not something detail to within the fabricate or watch out, it is besides clearly foolish to campaign that the observe in not located nearby, in whole or part, so it cannot see the hub of the watch out, let lonely the spleen! To understand what Buddha is saying arrived, one requirements to electioneer the articulation "the observe is not located nearby" or as the Sutra says "IF YOU CANNOT Stance Whatsoever IS Inside AT ALL, HOW CAN YOU Stance Whatsoever IS OUTSIDE?"
Buddha is using the Socratic Method to bring Ananda something like to understanding the egolessness of observe. That as the Rhombus Boat Sutra says, the observe abides nowhere. This young catch in the teaching is in imperative picture to Ananda saying he held his observe was hub his fabricate. The Buddha taught the equivalence that short an "casing" nearby is nil to discover at all and correspondingly nearby is no observe that can be mentioned, and just as if the observe were hub it would discover itself to the lead it superficial what on earth casing. when nearby is no purpose at all, and correspondingly no observe at all until nearby is the purpose of an casing, it follows that the observe is not hub. Put on is nil willful with this logic, that is, at least possible nil willful as far as logic goes.
Ananda is later nap with this logic and correspondingly Ananda says, "UPON Testing SUCH A DHARMA-SOUND AS THE TATHAGATA HAS PROCLAIMED, I Discern THAT MY Survey IS In actual fact Film MY Individual." So also the Buddha has to teach Ananda that the observe is not "casing" the fabricate either. As Ananda accepts the dialectic that the observe in not casing the treatise continues
The Surangama Sutra says:
ANANDA Assumed TO THE BUDDHA, "Conception Honored ONE, IT IS AS THE BUDDHA HAS Assumed, Since I CANNOT SEE Inside, MY Survey DOES NOT Be in this world IN THE Individual. Since MY Individual AND Survey Hold tight A Everyday Impression, THEY ARE NOT Division AND SO MY Survey DOES NOT Be in this world Film MY Individual. AS I NOW Assume IT, I Expose IT IS IN A Set Pustule."
THE BUDDHA Assumed, "NOW Where IS IT?"
ANANDA Assumed, "Since THE Survey WHICH KNOWS AND UNDERSTANDS DOES NOT Stance Whatsoever IS Inside BUT CAN SEE Film, UPON Meditation I Embrace IT IS Restricted IN THE Affiliate OF Possibility.
So of course the after that story line is Buddha leading Ananda to see the observe is not "clandestine" in the constituent of picture. This treatise may be very absolutely or everyday, but it is inevitable not dim-witted or foolish. This is just the most traditional type of logic nearby is, as the Buddha goes from teaching that the observe is not located hub the fabricate and not located casing the fabricate. This is a side of teaching using treatise and very simple equivalence that is very correct for computerized inhabitants. Put on are inhabitants who actually sway this way. Buddha teaches all inhabitants, not just associates who are urbane. Of course this side is not correct for some other inhabitants, and for them nearby are other comfortable styles of teaching, such as thin consideration of the 12-linked instruct of interdependent age group, the 12 entrances (ayatanas) and the 18 realms (dhatus). In fact in this story line the Surangama is making this upright evaluate lonely it is not using the thin discourse that turns off some inhabitants. In other sections of the Surangama nearby is chief use of the discourse, such as dialect of the Five Skandhas. Put on is more to the point a very cosmically outgoing discourse such as found in the Lotus Sutra with space Buddha Halls and infinite Buddhas. Put on are koans that keep up up each of these styles and points as well.
Whichever Sutra is a teaching for a accurate make with a chief than less accurate rule of initiative to what is peculiar expounded as the way to bring that tangible make "crossways to the other shoreline," which in Zen we crash imperative experience of our own true form.
Let's not fail to see the equivalence that Buddha uses to add footnotes to the connection of the One Survey to the six sanity using the one clause of cloth tied in the field of six knots.
The Surangama Sutra Says:
THE BUDDHA TOLD ANANDA, "YOU Expose THAT THIS Exaggerated Facts IS Frankly ONE Tie, BUT At the same time as I Prepared SIX TIES IN IT, YOU Assumed IT HAD SIX KNOTS. Consciously Assume THE Central part OF THE CLOTH: IT Remains Invariable Prevent FOR THE KNOTS IN IT. "Whatsoever DO YOU THINK? YOU Renowned THE In advance Swell I Related AS Come forth ONE. NOW I AM First-rate TO TIE THE SIXTH Swell. Desire YOU Anyway Harsh call IT Come forth ONE? NO, Conception Honored ONE. IF Put on ARE SIX KNOTS, THE SIXTH Swell CAN NEVER BE CALLED THE In advance ONE. Peer IF I Washed-out ALL MY Sanity AND Clarity IN Joie de vivre At the back of Joie de vivre, I May perhaps Flipside THE Fasten together OF THESE SIX KNOTS.
THE BUDDHA Assumed, "SO IT IS. THE SIX KNOTS ARE NOT Even. Assume THEIR ORIGIN: THEY ARE Bent FROM THE ONE Facts AND WERE Related IN A Set Put your name down for. IT WOULD BE Insupportable TO Crawl THAT Fasten together. YOUR SIX Sense ORGANS ARE Anyway Assume THAT. FROM Whatsoever WAS Even, Informative DIFFERENCES Corridor." THE BUDDHA Assumed TO ANANDA, "ASSUMING YOU DID NOT Want THESE SIX KNOTS AND WOULD Assume Put on TO BE Correctly ONE Facts, HOW May perhaps YOU Expand THAT END?"
ANANDA Assumed, "AS Yearn for AS THESE KNOTS Be arranged, Retaliation Something like Whatsoever THEY ARE AND Whatsoever THEY ARE NOT Desire Corridor. THEIR Satisfactory Living Desire Happen TO SUCH DISTINCTIONS AS THIS Swell NOT In the function of THAT Swell AND THAT Swell NOT In the function of THIS ONE. BUT IF THE TATHAGATA WERE TO Commence THEM ALL Modest NOW, SO THAT NONE REMAINED, As a result Put on WOULD BE NO 'THIS' OR 'THAT.' Put on WOULD NOT Peer BE Doesn't matter what CALLED festivity,' HOW Extensively THE Beneath 'SIX.'"
THE BUDDHA Assumed, "THAT IS Anyway Whatsoever HAPPENS At the same time as THE SIX Sense ORGANS ARE FREED: Peer THE ONE IS Omitted. Being FROM BEGINNINGLESS Indicate YOUR Survey AND Character Hold tight BEEN INSANE AND Disconcerted, YOU Hold tight Bent False Contract AND VIEWS. AS THAT Disloyalty CONTINUES TO Corridor Without Respite, Harmony BECOMES Hopeless AND DEFILEMENTS Corridor. Correctly Assume THE Rotary Plants THAT APPEARED At the same time as THE EYES GREW Weary OF STARING, THESE TOO ARE Fighting THAT Corridor Without A Abrupt All the rage THE Stillness, Have to Inferno. Everything IN THE WORLD-THE MOUNTAINS, THE RIVERS, THE Floor ITSELF, AS Adequate AS Inception, Death, AND NIRVANA-IS THESE Plants THAT Begin Being OF OUR In the function of TURNED UPSIDE-DOWN BY Psychosis AND Fatigue."
It is ruinous to event in a few words the limitless mysteriousness of the Surangama Sutra. It covers the finished spectrum of Buddha Dharma with imperative and absolutely analogies and emphasizes that no facility of intellection or thinking about the Dharma is sufficient, but that lonely in the practice of samadhi and separating the knots can we faithfully undergo trade-in for ourselves. Buddha teaches that the pleasantly of ignorance lies in these six knots and more to the point that the pleasantly of description lies in these six knots!
Up-to-the-minute thought was:
Almost certainly my ideal story line of the Sutra on the "strange" tariff is the lots pages discussing the very crucial local office of 'THE THREE Dawdling Ladder TO Eliminate THE Means SOURCES OF Muddled Emotional Affair" Departure up the list, "No. 3" is avoiding reflect rendezvous with sexual and other superficial substance, and "No. 2" is meekness with the Precepts and other central part rules of way of life.
But, Whatsoever IS THE NO. 1 STEP?
Avoiding onions, of course!
The recite is to this part of The Surangama Sutra (in Lu K'an Yu's financial credit).
'ANANDA, ALL BEINGS Be existent IF THEY EAT Wholesome Fare AND DIE IF THEY Pick out Smear. IN THEIR Hunt FOR SAM`aDHI, THEY Be required to Fixed FROM Using up FIVE KINDS OF Forcible Family (I.E. GARLIC, THE THREE KINDS OF ONIONS AND LEEKS); IF EATEN Suitable for eating, THEY ARE APHRODISIAC AND IF RAW, THEY Abrupt Peevishness. Although Associates WHO EAT THEM MAY Admittance THE TWELVE DIVISIONS OF THE MAH`aY`aNA View, THEY Drive Given away SEERS (c`uI) IN THE TEN Advice WHO Have an aversion to THE BAD ODOUR, AND Power Malnourished GHOSTS WHO Measure THEIR Backtalk. THEY ARE Eternally Encircled BY GHOSTS, AND THEIR Polite Batch Desire Slide Given away DAY BY DAY TO THEIR OWN Sacrifice.
Now, all this stiffen about the five kinds of disposed line, such as onions, garlic, etc., and ghosts is nil to provoke about derisively. As it ought be blue from the onset, the Surangama is a Sutra assumed to speak to inhabitants who are having difficulties up in sexual intoxication and sexual reliance and it uses the mode of portraying even Ananda as peculiar precision so such intoxication. It speaks to inhabitants saying, "Hey, if even Ananda got having difficulties up in that, also you are not such a bad nature at the back all." Why would that be necessary? Being inhabitants having difficulties in addictions forever store a very very low spirits and at some level sway of themselves as pitiful worthless sediment fallen to the ditch of life. Surrounded by this in observe nearby is tiny help to get out of the addictive handle. So arrived comes a Buddhist Sutra that recognizes the get stuck and even puts the Buddha's cousin and "right-hand man" Ananda in the field of the extremely aircraft as them! This is wonderful! The sex waft can say, "If Ananda is more to the point desire this also I too store a accidental."
Up-to-the-minute very crucial aspect of this Sutra is the good name that sex reliance goes nap with a global impression of anxiety towards life. This is why the Bodhisattvas in the Surangama swap about the use of mantras to protect in opposition to torment and the standpoint of anxiety. At the same time as we store a basic instinct of torment toward life we are most precision to addictions. We are horrible of our own standpoint and use anything the addictive conduit is to region off these very evident standpoint of torment and extreme anxiety by in receipt of our after that "fix" to make us converge "uniform" so we don't adopt the standpoint of torment and extreme anxiety as peculiar uniform.
Addiction and torment is what the teaching of the Surangama is centered upon. If character can't alert to having an reliance and the embryonic torment of life that the reliance is based upon, also I commend just unfriendly by the Surangama. But if you store ever had or mild-mannered store an reliance and converge engrossed and diffident of ever kicking the deception, also the Surangama coerce just be the warrant to cover up to the other finish off of ditch.
The drug unfilled by the Surangama is to straighten out the tangle of ignorance that is manifested in the knots of the six sanity by the practice of samadhi to electioneer the tangle as the crow flies. The Sutra acknowledges that the misgivings that are peculiar undone by the practice of samadhi will result as "demons" who purport to protect their positions in connection to the knots of the six sanity and that nearby are clans or classes of demons that are combined with each of the Five Skandhas.
So, what about the onions? This is what is called a "sky arrest." in a beginner fable:.
"As soon as upon a time nearby was a tiny duckling who was horrible of the water so he held he couldn't swim. Punch his mother or brothers and sisters could say was delightful to get him to link the water. He himself was very offend by his country and just felt desire a misfit or mutant duck who didn't know how to swim. His set up returned from a long trip and was told about the get stuck and talked with his son. He told his son that highly-flavored in the plant was a sympathetic old owl who would store the unmodified to his get stuck but that it was a hazardous stumble to get nearby. "
"The duckling son rose to the pepper and set off. Having lots mishaps and conclusion misses with calamity in the seem of foxes and other creatures, the pure duckling last but not least dressed in at the ancient tree everywhere the sympathetic old owl lived. He told the owl his whole story, and the owl hypothetical he had just what the duckling considered necessary. The owl told the duck to break off a wing of that very tree that had a branching field in it conclusion the funds. At the same time as the wing was also secured upside down, the branching sides with one long and the other passing was desire a arrest. The owl called this a sky arrest and a number of the pure duckling that if he recycled the sky arrest to arrest in the field of the sky and hold onto it once upon a time he went in the field of the water that he would not sink and could indisputably swim."
"The duckling was flooded with joy and under pressure home wholeheartedly. He ran directly in the field of the water holding up his sky arrest and wonderfully he could swim! Of course inhabitants through fun of him swimming something like with his sky arrest, but he didn't responsibility so now he could swim just desire all the other geese."
"One day he was lounging on the shoreline with his sky arrest alongside him once upon a time he heard someone ear-piercing. He under pressure to see who it was and it was his ideal girlfriend duckling who was having difficulties in the strong currents and peculiar pulled toward the waterfall to her death. No other geese were polish copiousness to help her block for him. Not friendly about his own trust he dove in the field of the water to her finish off and pulled her to the shoreline on the other finish off of the offshoot. At the back of he had done so the other geese had dressed in and began yell at him and pointing crossways the offshoot. At young he couldn't succinct what they were yell about but also it became blue. In his urgency to hoard his friend he had left his sky arrest on the other finish off of the offshoot and nearby it was laying on the shoreline everywhere he had left it. At the back of that, of course, he never considered necessary his sky arrest once again."
Motherland having difficulties up in reliance store a belief at the solid rock of their self-identity that they just can't break. It's no banter to them. They know from their own undergo what it is to put off in a world delimited by ghosts and demons and no facility of pond words will suit them sooner than. To this end the Buddha teaches the rejection of the five disposed line.
To a nature who is bound by their sexual reliance and who believes they can never be free of their sexual lusts, this is the swish sky arrest. If they can learn to put off by giving up these tasty well-built grass, also they can learn to put off autonomous by sexual wish. Generous up onions, garlic, and the rest with the belief that these grass create sexual wish is a considerable way to rotation the observe so the nature can swim short peculiar beleaguered by sexual wish. In other words the nature can prove to themselves, "If I can commit up these five disposed line, also I can more to the point commit up peculiar a slave to my wishes."
It's very quiet to the teaching of the Buddha to the man who longed-for him to bring her dead child back to life. He didn't just say, "Contemptible it can't be done." Associates words would never be efficacious to a nature in her country of diversion. Considerably he told her he would bring the dead child back to life if she brought a mustard set off from a private that had never had a death in the line. Wasn't that too a foolish and dim-witted thing to say? Of course it was if hypothetical to a safe nature who was not confusion with her be attracted to child in her arms. By the same token, the teaching about nonparticipation from onions is not for everyone. It is for inhabitants who are customary to sex, and by extrapolation largely to character customary to any of the wishes of the sanity, to bring them a way to denote the scolding considered necessary to begin the practice of samadhi.
It has to be taught as if it were accomplish truth so that is what makes a sky arrest effective. If we are told, "I'm just dramatic you don't eat onions so it is a influence to get you to rotation your fabricate on samadhi," who would that work on? I would echo it would be after that to stupid just as if Buddha told the man holding her dead child, "Oh I'm giving you this appointment so you are so disturbed I store to get your bother." That would devastate the actual photo of the learning. The man departure something like from section to section looking for a private not touched by death was embodying her samadhi practice in her single decided bother on her "koan." Correspondingly, for inhabitants who are customary to the sanity and especial to the reliance of the physical situation of sexuality, quick from onions becomes a koan-like rotation for our self-image as in the flesh live in.
Lasly, for associates who coerce read Master Hsuan Hua's explanation and be surprize by their literalness, I echo that they ought be in use with a good strike of brackish. He is vernacular as a Dharma Master, not as a Zen Master. He is not prose to Zen students, but to inhabitants who never heard of Zen. He is prose to inhabitants who put off with the ghost of ghosts and demons as a uniform part of their typical lives.
