The shurangama mantra devanagari Shurangama Mantra devanagari | Page 254

【THE SHURANGAMA SUTRA _ EXTRACTION.】
unmoving, and proper and can no
longer be disturbed by demons. He
can thoroughly investigate the origin
of all categories of beings and
contemplate the source of the subtle,
fleeting, and constant fluctuation. In
this state where the skandha of
formations remains, but the skandhas
of feeling and thinking are gone, if he
begins to speculate that there is both
existence and nonexistence, thus
contradicting himself, he could fall
into error with confused theories that
deny both existence and nonexistence
after death. 8:224
it. Therefore, he will fall into
externalism and become confused
about the Bodhi nature. This is the
eighth external teaching, which
postulates confused theories that
deny both existence and nonexistence
after death in the realm of the five
skandhas. 8:227
”Further, in his practice of samadhi,
the good person’s mind is firm,
unmoving, and proper and can no
longer be disturbed by demons. He
can thoroughly investigate the origin
of all categories of beings and
contemplate the source of the subtle,
fleeting, and constant fluctuation. But
if he begins to speculate that there is
no existence after death, he could fall
into error with seven theories of the
cessation of existence. 8:227
”Regarding form, feeling, and
thinking, he sees that existence is not
really existence. Within the flow of
the formations skandha, he sees that
nonexistence is not really
nonexistence. 8:225
”He may speculate that the body will
cease to exist or that when desire has
ended, there is cessation of existence;
or that after suffering has ended,
there is cessation of existence; or that
when bliss reaches an ultimate point,
there is cessation of existence; or that
when renunciation reaches an
ultimate point there is cessation of
existence. 8:228
”Considering back and forth in this
way, he thoroughly investigates the
realms of these skandhas and derives
an eightfold negation of forms. No
matter which skandha is mentioned,
he says that after death, it neither
exists nor does not exist. 8:225
”Further, because he speculates that
all formations are changing in nature,
an ‘insight’ flashes through his mind,
leading him to deny both existence
and nonexistence. He cannot
determine what is unreal and what is
real. 8:226
”Considering back and forth in this
way, he exhaustively investigates the
limits of the seven states and sees that
they have already ceased to be and
will not exist again. 8:231
”Because of these speculations that
deny both existence and nonexistence
after death, the future is murky to
him and he cannot say anything about
”Because of these speculations that
existence ceases after death, he will
fall into externalism and become
confused about the Bodhi nature.
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