The shurangama mantra The shurangama mantra | Page 249

【THE SHURANGAMA SUTRA _ EXTRACTION.】
the manas, and the consciousness that
grasps and receives, he concludes
that the origin of mind, intellect, and
consciousness is permanent. Through
his cultivation, he knows that in
eighty thousand eons, as all living
beings in the ten directions revolve in
transmigration, this origin is never
destroyed and exists permanently.
Investigating this undestroyed origin,
he speculates that it is permanent.
8:193
if he begins to speculate about self
and others, he could fall into error
with theories of partial
impermanence and partial
permanence based on four distorted
views. 8:195
”First, as this person contemplates
the wonderfully bright mind
pervading the ten directions, he
concludes that this state of profound
stillness is the ultimate spiritual self.
Then he speculates, ‘My spiritual
self, which is settled, bright and
unmoving, pervades the ten
directions. All living beings are
within my mind, and there they are
born and die by themselves.
Therefore, my mind is permanent
while those who undergo birth and
death there are truly impermanent.’
8:196
”Fourth, since this person has ended
the source of thoughts, there is no
more reason for them to arise. In the
state of flowing, halting, and turning,
the thinking mind - which was the
cause of production and destruction -
has now ceased forever, and so he
naturally thinks that this is a state of
non-production and non-destruction.
As a result of such reasoning, he
speculates that this state is
permanent. 8:194
”Second, instead of contemplating his
own mind, this person contemplates
in the ten directions worlds as many
as the Ganges’ sands. He regards as
ultimately impermanent those worlds
that are in eons of decay, and as
ultimately permanent those that are
not in eons of decay. 8:197
”Because of these speculations of
permanence, he will lose proper and
pervasive knowledge, fall into
externalism, and become confused
about the Bodhi nature. This is the
second external teaching, which
postulates pervasive permanence.
8:194
”Third, this person closely examines
his own mind and finds it to be subtle
and mysterious, like fine motes of
dust swirling in the ten directions,
unchanging in nature. And yet it can
cause his body to be born and then to
die. He regards that indestructible
nature as his permanent intrinsic
nature, and that which undergoes
birth and death and flows forth from
him as impermanent. 8:197
”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
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