Morning tribute to the Shurangama Sutra

bohiruci SG

http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Sutras/The%20Shurangama%20Sutra/Shurangama%20Sutra.htm

The Dharma to Eliminate Deep-rooted Defilements

Ánanda put his palms together, bowed, and said to the Buddha, "Having heard the Buddha’s unrestrained, greatly kind, true and actual expression of Dharma that is pure in nature and wonderfully eternal, I still have not understood the sequence for releasing the knots so that when the six are untied, the one is gone also. I only hope you will be compassionate, and once again empathize with this assembly and those of the future, by offering us explanation of the Dharma to wash and rinse away our deep-rooted defilements."

Then, upon the lion’s throne, the Thus Come One straightened his Nirvana robes, arranged his samghati sash, took hold of the table inlaid with the seven gems, reached out onto the table and picked up an exquisitely beautiful cloth given him by a god from the Suyama Heaven.

Then, as the assembly watched, he tied it into a knot and showed it to Ánanda, asking, "What is this called?"

Ánanda and the great assembly answered together, "It is called a knot."

Then the Thus Come One tied another knot in the beautiful cloth and asked Ánanda again, "What is this called?"

Ánanda and the great assembly once again answered together, "It, too, is called a knot."

He continued in this pattern until he had tied six knots in the beautiful cloth. As he made each knot, he held it up to Ánanda and asked, "What is this called?"

That is also what happens when the six sense organs are freed: even the one is gone. Because from beginning-less time your mind and nature have been insane and disturbed, you have created false knowledge and views. As that falseness continues to arise without respite, perception becomes weary and defilements arise. Just like the whirling flowers that appeared when the eyes grew tired of staring, these too are disturbances that arise without a cause within the tranquil, essential brightness. Everything in the world—the mountains, the rivers, the earth itself, as well as birth, death, and Nirvana—is these flowers that appear because of our being turned upside-down by insanity and weariness."

bohiruci SG

THE PRECEPTS-LUSTING

"Ánanda, why do I call collecting one’s thoughts the precepts? If beings in the six paths of any mundane world had no thought of lust, they would not have to undergo a continual succession of births and deaths.

"Your basic purpose in cultivating samádhi is to transcend the wearisome defilements. But if you do not renounce lustful thoughts, you will not be able to get out of the dust.

"Even though people may have some wisdom and the manifestation of chan (zen)samádhi, if they do not cut off lust, they are certain to enter demonic paths. At best, they will become demon kings; on the average, they will become members of the retinue of demons; at the lowest level, they will become female demons.

"These demons all have their groups of disciples. Each claims that he has accomplished the Unsurpassed Way.

"After my tranquility, in the Dharma-ending Age, these hordes of demons will abound, spreading like wildfire as they openly practice greed and lust, while claiming to be Good Knowing Advisors. They will cause beings to fall into the pit of love and views and lose the way to Bodhi.

"When you teach people of the world to cultivate samádhi, they must first of all sever the mind of lust. This is the first clear and decisive instruction on purity given by the Thus Come Ones, the Buddhas of the past, World Honored Ones.

"Therefore, Ánanda, if cultivators of chan (zen) samádhi do not cut off lust, they are like someone who cooks sand hoping to get rice. After hundreds of thousands of eons, it will still just be hot sand. Why? It wasn’t rice to begin with; it was only sand.

"If you seek the Buddha’s wonderful fruition and still have physical lust, then even if you attain a wonderful awakening, it will be based on lust. With lust at the source, you will revolve in the three paths and not be able to get out. Which road will you take to cultivate and be certified to the Thus Come One's Nirvana?

"You must cut off the lust which is intrinsic to both body and mind. Then get rid of even the aspect of cutting it off. At that point you have some hope of attaining the Buddha’s Bodhi.

http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Sutras/The%20Shurangama%20Sutra/Shurangama%20Sutra.htm

An Eternal Now SG

Hi Bohiruci, thanks for this important sharing.

Just a note: I have replaced your link because your previous link leads to the site of the cult leader Dorje Chang Buddha III.

Also regarding lust: if you attain the Anagami stage, you will overcome lust. In Bodhisattva path, it is said that by 2nd bhumi you will overcome sexual desires.