The Śūraṅgama Sūtra (大佛頂如來密因修證了義諸菩薩萬行首楞嚴經)

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Six

Translated by the Indian Monk Paramiti in the Tang Dynasty

At that time, the Bodhisattva Guanyin rose from his seat, bowed his head at the Buddha's feet, and addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, I recall that in the past, countless eons as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River ago, there was a Buddha who appeared in the world, named Guanyin. Before that Buddha, I first set my heart on Enlightenment. That Buddha taught me to enter samadhi through hearing, reflection, and cultivation.

"First, by focusing on hearing, I entered the stream and forgot the objects of hearing. As what was heard became silent, both movement and stillness ceased to arise distinctly. Gradually advancing in this way, the act of hearing and what was heard were exhausted. When hearing was exhausted, I did not dwell on it; awareness and what was aware became empty. When emptiness and awareness reached perfect fullness, even emptiness and what was emptied vanished. With birth and death extinguished, utter stillness manifested. Suddenly, I transcended the worldly and the transcendent, and the ten directions became perfectly bright. I attained two extraordinary qualities:

"First, I united above with the fundamental wondrous enlightened mind of all Buddhas throughout the ten directions, sharing the same compassionate power as the Buddhas and Tathagatas.

"Second, I united below with all sentient beings of the six realms throughout the ten directions, sharing the same sorrowful yearning as all living beings."

World-Honored One! Because I made offerings to the Buddha Guanyin, that Buddha bestowed upon me the Diamond Samadhi of Illusory Hearing, cultivated through listening. Sharing the same compassionate power as the Buddhas, this enabled me to manifest thirty-two responsive forms to enter all lands.

World-Honored One! - If there are Bodhisattvas who enter Samadhi, advancing in their practice to perfect their superior understanding of the unconditioned, I manifest a Buddha's body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their liberation. - If there are learners who have perfected the wondrous brightness of stillness, I manifest a Pratyekabuddha body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their liberation. - If there are learners who have severed the twelve links of dependent origination and perfected the superior nature of that severance, I manifest a Condition-Enlightened body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their liberation. - If there are learners who have realized the emptiness of the Four Noble Truths and entered cessation through the path, perfecting their superior nature, I manifest a Sravaka body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their liberation. - If there are beings who wish to clearly understand desire, not transgressing through sensual defilements, and to purify their sensual bodies, I manifest a Brahma King's body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their liberation. - If there are beings who wish to be Lord of the Heavens, ruling over all devas, I manifest the body of Shakra before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who wish their bodies to be free, roaming through the ten directions, I manifest the body of a Deva of Freedom before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who wish their bodies to be free, flying through empty space, I manifest the body of a Great Deva of Freedom before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who love to command ghosts and spirits, protecting lands, I manifest the body of a Great Heavenly General before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who love to govern worlds, protecting living beings, I manifest the body of a Four Heavenly King before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who wish to be born in heavenly palaces, commanding ghosts and spirits, I manifest the body of a Crown Prince of the Four Heavenly Kings before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who wish to be rulers among humans, I manifest the body of a human king before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who wish to lead great clans, esteemed by the world, I manifest the body of an elder before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who love to discuss noble teachings, dwelling in purity, I manifest the body of a lay practitioner before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who love to govern countries and adjudicate territories, I manifest the body of an official before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who love various arts and disciplines, preserving their well-being, I manifest the body of a Brahmin before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are men who delight in leaving home to study, upholding the precepts, I manifest the body of a Bhikkhu before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are women who delight in leaving home to study, upholding the precepts, I manifest the body of a Bhikkhuni before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are men who delight in upholding the five precepts, I manifest the body of an Upasaka before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are women who abide by the five precepts, I manifest the body of an Upasika before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are women who establish themselves through domestic governance, cultivating household and state, I manifest the body of a female ruler, or a lady of the state, a noblewoman, or a matriarch before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who do not damage the male faculty, I manifest the body of a youth before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are maidens who cherish their maidenhood, not seeking violation, I manifest the body of a maiden before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are devas who wish to transcend their deva kind, I manifest a deva body to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are dragons who wish to transcend their dragon kind, I manifest a dragon body to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are Yakshas who wish to transcend their kind, I manifest a Yaksha body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If Gandharvas wish to transcend their kind, I manifest a Gandharva body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If Asuras wish to transcend their kind, I manifest an Asura body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If Kinnaras wish to transcend their kind, I manifest a Kinnara body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If Mahoragas wish to transcend their kind, I manifest a Mahoraga body before them to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are beings who, as humans, delight in cultivating the human path, I manifest a human body to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment. - If there are non-humans—whether with form or without form, with thought or without thought—who wish to transcend their kind, I manifest the appropriate body before them all to teach the Dharma, enabling their fulfillment.

These are called the wondrous, pure thirty-two responsive forms that enter the lands. All are accomplished freely through the effortless, wondrous power of the Samadhi cultivated through listening.

World-Honored One! Through the power of this diamond-like samadhi, cultivated by hearing and perfected in hearing—a wondrous, effortless force—I join with all beings of the ten directions, the three times, and the six destinies in shared compassion and reverence. Thus I enable beings to obtain, through my body and mind, fourteen kinds of fearlessness and merit:

First: Because I do not look upon sound with an ordinary ear, but contemplate the one who hears, I enable beings in the ten directions who are suffering and distressed, upon hearing my sound, to attain liberation.

Second: Because my knowing and seeing turn inward, I enable beings, even if they enter a great fire, not to be burned.

Third: Because my hearing and listening turn inward, I enable beings, even if swept away by floodwaters, not to drown.

Fourth: Because I have cut off destructive thoughts, with a mind free from harming, I enable beings entering ghostly realms to remain unharmed by ghosts.

Fifth: When hearing is refined into pure hearing, and the six senses dissolve and return to the nature of listening, I enable beings about to be harmed to find the blades breaking segment by segment, so that weapons are like cutting water or blowing at light—their essential nature remains unmoved.

Sixth: When the essence of hearing is purified into a light that illuminates the entire dharma realm, then all darkness cannot persist. I enable beings to be approached by yakshas, rakshasas, kumbhandas, pishachas, and putanas, yet these spirits cannot see them.

Seventh: When the nature of sound is fully dissolved, and contemplation turns hearing inward, free from all dust-like delusions, I enable beings bound by fetters, locks, and chains to remain unshackled.

Eighth: When sound is extinguished and hearing becomes all-pervasive, giving rise to compassionate power, I enable beings traveling dangerous roads to remain unrobbed by thieves.

Ninth: When hearing is refined, free from the dust of objects, and form cannot plunder it, I enable all lustful beings to stay far from greed and desire.

Tenth: When sound is pure, free from dust, and sense faculties and objects merge without opposition, I enable all hateful and resentful beings to abandon anger and malice.

Eleventh: When dust is dissolved and light returns, so that body and mind in the dharma realm become like clear, unobstructed crystal, I enable all beings with dull, obscured natures, and even those of wrong views, to forever leave ignorance and darkness.

Twelfth: When form merges and hearing is restored, unmoving in the place of practice yet entering the world without destroying it, I can travel throughout the ten directions to make offerings to as many Buddhas as fine dust, and beside each Buddha serve as a Dharma Prince. I enable childless beings in the dharma realm who wish for a son to give birth to a son blessed with merit and wisdom.

Thirteenth: With the six senses perfectly penetrating, illuminating without duality, embracing all worlds, establishing the great mirror-like emptiness of the Tathagata-store, I receive and uphold the secret Dharma-doors of as many Tathagatas as fine dust in the ten directions, without any loss. I enable childless beings in the dharma realm who wish for a daughter to give birth to a dignified, virtuous, gentle, and lovely daughter, cherished by all.

Fourteenth: In this great chiliocosm, with its billions of suns and moons, there are as many Dharma Princes now dwelling in the world as the sands of sixty-two Ganges rivers. They cultivate the Dharma, set examples, teach beings, and adapt their skillful means and wisdom differently according to beings. Because I have attained perfect penetration through the wondrous ear faculty, my body and mind subtly embrace and pervade the entire dharma realm. I enable beings who uphold my name to gain merit equal to that of those who uphold the names of those sixty-two Ganges-sands of Dharma Princes. World-Honored One! My one name is no different from their many names, because I have cultivated and attained true perfect penetration. These are called the fourteen powers to bestow fearlessness, which provide for the welfare of all beings.

"World-Honored One! Having attained this perfect penetration and cultivated the unsurpassed path, I also gained four inconceivable, effortless, wondrous virtues:

First, from initially attaining the wondrous hearing-mind, the essence of mind transcended hearing, so that sight, hearing, sensation, and cognition were no longer separate, becoming one perfectly fused, pure, precious awareness. Therefore, I can manifest numerous wondrous forms and speak boundless secret spiritual mantras. Among them, I may appear with one head, three heads, five heads, seven heads, nine heads, eleven heads, and so on up to one hundred and eight heads, a thousand heads, ten thousand heads, eighty-four thousand *śakra* heads; with two arms, four arms, six arms, eight arms, ten arms, twelve arms, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty, up to twenty-four arms, and so on up to one hundred and eight arms, a thousand arms, ten thousand arms, eighty-four thousand *mudrā* arms; with two eyes, three eyes, four eyes, nine eyes, and so on up to one hundred and eight eyes, a thousand eyes, ten thousand eyes, eighty-four thousand pure, precious eyes. Sometimes compassionate, sometimes majestic, sometimes in deep concentration, sometimes in wisdom—saving and protecting beings, attaining great freedom.

Second, through hearing and contemplation, I transcended the six sense-objects, just as sound passes through walls without obstruction. Therefore, I have the wondrous ability to manifest each form and recite each mantra; these forms and mantras can bestow fearlessness upon all beings. Thus, throughout the ten directions, in as many lands as fine dust, I am known as the Bestower of Fearlessness.

Third, through cultivating this fundamental, wondrous, perfect penetration and purifying the root of awareness, in whatever world I travel, I cause beings to renounce their bodily treasures and seek my compassionate aid.

Fourth, having attained the Buddha-mind and realized the ultimate, I can offer various precious treasures in供养 to all Buddhas of the ten directions, and also extend this to all beings throughout the Dharma-realm in the six destinies: those seeking a spouse obtain a spouse; those seeking children obtain children; those seeking *samādhi* obtain *samādhi*; those seeking longevity obtain longevity; and so on, even those seeking great Nirvana obtain great Nirvana."

The Buddha asks about perfect penetration. I attained complete mastery of the mind through the faculty of hearing, entering the stream of stillness and achieving Samadhi. This was the foremost means by which I accomplished Enlightenment. World-Honored One, that Buddha praised my skillful attainment of the perfect penetration Dharma gate, and in the great assembly, bestowed upon me the name Guanyin. Because I contemplate and listen to the sounds of the ten directions with perfect clarity, the name Guanyin is known throughout all realms.

At that moment, from the lion throne, the World-Honored One emitted a radiant light from his entire body, bathing the crowns of all the countless Tathagatas and Dharma Princes—the great bodhisattvas—throughout the ten directions. Those Tathagatas likewise emitted light from their entire bodies, streaming from countless directions to bathe the Buddha’s crown, as well as the crowns of all the great bodhisattvas and arhats in the assembly. The forests, groves, and ponds all resounded with the sound of Dharma. Beams of light intertwined like a net of jewels. The great assembly witnessed what they had never seen before, and all attained the Diamond Samadhi. Immediately, a rain of hundred-jeweled lotuses fell from the sky—blue, yellow, red, and white, exquisitely mingled—and the emptiness of the ten directions turned into the colors of the seven treasures. In this Saha world, the great earth, mountains, and rivers all vanished from sight. Only the countless lands of the ten directions were seen merged into a single realm, with hymns and praises arising naturally.

Then the Tathagata addressed the Dharma Prince Manjushri: “Now behold these twenty-five great bodhisattvas and arhats who are beyond study. Each has described the initial expedient means by which they attained the Way. All declare they practiced true and perfect penetration. In their cultivation, there is truly no superiority or inferiority, no earlier or later distinction. I now wish to enable Ananda to awaken. Among these twenty-five methods, which one is most in accord with his faculties? Moreover, after my extinction, when beings in this world enter the bodhisattva vehicle seeking the unsurpassed Way, which expedient gate will allow them to attain accomplishment most easily?”

Manjushri, the Dharma Prince, in accordance with the Buddha's compassionate intent, rose from his seat. He bowed his head at the Buddha's feet and, empowered by the Buddha's majestic spirit, addressed the Buddha with these verses:

Then Ananda and the entire assembly, in body and mind, became perfectly clear, receiving a great revelation. They beheld the Buddha's enlightenment and great nirvana—like someone who has traveled far on business and not yet returned home, yet clearly knows the road that leads back.

All those gathered—the heavenly beings, dragons, and the eightfold assembly; those still learning in the two vehicles; and all the newly awakened bodhisattvas—their number like the sands of ten Ganges rivers—all recovered their original mind, freed from dust and defilement, and attained the pure Dharma-eye.

The nun Bhikshuni Nature, upon hearing these verses, became an arhat. Countless beings gave rise to the unsurpassed, supreme, perfect enlightenment mind.

Ananda straightened his robes, joined his palms in reverence, and bowed before the assembly. With a mind now clear and luminous, he was filled with both compassion and joy. Wishing to bring benefit to all beings of the future, he bowed again and addressed the Buddha:

"O World-Honored One of Great Compassion! I have now understood the path to enlightenment, and in practicing it I am free from doubt. I have often heard the Tathagata say: 'Those who seek to liberate others before liberating themselves—this is the bodhisattva’s vow. Those who have perfected their own awakening and can awaken others—this is the Buddha’s manifestation in the world.' Though I am not yet liberated, I vow to liberate all beings in this final age.

World-Honored One, these beings are growing distant from the time of the Buddha. False teachers expound their views as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. If one wishes to gather the mind and enter samadhi, how can they establish a place of practice, avoid all demonic obstructions, and prevent their resolve for enlightenment from faltering?"

Then, the World-Honored One praised Ananda before the assembly, saying: “Excellent, excellent! As you have asked about establishing the practice-ground to rescue sentient beings from drowning in the final age—now listen carefully, and I will explain it to you.” Ananda and the whole assembly respectfully prepared to receive the teaching.

The Buddha said to Ananda, "You have often heard me teach in the monastic code the three essential principles for practice. They are: first, to gather the mind is the precepts; second, from the precepts arises meditative stability; and third, from meditative stability arises wisdom. This is called the threefold study of the undefiled."

Ananda, what do I mean by 'restraining the mind' when I speak of the precepts?

If all beings in the six realms of the worlds keep their minds free from lust, they will not be bound to the cycle of birth and death. You cultivate samadhi seeking to transcend worldly defilements; yet if lust is not removed, defilements cannot be transcended. Even with great wisdom and the manifestation of meditative concentration, if lust is not severed, one is certain to fall into the path of demons: becoming a high-ranking demon king, a middle-ranking demon subject, or a low-ranking demoness. These demons too have their followers, each claiming to have attained supreme enlightenment. After my nirvana, in the Dharma-ending age, many such demonic beings will flourish in the world, widely practicing greed and lust while posing as virtuous teachers, causing beings to fall into the pit of craving and false views, losing the path to enlightenment. You who teach people to cultivate samadhi must first cut off lust in the mind. This is called the first clear and decisive pure instruction of the Tathagatas, the Buddhas of the past.

Therefore, Ananda, if one practices meditation without cutting off lust, it is like trying to cook sand to make rice—even after hundreds of thousands of eons, it will only be called hot sand. Why? Because sand is not the basis of rice. If you seek the wondrous fruit of Buddhahood with a body driven by lust, even if you attain some profound insight, it will all be rooted in lust. With lust as the foundation, you will revolve through the three wretched realms and never escape. How then could you tread the path to Nirvana? You must ensure that the impulse of lust is severed in both body and mind—and even the notion of severing is ultimately relinquished. Only then can you aspire to the enlightenment of a Buddha. What I have explained here is the teaching of the Buddha. Any explanation that contradicts this is the teaching of Mara.

Ananda, consider all beings in the six realms throughout the worlds. If their minds do not kill, they will not continue to follow the cycle of birth and death. You cultivate samadhi to escape the dust of afflictions, yet if the mind of killing is not eliminated, you cannot escape that dust. Even with great wisdom and the manifestation of meditative concentration, if you do not cease killing, you are destined to fall into the path of spirits: those of superior grade become powerful ghosts; those of medium grade become flying yakshas and leaders among ghosts; those of inferior grade become earth-bound rakshasas. These various ghosts and spirits also have followers, each claiming to have attained the supreme path. After my nirvana, in the latter age of the Dharma, many such spirits and ghosts will flourish in the world, declaring that eating meat leads to the path of enlightenment.

Ananda, I permit the bhikkhus to eat the five kinds of pure meat. This meat is all produced through my spiritual power, without having possessed life-force. In your lands of the brahmins, the ground is often steamy and damp, mixed with sand and stones, where grasses and vegetables do not grow. Through the addition of my great compassionate spiritual power, and out of great compassion, it is called meat for the sake of convenience, and you obtain its flavor. How then, after the Tathagata’s nirvana, can those who eat the flesh of living beings call themselves disciples of the Shakya? You should know that those who eat meat, even if they attain a mind that seems open like samadhi, are all great rakshasas. When their retribution ends, they will surely sink in the bitter sea of birth and death. They are not disciples of the Buddha. Such people, who kill one another, devour and eat each other without end—how can such persons escape the three realms?

You should teach people in the world who cultivate samadhi to cease killing next. This is called the second clear and decisive instruction on purity given by the Tathagata and the Buddhas of the past.

Therefore, Ananda, if one practices meditation without cutting off killing, it is like someone who plugs their own ears and then shouts loudly, hoping others won’t hear—this is called trying to hide but only making oneself more exposed. A pure monk or any bodhisattva, when walking along a path, will not even tread on living grass, much less pull it up by hand. How then, in the name of great compassion, could they take the flesh and blood of living beings to eat? If monks do not wear silks, satins, fine fabrics from the East, nor leather boots, furs, down, milk, butter, or ghee from this land, such monks are truly free from the world. They repay past debts and do not wander in the three realms. Why? Wearing or consuming any part of a living being creates a karmic bond with it. It is like a person who eats the grains of the earth—their feet never truly leave the ground. Only when body and mind neither wear nor consume any part of living beings—whether their bodies or products from their bodies—can one be said to be truly liberated. These words of mine are the Buddha’s teaching. Any teaching contrary to this is the teaching of Mara.

Ananda, furthermore, among the beings of the six destinies in the world, if their minds do not steal, they will not follow the cycle of birth and death. You cultivate samadhi to transcend worldly defilements; if the mind of stealing is not eliminated, defilements cannot be transcended. Even if one possesses great wisdom and samadhi manifests before them, if stealing is not severed, one is bound to fall into a deviant path: the highest grade becomes a spirit, the middle grade becomes a demon, and the lowest grade becomes a wicked person possessed by various fiends. Those groups of deviants also have followers, each claiming to have attained supreme enlightenment. After my nirvana, in the Dharma-ending age, many such demonic and deviant beings will flourish in the world. Hiding in secrecy, they practice deceit, calling themselves good spiritual guides, each claiming to have obtained the Dharma of a superior person. They delude the ignorant, frightening them into losing their right minds. Wherever they go, the households they visit are depleted and scattered. I teach the bhikkhus to beg for food in succession, enabling them to relinquish greed and accomplish the Bodhisattva path. These bhikkhus do not cook their own food, entrusting their remaining life to a transient existence in the three realms, demonstrating a single journey with no return. How can such thieves, donning my robes, trade upon the Tathagata? Creating all kinds of karma, they claim it is the Buddhadharma. They slander the fully ordained bhikkhus who uphold the precepts, calling them followers of the lesser vehicle. Consequently, they lead immeasurable beings into doubt and error, causing them to fall into the unintermittent hells. After my passing, if there are bhikkhus who resolve with determined minds to cultivate samadhi, and before an image of the Tathagata, can burn a single lamp on their body, burn a single finger joint, or burn a single incense stick upon their body, I say that person will repay all karmic debts from beginningless time at once. They will forever leave the world behind, eternally free from all outflows. Although they have not yet immediately understood the supreme path of enlightenment, this person has already attained a determined mind regarding the Dharma. If they do not perform this minor cause of relinquishing the body, even if they accomplish the unconditioned, they will inevitably be reborn as a human to repay their past karmic debts—just as I, with the horse fodder, was no different. You should teach people in the world to cultivate samadhi, and afterward to sever stealing. This is called the third clear and pure instruction decisively determined by the Tathagata and the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones of the past.

Therefore, Ananda, if one does not cease stealing and yet practices meditation, it is like pouring water into a leaky vessel, hoping to fill it—even after countless eons, it will never be full. If bhikkhus keep nothing beyond their robes and alms bowl, give away leftover food to hungry beings, join their palms and bow to the assembly in great gatherings, and meet beating or abuse as if it were praise—if they can wholly relinquish both body and mind, sharing their flesh, bones, and blood with all living beings, and never twist the Tathagata’s partial teachings to justify their own views, misleading beginners—the Buddha seals this person as attaining true samadhi. What I have explained is the Buddha’s teaching; what contradicts it is the teaching of Mara.

Ananda! In this world, beings of the six paths may have already perfected the three actions of not killing, not stealing, and not engaging in sexual misconduct. Yet if they commit the grave offense of false speech, their samadhi will not remain pure, and they will become demons of craving and false views, losing the seed of the Tathagata.

This refers to claiming attainment without having attained, declaring realization without having realized, or seeking to be revered as supreme in the world. They may tell others, "I have now attained the fruit of Stream-enterer, the fruit of Once-returner, the fruit of Non-returner, the path of Arhat, the vehicle of Pratyekabuddha, the ten stages of Bodhisattvahood, or the various levels preceding the stages." They seek others' reverence and repentance, greedily desiring their offerings. Such a person is one of the icchantikas, destroying the seed of Buddhahood. It is like cutting down a tala tree with a knife—the Buddha has declared that such a person forever severs their wholesome roots, loses correct knowledge and insight, sinks into the three sufferings of the sea, and fails to attain samadhi.

After my parinirvana, I command all Bodhisattvas and Arhats to manifest in various forms in this Dharma-ending age, taking on different appearances to guide beings in the cycle of rebirth. They may appear as monastics, lay practitioners, kings, officials, young men, young women, or even as courtesans, widows, adulterers, thieves, butchers, or vendors—associating with others while praising the Buddha-vehicle, enabling them to enter samadhi in body and mind. Yet they will never declare, "I am a true Bodhisattva" or "I am a true Arhat," thereby revealing the Buddha's secret intent and speaking lightly to those not yet learned. Only at the end of their lives, in private, may they leave instructions.

How can such people deceive and confuse beings, committing the grave falsehood? You must teach people cultivating samadhi to later eradicate all grave false speech. This is called the Tathagata's and the Buddhas of the past's fourth clear and decisive instruction on purity.

Therefore, Ananda, if one does not cease such great false speech, it is like carving a piece of human waste into the shape of sandalwood—hoping for it to emit fragrance is utterly impossible. I teach the bhikkhus to take an upright mind as the ground of practice; in all conduct and the four dignified postures, there should be no deceit—how then could one claim to have attained superior spiritual states? It is like a destitute person falsely proclaiming himself emperor—inviting his own destruction. How much more so for falsely claiming the status of a Dharma King? When the cause is not upright, the result will be twisted. Seeking the enlightenment of a Buddha under such conditions is like trying to bite one’s own navel—who could possibly accomplish it? But if bhikkhus keep their minds as straight as a bowstring, entirely truthful in all things, then as they enter samadhi, no demonic obstacles will ever arise. I affirm that such a person will accomplish the unsurpassed awakening of a bodhisattva. What I have said here is the teaching of the Buddha; what contradicts it is the talk of Mara.

The Shurangama Sutra, Volume Six