Surangama Sutra: The Great Buddha's Crown, the Tathagata's Secret Cause, Cultivation and Realization of the Definitive Meaning, the Myriad Practices of All Bodhisattvas

楞嚴經者，括諸佛萬行之樞紐也。通幽洞微，非二乘所賾；開物成務，乃十地攸宗。其文曲而達，其旨隱而暢，入於至妙之域，出於無生之表，鏗鏘磅礴群彙率化，窮玄絕聖其在茲乎。是知大和無私雖幽必煦，至神無跡雖微必貫，玄功無宰雖遐必達，率由心絕有為而大千同照，道躋無作而至感必通。

The Surangama Sutra is the pivot that gathers together the myriad practices of all the Buddhas. Its penetration of the subtle and hidden cannot be fully fathomed by the Two Vehicles; its opening up of things and accomplishing of tasks is what the ten stages of Bodhisattvas take as their source. Its wording is winding yet pervasive, its purport hidden yet clear; it enters the realm of the utmost wonder and goes beyond the appearance of non-arising; resounding and vast, all kinds of beings are transformed by it, and exhausting the profound and surpassing the sage's rank is probably found here. From this we know: the greatest has no private heart, so even in darkness it must illuminate and warm; the most divine leaves no trace, so even the minute it must penetrate; the profound work has no master, so even the distant it must reach. All this is because the mind has cut off conditioned action, and the great thousand-fold world is seen together; the Way advances into non-doing, and the response of the utmost is bound to connect.

如來謂斯經可以鼓吹乎群心、開決乎佛性，爰集大眾會於室羅筏城，天龍鬼神共覃斯教。嗚呼！三界以五欲而成，故摩登伽以宣淫為發題之始也；眾生以愛纏而起，故阿難以破惑為成道之基也。是以論有心則以無心為攝，悲有生則以無生為誘，談有相則破一切色境為主，示有作則脫一切煩惱為樂，此蓋覺虛妄而歸真實也。至若舉三十六地獄之因果、十鬼十類之緣業，此蓋昧真實而起虛妄也。不明實相無以煥菩提之心，不破妄塵無以悟眾生之性，是法微妙，知之者亦已鮮矣；能深究於此復廣其利於天下，餘見其。

The Tathagata held that this sutra could stir all hearts and open the Buddha-nature, and so he gathered the great assembly at the city of Shravasti, and devas, nagas, ghosts and spirits together delved into this teaching. Alas! The three realms are formed by the five desires, so Matangi's display of lust was used as the beginning of the opening of the theme; living beings arise from the entanglements of love, so Ananda's dispelling of delusion was used as the foundation of attaining the Way. Therefore, speaking of the existence of mind, it gathers it in through no-mind; pitying the existence of birth, it guides through non-birth; speaking of the existence of form, it makes breaking all realms of form the main point; speaking of the existence of action, it takes delight in freedom from all afflictions: this is awakening from the false and turning toward the true. As for citing the causes and effects of the thirty-six hells and the karmic conditions of the ten kinds of ghosts, this is being deluded about the true and giving rise to the false. If one does not understand true reality, there is no way to kindle the mind of bodhi; if one does not break the false dust, there is no way to awaken the nature of beings. This Dharma is subtle and wonderful, and few know of it; one who can go deep into it and then widely benefit the world, I have seen it. The base text here appears to have an omission.

至心歸命禮南謨無見頂相首楞嚴王。圓如來之密因，具菩薩之萬行，真修行路，妙證悟門，大乘義以了明，一切事而究竟。爰自祇園休夏聖王延齋，紫金光聚耀十方，迦陵仙音流法界，恆沙薩埵鹹來諮決心疑，闔國王臣畢集願聞法要。教由緣起，阿難被溺於婬坊，道假人弘，師利承宣於秘呪。由是七處徵心，全是妄性淨元明；八還顯見，本來真覺圓常住。標迷悟之根本，令諸闡提而墮彌戾車；示同別之狂勞，俾一顛迦而摧惡叉聚。富樓那執相難性，四緣本紀於異同；波斯匿惑斷為常，一念元無於生滅。妙明覺體，非因非緣非自然；精真見元，不合不和不離即。以至六根虛妄無非菩提妙心，七大遍周盡是如來藏性。三緣永斷，不迷鏡裡之頭；二義斯明，頓悟衣中之寶；金鐘擊處，聲滅而聞自不消。華㲲綰時，六忘而一不可得。譬夫天王賜屋，二十五聖而各陳悟入之門；遠客遊方，十河沙眾而盡識歸還之路。勅文殊之揀選，誰當其根；指觀音之圓通，實從中入。而況三無漏學，真為修習之要機，四淨律儀，實號秉持之明誨。欲誦秘密之章句，須嚴清淨之壇場，無邊積業悉氷消，一切所求皆果遂。復乃開三門之漸次，是先佛之規模；立五品之名題，作將來之眼目。良由兩種之顛倒，遂成十二之類生，歷七趣之輪迴，織五重之渾濁。於是迴千光相攬七寶床，深憐恣客迷主人，痛念認賊為己子。洗心非正，五十重之魔境現前；覺際入交，四十四之聖心超越。而後慶喜欽承於妙誨，能仁宣發於真慈，窮五陰之妄源，勝十方之獻寶。貧人七錢而佈施，尚獲輪王；行者一念以流通，定登佛果。真乘奧典，秘字靈文，《大佛頂如來密因修證了義諸菩薩萬行首楞嚴經》甚深法藏。

With utmost sincerity I take refuge and bow to Namo the Surangama King, who has no visible crown. It fulfills the Tathagata's secret cause and complete in the myriad practices of the Bodhisattva (short for bodhisattva, one who seeks awakening and also saves beings); it is the road of true practice and the gate of wondrous realization; the meaning of the Mahayana is made clear by it, and all matters are brought to their end by it. Beginning from the summer retreat at Jetavana and the feast set by the holy king, a mass of purple-gold light illuminated the ten directions, the voice of the kalavinka sounded through the Dharma realm, Bodhisattvas as many as the sands of the Ganges all came to ask resolution of their doubts, and kings and ministers throughout the land all came wishing to hear the essentials of the Dharma. The teaching arose from conditions: Ananda was caught in a house of lust; the Way is spread through persons: Manjushri received the command to proclaim the secret mantra. Then the seven places for locating the mind were all the pure original brightness within false nature; the eight returns revealing seeing show that the original true awareness is perfect and constant. Pointing out the root of delusion and awakening, it made the icchantikas fall into the mleccha (lowly border peoples); revealing the frenzied toil of sameness and difference, it made the one icchantika break the cluster of akshas. Purna, clinging to appearances, challenged nature, and the four conditions were originally recorded in sameness and difference; King Prasenajit mistook annihilation for permanence, but in a single thought there is originally no birth and death. The wondrous bright body of awareness is not cause, not condition, not spontaneity; the essence of the pure true seeing neither joins, nor blends, nor separates nor is identical. So the six sense faculties are false but are nothing other than the wondrous mind of bodhi; the seven elements pervade everywhere, all being the Tathagata-garbha nature. When the three conditions are eternally cut off, one no longer loses the head in the mirror; when the two meanings are clear, one suddenly realizes the jewel in the robe. Where the golden bell is struck, the sound ceases yet the nature of hearing is itself not extinguished. When the fine cotton cloth is knotted, the six faculties are forgotten and the one nature cannot be found. Like a heavenly king granting a house, the twenty-five sages each told their gate of entry; like a distant traveler wandering the lands, the assembly of ten Ganges' sands all knew the road home. He ordered Manjushri to select who fit the capacity, pointing to Avalokiteshvara's perfect penetration as truly the one to enter from. How much more so the three studies without outflows, truly the key to cultivation, and the four pure precepts, truly called the clear teaching to uphold. If one wishes to recite the secret verses, one must establish a pure altar with strictness, and boundless accumulated karma melts like ice, and all one seeks bears fruit. He also opened the gradual order of the three gates, which is the model of former Buddhas, and established the names of the five categories, as the eyes of the future. Because of two inversions, twelve kinds of birth were formed; passing through the seven destinies of rebirth, five layers of turbidity were woven. Then he turned the thousand-light form and took the seven-jewel couch, deeply pitying the wandering guest who loses the master, and grieving that people take a thief for their own son. If the washing of the mind is not correct, fifty layers of demonic states appear before one; where awareness meets awareness, the forty-four sacred minds are surpassed. Then Ananda reverently received the wondrous teaching, the Able in Kindness proclaimed true compassion, exhausting the false source of the five aggregates, surpassing the offering of treasures in the ten directions. A poor man giving seven coins can still gain rebirth as a wheel-turning king; a practitioner who circulates a single thought of it will surely ascend to Buddhahood. The true vehicle's profound canon, its secret characters and spiritual text: the Surangama Sutra of the Great Buddha's Crown, the Tathagata's Secret Cause, Cultivation and Realization of the Definitive Meaning, the Myriad Practices of All Bodhisattvas, a most profound Dharma treasury.

大唐神龍元年龍集乙巳五月己卯朔二十三日辛丑中天竺沙門般剌蜜帝於廣州制止道場譯出

In the first year of Shenlong of the great Tang, the year yisi, on the twenty-third day (xinchou) of the fifth month, the new moon on jimao, the Central Indian (present-day central India) shramana Paramiti translated this at the Zhizhi Dharma site in Guangzhou.

菩薩戒弟子前正諫大夫同中書門下平章事清河房融筆授

Recorded and written down by Fang Rong of Qinghe, a Bodhisattva-precept disciple, formerly Grand Master of Remonstrance and Co-Chief Minister of the Secretariat and Chancellery.

烏長國沙門彌伽釋迦譯語

Translated orally by the shramana Miqieshijia of Udyana (now the region of northern Pakistan).

如是我聞：

Thus have I heard from the Buddha:

一時，佛在室羅筏城祇桓精舍，與大比丘眾千二百五十人俱，皆是無漏大阿羅漢——佛子住持，善超諸有，能於國土成就威儀；從佛轉輪，妙堪遺囑，嚴淨毘尼，弘範三界；應身無量，度脫眾生，拔濟未來，越諸塵累。——其名曰大智舍利弗、摩訶目犍連、摩訶拘絺羅、富樓那彌多羅尼子、須菩提、優波尼沙陀等而為上首。復有無量闢支無學，並其初心同來佛所。屬諸比丘休夏自恣，十方菩薩諮決心疑，欽奉慈嚴，將求密義。即時如來敷座宴安，為諸會中宣示深奧。法筵清眾得未曾有，迦陵仙音遍十方界。恆沙菩薩來聚道場，文殊師利而為上首。

At one time the Buddha was at the Jeta Grove Monastery in the city of Shravasti, together with a great assembly of 1,250 great bhikshus (ordained monks), all great arhats without outflows (saints who have ended afflictions and will not be reborn): disciples of the Buddha who uphold the Dharma, good at transcending the states of existence and able to establish dignified deportment in the lands; who turned the Dharma wheel following the Buddha, wonderfully able to carry on his charge, strictly purifying the Vinaya (monastic discipline) as a model for the three realms; whose response bodies are immeasurable, delivering beings, rescuing the future, and going beyond all dust and entanglement. Their names were the greatly wise Shariputra, Mahamaudgalyayana, Mahakausthila, Purna Maitrayaniputra, Subhuti, Upanishada, and others as the chief ones. There were also countless pratyekabuddhas who had finished their learning, together with those who had just aroused the mind, who all came to where the Buddha was. It happened to be the end of the summer retreat for the bhikshus, and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions asked for resolution of their doubts, reverently receiving his compassionate dignity and seeking the secret meaning. At once the Tathagata spread his seat and sat in repose, proclaiming the profound for the assembly. The pure assembly at the Dharma feast gained what they had never had, and the voice of the kalavinka spread through the ten directions. Bodhisattvas as many as the sands of the Ganges gathered at the site, with Manjushri as their chief.

時波斯匿王為其父王諱日營齋，請佛宮掖。自迎如來，廣設珍羞無上妙味，兼復親延諸大菩薩。城中復有長者、居士，同時飯僧，佇佛來應。佛勅文殊，分領菩薩及阿羅漢，應諸齋主。唯有阿難先受別請，遠遊未還，不遑僧次。既無上座及阿闍黎，途中獨歸，其日無供，即時阿難執持應器，於所遊城次第循乞。心中初求最後檀越以為齋主，無問淨穢、剎利尊姓及旃陀羅。方行等慈，不擇微賤，發意圓成一切眾生無量功德，阿難已知如來世尊訶須菩提及大迦葉，為阿羅漢心不均平。欽仰如來，開闡無遮，度諸疑謗。經彼城隍，徐步郭門，嚴整威儀，肅恭齋法。

At that time King Prasenajit was holding a vegetarian feast on the anniversary of his late father's death, and invited the Buddha to the palace. He personally welcomed the Tathagata, laid out rare delicacies of unsurpassed wonderful taste, and also personally invited all the great Bodhisattvas. In the city there were also elders and lay householders who at the same time were making offerings to the sangha, waiting for the Buddha to come and receive offerings. The Buddha ordered Manjushri to lead the Bodhisattvas and arhats to attend the various hosts. Only Ananda had earlier accepted another's invitation and had gone far away and not yet returned, so he missed the sangha's turn. Having neither an elder monk nor an acharya (preceptor-teacher) with him, he returned alone along the road, and that day he had no offering; then Ananda took up his alms bowl and begged for food in order in the city where he was traveling. In his mind he first wished to seek the very last donor (benefactor) as his feast host, without asking whether pure or defiled, of the noble kshatriya caste or even a chandala. He was about to practice equal compassion, not choosing the lowly, intending to fulfill the immeasurable merit of all beings. Ananda already knew that the Tathagata, the World-Honored One, had rebuked Subhuti and Mahakashyapa because the arhats' minds were not impartial. He revered the Tathagata's opening of the unobstructed, delivering beings from all doubts and slander. Passing through the city moat, he walked slowly to the outer gate, composing his dignified bearing and solemnly respecting the rules of the meal.

爾時，阿難因乞食次，經歷婬室，遭大幻術摩登伽女，以娑毘迦羅先梵天呪攝入婬席，婬躬撫摩，將毀戒體。如來知彼婬術所加，齋畢旋歸，王及大臣、長者、居士，俱來隨佛，願聞法要。於時世尊頂放百寶無畏光明，光中出生千葉寶蓮，有佛化身結跏趺坐，宣說神呪。勅文殊師利將呪往護，惡呪銷滅，提㢡阿難及摩登伽歸來佛所。阿難見佛，頂禮悲泣，恨無始來一向多聞未全道力，殷勤啟請十方如來得成菩提、妙奢摩他、三摩、禪那最初方便。於時復有恆沙菩薩，及諸十方大阿羅漢、辟支佛等，俱願樂聞。退坐默然，承受聖旨。

At that time, Ananda, while begging for food, passed a house of pleasure and met the Matangi woman, a great illusionist, who used the Savikara Brahma-heaven mantra to draw him onto the couch of lust, and stroked him with her body, about to destroy his precepts. The Tathagata knew he had been afflicted by the art of lust, and after the meal returned, and the king, ministers, elders and lay householders all followed the Buddha, wishing to hear the essentials of the Dharma. Then the World-Honored One emitted from the crown of his head a fearless light of a hundred jewels, from within the light arose a thousand-petaled jeweled lotus, and a transformation Buddha sat cross-legged upon it and proclaimed a divine mantra. He ordered Manjushri to take the mantra and go to rescue him; the evil mantra was dispelled, and he led and encouraged Ananda and Matangi back to where the Buddha was. Ananda saw the Buddha, bowed at his feet and wept with sorrow, regretting that since beginningless time he had always been learned but had not fully attained the power of the Way, and earnestly requested the first expedient means by which the Tathagatas of the ten directions attained bodhi, the wonderful shamatha (calming, stilling the mind), samapatti (equipoise), and dhyana (meditative absorption). At that time there were also Bodhisattvas as many as the sands of the Ganges, and great arhats and pratyekabuddhas of the ten directions, all of whom wished to hear. He withdrew to his seat in silence, awaiting the holy decree.

佛告阿難：「汝我同氣，情均天倫，當初發心，於我法中見何勝相？頓捨世間深重恩愛！」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "You and I are of the same breath, with the feeling of kin; at the time of your first aspiration, what excellent sign did you see in my Dharma that you at once gave up the deep worldly bonds of love?"

阿難白佛：「我見如來三十二相勝妙殊絕，形體映徹猶如瑠璃。常自思惟：『此相非是欲愛所生。何以故？欲氣麁濁，腥臊交遘，膿血雜亂，不能發生勝淨妙明紫金光聚。』是以渴仰，從佛剃落。」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "I saw the Tathagata's thirty-two marks, supremely wonderful, his body transparent as lapis lazuli. I often thought to myself: 'This appearance was not born of the love of desire. Why? Desire's breath is coarse and turbid, with foul copulation and a mixture of pus and blood; it cannot produce a mass of supremely pure, wonderful, bright purple-gold light.' So I longed for it and followed the Buddha, shaving my head and leaving home."

佛言：「善哉！阿難！汝等當知：一切眾生從無始來生死相續，皆由不知常住真心性淨明體，用諸妄想，此想不真故有輪轉。汝今欲研無上菩提真發明性，應當直心詶我所問。十方如來同一道故出離生死，皆以直心！心言直故，如是乃至終始地位，中間永無諸委曲相。

The Buddha said: "Good! Ananda! You should all know: all beings since beginningless time have been caught in the succession of birth and death, all because they do not know the constantly abiding true mind, the pure bright essence of nature, and use various false thoughts; since these thoughts are not true, there is wandering transmigration. Now you wish to investigate unsurpassed bodhi, the nature truly illuminated; you should answer what I ask with a straight mind. The Tathagatas of the ten directions left birth and death by one and the same road, all with a straight mind! Because mind and speech are both straight, so from the beginning to the end of all stages, in between there is never any appearance of crookedness.

「阿難！我今問汝，當汝發心緣於如來三十二相，將何所見？誰為愛樂？」

(The Buddha continued:) "Ananda! Now I ask you: when you aroused the mind because of the Tathagata's thirty-two marks, with what did you see? Who was delighting in them?"

阿難白佛言：「世尊！如是愛樂，用我心目。由目觀見如來勝相，心生愛樂，故我發心，願捨生死。」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! This delight was by my mind and eyes. Through the eyes I saw the Tathagata's excellent marks, and the mind gave rise to delight, so I aroused the mind and wished to give up birth and death."

佛告阿難：「如汝所說真所愛樂因於心目，若不識知心目所在，則不能得降伏塵勞。譬如國王為賊所侵，發兵討除，是兵要當知賊所在。使汝流轉，心目為咎；吾今問汝，唯心與目，今何所在？」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "As you say, what truly delights is due to the mind and eyes. If you do not know where the mind and eyes are, you cannot subdue the dust and toil. It is like a king who is invaded by thieves and sends out troops to eliminate them; these troops must know where the thieves are. What makes you wander is the mind and the eyes as root of disaster. Now I ask you: this mind and these eyes, where are they now?"

阿難白佛言：「世尊！一切世間十種異生，同將識心居在身內；縱觀如來青蓮花眼，亦在佛面。我今觀此浮根四塵，秖在我面；如是識心，實居身內。」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! All the ten kinds of different beings in the world take the conscious mind to be inside the body; looking at the Tathagata's blue-lotus eyes, they too are on the Buddha's face. Now I look at these floating faculties of the four dusts, and they are only on my face; so the conscious mind is truly inside the body."

佛告阿難：「汝今現坐如來講堂，觀祇陀林今何所在？」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "You are now sitting in the Tathagata's lecture hall; look, where is Jeta Grove now?"

「世尊！此大重閣清淨講堂在給孤園，今祇陀林實在堂外。」

(Ananda said:) "World-Honored One! This great multi-storied pure lecture hall is in the Garden of Anathapindika, and Jeta Grove is truly outside the hall."

「阿難！汝今堂中先何所見？」

(The Buddha asked:) "Ananda! Now, in the hall, what do you see first?"

「世尊！我在堂中先見如來，次觀大眾，如是外望方矚林園。」

(Ananda said:) "World-Honored One! In the hall I first see the Tathagata, then I look at the great assembly, and looking outward in this way I then see the grove and garden."

「阿難！汝矚林園因何有見？」

(The Buddha asked:) "Ananda! You see the grove and garden; because of what do you have this seeing?"

「世尊！此大講堂戶牖開豁，故我在堂得遠瞻見。」

(Ananda said:) "World-Honored One! The doors and windows of this great hall are open, so from within the hall I can see far into the distance."

爾時，世尊在大眾中，舒金色臂摩阿難頂，告示阿難及諸大眾：「有三摩提，名大佛頂首楞嚴王具足萬行、十方如來一門超出妙莊嚴路，汝今諦聽！」阿難頂禮，伏受慈旨。

At that time the World-Honored One stretched out his golden arm in the midst of the great assembly and stroked Ananda's head, and said to Ananda and the whole great assembly: "There is a samadhi called the Great Buddha's Crown Surangama King, which is complete in the myriad practices and is the wonderfully adorned road by which the Tathagatas of the ten directions go beyond through a single gate; listen carefully now!" Ananda bowed and humbly received the compassionate decree.

佛告阿難：「如汝所言『身在講堂，戶牖開豁，遠矚林園』，亦有眾生在此堂中，不見如來見堂外者？」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "As you say, 'my body is in the lecture hall, the doors and windows are open, and I see the grove and garden in the distance'; are there also beings in this hall who cannot see the Tathagata but can see what is outside the hall?"

阿難答言：「世尊！在堂不見如來，能見林泉，無有是處。」

Ananda answered: "World-Honored One! In the hall not to see the Tathagata but to be able to see the grove and spring, there is no such principle."

「阿難！汝亦如是。汝之心靈一切明瞭，若汝現前所明瞭心實在身內，爾時先合了知內身；頗有眾生先見身中，後觀外物？縱不能見心、肝、脾、胃、爪生、髮長、筋轉、脈搖、誠合明瞭，如何不知？必不內知，云何知外？是故應知，汝言『覺了能知之心住在身內』，無有是處。」

(The Buddha continued:) "Ananda! You are the same. Your mind's spirit is all clear and understanding; if the mind you now clearly know is truly inside the body, then at that time you should first know the inner body; is there any being who first sees inside the body and then looks at outer things? Even if you could not see the heart, liver, spleen and stomach, you should clearly understand the growing of nails, the lengthening of hair, the turning of sinews and the throbbing of pulses; why do you not know? If you certainly cannot know inside, how can you know outside? So you should know that your saying 'the mind that is aware and knows dwells inside the body' has no such principle."

阿難稽首而白佛言：「我聞如來如是法音，悟知我心實居身外。所以者何？譬如燈光然於室中，是燈必能先照室內，從其室門後及庭際。一切眾生不見身中獨見身外，亦如燈光居在室外，不能照室。是義必明，將無所惑；同佛了義，得無妄耶？」

Ananda bowed his head and said to the Buddha: "I have heard the Tathagata's Dharma voice like this and realized that my mind is truly outside the body. Why? It is like a lamp burning in a room: the lamp must first illuminate the inside of the room and then from the door of the room reach the courtyard. All beings do not see inside the body but only see outside, just like the lamp's light being outside the room and unable to light the room. This meaning is clear and I shall have no doubt; it is the same as the Buddha's definitive meaning, so there should be no error, right?"

佛告阿難：「是諸比丘，適來從我室羅筏城循乞摶食，歸祇陀林，我已宿齋。汝觀比丘一人食時，諸人飽不？」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "These bhikshus just now followed me from Shravasti, begging for lump food in turn, and returned to Jeta Grove, and I have already eaten my meal. Look: when one bhikshu eats, are the others full or not?"

阿難答言：「不也，世尊！何以故？是諸比丘雖阿羅漢，軀命不同，云何一人能令眾飽？」

Ananda answered: "No, World-Honored One! Why? Though these bhikshus are arhats, their bodies and lives are different; how can one cause the whole assembly to be full?"

佛告阿難：「若汝覺了知見之心，實在身外，身心相外，自不相干。則心所知，身不能覺，覺在身際，心不能知。我今示汝兜羅綿手，汝眼見時，心分別不？」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "If the mind of your awareness, knowing and seeing is truly outside the body, then body and mind are outside each other and naturally have nothing to do with each other. Then what the mind knows, the body cannot sense; what the body senses, the mind cannot know. Now I show you my tula-cotton hand; when your eyes see it, does your mind discriminate it or not?"

阿難答言：「如是，世尊！」

Ananda answered: "It is so, World-Honored One!"

佛告阿難：「若相知者，云何在外？是故應知，汝言『覺了能知之心住在身外』，無有是處。」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "If they know each other, how can one be outside? So you should know that your saying 'the mind that is aware and knows dwells outside the body' has no such principle."

阿難白佛言：「世尊！如佛所言『不見內故，不居身內；身心相知，不相離故，不在身外』，我今思惟，知在一處。」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! As the Buddha says, 'because it does not see within, it is not inside the body; because body and mind know each other and are not separate, it is not outside the body.' Now I think, and I know it is in one place."

佛言：「處今何在？」

The Buddha said: "Where is that place now?"

阿難言：「此了知心既不知內而能見外，如我思忖，潛伏根裡。猶如有人取瑠璃椀，合其兩眼，雖有物合而不留礙，彼根隨見隨即分別。然我覺了能知之心不見內者，為在根故；分明矚外無障礙者，潛根內故。」

Ananda said: "Since this knowing mind does not know inside yet can see outside, as I reckon, it is hidden in the faculties. It is like someone placing lapis lazuli bowls over both eyes; though something covers them, it leaves no obstruction, and the eye faculty discriminates as it sees. Yet my aware, knowing mind does not see inside because it is in the faculty; and it clearly sees outside without obstruction because it is concealed within the faculty."

佛告阿難：「如汝所言『潛根內者猶如瑠璃』，彼人當以瑠璃籠眼，當見山河，見瑠璃不？」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "As you say, 'concealed within the faculty like lapis lazuli,' when that person covers his eyes with lapis lazuli and sees mountains and rivers, does he also see the lapis lazuli?"

「如是，世尊！是人當以瑠璃籠眼，實見瑠璃。」

(Ananda said:) "It is so, World-Honored One! This person covers his eyes with lapis lazuli and truly sees the lapis lazuli."

佛告阿難：「汝心若同瑠璃合者，當見山河，何不見眼？若見眼者，眼即同境，不得成隨；若不能見，云何說言『此了知心潛在根內如瑠璃合』？是故應知，汝言『覺了能知之心潛伏根裡如瑠璃合』，無有是處。」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "If your mind is joined like lapis lazuli, then when it sees mountains and rivers, why does it not see the eyes? If it sees the eyes, the eyes would be the same as the objects and could not be what follows seeing; if it cannot see them, how can you say 'this knowing mind is concealed within the faculty like lapis lazuli placed over it'? So you should know that your saying 'the aware, knowing mind is concealed in the faculty like lapis lazuli placed over it' has no such principle."

阿難白佛言：「世尊！我今又作如是思惟：『是眾生身，府藏在中，竅穴居外；有藏則暗，有竅則明。』今我對佛，開眼見明，名為見外；閉眼見暗，名為見內。是義云何？」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! Now I think again: 'In the body of beings, the organs are inside and the apertures are outside; where there is storage it is dark, and where there are apertures it is bright.' Now facing the Buddha, I open my eyes and see brightness, which is called seeing outside; I close my eyes and see darkness, which is called seeing inside. What of this meaning?"

佛告阿難：「汝當閉眼見暗之時，此暗境界為與眼對，為不對眼？若與眼對，暗在眼前，云何成內？若成內者，居暗室中無日月燈，此室暗中皆汝焦府？若不對者，云何成見？若離外見，內對所成，閤眼見暗，名為身中；開眼見明，何不見面？若不見面，內對不成。見面若成，此了知心及與眼根，乃在虛空，何成在內？若在虛空，自非汝體，即應如來今見汝面，亦是汝身。汝眼已知，身合非覺。必汝執言身，眼兩覺，應有二知，即汝一身應成兩佛！是故應知，汝言『見暗名見內』者，無有是處。」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "When you close your eyes and see darkness, is this realm of darkness facing the eyes or not facing the eyes? If facing the eyes, the darkness is before the eyes; how can it be inside? If it is inside, then dwelling in a dark room without sun, moon or lamp, would the darkness in that room all be your scorched organs? If not facing, how can it be seeing? If apart from outer seeing, formed by an inner facing, then closing the eyes and seeing darkness is called being in the body; opening the eyes and seeing brightness, why can you not see your own face? If you cannot see your face, the inner facing cannot be established. If seeing the face can be established, then this knowing mind and the eye faculty would be in space; how can it be inside? If in space, naturally it is not your body, and then the Tathagata now seeing your face would also be your body. Your eyes already know, and then the body should have no awareness. If you insist that body and eyes both have awareness, there should be two knowings, and then your one body should become two Buddhas! So you should know that your saying 'seeing darkness is called seeing inside' has no such principle."

阿難言：「我常聞佛開示四眾：『由心生故種種法生，由法生故種種心生。』我今思惟：『即思惟體實我心性。隨所合處，心則隨有；亦非內、外、中間三處。』」

Ananda said: "I have often heard the Buddha teach the four assemblies: 'Because mind arises, various dharmas arise; because dharmas arise, various minds arise.' Now I think: 'The substance of that thinking is truly my nature of mind. Wherever it joins, mind accordingly exists; it is also not in any of the three places, inside, outside or in between.'"

佛告阿難：「汝今說言『由法生故種種心生，隨所合處心隨有』者，是心無體則無所合；若無有體而能合者，則十九界因七塵合，是義不然。若有體者，如汝以手自挃其體，汝所知心為復內出、為從外入？若復內出，還見身中；若從外來，先合見面？」

The Buddha said to Ananda: "Now you say 'because dharmas arise, various minds arise, and wherever it joins mind accordingly exists'; if this mind has no substance, it has nothing to join; if it has no substance yet can join, then the nineteen realms would join through the seven dusts, and this meaning is not so. If it has substance, as when you poke your own body with your hand, does the mind you know come from inside or enter from outside? If it comes out from inside, you should see inside the body; if it comes from outside, should you first see the face?"

阿難言：「見是其眼，心知非眼，為見非義。」

Ananda said: "Seeing is the work of the eyes; the mind's knowing is not the eyes, and taking knowing for seeing does not hold up."

佛言：「若眼能見，汝在室中門能見不？則諸已死尚有眼存，應皆見物。若見物者，云何名死？阿難！又汝覺了能知之心，若必有體，為復一體？為有多體？今在汝身，為復遍體？為不遍體？若一體者，則汝以手挃一𨈛時，四𨈛應覺；若鹹覺者，挃應無在。若挃有所，則汝一體自不能成。若多體者，則成多人。何體為汝？若遍體者，同前所挃！若不遍者，當汝觸頭亦觸其足，頭有所覺，足應無知。今汝不然。是故應知，隨所合處心則隨有，無有是處。」

The Buddha said: "If the eyes can see, when you are in a room, can the door see? Then the eyes of those already dead are still there and should all be able to see things. If they can see things, how are they called dead? Ananda! Also, the mind of your awareness and knowing, if it must have a substance, is it one substance or many substances? Now in your body, is it throughout the body or not throughout the body? If it is one substance, then when you poke one limb with your hand (this character is rare in the base text and should be read as "limb"), all four limbs should feel it; if all feel it, the poke has no location. If the poke has a location, your one body itself cannot be established. If it is many substances, you become many people. Which substance is you? If it is throughout the body, it is the same as the earlier poking! If it is not throughout, then when you touch your head and also touch your foot, the head has awareness and the foot should have no knowing. But you are not so now. So you should know that 'wherever it joins, mind accordingly exists' has no such principle."

阿難白佛言：「世尊！我亦聞佛與文殊等諸法王子談實相時，世尊亦言：『心不在內，亦不在外。』如我思惟：『內無所見，外不相知。內無知故，在內不成；身心相知，在外非義。今相知故，復內無見，當在中間。』」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! I also heard that when the Buddha discussed the true nature of things with Manjushri and the other Dharma princes, the World-Honored One said as well: 'The mind is neither inside nor outside.' As I reflect: 'Inside there is nothing seen, and outside it does not know the body. Since inside there is no awareness, it is not established that the mind is inside; and since body and mind know each other, the claim that it is outside is also wrong. Now that they know each other, and yet inside there is no seeing, it should be in the middle.'"

佛言：「汝言中間，中必不迷，非無所在。今汝推中，中何為在？為復在處？為當在身？若在身者，在邊非中，在中同內。若在處者，為有所表？為無所表？無表同無，表則無定。何以故？如人以表表為中時，東看則西，南觀成北；表體既混，心應雜亂？」

The Buddha said: "You say the middle, but a middle must not be vague; it is not without a location. Now you seek the middle; where is the middle? Is it at a place, or on the body? If it is on the body, then at the edge it is not the middle, and at the center it is the same as inside. If it is at a place, does it have a marker or not? Without a marker it is the same as nonexistence, and with a marker it is not fixed. Why? Suppose someone uses a marker to mark the middle: seen from the east it is the west, seen from the south it becomes the north. If the marker itself is mixed up, should the mind be confused too?"

阿難言：「我所說中，非此二種。如世尊言『眼、色為緣生於眼識』，眼有分別，色塵無知，識生其中則為心在。」

Ananda said: "The middle I spoke of is not either of these two. As the World-Honored One says, 'The eye and form are conditions that give rise to eye-consciousness.' The eye discriminates, form and dust have no awareness, and consciousness arises between them, which is where the mind is."

佛言：「汝心若在根、塵之中，此之心體為復兼二？為不兼二？若兼二者，物體雜亂。物非體知，成敵兩立，云何為中？兼二不成。非知不知，即無體性，中何為相？是故應知，當在中間，無有是處。」

The Buddha said: "If your mind lies between the sense organ and the object, does this mind-substance include both, or not include both? If it includes both, the substances are mixed up. An object is not a substance that can know, so the two stand opposed to one another; how can that be a middle? Including both cannot be established. If it is neither aware nor unaware, it has no nature, and what would the middle take as its mark? So you should know that to say it must be in the middle has no reason."

阿難白佛言：「世尊！我昔見佛與大目連、須菩提、富樓那、舍利弗四大弟子共轉法輪，常言『覺知分別心性，既不在內，亦不在外，不在中間，俱無所在；一切無著，名之為心』，則我無著，名為心不？」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! In the past I saw the Buddha turning the Dharma wheel together with the four great disciples, Maudgalyayana, Subhuti, Purna and Shariputra, and you often said: 'The mind-nature that is aware and discriminates is neither inside, nor outside, nor in the middle, and has no location at all; being unattached to anything is called the mind.' So is my being unattached called the mind?"

佛告阿難：「汝言『覺知分別心性俱無在』者，世間虛空、水、陸、飛行諸所物象，名為一切。汝不著者，為在為無？無則同於龜毛、兔角，云何不著？有不著者，不可名無。無相則無，非無則相；相有則在，云何無著？是故應知『一切無著名覺知心』，無有是處。」

The Buddha told Ananda: "You say that 'the mind-nature that is aware and discriminates has no location at all.' The things in the world, such as space, water, land, and flying creatures, are all called 'everything.' The thing you are not attached to, does it exist or not? If it does not exist, it is the same as tortoise hair or rabbit horns, so how can you be unattached? If there is something you are not attached to, it cannot be called nonexistent. What has no appearance is nonexistent, and what is not nonexistent has an appearance; if there is an appearance it is located, so how can there be non-attachment? So you should know that 'being unattached to everything is called the aware mind' has no reason."

爾時，阿難在大眾中，即從座起，偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌恭敬而白佛言：「我是如來最小之弟，蒙佛慈愛，雖今出家，猶恃憍憐，所以多聞未得無漏；不能折伏娑毘羅呪，為彼所轉，溺於婬舍，當由不知真際所詣。唯願世尊大慈哀愍，開示我等奢摩他路，令諸闡提隳彌戾車！」作是語已，五體投地。及諸大眾，傾渴翹佇，欽聞示誨。

At that time Ananda rose from his seat in the assembly, bared his right shoulder, put his right knee on the ground, and with palms joined and respect said to the Buddha: "I am the Tathagata's youngest brother, and I have received the Buddha's loving care. Although I have now left home, I still rely on being doted upon, so I have heard much but have not attained the state without outflows. I could not subdue the Savitri mantra and was turned by it, sunk in the house of lust, because I did not know where the true limit lies. I only wish that the World-Honored One, in great compassion, would show us the path of shamatha, and cause the icchantikas to destroy the mlecchas!" Having said this, he prostrated with his five limbs to the ground. The whole assembly too, longing and craning their necks, respectfully waited to hear the teaching.

爾時，世尊從其面門放種種光，其光晃耀如百千日，普佛世界六種震動。如是十方微塵國土一時開現，佛之威神，令諸世界合成一界。其世界中，所有一切諸大菩薩，皆住本國合掌承聽。

At that time the World-Honored One sent forth various lights from his face, and the light shone like hundreds of thousands of suns, and all the Buddha worlds shook in six ways. In this way the lands of the ten directions, as many as dust motes, opened and appeared at once, and the Buddha's majestic spiritual power made all those worlds into one world. All the great Bodhisattvas in those worlds remained in their own lands, palms joined, listening.

佛告阿難：「一切眾生，從無始來種種顛倒，業種自然如惡叉聚。諸修行人，不能得成無上菩提乃至別成聲聞、緣覺，及成外道、諸天魔王及魔眷屬，皆由不知二種根本錯亂修習；猶如煮沙欲成嘉饌，縱經塵劫終不能得。云何二種？阿難！一者、無始生死根本，則汝今者與諸眾生用攀緣心為自性者。二者、無始菩提、涅槃元清淨體，則汝今者識精元明，能生諸緣緣所遺者。由諸眾生遺此本明，雖終日行而不自覺，枉入諸趣。

The Buddha told Ananda: "From beginningless time all living beings have been caught in various inversions, and the seeds of their karma gather naturally like a cluster of akshas (fruits growing in clusters, a metaphor for karma and its results arising together). Those who practice cannot attain unsurpassed bodhi, and some even become shravakas or pratyekabuddhas, or become followers of other paths, heavenly demon kings and their retinues, all because they do not know two fundamental roots and practice in confusion; it is like cooking sand in hope of making a fine meal, which even after dust-like kalpas can never succeed. What are the two? Ananda! The first is the beginningless root of birth and death, which is what you and all beings now take as your own nature, the mind that clings to conditions. The second is the originally pure substance of beginningless bodhi and nirvana (the state in which afflictions cease and there is no more cycle of birth and death), which is your present original brightness of the essence of consciousness, able to give rise to all conditions but lost to those conditions. Because all beings have lost this original brightness, though they act all day long they are not aware of it, and vainly enter the various realms of rebirth.

「阿難！汝今欲知奢摩他路，願出生死，今復問汝！」

(The Buddha continued:) "Ananda! You now wish to know the path of shamatha and hope to leave birth and death; now I ask you again!"

即時如來舉金色臂，屈五輪指，語阿難言：「汝今見不？」

At once the Tathagata raised his golden arm and bent the five wheel-marked fingers, and said to Ananda: "Do you see this now?"