Surangama Sutra of the Great Buddha's Crown, Ten Thousand Practices, Volume 1

阿難、大眾答言：「無聲。」

Ananda and the assembly answered: "There is no sound."

有頃，羅睺更來撞鍾，佛又問言：「爾今聲不？」

After a while Rahula came again and struck the bell, and the Buddha asked again: "Is there sound now?"

阿難、大眾俱言：「有聲。」

Ananda and the assembly all said: "There is sound."

佛問阿難：「汝云何聲？云何無聲？」

The Buddha asked Ananda: "How is there sound? How is there no sound?"

阿難、大眾俱白佛言：「鍾聲若擊則名有聲；擊久聲銷，音響雙絕，則名無聲。」

Ananda and the assembly all said to the Buddha: "When the bell is struck, it is called sound; when it has been struck for a while and the sound fades, and sound and echo both cease, it is called no sound."

佛語阿難及諸大眾：「汝今云何自語矯亂？」

The Buddha said to Ananda and the whole assembly: "Why do you now contradict yourselves and speak in confusion?"

大眾、阿難俱時問佛：「我今云何名為矯亂？」

The assembly and Ananda asked the Buddha together: "Why are we now said to speak in confusion?"

佛言：「我問汝聞，汝則言聞；又問汝聲，汝則言聲。惟聞與聲報答無定，如是云何不名矯亂？阿難！聲銷無響，汝說無聞；若實無聞，聞性已滅同於枯木，鍾聲更擊，汝云何知？知有、知無，自是聲塵或無、或有，豈彼聞性為汝有、無？聞實雲無，誰知無者？是故阿難！聲於聞中自有生滅；非為汝聞聲生、聲滅，令汝聞性為有、為無。汝尚顛倒，惑聲為聞，何怪昏迷，以常為斷？終不應言離諸動靜、閉塞、開通，說聞無性。如重睡人眠熟床枕，其家有人於彼睡時擣練、舂米，其人夢中聞舂擣聲別作他物，或為擊鼓，或復撞鍾；即於夢時，自怪其鍾為木石響。於時忽寤，遄知杵音。自告家人：『我正夢時，惑此舂音將為鼓響。』阿難！是人夢中，豈憶靜搖、開閉、通塞？其形雖寐，聞性不昏。縱汝形銷命光遷謝，此性云何為汝銷滅？以諸眾生從無始來，循諸色、聲逐念流轉，曾不開悟性淨妙常。不循所常，逐諸生滅，由是生生雜染流轉。若棄生滅，守於真常，常光現前，塵根、識心應時銷落。想相為塵，識情為垢，二俱遠離；則汝法眼應時清明，云何不成無上知覺？」

The Buddha said: "When I asked you about hearing, you said hearing; when I asked you about sound, you said sound. Your answers about hearing and sound have no fixed pattern; how can this not be called confusion? Ananda! When the sound fades and there is no echo, you say there is no hearing; if there were truly no hearing, the nature of hearing would be extinguished, like withered wood, and when the bell sounds again, how do you know? Knowing that there is, knowing that there is not, is simply the dust of sound being present or absent; how could it be that the nature of hearing is present or absent for you? If hearing were truly absent, who would know that it is absent? Therefore, Ananda, within hearing, sound has its own arising and ceasing; it is not that when sound arises or ceases, your nature of hearing becomes present or absent. You are still inverted, mistaking sound for hearing; no wonder you are confused and take the permanent for the cut off. You should never say that, apart from motion and stillness, blockage and openness, hearing has no nature. Take a deeply sleeping person lying soundly on his bed, while someone in his household pounds silk or hulls rice as he sleeps. In his dream he hears the sound of pounding as something else, perhaps the beating of a drum or the striking of a bell; and even in the dream he wonders why the bell sounds like wood or stone. Then he suddenly wakes and at once knows it is the sound of the pestle. He tells his family: 'While I was dreaming, I mistook that pounding sound for a drum.' Ananda! In his dream, does this person remember stillness or movement, opening or closing, penetration or blockage? Though his body sleeps, his nature of hearing is not dim. Even if your body dissolves and the light of your life passes on, how could this nature be extinguished for you? Because sentient beings since beginningless time have followed forms and sounds, drifting along with their thoughts, and have never awakened to the pure, wondrous, permanent nature. Not following what is permanent, they chase arising and ceasing, and so life after life they flow on in mixed defilement. If they abandon arising and ceasing and keep to the true and permanent, the permanent light appears before them, and dust, faculties, and conscious mind drop away at once. Thought-images are dust and consciousness-feelings are grime; if both are left far behind, your Dharma eye will at once become clear and bright; how then could you fail to attain unsurpassed knowing and awareness?"

唐天竺沙門般剌蜜諦譯

Translated by the Indian monk Paramiti of the Tang dynasty.

阿難白佛言：「世尊！如來雖說第二義門，今觀世間解結之人，若不知其所結之元，我信是人終不能解。世尊！我及會中有學聲聞，亦復如是。從無始際，與諸無明俱滅俱生，雖得如是多聞善根，名為出家，猶隔日瘧。唯願大慈哀愍淪溺！今日身心云何是結？從何名解？亦令未來苦難眾生，得免輪迴，不落三有。」作是語已，普及大眾五體投地，雨淚翹誠，佇佛如來無上開示。

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! Although the Tathagata has spoken the second gate of meaning, now when I observe those in the world who undo knots, if they do not know the origin of the knot, I believe such people will never be able to undo it. World-Honored One! It is so for me and for the learners among the Hearers in this assembly. From beginningless time we have arisen and perished together with all ignorance; although we have obtained such good roots of much hearing and are called renunciants, we are still like those with a fever that returns every other day. I only hope that in great compassion you will take pity on those who are sinking! Now, how are body and mind a knot? From where is it called undone? Please also let the suffering beings of the future be spared from samsara and not fall into the three realms of existence." Having said this, together with the whole assembly he prostrated himself with the five limbs on the ground, tears falling like rain, in earnest sincerity, waiting for the Buddha, the Tathagata, to give his unsurpassed instruction.

爾時，世尊憐愍阿難及諸會中諸有學者，亦為未來一切眾生為出世因，作將來眼。以閻浮檀紫金光手摩阿難頂，即時十方普佛世界六種振動，微塵如來住世界者，各有寶光從其頂出，其光同時於彼世界來祇陀林灌如來頂。是諸大眾得未曾有！於是阿難及諸大眾，俱聞十方微塵如來異口同音告阿難言：「善哉！阿難！汝欲識知俱生無明，使汝輪轉生死結根，唯汝六根更無他物。汝復欲知無上菩提，令汝速證安樂解脫寂靜妙常，亦汝六根更非他物！」

At that time the World-Honored One, taking pity on Ananda and the learners in the assembly, and also making a cause for going beyond the world and an eye for the future for all beings to come, stroked Ananda's crown with his hand of Jambunada purple-gold light. At once the Buddha worlds of the ten directions shook in six ways, and from the crowns of the Tathagatas as numerous as dust motes dwelling in those worlds, jeweled lights emerged, and these lights all at once came from those worlds to the Jeta Grove and poured on the Tathagata's crown. The assembly had something never before experienced! Then Ananda and the whole assembly heard the Tathagatas of the ten directions, as numerous as dust motes, say with one voice to Ananda: "Excellent, Ananda! If you wish to know the innate ignorance that makes you revolve in birth and death, the root of the knot is only your six faculties and nothing else. And if you wish to know unsurpassed bodhi, which will let you quickly realize peaceful, joyful liberation, stillness, wonder, and permanence, it is also only your six faculties and nothing else!"

阿難雖聞如是法音，心猶未明，稽首白佛：「云何令我生死輪迴，安樂妙常，同是六根更非他物？」

Although Ananda heard this Dharma sound, his mind was still not clear; he bowed his head and said to the Buddha: "How is it that the samsara of birth and death and the joyful, wondrous permanence are both only the six faculties and nothing else?"

佛告阿難：「根、塵同源，縛、脫無二，識性虛妄，猶如空花。阿難！由塵發知，因根有相，相見無性同於交蘆。是故汝今，知見立知即無明本；知見無見斯即涅槃無漏真淨。云何是中更容他物？」

The Buddha told Ananda: "Faculties and dusts have the same source, bondage and liberation are not two, and the nature of consciousness is false, like flowers in the sky. Ananda! Knowing arises through dust, and appearances arise because of the faculties; appearance and seeing have no nature, like reeds leaning on one another. Therefore the knowing and seeing you now establish as knowing is the root of ignorance; knowing and seeing without seeing is nirvana, the pure truth free from outflows. How could anything else be allowed in this?"

爾時，世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言：

At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to restate this meaning, spoke in verse:

「真性有為空，緣生故、如幻；

"The true nature, when made conditioned, is empty; arising through causes and conditions, it is illusory.

無為無起滅，不實、如空花。

The unconditioned has no arising or ceasing; unreal, it is like flowers in the sky.

言妄顯諸真，妄、真同二妄。

To speak of falsehood to reveal truth, falsehood and truth are both two falsehoods.

猶非真、非真，云何見所見？

Still not true, not true; how can there be a seer and an object seen?

中間無實性，是故若交蘆。

In between there is no real nature, and so it is like leaning reeds.

結解同所因，聖凡無二路。

Knot and release have the same cause; sage and ordinary have no two paths.

汝觀交中性，空有二俱非。

Look at the nature within the crossing: both emptiness and existence are negated.

迷晦即無明，發明便解脫。

Delusion and obscurity are ignorance; clear awakening is liberation.

解結因次第。六解一亦亡。

Undoing the knot proceeds by stages; when six are undone, the one is also gone.

根選擇圓通，入流成正覺。

Choose a faculty of perfect penetration, enter the stream and attain right awakening.

陀那微細識，習氣成暴流，

The subtle consciousness of Adana, its habits become a violent torrent;

真非真恐迷，我常不開演。

I fear that true and untrue will bewilder, so I have never expounded it.

自心取自心，非幻成幻法。

Taking one's own mind with one's own mind, the unillusory becomes an illusory dharma.

不取無非幻，非幻尚不生；

Not grasping, there is no unillusory; even the unillusory does not arise;

幻法雲何立？是名妙蓮華，

How could illusory dharmas be established? This is called the wondrous lotus,

金剛王寶覺、如幻三摩提，

the vajra-king jewel awakening, the illusion-like samadhi,

彈指超無學。此阿毘達磨，

surpassing the stage of no more learning in a finger-snap. This is the Abhidharma,

十方薄伽梵，一路涅槃門。」

the one road to the gate of nirvana of the Bhagavans of the ten directions."

於是阿難及諸大眾，聞佛如來無上慈誨，祇夜伽陀雜糅精瑩，妙理清徹，心目開明，歎未曾有。阿難合掌、頂禮白佛：「我今聞佛無遮大悲、性淨妙常真實法句，心猶未達六解一亡舒結倫次；惟垂大慈，再愍斯會及與將來，施以法音洗滌沈垢！」

Then Ananda and the whole assembly, hearing the Buddha Tathagata's unsurpassed compassionate teaching, the geya and gatha (repeated verses and spontaneous verses) mingled in pure brilliance, the wondrous principle clear and transparent, their minds and eyes opened, sighed that they had never experienced such a thing. Ananda joined his palms, bowed, and said to the Buddha: "Now I have heard the Buddha's unobstructed great compassion and the true Dharma words of the pure, wondrous, permanent nature, but my mind has not yet reached how six undone, one gone, and the order in which the knot is loosened. I only ask that in great compassion you again take pity on this assembly and on those to come, and bestow the Dharma sound to wash away our long-settled defilement!"

即時如來於師子座，整涅槃僧，斂僧伽梨，攬七寶機，引手於機，取劫波羅天所奉花巾，於大眾前綰成一結。示阿難言：「此名何等？」

Then the Tathagata, on his lion seat, straightened his nirvana robe, gathered his sanghati, took hold of the seven-jeweled table, extended his hand to the table, took the flower cloth offered by the Kapala heaven, and before the great assembly tied it into a knot. Showing it to Ananda, he said: "What is this called?"

阿難、大眾俱白佛言：「此名為結。」

Ananda and the assembly all said to the Buddha: "This is called a knot."

於是如來綰疊花巾，又成一結，重問阿難：「此名何等？」

Then the Tathagata folded the flower cloth and tied another knot, and asked Ananda again: "What is this called?"

阿難、大眾又白佛言：「此亦名結。」如是倫次綰疊花巾，總成六結。一一結成，皆取手中所成之結持問阿難：「此名何等？」阿難、大眾，亦復如是次第酬佛：「此名為結。」

Ananda and the assembly again said to the Buddha: "This too is called a knot." In this way, in order, he folded and tied the flower cloth until there were six knots in all. As each knot was completed, he took the knot formed in his hand and asked Ananda: "What is this called?" Ananda and the assembly likewise answered the Buddha in order: "This is called a knot."

佛告阿難：「我初綰巾；汝名為結，此疊花巾先實一條，第二第三云何汝曹復名為結？」

The Buddha told Ananda: "When I first tied the cloth, you called it a knot; this folded flower cloth was originally one single piece; how is it that the second and third you still call knots?"

阿難白佛言：「世尊！此寶疊花緝績成巾，雖本一體。如我思惟：『如來一綰得一結名，若百綰成終名百結。何況此巾秖有六結，終不至七，亦不停五？』云何如來秖許初時，第二、第三不名為結？」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! This precious folded flower cloth is made of woven fibers, and though it is originally one body, as I think: 'When the Tathagata ties once, it gets the name of one knot; if he ties a hundred times, it will in the end be called a hundred knots. How much more so this cloth, which has only six knots, never reaching seven and never stopping at five?' Why does the Tathagata allow only the first to be called a knot, and not the second and third?"

佛告阿難：「此寶花巾，汝知此巾元止一條，我六綰時名有六結。汝審觀察，巾體是同，因結有異。於意云何？初綰結成名為第一，如是乃至第六結生，吾今欲將第六結名成第一不？」

The Buddha told Ananda: "This precious flower cloth, you know it was originally just one piece, and when I tied it six times it received the name of six knots. Examine it carefully: the cloth's substance is the same, but because of the knots there is difference. What do you think? The first knot tied is called the first, and so on up to the sixth knot's arising. Now if I wish to take the sixth knot's name and make it the first, is that possible?"

「不也，世尊！六結若存，斯第六名終非第一。縱我歷生盡其明辯，如何令是六結亂名？」

"It is not possible, World-Honored One! If the six knots exist, this sixth one can never be the first. Even if I used all my eloquence for lifetimes, how could I make these six knots change names?"

佛言：「六結不同，循顧本因一巾所造，令其雜亂終不得成。則汝六根亦復如是，畢竟同中生畢竟異。」

The Buddha said: "The six knots are different, but looking back to their origin they are all made from one cloth, and if one tries to mix them up it can never succeed. Your six faculties are also like this: ultimately different, born from what is ultimately the same."

佛告阿難：「汝必嫌此六結不成，願樂一成復云何得？」

The Buddha told Ananda: "You surely dislike these six knots as not being finished, and wish to enjoy a single one; how could that be obtained?"

阿難言：「此結若存，是非鋒起，於中自生此結非彼，彼結非此。如來今日若總解除，結若不生，則無彼此，尚不名一，六云何成？」

Ananda said: "If these knots exist, right and wrong arise like sharp points; within them this knot is not that one, and that knot is not this one. If the Tathagata now undoes them all, and the knots no longer arise, then there is no this or that, and it would not even be called one; how could it become six?"

佛言：「六解一亡，亦復如是，由汝無始心性狂亂，知見妄發，發妄不息，勞見發塵。如勞目睛，則有狂花。於湛精明無因亂起；一切世間山河大地，生死涅槃，皆即狂勞顛倒花相。」

The Buddha said: "Six undone and one gone is also like this. Because since beginningless time your mind-nature has been confused and wild, knowing and seeing have arisen falsely, falsehood arises without rest, and the strain of seeing gives rise to dust. Like strained eyes, there are then wild flowers. In the clear, bright essence they arise disordered without cause; all the mountains, rivers, and earth of the world, birth, death, and nirvana, are just wild-strain inverted flower-appearances."

阿難言：「此勞同結，云何解除？」

Ananda said: "This strain is like a knot; how can it be undone?"

如來以手，將所結巾偏掣其左，問阿難言：「如是解不？」

The Tathagata took the knotted cloth in his hands and pulled it to the left, and asked Ananda: "Can it be undone this way?"

「不也，世尊！」

"No, World-Honored One!"

旋復以手偏牽右邊，又問阿難：「如是解不？」

Then he again pulled it to the right with his hand and asked Ananda: "Can it be undone this way?"

「不也，世尊！」

"No, World-Honored One!"

佛告阿難：「吾今以手左右各牽，竟不能解，汝設方便云何成解？」

The Buddha told Ananda: "Now I have pulled it left and right with my hands, and in the end it cannot be undone; what means would you devise to undo it?"

阿難白佛言：「世尊！當於結心，解即分散。」

Ananda said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! One must go to the center of the knot; once undone, it comes apart."

佛告阿難：「如是，如是！若欲除結，當於結心。阿難！我說佛法從因緣生，非取世間和合麁相。如來發明世出世法，知其本因隨所緣出，如是乃至恆沙界外一滴之雨亦知頭數，現前種種松直、棘曲、鵠白、烏玄皆了元由。是故阿難！隨汝心中選擇六根，根結若除，塵相自滅；諸妄銷亡，不真何待！阿難！吾今問汝，此劫波羅巾六結現前，同時解縈得同除不？」

The Buddha told Ananda: "So it is, so it is! If you wish to remove the knot, you must go to the center of the knot. Ananda! When I say the Buddha Dharma arises from causes and conditions, I do not mean taking the coarse appearances of worldly combination. The Tathagata has brought to light the dharmas of the world and beyond the world, and knows that their original causes emerge according to their conditions, so that even a single drop of rain beyond sands of the Ganges worlds he knows by number, and the present pines straight and brambles crooked, the swan white and the crow black, he understands all their origins. Therefore, Ananda, according to your mind choose among the six faculties; once the knot of the faculties is removed, the appearance of dust is extinguished by itself; when all falsehoods are dissolved, what is there to wait for besides the true! Ananda! Now I ask you: this Kapala cloth with six knots before you, can the tangles be undone all at the same time?"

「不也，世尊！是結本以次第綰生，今日當須次第而解。六結同體，結不同時，則結解時云何同除？」

"They cannot, World-Honored One! These knots were originally tied one after another, and today they must be undone one after another. The six knots are of one substance, but the knots are not simultaneous; how could they be removed together when it comes to undoing them?"

佛言：「六根解除，亦復如是。此根初解，先得人空；空性圓明，成法解脫；解脫法已俱空不生，是名菩薩從三摩地得無生忍。」

The Buddha said: "The undoing of the six faculties is also like this. When this faculty is first undone, one first attains emptiness of self; when the nature of emptiness is perfect and bright, it becomes liberation from dharmas; when liberation from dharmas has become entirely empty and does not arise, this is called the Bodhisattva's attainment of acceptance of non-arising from samadhi."

阿難及諸大眾蒙佛開示，慧覺圓通，得無疑惑。一時合掌、頂禮雙足而白佛言：「我等今日，身心皎然，快得無礙。雖復悟知一六亡義，然猶未達圓通本根。世尊！我輩飄零，積劫孤露，何心何慮預佛天倫，如失乳兒忽遇慈母！若復因此際會道成，所得密言還同本悟，則與未聞無有差別？唯垂大悲惠我秘嚴，成就如來最後開示！」作是語已，五體投地，退藏密機，冀佛冥授。

Ananda and the whole assembly, having received the Buddha's instruction, their wisdom and awareness perfectly penetrating, had no more doubts. All at once they joined their palms, bowed at his feet, and said to the Buddha: "Today our bodies and minds are bright and clear, and we feel swiftly unobstructed. Though we have realized the meaning of one and six being gone, we have not yet reached the root of perfect penetration. World-Honored One! We have drifted about and lain exposed for countless eons; what heart or thought have we to join the Buddha's heavenly family, like an infant who lost its milk suddenly meeting a loving mother! If now, on the occasion of this meeting, we perfect the Way, and the secret words we obtain are the same as our original awakening, then is there no difference from not having heard them? I only ask that in great compassion you grant us the secret adornment, to complete the Tathagata's final instruction!" Having said this, they prostrated themselves with the five limbs on the ground, withdrew in stillness and held the secret opportunity, hoping for the Buddha's silent transmission.

爾時，世尊普告眾中諸大菩薩及諸漏盡大阿羅漢：「汝等菩薩及阿羅漢，生我法中得成無學。吾今問汝，最初發心悟十八界，誰為圓通？從何方便入三摩地？」

At that time the World-Honored One addressed all the great Bodhisattvas in the assembly and the great arhats whose outflows were exhausted: "You Bodhisattvas and arhats were born in my Dharma and have become those with no more to learn. Now I ask you: at the first aspiration, in awakening to the eighteen realms, which is the perfect penetration? By what skillful means did you enter samadhi?"

憍陳那五比丘即從座起，頂禮佛足而白佛言：「我在鹿苑及於雞園，觀見如來最初成道，於佛音聲悟明四諦。佛問比丘，我初稱解；如來印我名阿若多。妙音密圓，我於音聲得阿羅漢。佛問圓通，如我所證，音聲為上。」

Kaundinya and the five bhikshus rose from their seats, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: "In the Deer Park and the Chicken Garden, I saw the Tathagata's first attainment of the Way, and through the Buddha's voice I awakened to the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha asked the bhikshus, and I was first to declare my understanding; the Tathagata confirmed me with the name Ajnata. The wondrous sound was secretly perfect, and through sound I attained arhatship. If the Buddha asks about perfect penetration, as I have realized it, sound is the best."

優波尼沙陀即從座起，頂禮佛足而白佛言；「我亦觀佛最初成道，觀不淨相，生大厭離，悟諸色性，以從不淨、白骨、微塵歸於虛空；空色二無，成無學道。如來印我名尼沙陀。塵色既盡，妙色密圓，我從色相得阿羅漢。佛問圓通，如我所證，色因為上。」

Upanishada rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: "I also observed the Buddha's first attainment of the Way. I contemplated the impure aspect and gave rise to great disgust and renunciation, and awakened to the nature of form, so that from impurity, white bones, and fine dust, I returned to empty space; with emptiness and form both gone, I accomplished the Way of no more learning. The Tathagata confirmed me with the name Nishada. When dust and form were exhausted, the wondrous form was secretly perfect, and through the aspect of form I attained arhatship. If the Buddha asks about perfect penetration, as I have realized it, the cause of form is the best."

香嚴童子即從座起，頂禮佛足而白佛言：「我聞如來教我諦觀諸有為相。我時辭佛，宴晦清齋，見諸比丘燒瀋水香，香氣寂然來入鼻中。我觀此氣，非木、非空、非煙、非火，去無所著，來無所從，由是意銷，發明無漏，如來印我得香嚴號，塵氣倏滅，妙香密圓，我從香嚴得阿羅漢。佛問圓通，如我所證，香嚴為上。」

The youth Gandhavyuha rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: "I heard the Tathagata teach me to carefully contemplate all conditioned appearances. At that time I took leave of the Buddha and in a quiet retreat of fasting, I saw the bhikshus burn aloeswood incense, and its fragrance silently entered my nose. I examined this scent: it was not wood, not space, not smoke, not fire; going, it clung to nothing, coming, it came from nowhere. Through this my thoughts dissolved and the outflow-free was revealed. The Tathagata confirmed me with the name Gandhavyuha. When the dust-scent suddenly vanished, the wondrous fragrance was secretly perfect, and through fragrance I attained arhatship. If the Buddha asks about perfect penetration, as I have realized it, Gandhavyuha is the best."