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Surangama Sutra




NAAM OR WORD



by



Sant Kirpal Singh Ji



(1894 - 1974)





[PART 3]





EVIDENCE FROM OTHER RELIGIONS



Spiritual Experiences of Highest Bodhisattvas - Extracts

taken from The Surangama Sutra - From "A Buddhist Bible"

edited by Dwight Goddard (E. P. Dutton & Co.):



. . . Thereupon, the Blessed Lord revealed to the

assembled highest Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas and great

Arhats free from all intoxicants, this most sacred

teaching. He said:



Honored Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas and great Arhats!

You have now been under my instruction for a

long time and have attained to perfect emancipation.

As an introduction to what I am about to say, I want

to enquire of each of you as to how you attained

Samadhi.



When you began to realize in the early stages of your

devotion and practice the falseness of the eighteen

spheres of mentation in contact with objects by the

sense organs,* which one of the spheres first became

thoroughly enlightened, by means of which you

attained to Samadhi?"





(*The eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects by

the sense organs are as follows, in the case of sight.

(a) Organ of sight.

(b) Object of sight.

(c) Consciousness of sight, which results from the contact of the

organ of sight with the object.

Hence a, b and c in regard to all the six senses (Cognition-Sight-

Hearing-Smell-Taste and Touch) add up to 18.)





. . . Then Maha-Kasyapa with the Bhikshuni

Suvarna and other nuns of his spiritual family, rose

from their seats and bowed down to the Lord Buddha

saying:



Blessed Lord! In previous Kalpas when Buddha

Kandrasuryapradipa was living, I served him faithfully

and listened to his teaching and practiced it

faithfully. After he passed into Nirvana, I continued

to make offerings to his sacred relics and kept his

image freshly gilded, so that his teaching, like a lamp,

continued to illumine my life by its brightness.



By my faithful reverence for his relics and his image, my

mind was illumined by a purple-golden brightness

that reflected itself in all my following lives and be-

came a permanent purple-golden brightness with my

body.



Then Sariputra rose from his seat and bowing

down before the Lord Buddha, said:



Blessed Lord! Since many Kalpas, as many as the

sands of the Ganges, my mind has continued its pur-

ity and because of it, there have been many pure

rebirths. As soon as my eyes perceived the differences

in the ever-flowing process of changes, both in the

world and in the Way of Emancipation, my mind

immediately understood them and, because of it, I

acquired the attainment of perfect freedom.



When I was on the road one day, I met the brother

Kasyapa who kindly explained the principle of the Lord's

teaching that everything rose from causes and conditions

and, therefore, was empty and transitory, and

I realized the infinitude of Pure Mind Essence. From

that time, I followed my Lord and my perception of

mental sight became transcendental and perfectly

enlightened, so that I instantly acquired an attainment

of great fearlessness and confidence. Because of it I

attained to the degree of Arhat and became, in fact,

the first Prince of my Lord Buddha, begotten by the

Lord's true words and nourished and transformed by

his intrinsic Dharma.



In reply to my Lord's enquiry as to our first

experience of attainment, I would answer that my

first thorough accommodation of the eighteen spheres

of mentation in contact with objects through the

sense-organs, was by reason of the transcendent

brightness within my own mind whose shining beams

illuminated my intelligence and reached as far as my

insight could penetrate. . . .





Then Samantabhadra rose from his seat and bow-

ing down to the Lord, said:



I became a Prince of my Lord's Dharma many long

Kalpas ago, and all of the innumerable Tathagatas of

the ten quarters of the Universe, taught their

disciples, who had the qualifications for becoming

Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas, to practice the devotion of

Samantabhadra's unceasing compassion for all sentient

beings for his name's sake.



The transcendental and intrinsic hearing of my

Essential Mind became very pure and transparent, so

that I could use it to discriminate the understanding

and ideas of all sentient beings. Should there be any

sentient beings in whatever quarter of the Universe -

past, present or future - to develop the devotion of

Samantabhadra unceasing compassion within his mind,

I would become aware of its vibrations through the

transcendental sensitiveness of my hearing and I would

thereupon ride to them on the mysterious elephant of

six tusks, in a hundred thousand different

manifestations of my likeness, at the same time, to

attend upon them each in his own place.



Whatever might be his hindrances, however deep or

serious, able to appreciate my presence or not, I

would be near him to lay my hand upon his head, to

give him encouragement and support, peacefulness and

comfort, so that he might accomplish his supreme

attainment. As my Lord has enquired of us as to our

first attainment of accommodating our eighteen spheres

of mentation in contact with sense-objects through our

sense organs, I would say that in my case it was

through the intrinsic hearing of my Essential Mind

and its spontaneous understanding and response.





Then Purna Metaluniputra rose from his seat and

bowed down to the feet of the Lord Buddha, saying:



Blessed Lord! For an infinity of Kalpas I have had

great freedom in preaching the Dharmas of emptiness

and suffering and because of it have realized my own

Essence of Mind. In the course of my preaching, I

have interpreted profoundly and wonderfully the

many Dharma Doors, with great confidence and with

no feeling of fear, everywhere, and before great

assemblies.



Because of my eloquence, my Lord has encouraged me to

make use of it in propagating the Dharma by means of

the wheel of my voice. Since these ancient days, since

the Lord has been among us, I have offered my services

in turning the Dharma wheel, and have lately attained

to the degree of Arhat by means of the development of

my hearing, by reason of which I am conscious of the

Transcendental Sound of the Dharma reverberating like

the roar of a lion.



Consequently, my Lord has honored me by regarding me as

the greatest preacher of his Mysterious Dharma.



As my Lord has enquired of us which was our

earliest accommodation of the eighteen spheres of

mentation in contact with objects through sense

organs, I would answer that my first thorough

accommodation of mentation was the subjugation of my

internal attachment and enemies and the extermination

of all intoxicants by means of the Intrinsic Sound

of the Mysterious Dharma.



Then the great Maudgalyana rose from his seat and

bowed to the Lord Buddha, saying:



Blessed Lord! When I was begging on the road, I

met the three Kasyapa brothers who taught me the

Lord Tathagata's profound principle of causes and

conditions. I was greatly influenced by the teaching

and very soon acquired and realized particularly clear

intelligence. My Lord was so kind as to bestow on me

the true robe for my true body, my beard and head

were shaved and I became a follower of my Lord.



Since then my transcendental powers have become

wonderfully developed, I have made visits to all the

ten quarters of the Universe, without hindrance by

space, passing instantly from one Buddha-land to

another without being conscious of how it was done.



I thus attained the degree of Arhat and was accounted

by all and by my Lord Tathagata as being highest

among the disciples in perfect enlightenment,

great purity of mind, spontaneity and fearlessness in

manifestation of transcendental powers.



As my Lord has inquired of us which was our

most perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres

of mentation in contact with objects through the sense

organs, I would answer that my first perfect accom-

modation of the eighteen spheres of mentation was

my mind becoming abstracted in tranquil reflection

that mysteriously developed its enlightening bright-

ness, as if my mind that had been a muddy stream

had suddenly become clear and transparent like a

crystal ball.



Then the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Akshobya rose

from his seat and bowed to the feet of the Lord

Buddha, saying:



Blessed Lord! My Lord Tathagata and I had already

acquired a transcendental body of infinitude at

the time, long ago during the advent of the Buddha

Camatha-prabasha. At that time, I had in possession

four precious pearls having the transcendental

penetrating power of the Element of Fire, by reason of

which everything was luminously clear to my intuitive

insight, even to the farthermost Buddha-lands of

the most remote Universe.



In the light of these magic pearls everything became

as empty and transparent as Pure Space. Moreover,

within my mind, there manifested a great mirror that

was marvelously self illuminating that radiated ten

kinds of wonderful, glorious, far-reaching rays as the

infinitude of all-embracing space.



In this marvelous mirror were reflected all the

royal continents of the Blessed, and like the mingling

of different-colored lights, merged with my body into

pure brightness and clarity of infinite space, there

being no hindrance to their entrance or passing. By

this magical power, I was able to enter into all the

Buddha-lands and engage in all their Buddha-services

of adoration with great ease and perfect accommodation.



This transcendental power was due to my deep intuitive

insight into the source of the Four Great Elements, by

reason of which I was able to see that they were nothing

but the appearing and disappearing of false imaginations,

which were intrinsically as empty as pure space and with

no more differentiation as pure space.



And I realized that all the innumerable Buddha-lands

within and without the mind were of the same

inconceivable purity. From this intuitive insight I

consequently acquired the Samadhi of perseverance of

non-rebirth.



As my Lord has enquired of us which was our most

thorough accommodation of the eighteen spheres of

mentation in contact with objects through the sense

organs, I would answer that in my case it was through

my perfect intuitive insight into the infinity of open

space as illumined by the Element of Fire, and by

that power I attained to the highest Samadhi and the

transcendental power of Samapatti.



Then the Prince of the Lord's Dharma, Vejuria

rose from his seat and bowed down to the feet of the

Lord Buddha and said:



Blessed Lord! I recall that many, many Kalpas ago

there appeared in the world a Buddha called Amitayus,

teaching all Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas the intuitive and

essential nature of the wonderful Essence of Mind,

and urging them to concentrate their minds on the

essential sameness of Samsara World, and all sentient

beings in it, that they were all alike manifestations

of the Element of Wind (or Ether) and its rhythmic-

vibrations revealing and manifesting all else.



In my practice of Dhyana, I concentrated on this and

reflected on how the great world was upheld in space,

on how the great world was kept in perpetual motion,

on how my body was kept in motion, moving and

standing, on the rhythmic vibration of its life

established and maintained by breathing, upon the

movement of the mind, thoughts rising and passing.



I reflected upon these various things and marvelled at

their great sameness without any difference save in

the rate of vibration. I realized that the nature of

these vibrations had neither any source for their

coming nor destination for their going, and that all

sentient beings, as numerous as the infinitesimal

particles of dust in the vast spaces, were each in his

own way topsy-turvy balanced vibrations, and that each

and every one was obsessed with the illusion that he

was a unique creation.



All sentient beings, in all the three thousand Great

Chillicosms are obsessed with this hallucination. They

are like innumerable mosquitos shut up in a vessel and

buzzing about in wildest confusion. Sometimes, they are

roused to madness and pandemonium by the narrow limits

of their confinement.



After meeting my Lord Buddha, I attained to a state of

intuitive realization and non-rebirth perseverance,

whereupon my mind became enlightened and I was able to

view the Buddha-land of Immovability in the Eastern

Heavens, which is the Pure Land of Buddha Amitayus.



I was acknowledged as a Prince of the Lord's Dharma

and vowed to serve all Buddhas everywhere, and because

of my enlightenment and great vow my body and mind

became perfectly rhythmic and alive and sparkling,

mingling with all other vibrations without hindrance to

its perfect freedom.



As my Lord has enquired of us as to which was

our first thoroughly perfect accommodation of the

eighteen spheres of mentation in contact with objects

through the sense-organs, I will say that in my case

it was through my intuitive insight into the nature of

the Element of Ether, and how by its balanced and

rhythmic vibrations everything was embraced in perfect

purity in the Enlightening Mind, and how concentrating

my mind upon it I attained Samadhi and in that Samadhi

I realized the perfect oneness of all the Buddhas in

the purity of the Wonderful Mind Essence, that is the

Bliss-body of Buddhahood . . .



Then Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Maitreya rose from

his seat and bowing down to the Lord Buddha, said:



Blessed Lord! I recall that many, many Kalpas ago

there was a Buddha appeared in this world called

Chandra-suryapradipa-prabasha whom I followed as

his disciple. At the time I was inclined to the worldly

life and liked to associate with the nobility. The Lord

Buddha, noticing it, instructed me to practice meditation,

concentrating my mind on its consciousness.



I followed his instructions and attained Samadhi. Since

then I have served numberless other Buddhas using

this same method, and by it have now discarded all

desire for worldly pleasures. By the time Buddha

Dipankara appeared in the world, gradually I had

attained to the supreme, wonderful, perfect Samadhi

or Transcendental Consciousness.



By this highest Samadhi I was conscious of infinite

space, and realized that all of the Tathagata-lands

whether pure or impure, existent or non-existent were

nothing but the manifestation of my own mind.



My Lord! because of my perfect realization that all

such skillful devices of the Tathagatas were nothing

but evolvements of my own mental consciousness, the

essential nature of my consciousness flowed out in

innumerable manifestations of Tathagatas, and I came

to be selected as the next Coming Buddha, after my Lord

Shakyamuni Buddha . . .



As my Lord has enquired of us as to our first

perfect accommodation of the eighteen spheres of

mentation in contact with objects through the sense organs,

I answer that my first perfect accommodation of the

eighteen spheres of mentation was by my perfect

realization that all the ten quarters of the Universes

were nothing but activities of my own consciousness.



It was by that that my consciousness became perfectly

enlightened and that the limits of my mind dissolved

until it embraced all Reality forsaking all prejudices

of conditional and unconditional assertions and denials,

I acquired perfect non-birth perseverance . . .





Then Maha-sthama-prapta, Prince of the Lord's

Dharma, rose from his seat and bowed down to the

feet of the Lord Buddha, together with the fifty-two

members of his Brotherhood of Bodhisattva-Maha-

sattvas, and said:



Blessed Lord! I recall that in a past Kalpa long

ago, as many Kalpas ago as there are grains of sand

in the river Ganges, there appeared in this world a

Buddha, called Amitabha-prabhasa Buddha, whose

Buddha-land was in the Eastern Heavens. In that

Kalpa there were twelve Tathagatas following each

other in close succession, the last one being called

Buddha-Chandra-surya-gomin, who taught me to practice

meditation upon the name of Amitabha, saying: Namo

Amitabha-Buddhaya.



The value of this practice lay in this: so long as one

practices his own method and other practices a different

method, they balance of each other and meeting, it is

just the same as not meeting. Whereas, if two persons

practice the same method, their mindfulness would become

deeper and deeper, and they would remember each other

and develop affinities for each other life after life.



It is the same with those who practice concentration

on the name of Amitabha - they develop within their minds

Amitabha's spirit of compassion toward all sentient life.

Moreover, whoever recites the name of Amitabha Buddha,

whether in the present time or in the future time, will

surely see the Buddha Amitabha and never become separated

from him.



By reason of that association, just as one associating

with a maker of perfumes became permeated with the

same perfumes, so he will become perfumed by Amitabha's

compassion, and will become enlightened without any other

expedient means.



Blessed Lord! My devotion to reciting the name of

Amitabha had no other purpose than to return to my

original nature of purity and by it I attained to the

state of non-rebirth perseverance. Now in this life, I

have vowed to teach my disciples to concentrate their

minds by means of reciting the name of Amitabha

(Namo-Amitabha-Buddhaya) and also I teach them

to wish to be born in his Land of Purity and to make

that their only Refuge.



As my Lord has asked us which is our first perfect

accommodation of the eighteen spheres of mentation

in contact with objects through sense organs, I

answer that my first perfect accommodation of the

eighteen spheres of mentation was that I recognized

no separation or differences among my six senses, but

merged them into one transcendental sense from

which arises the purity of Transcendental Wisdom, by

reason of which I attained highest Samadhi and the

graces of Samapatti.



Then the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Avalokiteshvara

rose from his seat and bowing down to the Lord

Buddha said:



Blessed Lord! I recall that ages ago, as numerous

as the sands of the river Ganges, that there was

present in the world a Buddha, called Avalokiteshvara,

by whose instruction I was encouraged to begin seeking

enlightenment. I was taught to begin practicing

by concentrating my mind on the true nature of

Transcendental Hearing, and by that practice I

attained Samadhi.



As soon as I had advanced to the stage of Entering

the Stream, I determined to discard all thoughts

discriminating as to where I was or had been. Later I

discarded the conception of advancing altogether, and

the thought of either activity or quietness in this

connection did not again arise in my mind.



Continuing my practice, I gradually advanced

until all discrimination of the hearing nature of my

self-hood and of the Intrinsic Transcendental Hearing

was discarded. As there ceased to be any grasping

in my mind for the attainment of Intrinsic Hearing,

the conception of enlightenment and enlightened

nature were all absent from my mind.



When this state of perfect Emptiness of Mind was attained,

all arbitrary conceptions of attaining to Emptiness of

Mind and of enlightened nature, were discarded. As

soon as all arbitrary conceptions of rising and

disappearing of thoughts were completely discarded, the

state of Nirvana was clearly realized. Then all of a

sudden, my mind became transcendental to both

celestial and terrestrial world, and there was nothing

in all the ten quarters but empty space, and in that

state I acquired two wonderful transcendencies.



The first was a "Transcendental Consciousness" that my

mind was in perfect conformity with the Essential,

Mysterious Enlightening Mind, of all the Buddhas in

all the ten quarters, and also it was in like perfect

conformity with the Great. Heart of Compassion of all

the Buddhas.



The second transcendency was that my mind was in perfect

conformity with the minds of all sentient beings of the

six Realms and felt with them the same earnestness and

longing for deliverance.



Blessed Lord! because of my adoration for that

Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, he taught me how to attain

the Diamond Samadhi by the single method of con-

centrating my mind upon Transcendental Hearing.



And, moreover, he helped me to attain the same

compassionate capacity that all the Tathagatas had, by

reason of which I attained the thirty-two kinds of

transformations that are instantaneously available in

response to the prayer for deliverance from any part

of the world at any time.



These transformations have all been attained and

exercised with perfect freedom and spontaneity in

the mysterious Diamond Samadhi which I attained

by concentrating my mind in the practice of Dhyana

on the nature of Transcendental Hearing.



Blessed Lord! I have also, because of the mysterious

powers that accompany the Diamond Samadhi, and because

of my being in perfect conformity and with the same

earnestness and longing for deliverance with all

sentient beings, in the Six Realms of all the

ten quarters of all the universes, past, present and

future, been able to bestow upon all sentient beings

the same Fourteen kinds of Fearlessness, which ani-

mate my own mind . . .



As my attainment to the original nature of perfect

accommodations is wonderfully developed from the

hearing organ to include all the sense-organs and dis-

criminating mind, my body and mind profoundly and

mysteriously embrace all the phenomenal world, so

that if any disciple should recite my name, his bless-

ing and merit would be like and equal to that of any

Prince of the Lord's Dharma, whether he uses the

same name or some other name.



Blessed Lord! The reason why their merit is like and

equal for one to recite my name, and for another to

recite some other name, is because of my practice of

Dhyana by which I acquired the True and Perfect

accommodation.



Blessed Lord! this is what is meant by the Fourteen

kinds of Fearlessness of Powers of Deliverance which

bring blessing to all sentient beings. But in addition

to the acquirement of perfect accommodation by

means of my attainment of Supreme Enlightenment,



I have also acquired another Four kinds of

inconceivable, wonderful Transcendencies of

Spontaneity.



The First is as it is, because when I first attained

to my Transcendental Hearing, my mind became abstracted

into its essential nature, and all the natural

powers of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching

and understanding attained to a state of pure, glorious,

enlightenment of perfect mutuality and accommodation in

one perfect unity of Awareness. Because of this, I have

acquired this great Transcendental Freedom, so that when

I give deliverance to sentient beings, I can transform

myself into wonderful appearances . . .



Sometimes I appear in a form of kindness, or in a

form of justice, or in a state of concentration, or in a

state of intelligence. But in all I do it for the sake of

deliverance and protecting of sentient beings so that

they might acquire a like Great Freedom.



The Second inconceivable, wonderful Transcendency

of Spontaneity is as it is because of my emancipation of

hearing and thinking from the contaminations of the six

sense-objects. It is as if sound were passing through walls

without any hindrance. Thus I can skillfully transform into

different kinds of appearances and recite different Dharanis,

and can transform these appearances and recitation of

Dharanis, to give the Transcendental Power of Fearlessness

to sentient beings. Thus in all the countries of the ten

quarters, I am known as the Giver of Transcendental Power of

Fearlessness.



The Third inconceivable, wonderful Transcendency

of Spontaneity is as it is, because of my practice upon

the pure, original Essence of perfect accommodation,

so that wherever I go, I lead sentient beings to

willingness to sacrifice their lives and valuable

possessions in order to pray for my compassion and mercy.



The Fourth inconceivable, wonderful Transcendency

of Spontaneity is as it is, because of my acquirement of

the Buddha's Intrinsic Mind and because of my attainment of

the supremacy so that I can give all different kinds of

offerings to all of the Tathagatas of all the ten quarters

of the universes.



As my Lord has enquired of us as to what was our

first perfect accommodation, of the eighteen spheres

of mentation in contact with objects through the

sense-organs, I answer that my first perfect

accommodation was, when I attained to the state of

perfectly accommodating reflection of Samadhi by means

of my Intrinsic Hearing and Transcendental Mental

Freedom from objective contaminations, so that my

mind became abstracted and absorbed into the Divine

Stream, and thus acquired the Diamond Samadhi and

attained Enlightenment.



Blessed Lord! in those far off days, my Lord, the

Buddha Avalokiteshvara, praised me for my skillful

acquirement of the all-accommodating Door of Dharma,

and in one of his great Assemblies, he announced

that I, too, should be called Avalokiteshvara, The

hearer and answerer of Prayer," the Bodhisattva of

Tenderest Compassion.



As such, my Transcendental Hearing reaches to the ten

quarters of all the universes, and the name of

Avalokiteshvara prevails over all the extremes of

human suffering and danger.





Manjusri's Summation:



Thereupon, the blessed Lord, sitting upon his

throne in the midst of the Tathagatas and highest

Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas from all the Buddha-lands,

manifested his Transcendent Glory surpassing them

all. From his hands and feet and body radiated

supernal beams of light that rested upon the crowns

of each Tathagata, Bodhisattva-Mahasattva, and

Prince of the Dharma; in all the ten quarters of the

universes, went forth rays of glorious brightness that

converged upon the crown of the Lord Buddha and

upon the crowns of all the Tathagatas, Bodhisattva-

Mahasattvas and Arhats present in the assembly.



At the same time all the trees of the Jeta Park, and

all the waves lapping on the shores of its lakes, were

singing with the music of the Dharma, and all the

intersecting rays of brightness were like a net of

splendor set with jewels and over-reaching them all.



Such a marvelous sight had never been imagined and

held them all in silence and awe. Unwittingly, they

passed into the blissful peace of the Diamond Samadhi

and upon them all, there fell like a gentle rain,

the soft petals of many different colored lotus

blossoms - blue and crimson, yellow and white - all

blending together and being reflected into the open

space of heaven in all the tints of the spectrum.



Moreover, all the differentiations of mountains and

seas and rivers and forests of the Saha World blended

into one another and faded away leaving only the

flower - adorned unity of the Primal Cosmos, not dead

and inert but alive with rhythmic life and light,

vibrant with transcendental sound of songs and

rhymes, melodiously rising and falling and merging

and then fading away into silence.



Then the Lord Tathagata addressed Manjusri,

Prince of the Dharma, saying:



Manjusri! you have now heard that these Bodhisattva-

Mahasattvas of greatest and highest attainments

have testified regarding the expedient means that

were involved, and the results seen in spiritual graces

and powers of Samapatti, that followed in their

devout lives and practices.



Each one stated that the beginning was seen in the

perfect accommodation of some one mental sphere in

contact with its sense object, and from that followed

the perfect accommodation of all the spheres of

mentation and the attainment of Samadhi, Samapatti

and the perfect awareness of their Intuitive and

Essential Mind.



So we see that their devout practices, in spite of

their variations, all eventuated in the same good

result irrespective of their attainments and the times

involved.



I want Ananda to fully understand and realize

these different attainments of Enlightenment and note

which of them is adapted to him. And I wish also,

that after my Nirvana, as future disciples of this world

wish to attain highest Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi,

that from these experiences they may know which

door of expedient means appears to each most easily

entered.



Having listened to the Blessed Lord, Manjusri,

Prince of the Lord's Dharma, rose from his seat

bowed down to the Lord Buddha, and sobered by the

influence of the Lord's profound dignity uttered the

following stanza:



The keeping of the Precepts is a necessary part of

the practice of Dhyana, but the novice cannot depend

upon them alone to bring him to the nature of perfect

accommodation . . .



Then Manjusri addressed the Lord Buddha, saying:



Blessed Lord! Since my Lord has descended from

the Deva Realms to this Saha World, he has helped

us most by his wonderful Enlightening Teaching. At

first we receive this Teaching through our sense of

hearing, but when we are fully able to realize it, it

becomes ours through a Transcendental and Intuitive

Hearing.



This makes the awakening and perfecting of a

transcendental faculty of hearing of very great

importance to every novice. As the wish to attain

Samadhi deepens in the mind of any disciple, he can

most surely attain it by means of his Transcendental

Organ of Hearing.



For many a Kalpa - as numerous as the particles

of sand in the river Ganges - Avalokiteshvara Buddha,

the hearer and answerer of prayer, has visited all

the Buddha-lands of the ten quarters of the universe

and has acquired Transcendental Powers of Boundless

Freedom and Fearlessness and has vowed to emancipate

all sentient beings from their bondage and suffering.



How sweetly mysterious is the Transcendental Sound of

Avalokiteshvara! It is the pure Brahman Sound. It is

the subdued murmur of the seatide setting inward. Its

mysterious Sound brings liberation and peace to all

sentient beings who in their distress are calling for

aid; it brings a sense of permanency to those who are

truly seeking the attainment of Nirvana's Peace . . .



While I am addressing My Lord Tathagata, he is

hearing at the same time, the Transcendental Sound

of Avalokiteshvara. It is just as though, while we are

in the quiet selection of our Dhyana practice, there

should come to our ears the sound of the beating of

drums. If our minds, hearing the sound, are undisturbed

and tranquil, this is the nature of perfect accommodation.



The body develops feeling by coming in contact

with something, and the sight of eyes is hindered by

the opaqueness of objects, and similarly with the

sense of smell and of taste, but it is different with the

discriminating mind. Thoughts are arising and mingling

and passing. At the same time it is conscious of

sounds in the next room and sounds that have come

from far away.



The other senses are not so refined as the sense of

hearing: the nature of hearing is the true reality of

Passability.



The essence of sound is felt in both motion and

silence, it passes from existent to non-existent. When

there is no sound, it is said that there is no hearing,

but that does not mean that hearing has lost its

preparedness. Indeed, when there is no sound, hearing

is most alert, and when there is sound the hearing

nature is least developed. If any disciple can be freed

from these two illusions of appearing and disappearing,

that is, from death and rebirth, he has attained

the true reality of Permanency.



Even in dreams when all thinking has become quiescent,

the hearing nature is still alert. It is like a

mirror of enlightenment that is transcendental of the

thinking mind because it is beyond the consciousness

sphere of both body and mind. In this Saha world,

the Doctrine of Intrinsic, Transcendental Sound, may

be spread abroad, but sentient beings as a class

remain ignorant and indifferent to their own Intrinsic

Hearing. They respond only to phenomenal sounds and are

disturbed by both musical and discordant sounds.



Nothwithstanding Ananda's wonderful memory, he

was not able to avoid falling into evil ways. He has

been adrift on a merciless sea. But if he will only turn

his mind away from the drifting current of thoughts,

he may soon recover the sober wiseness of Essential

Mind.



Ananda! Listen to me! I have ever relied upon

the teaching of the Lord Buddha to bring me to the

Indescribable Dharma Sound of the Diamond Samadhi.



Ananda! You have sought the secret lore from

all the Buddha-lands without first attaining

emancipation from the desires and intoxications of

your own contaminations and attachments, with the

result that you have stored in your memory a vast

accumulation of worldly knowledge and built up a

tower of faults and mistakes.



You have learned the Teachings by listening to the

words of the Lord Buddha and then committing them

to memory. Why do you not learn from your own self

by listening to Sound of the Intrinsic Dharma within

your mind and then practicing reflection upon it?



The perception of Transcendental Hearing is not developed

by any natural process under the control of your

own volition. Sometimes when you are reflecting upon

your Transcendental Hearing a chance sound suddenly

claims your attention and your mind sets it apart and

discriminates it and is disturbed thereby.



As soon as you can ignore the phenomenal sound, the

notion of Transcendental Sound ceases and you will

realize your Intrinsic Hearing.



As soon as this one sense perception of hearing is

returned to its originality and you clearly understand

its falsity, then the mind instantly understands the

falsity of all sense perceptions and is at once

emancipated from the bondage of seeing, hearing, smelling,

tasting, touching and thinking, for they are all alike

illusive and delusive visions of unreality and all the

three great realms of existence are seen to be what

they truly are, imaginary blossoms in the air.



As soon as the deceiving perception of hearing is

emancipated, then all objective phenomena disappears

and your Intuitive Mind-Essence becomes perfectly

pure. As soon as you have attained to this Supreme

Purity of Mind-Essence, its Intrinsic Brightness will

shine out spontaneously and in all directions and, as

soon as you are sitting in tranquil Dhyana, the mind

will be in perfect conformity with Pure Space.



Ananda! As soon as you return to the phenomenal

world, it will seem like a vision in a dream. And your

experience with the maiden Pchiti will seem like a

dream, and your own body will lose its solidity and

permanency. It will seem as though every human being,

male and female, was simply a manifestation by some

skillful magician of a manikin all of whose activities

were under his control. Or each human being will

seem like an automatic machine that once started goes

on by itself, but as soon as the automatic machine

loses its motive power, all its activities not only

cease, but their very existence disappears.



So it is with the six sense organs, which are

fundamentally dependent upon one unifying and

enlightening spirit, but which by ignorance have

become divided into six semi-independent compositions

and conformities. Should one organ become emancipated

and return to its originality, so closely are they united

in their fundamental originality, that all the organs

would cease their activities also.



And all worldly impurities will be purified by a single

thought and you will attain to the wonderful purity of

perfect Enlightenment. Should there remain some minute

contamination of ignorance, you should practice the more

earnestly until you attain to perfect Enlightenment,

that is, to the Enlightenment of a Tathagata.



All the Brothers in this Great Assembly, and you

too, Annnda, should reverse your outward perception

of hearing and listen inwardly for the perfectly unified

and intrinsic sound of your own Mind-Essence, for as

soon as you have attained perfect accommodation,

you will have attained to Supreme Enlightenment.



This is the only way to Nirvana, and it has been

followed by all the Tathagatas of the past. Moreover, it

is for all the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas of the present

and for all in the future if they are to hope for perfect

Enlightenment. Not only did Avalokiteshvara attain

perfect Enlightenment in long ages past by this Golden Way,

but in the present, I also am one of them.



My Lord enquired of us as to which expedient

means each one of us had employed to follow this

Noble Path to Nirvana. I bear testimony that the

means employed by Avalokiteshvara is the most

expedient means for all, since all other means must

be supported and guided by the Lord Buddha's

Transcendental Powers. Though one forsake all his

worldly engagements, yet he cannot always be practicing

by these various means; they are especial means

suitable for junior and senior disciples, but for

laymen, this common method of concentrating the mind

on the sense of hearing, turning it inward by this

Door of Dharma to hear the Transcendental Sound

of this Essential Mind, is most feasible and wise.



O Blessed Lord! I am bowing down before my

Lord Tathagata's Intrinsic Womb, which is immaculate

and ineffable in its perfect freedom from all

contaminations and taints, and am praying my Lord to

extend his boundless compassion for the sake of all

future disciples, so that I may continue to teach

Ananda and all sentient beings of the present kalpa,

to have faith in this wonderful Door of Dharma to the

Intrinsic Hearing of his own Mind-Essence, so surely

to be attained by this most expedient means.



If any disciple should take this Intuitive Means for

concentrating his mind in Dhyana Practice on this organ

of Transcendental Hearing, all other sense organs would

soon come into perfect harmony with it and thus by

this single means of Intrinsic Hearing, he would attain

perfect accommodation of his True and Essential

Mind.



Then Ananda and all the great assembly were purified

in body and mind. They acquired a profound

understanding and a clear insight into the nature of

the Lord Buddha's Enlightenment and experience of

Highest Samadhi. They had confidence like a man

who was about to set forth on a most important

business to a far off country, because they knew the

route to go and return.



All the disciples in this great assembly realized their

own Essence of Mind and proposed henceforth to live

remote from all worldly entanglements and taints, and

to live continuously in the pure brightness of the

Eye of Dharma.