Practitioners in the Dharma-Ending Age Should Wholeheartedly Recite and Uphold the Shurangama Mantra

When we begin to practice and study the Shurangama King Samadhi, it brings two types of benefits to our body, mind, and the world we inhabit:

The first is the steady progress we experience in our day-to-day practice. A common pitfall in our regular practice is that we find it very hard to maintain a constant, unwavering mindset: it is easy to arouse bursts of fierce zeal, but hard to sustain perseverance over time. The practice of the Shurangama Sutra, however, enables us to maintain right mindfulness of true suchness, so our minds grow increasingly steady and indestructible in the course of our practice. With this firm mind, we will not be swayed by delusion even when faced with internal afflictions that disturb us or external environmental provocations. We use the deathless mind to overcome all manner of obstacles, allowing us to maintain a stable state of progressive cultivation throughout our lives. This is the steady progress we experience in our daily practice.

Second, it also provides us with potent supportive blessings that help us maintain right mindfulness at the time of death. At the moment of death, many afflictions will inevitably arise. Of course, if we are able to attain the samadhi of Buddha-recitation and accomplish our pure karma practice, just as the great patriarchs did, there is naturally no issue. But most ordinary practitioners carry residual karma through their practice, and are reborn with this remaining karma. In such cases, how can we avoid being disturbed by afflictions? The key is exactly the same: you must abide in the deathless mind. As we say, "Let the mind remain constantly aware and observant, without following after delusion."

Master Ouyi states in his Essential Interpretation of the Amitabha Sutra: if a Buddha-recitation practitioner only engages in practical cultivation without establishing proper contemplative practice, even if they recite 100,000 Buddha names each day as their daily routine, and practice with the urgency of saving their own head from fire for a full hundred years, using each recitation to subdue afflictions... Master Ouyi says that the afflictions they have managed to subdue are like the soil held in the palm of one’s hand, while the afflictions they have yet to subdue are as vast as all the soil on the earth. This shows that contemplative practice is absolutely essential in the course of our spiritual practice.

When we discuss this section, it is called "using mantra recitation to eradicate habitual tendencies". To practice the Shurangama King Samadhi, we require two essential foundations: first, the rigorous upholding of the four fundamental precepts we have discussed; second, the recitation and upholding of the Shurangama Mantra. These two supportive practices form the basis for our contemplative practice.

Before reciting the mantra, we must first establish a consecrated dharma platform. That is why this section is called "formal exposition": it formally describes how we should establish a dharma platform, so that we can recite the Shurangama Mantra in full accordance with the Dharma.

Xin 1. Concise Encouragement to Recite and Exposition of Benefits, divided into two parts: Ren 1. Encouragement to Recite; Ren 2. Exposition of Benefits
Concise Encouragement to Recite and Exposition of Benefits: this section concisely encourages us to recite and uphold the Shurangama Mantra, and reveals the merits and benefits of doing so. It is divided into two sub-sections: 1. Encouragement to Recite; 2. Exposition of Benefits.

Ren 1. Encouragement to Recite

First, we broadly encourage all practitioners to recite and uphold the Shurangama Mantra.

If there are latent habitual tendencies from past lives that cannot be eradicated, teach such people to recite with undivided, single-minded focus the luminous mantra of my Buddha-crown, the Mahāśatachatra, the unsurpassed divine mantra. This is the heart mantra expounded by the Tathagata from his invisible ushnisha (the cranial protuberance, foremost of the Buddha’s thirty-two physical marks), by the Buddha of the unconditioned mind who emanated light from his crown and sat upon a precious lotus.

The meaning of this sutra passage is as follows: in the Age of Dharma Decline, practitioners carry latent defiled seeds accumulated from past lives. The term "habitual tendencies" here refers to these seeds. Earlier, we used upholding precepts to subdue the active manifestation of afflictions. Now we go a step further to eradicate the seeds of afflictions. Because these seeds are latent, potential forces, upholding precepts can only cut off the active manifestation of afflictions, but cannot eliminate the seeds themselves.

These defiled seeds of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and false speech, accumulated and conditioned over countless past lifetimes, cannot be eradicated solely through the precept upholding we discussed earlier. So when these seeds arise in the mind, what should we do? You should teach such practitioners in the Age of Dharma Decline to recite with undivided, single-minded focus the luminous mantra of the Buddha’s crown. "Single-minded focus" means setting aside all mundane affairs, and reciting the Buddha-crown luminous mantra with full concentration. This Shurangama Mantra was expounded by the transformed Buddhas that manifested from the light emanating from the Buddha’s crown. This light is like the morning sun: warm and gentle, without being glaring.

The name of this mantra is the Mahāśatachatra (Great White Parasol) Mantra. "Mahā" means "great". Master Ouyi explains that "great" here means free from all dualistic comparisons. "Śāta" means "white", signifying complete purification from all mundane defilement, such that it is undisturbed by any conditioned, phenomenal realms. "Chatra" translates to "parasol" in Chinese, representing its ability to cover and protect all beings from the disturbance of demonic obstacles. "Mahāśatachatra" is thus equivalent to the "Great White Parasol", which is the title of this mantra.

Where does this mantra originate? It was expounded by the Tathagata from his invisible ushnisha, by the Buddha of the unconditioned mind who emanated light from his crown and sat upon a precious lotus. This mantra originates from the foremost of the Buddha’s thirty-two physical marks, the invisible ushnisha. Because this cranial protuberance cannot be seen by ordinary bodhisattvas, it is called the invisible ushnisha, signifying its utmost supremacy and honor.

The Buddha of the unconditioned mind is not a transformed Buddha, nor was this mantra expounded by an ordinary Buddha. It is a Buddha of the unconditioned mind, meaning this Shurangama Mantra manifests from the Tathagata’s storehouse of wondrous true suchness, the inherently "pure, fundamental, and all-pervading" single mind-nature that is intrinsic to all sentient beings. It is not fabricated through deliberate effort. "Emanated light from his crown" refers to the Buddha emitting light of a hundred precious treasures from his invisible ushnisha, with a thousand-petaled precious lotus emerging from each beam of light. Upon each lotus sat a transformed Buddha, who in turn expounded this divine mantra.

This is why this mantra is called the "heart mantra". Master Ouyi explains that every single syllable of this mantra secretly expounds the wondrous nature of the single mind-thought inherent in all sentient beings. While the sutra text is referred to as exoteric teaching, this mantra is the "secret exposition of true suchness", secretly expounding the single mind-nature of all sentient beings.

The principle here is as follows: the right mindfulness of true suchness central to the Shurangama King Samadhi must be established on two distinct dharma platforms in the Age of Dharma Decline: one is the inner dharma platform, which is abiding in the four fundamental precepts; the other is the outer dharma platform, which is relying on the solemn, consecrated dharma platform to recite and uphold the divine mantra. What is the purpose of establishing these two platforms? To eradicate the beginningless habitual tendencies. Habitual tendencies are extremely difficult to eradicate, so we must draw upon the power of the Buddha and the power of the mantra to overcome these beginningless habitual tendencies. This is why the Buddha encourages us to recite and uphold the mantra, so as to eradicate the habitual tendencies of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and false speech accumulated over countless past lifetimes.