Why Chanting the Shurangama Mantra Can Purify Karmic Obstacles and Eradicate the Most Heinous Offenses
purifying karmic obstacles.
Let’s turn to the fifth benefit: purifying karmic obstacles.
Before someone takes up this mantra, they may have violated or even broken the precepts in the past, and the karmic weight of those broken precepts can create deep obstructions. If they chant the mantra single-mindedly and repent in accordance with the Dharma, these karmic hindrances can be fully extinguished.
Broken Precept Offenses Are Eradicated
Ananda! When a good son who now upholds this mantra previously violated prohibitive precepts before taking up the mantra, all offenses of broken precepts—light or grave—are simultaneously dissolved and eradicated once he chants it. Even if he previously drank alcohol, ate the five pungent vegetables, or consumed any kind of impure food, all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Vajra-deities, celestial beings, immortals, ghosts, and spirits will no longer count these as transgressions.
This passage teaches that transgressions of broken precepts and broken fasting rules can be fully eradicated. Let’s start with broken precepts.
Ananda! In the Dharma-ending age, a person who has awakened bodhicitta and is able to single-mindedly dwell in true suchness while receiving and chanting the sacred Shurangama Mantra may have violated the Buddha’s prohibitive precepts in the past due to a moment of ignorance and delusion. When did this violation occur? Before they took up the mantra. After the violation, they repented in accordance with the Dharma and cut off the continuous flow of that unwholesome intent; once they began chanting the mantra, they never transgressed again, but instead single-mindedly dwelt in true suchness and chanted with full focus. In this way, all offenses of broken precepts—whether minor or grave (the grave offenses refer to the four parajika offenses of the Lesser Vehicle and the ten major offenses of the Mahayana)—are fully dissolved and eradicated all at once. This is the mantra’s power to extinguish wrongdoing.
Even if, before taking up the Shurangama Mantra, he had previously drunk alcohol, eaten the five pungent vegetables (onions, garlic, Chinese chives, shallots, and asafetida), or consumed other impure foods such as meat and fish. These five pungent vegetables increase lust when cooked, and stoke anger when eaten raw. The scriptures teach that one should not recite sutras immediately after eating them; one must first thoroughly cleanse the mouth. Even if he had committed the transgression of consuming these foods while practicing the Buddha-Dharma, all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Vajra-deities, celestial beings, and spirits will no longer hold his past broken fasting rules against him, thanks to his mantra chanting and repentance.
Ritual Transgressions Are Dissolved
The following explains violations of ritual procedure—transgressions against the formal rules of practice.
Suppose someone wears impure, ragged clothing: every step they take, every place they dwell, is regarded as entirely pure. Even if they do not set up an altar, enter a practice hall, or perform the formal practice circuit, chanting and upholding this mantra generates merit equal to entering the altar and performing the full practice circuit—there is no difference.
As we noted earlier, the standard practice for chanting this mantra involves setting up an altar and performing the ritual circuit, with a traditional eight-cornered altar. When entering the altar space for the circuit, practitioners are expected to wear clean, new robes. But if someone is too poor to afford clean, new clothing, and wears only impure, ragged garments instead, their every movement—walking, standing, sitting, or lying down—is still regarded as perfectly pure, as long as they chant the mantra sincerely and with full focus. Even though their clothing is impure, because their mind abides in true suchness, their practice is considered equal in purity to that of someone wearing clean robes.
The line “Even if he does not set up an altar, enter a practice hall, or perform the practice circuit” refers to someone who cannot afford to build an eight-cornered altar, cannot join a monastic community for group practice, and is not able to complete the prescribed twenty-one day practice circuit. Even so, if they single-mindedly uphold the four parajika precepts and chant the sacred Shurangama Mantra with utmost sincerity, their merit is identical to that of someone who enters the altar and performs the full practice circuit—there is no difference. As you may recall from the earlier passage on the altar, the twenty-one day practice circuit requires practitioners to repent and make vows before they begin chanting the mantra.
Even the Most Heinous Offenses Are Eradicated
If someone has committed the five heinous offenses that lead to uninterrupted karmic consequence, or if a bhikshu or bhikshuni has committed the four parajika or eight parajika offenses, chanting this mantra will eradicate these grave karmic obstructions completely, like a fierce wind scattering a pile of sand—not a single trace remains.
The five heinous offenses are: killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, causing schism in the sangha, or drawing the blood of a Buddha. The four parajika offenses apply to bhikshus, and the eight parajika offenses apply to bhikshunis. If someone commits any of these grave offenses, then repents in accordance with the Dharma and chants the sacred Shurangama Mantra, the weight of these offenses is like a pile of sand scattered by a fierce wind. The pile of sand symbolizes the accumulated karmic offenses we build up over time, while the fierce wind represents the power of a mind that dwells in true suchness, combined with the power of chanting the sacred mantra. Just as a fierce wind scatters a pile of sand with nothing left behind, not a single trace of these offenses remains.
Master Ouyi (蕅益大师) offers his view here. He notes that the first prerequisite for purifying karmic obstacles is to repent in accordance with the Dharma; only after proper repentance should one begin chanting the mantra. Master Ouyi draws two key distinctions from this passage: if the person chanting the mantra has insight into ultimate principle, then after repenting and chanting, their attainment is equal to that of the Venerable Ananda. If they lack this insight into principle and only engage in formal practice, their attainment is equal to that of Matangi’s daughter.
Let’s break this down. If a person has committed transgressions, then repents in accordance with the Dharma, resolves never to repeat those wrongs, begins upholding the four parajika precepts, dwells single-mindedly in true suchness, and receives and chants the sacred Shurangama Mantra, they have insight into ultimate principle. In this case, their offenses are not only eradicated, but they can also open fully to the perfect teaching, even transforming from an ordinary being into a sage. This is why their attainment is equal to that of the Venerable Ananda, who later attained the First Ground of the Perfect Teaching. This is the vow expressed in the earlier aspiration verse: “Wonderfully serene, master of all mantras, immovable one”—Ananda’s own vow. This describes a practitioner with insight into ultimate principle, whose attainment matches Ananda’s. If a person lacks this insight into principle and only engages in formal practice, their attainment is at minimum equal to that of Matangi’s daughter. They are still able to eradicate the offenses born of their afflictions of greed and attachment.
Our former dean of academic affairs, Elder Huitian, once shared a public Zen case. He said that years ago, a middle-aged layman in Puli ordained as a monk. While he was still a sramanera, or novice monk, he had a conflict with his master over a minor matter, and his master sternly reprimanded him. The man had a fiery temper; in a fit of rage, he took the unbonded robe his master had given him as a novice and burned it. This was an extremely serious offense—destroying a Dharma robe is a very grave transgression.
Later, someone warned him: “You’re in trouble! Burning a novice’s unbonded robe is a heavy offense—you need to repent earnestly.” He repented, but felt no relief or progress. Eventually, someone advised him to take up the chanting of the sacred Shurangama Mantra. Less than three months after he began chanting, he had a dream one night: the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas appeared and presented him with a new unbonded robe. This was, of course, an auspicious sign indicating his offenses had been eradicated, a direct result of his single-minded chanting of the mantra.
As we noted earlier, there are two key reasons for this effect. First, every moment of chanting the Shurangama Mantra brings you back to the true suchness of your own nature, letting you abide in it. What offense could possibly remain unextinguished in that state? What merit could fail to arise? Second, chanting the mantra calls on the blessings and empowerment of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. With the combined support of both your own sincere effort (self-power) and the blessings of the enlightened ones (other-power), those grave karmic obstructions are scattered like sand by a fierce wind, fully eradicated without a single trace remaining.