Translator’s note:
There are several complete English translations of The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, for example:
http://www.dharmasite.net/Surangama_new_translation.pdf
(web archive link: https://archive.org/details/the-surangama-sutra)
Their translations are generally well done. However, they do not include the Prefaces that precede the scripture. Therefore, I have supplemented these two short sections here.
In addition, with regard to the Dhāraṇī portion in Volume Seven, that translation adopts a pronunciation that is a direct transliteration of recordings by Master Hsuan Hua (宣化), whose pronunciation reflects a northeastern Chinese dialect; it differs substantially from Sanskrit and is not even standard Mandarin. Fortunately, the Chinese transliterations traditionally used for the Śūraṅgama Dhāraṇī are quite standardized. Scholars such as Jian Fengqi (簡豐祺) and Shi Xinchuan (釋心傳) have done a great deal of excellent work in reconstructing the Sanskrit.
The Śūraṅgama Dhāraṇī recorded in T0945 roughly corresponds to T0944, The Great White Canopy Dhāraṇī (sitātapatraṃ). This Dhāraṇī also exists in other variant versions, most of which differ only in the length or abbreviation of deity names and honorific titles. In this post, I have tried to adhere as closely as possible to the original wording of T0945.
Preface to the Newly Printed Great Buddha-Crown Śūraṅgama Sūtra
Written by Xu Dong, former Judicial Officer of the Xiongwu Military Commissioner
The Śūraṅgama Sūtra is the central pivot that comprehensively encompasses all methods of cultivation practiced by the Buddhas. It penetrates the most profound and subtle realms—realms beyond the capacity of the lower vehicles to apprehend. It illuminates both principle and phenomena and brings about consummate accomplishment; it is the scripture upheld by noble beings who have reached the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds. Its language is graceful yet fully expressive; its meaning is deep yet perfectly lucid and unobstructed. It enters the most exquisite depths and yet transcends even the domain of non-arising. Its Dharma-sound resounds like metal and stone; its momentum is vast and majestic, capable of transforming all things. The ultimate truth that exhausts the mysterious and surpasses both the mundane and the sacred is surely found within this sūtra.
From this we may know that perfect harmony and selflessness, even when dwelling in obscurity, must inevitably radiate warmth and illumination; supreme spiritual subtlety, though formless, must necessarily pervade even the minutest detail; wondrous and ineffable accomplishments, though without a governing agent, must still reach even the farthest extremes. All of this arises because mind-consciousness has transcended conditioned fabrication, and thus the great trichiliocosm may together receive the illumination of the Buddha’s light; because the Great Way has reached the realm of non-action and non-doing, sincere responsiveness must inevitably penetrate without obstruction.
The Tathāgata, wishing to inspire and arouse the minds of the multitudes and to reveal the Buddha-nature inherent in all beings, therefore convened an assembly and proclaimed this teaching in the city of Śrāvastī. Devas, nāgas, spirits, and ghosts all listened together to this exceedingly profound instruction. Alas! Because beings in the Three Realms are constituted through indulgence in the five desires, the sūtra opens with the story of the maiden Mātaṅgī as the causal occasion illustrating lust. Because beings are bound by craving and desire and thus revolve through birth and death, the sūtra establishes Venerable Ānanda’s breaking of delusion as the foundation for the accomplishment of the Path. Thus, when speaking of “mind,” it encompasses it through no-mind; when showing compassion for the born, it guides them through the unborn; when discussing forms, it takes as its central aim the demolition of all realms of sensory dust; when expounding action, it presents liberation from all afflictions as the realm of bliss. This is likely intended to awaken people to the illusory and return them to the real.
As for the enumeration of the karmic causes and retributions of the thirty-six hells, and the ten categories of ghostly existence along with their respective karmic conditions, this is likely meant to expose the illusory manifestations that arise from ignorance of true reality. Without understanding True Suchness, one cannot arouse the mind of Bodhi; without destroying illusory defilements, one cannot awaken to the innate Buddha-nature of sentient beings. This Dharma-Gate is so subtle that those who truly comprehend it are already few. Those who can deeply investigate this sūtra and further disseminate its benefits widely throughout the world—I foresee that they will…
(Text breaks off here; remainder missing.)
Preface to The Great Buddha-Crown Tathāgata’s Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Supreme Scripture of the Myriad Practices
Spoken by Śramaṇa Shi Zupai of Quannan, Zhao-Song Dynasty
With utmost sincerity, I take refuge and bow in reverent homage. Namo Uṣṇīṣa Śūraṅgama King. This sūtra perfectly and completely embodies the Tathāgata’s secret causal ground, and also fully contains the Bodhisattvas’ myriad practices. It is the true Path of cultivation, a wondrous gateway to realization, through which the principles of the Great Vehicle are made clear and all phenomena are brought to ultimate completion.
The Dharma assembly arose after the summer retreat at Jetavana in the Garden of Anāthapiṇḍada, when King Prasenajit offered a great feast in almsgiving. At that time, the Buddha’s body shone with the purple-golden brilliance of refined gold, its radiance gathered and illuminating the ten directions. The Buddha’s voice in expounding the Dharma was gentle and harmonious like the song of the kalaviṅka bird, flowing throughout the entire Dharma realm. Bodhisattvas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges came forward to seek resolution of doubts in their minds, and kings and ministers from across the land also assembled, hoping to hear the essential meaning of the Buddha’s teaching.
The teaching arises from conditions. Venerable Ānanda, while begging for alms near a house of lust, narrowly escaped being deluded by the sorcery of the maiden Mātaṅgī and thereby breaking the precepts; this incident became the causal condition for the discourse. The Great Way must rely on human agency for its propagation. Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva was commanded to proclaim the secret Dhāraṇī to rescue and protect Ānanda. Thereupon, through the investigation of the mind at seven locations, the Buddha revealed that all conditioned mental functions are illusory, while the originally pure, wondrously luminous true mind is inherently complete. Through analyzing the eight aspects of seeing that are subject to return and change, he revealed the unreturnable, constant, and abiding true nature, showing that the faculty of seeing itself is originally true awakening—perfect and enduring.
The sūtra clearly marks the fundamental root of delusion and awakening, which makes icchantikas falling into mleccha; it reveals that both shared delusive perception and individual karmic delusive perception are futile madness, enabling icchantikas to shatter the accumulation of akṣa.
Venerable Pūrṇa, attached to appearances and unable to comprehend the nature, was instructed through an analysis of the roots of the four kinds of conditions, clarifying the principles of sameness and difference. King Prasenajit, perplexed as to whether existence ends in annihilation or abides eternally, was shown that within a single thought of mind-nature there is fundamentally no arising and no ceasing.
The substance of this wondrously luminous awakened nature is neither cause, nor condition, nor something that exists spontaneously; this refined and genuine faculty of seeing is neither a combination, nor a harmony, nor something separable from the present moment. Thus, although the six sense faculties are illusory, they are nothing other than the wondrously awakened Bodhi-mind; and although the seven elements pervade the Dharma realm, they are entirely the intrinsic nature of the Tathāgata Store.
If the three kinds of continuity are permanently severed, delusion will not arise—just as recognizing that the image in a mirror is merely a reflection of the head and not a real entity. If the two fundamental roots of birth and death are clearly discerned, one will suddenly awaken to the jewel hidden in one’s robe and no longer seek externally. When a golden bell is struck, the sound may cease, yet the faculty of hearing does not perish; when a silk scarf is tied into knots, all six knots are undone, until even the notion of “one” cannot be found. It is like a heavenly king bestowing a magnificently adorned house of treasures: the twenty-five sages each expounded their own path of realizing perfect penetration. It is also like a traveler long away from home—sentient beings in the ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, are all able to recognize the road back to their original nature and true home.
The Buddha commanded Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva to select the Dharma Gate of perfect penetration most suited to the capacities of beings in this world. Mañjuśrī declared that Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s method of perfect penetration through the faculty of hearing is indeed the most appropriate and skillful gateway for beings of this world to enter according to their dispositions. Moreover, the three trainings free from outflows are truly the pivotal mechanism of cultivation; the four clear and decisive instructions are in fact explicit teachings for upholding precepts in practice. Those who wish to recite and uphold the chapters of the secret words must establish a pure and solemn ritual platform. In this way, the immeasurable accumulated karmic offenses can melt away like ice, and all wholesome aspirations sought can be brought to perfect fulfillment.
Furthermore, the sūtra sets forth the sequential stages of cultivating the three gradual progressions, which were established as standards by the Buddhas of the past; it also establishes the fivefold layered title of the scripture as a guide and beacon for future practitioners. It is truly because of two kinds of inversion that the twelve classes of sentient beings come into existence. Beings revolve through the seven destinies interweaving the five layers of turbidity. Thereupon, the Buddha emitted a thousand kinds of light and rested upon a couch of seven treasures, deeply pitying wandering guests who are confused and fail to recognize the master, and grieving for beings who take thieves as their own sons. If one washes the mind and cultivates but fails to obtain the proper path, the fifty demonic states of the aggregates will appear to disturb one; when the realms of the Tathāgata and the Bodhisattvas interpenetrate, one transcends the forty-four mental stages.
Afterward, Ānanda respectfully received and upheld the Buddha’s subtle teachings, and Śākyamuni proclaimed genuine compassion, exhaustively revealing the illusory roots of the five aggregates. The merit of this surpasses offerings of precious treasures made by sentient beings throughout the ten directions. Even a poor person who gives a mere seven coins in charity may obtain the blessing of becoming a wheel-turning sage king; how much more so will a cultivator who, with a single pure thought, circulates and propagates this sūtra—such a person will certainly realize and attain Buddhahood.
This true vehicle of teaching, this profound and wondrous scripture, these secret words and efficacious passages—The Great Buddha-Crown Tathāgata’s Scripture of the Secret Cause, Cultivation, and Realization of the Ultimate Meaning, the Myriad Practices of All Bodhisattvas, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra—is a Dharma treasury of extraordinary depth and vastness.
———————
Śūraṅgama Dhāraṇī
(Section One)
namaḥ satata sugatāya arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya / satata buddha koṭy uṣṇīṣāya / namaḥ sarva buddha bodhisatvebhyaḥ / namaḥ saptānāṃ samyaksaṃbuddhā koṭīnāṃ saśrāvaka saṃghānāṃ / namo loke arhantānāṃ / namaḥ srotāpannānāṃ / namaḥ sakṛdāgāmināṃ / namaḥ anāgāmināṃ / namo loke samyaggatānāṃ samyakpratipannānāṃ /
namo devaṛṣiṇāṃ / namaḥ siddhāya vidyādharā ṛṣiṇāṃ śāpānugraha saha samarthānāṃ / namo brahmaṇe / nama indrāya / namo bhagavate rudrāya umāpati saheyāya / namo bhagavate nārāyaṇāya / pañca mahā samudrā namaskṛtāya / namo bhagavate mahākālāya tripuraṇakārāya vidrāpaṇa karāya / adhimukti śmaśāna nivāsini mātṛgaṇa namaskṛtāya / namo bhagavate tathāgata kulāya / namo padma kulāya / namo vajra kulāya / namo maṇi kulāya / namo gaja kulāya / namo bhagavate dṛḍhaśūrasena praharaṇa rājāya tathāgatāya arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya / namo bhagavate amitābhāya tathāgatāya arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya / namo bhagavate akṣobhyāya tathāgatāya arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya / namo bhagavate bhaiṣajya guruvaiḍūrya prabharājāya tathāgatāya arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya / namo bhagavate śākyamunaye tathāgatāya arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya / namo bhagavate ratnaketurājāya tathāgatāya arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya / tebhyo namaskṛtva imāṃ bhagavata stathāgato ṣñīṣaṃ sitātapatraṃ namāparājitāṃ pratyaṅgirāṃ / sarva bhūta graha nigrahaka karīṃ / paravidyā cchedanīṃ / akālamṛtyu paritrāyaṇa karīṃ / sarva bandhana mokṣanīṃ / sarva duṣṭa dusvapna nivāraṇīṃ / caturaśītīnāṃ graha sahasrāṇāṃ vidhvaṃsana karīṃ / aṣṭāviṃśatināṃ nakṣatrāṇāṃ prasādana karīṃ / aṣṭānāṃ mahāgrahāṇāṃ vidhvaṃsana karīṃ / sarva śatrū nivāraṇīṃ / gurāṃ dusvapnānāṃ ca nāśanīṃ / viṣa śastra agni udaka uttaka raṇīṃ / aparājitaṃ gurāṃ / mahābalāṃ caṇḍī mahādīptā mahātejā / mahā śvetāṃ jvala / mahā balā pāṇḍara vāsinī / ārya tārā bhṛkuṭīṃ ceva vijaya / vajramaleti viśrutāṃ padmakā vajrajihva ca / mālācevā parājita / vajrādaṇḍi viśālā ca / śanta vaideha pūjitāḥ / sumaya rūpaṃ mahāśvetā /ārya tārā mahābala aparā vajraśaṅkalā cevaḥ / vajrakumāriḥ kulan dharī / vajrahastāca vidyā / vidyā kāṃcana mālikāḥ / kusuṃbhaka ratnā / vairocana kulīyāyarthoṣñīṣa / vijṛmbhamāṇī ca vajrakanaka / prabhalocana vajrā tuṇḍī ca / śvetā ca kamalâkṣā śaśīprabha / ityete mudrāgaṇāḥ / sarve rakṣāṃ kurvantu itthā māmaśya (add your own name here)
(Section Two)
oṃ ṛṣigaṇa praśastāya sarva tathāgatoṣṇīṣām / hūṃ trūṃ jambhanakara / hūṃ trūṃ stambhana / hūṃ trūṃ paravidyā saṃbhakṣaṇakara / hūṃ trūṃ sarva yakṣa rākṣasa grahāṇāṃ vidhvaṃ sanakara / hūṃ trūṃ caturaśītīnāṃ graha sahasrāṇāṃ vidhvaṃsanakara / hūṃ trūṃ rakṣa rakṣa māṃ / bhagavām tathāgatoṣñīṣa pratyaṅgire mahā sahasrā bhuje sahasra śīrṣe / koṭī sahasra netre / abhedya jvalitā taṭaka / mahā vajrodāra tṛibhuvana maṇḍala / oṃ svastir bhavatu mama itthā māmaśya (add your own name here)
(Section Three)
rāja-bhaya cora-bhaya agni-bhaya udaka-bhaya viṣa-bhaya śastra-bhaya paracakra-bhaya durbhikṣa-bhaya aśani-bhaya akālamṛtyu-bhaya dharaṇībhūmi-kampāka-bhaya ulkāpāta-bhaya rājadaṇḍa-bhaya nāga-bhaya vidyu-bhaya / suparṇi-bhaya /
yakṣa-grahā rākṣasa-grahā preta-grahā / piśāca-grahā bhūta-grahā kumbhaṇḍa-grahā pūtana-grahā kaṭapūtana-grahā skanda-grahā apasmāra-grahā unmāda-grahā cchāyā-grahā herevati-grahā /
jātā-hārīnaṃ garbhā-hārīnaṃ rudhirā-hārīnaṃ māṃsā-hārīnaṃ medhā-hārīnaṃ majjā-hārīnaṃ jātā-hārīnīṃ jīvitā-hārīnaṃ pītā-hārīnaṃ vāntā-hārīnaṃ aśucyā-hārīnīṃ cittā-hārīnīṃ / teṣāṃ sarveṣāṃ / sarva grahāṇāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / parivrājaka kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / ḍākinī kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / mahāpaśupālya rudra kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / nārāyaṇā kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / tattvagaruḍêśāna kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / mahākāla mātṛgaṇa kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / kāpālika kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / jayakarā madhukara sarvārtha sādhaka kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / caturbhaginī kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / bhṛṅgiriṭika nandi-keśvara gaṇapati saheya kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / nagnaśramaṇa kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / arhat kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / vītarāga kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / vajrapāṇi guhya guhyakādhipati kṛtāṃ vidyāṃśa cchindayāmi kīlayāmi / rakṣa rakṣa māṃ / bhagavān itthā māmaśya (add your own name here)
(Section Four)
bhagavān sitātapatraṃ namostute asitānalārka / prabha sphuṭa vikasitātapatre / jvala jvala dara dara vidara vidara cchinda cchinda / hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā / he he phaṭ / amoghāya phaṭ / apratihātaya phaṭ / varapradā phaṭ / asura vidrāvaka phaṭ / sarva devebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva nāgebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva yakṣebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva gāndharvebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva pūtanebhyaḥ phaṭ / kaṭa pūtanebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva durlaṅghitebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva duṣprekṣitebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva jvarebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva apasmārebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva śramaṇebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva tirthikebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva tamondhakebhyaḥ phaṭ / sarva vidyārāśi cāryebhyaḥ phaṭ / jayakarā madhukara sarvārtha sādhakebhyaḥ phaṭ / vidyācāryebhyaḥ phaṭ / catur bhaginībhyaḥ phaṭ / vajra kaumāri vidyā rājebhyaḥ phaṭ / mahā pratyaṅgirebhyaḥ phaṭ / vajra śaṅkalāya pratyaṅgira rājāya phaṭ / mahā kālāya mahā mātṛ gaṇa namaskṛtāya phaṭ / vaiṣṇuvīye phaṭ / brahmaṇīye phaṭ / agnīye phaṭ / mahā kālīye phaṭ / kāla daṇḍīye phaṭ / maitrīye phaṭ / raudrīye phaṭ / cāmuṇḍīye phaṭ / kālarātrīye phaṭ / kāpālīye phaṭ / adhimuktaka śmaśāna vāsinīye phaṭ / yekecitta sattvasya mama ittaṃ mamâsya (add your own name here)
(Section Five)
duṣṭa-cittā amaitrī-cittā / ojā-hārā garbhā-hārā rudhirā-hārā vasa-hārā majjā-hārā jātā-hārā jīvitā-hārā balyā-hārā gandhā-hārā puṣpā-hārā phalā-hārā vasyā-hārā / pāpa-cittā duṣṭa-cittā raudra-cittā /
yakṣa-graha rākṣasa-graha preta-graha piśāca-graha bhūta-graha kumbhaṇḍa-graha skanda-graha unmāda-graha / cchāya-graha apasmāra-graha ḍākaḍākinī-graha revati-graha jamika-graha śakuni-graha matrnandika-graha ālambā-graha kaṇṭhapāṇi-graha /
jvara ekāhikā dvaitīyakā traitīyakā caturthakā nityajvarā viṣamajvarā vātikā paittikā śleṣmikā saṃnipatikā sarva-jvarā śirortti ardhavabheda arocaka akṣirogaṃ mukharogaṃ hṛdrogaṃ grahagalaṃ karṇa-śūlaṃ danta-śūlaṃ hṛdaya-śūlaṃ marma-śūlaṃ pārśva-śūlaṃ pṛṣṭha-śūlaṃ udara-śūlaṃ kaṭī-śūlaṃ vasti-śūlaṃ ūru-śūlaṃ jāṅgha-śūlaṃ hasta-śūlaṃ pāda-śūlaṃ sarvāṅga-pratyaṅga-śūlaṃ /
bhūta vetāḍa ḍākinī jvara dadruka kaṇḍūrā kiṭibhalūtā vaisarpa-lohāliṅga / śoṣa trasana gara viṣa-yoga agni udaka mara vaira kāntāra akālamṛtyu / tryambuka trailaṭaka vṛścika sarpa nakula / siṃgha vyāghra ṛkṣa tarakṣu / ārājīvikās teṣāṃ sarveṣāṃ / sitātapatraṃ mahā vajroṣñīṣaṃ mahā pratyaṅgiraṃ yāvadvādaśa yojanābhyantareṇa / vidyā bandhaṃ karomi / tejo bandhaṃ karomi / pāra vidyā bandhaṃ karomi / tadyathā oṃ anale viśade vīra vajra dhare bandha bandhani / vajrapāṇe phaṭ / hūṃ trūṃ phaṭ svāhā
Dharma Torch 