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The Surangama Sutra: A Practical Study Guide


Great River Ekayana Sangha
dctendai.blogspot.com

In the summer and fall of 2012, Great River Ekayana Sanghaa group of Tendai Buddhists meeting in Arlington, Virginiaread and discussed together the Surangama Sutra, in the 2009 Buddhist Text Society edition. I presented these questions each week with the intention to promote a meaningful discussion of the most important aspects of the text. You can find out more about our group and our practice at our blog, our facebook page, and at the website of our home temple in upstate New York, the Tendai Buddhist Institute, of which we are a branch. If you have any questions or would like to participate, please feel free to contact the author at JikanAnderson@gmail.com . The study questions below are divided into manageable sections. Our group took up one section each week; this seemed to be a healthy pace, so I have reproduced it here. For pages 5-28 (including the Prologue, "The Request for Dharma," and "The Location of the Mind") *What is going on with Ananda? What is he up to? What is his problem? *How would you describe Buddha Shakyamuni's teaching style in this section? For pages 29-38 ("The Conditioned Mind and the True Mind") *What is the difference between the conditioned mind and the true mind? *Does this distinction shed any light on Ananda's present situation and his attempts at spiritual practice? For Part II, "The Nature of Visual Awareness," pages 41-86 *General advice: It helps to approach this section with a gentle sense of humor. *A sangha member, Kansei, describes this section as being like a Socratic dialogue: Ananda puts forward a proposition, and the Buddha demonstrates how that proposition is upside-down and backwards. What does this method tell us about the Buddha's approach to teaching and learning? How does the Buddha expect people to learn? Another way to approach this question: What is it that Ananda has avoided doing in his own practice? What is the Buddha trying to teach Ananda, and through his

2 example, us here and now? *The question, "What is the nature of visual awareness?" is considered at length in this section. Why is this of concern? What is the purpose behind laboring over this particular point? *What is the nature of visual awareness, according to the Buddha? Why does this matter? Related question: What does it mean to be "without outflows"? For Part III, "The Matrix of the Thus-Come One," pages 89-137 *Context: "Matrix of the Thus-Come One" in this text translates the Sanskrit term Tathagatagarbha (Tathagata means "Thus Come One" and garbha means something like "matrix," but there are other translations available). This concept is also translated as Buddha-nature or Buddha-potential in contemporary discourse, and is a familiar doctrine in other materials we have read together such as the Awakening of Faith or the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment. *The Buddha categorically reviews each part of the known world through several classification systems (the five aggregates and so on). He argues in each case that nothing apparent comes into being on its own, nor by causes and conditions. This appears to contradict the Buddhist teaching of dependent origination, according to which everything comes into being and falls away by causes and conditions, so it is important to consider this bold claim carefully. How is it that the Buddha rejects the idea that things arise and have their being (such as it is) due to causes and conditions? What is he getting at here? *Meanwhile, the sutra also claims that all these categories are in themselves the Matrix of the ThusCome One. Is there anything that is not so, according to the Sutra? What does it mean in practical to consider consciousness and objects of consciousness as the space or mind or potential of the Buddha? *Checking in on Ananda: by p. 137, he seems to be coming around to the Buddha's way of thinking and practicing. What has he learned so far, and what does he have left to learn in your view? For Part IV, "The Coming into Being of the World of Illusion," pp. 141-166 *Here, in an exchange with Purna and (again) Ananda, the Buddha resolves many of the outstanding issues from the previous sections. To do this, he describes the way n which the world that ordinary beings like us experience seems to arise. *What is meant by "adding understanding to understanding"? *What is the difference between a Buddha (one who "gets it") and an ordinary being? *How does experience arise for an ordinary being? *Ananda gets scolded again: for what? What is the Buddha trying to teach him at this point?

3 PS: The chapter "The Interfusing of the Primary Elements" (pages 153-158) may make for difficult reading at first, but diligence is rewarded because in this section the teaching of Buddha nature is presented directly in clearly. All it takes is some patience with the unfamiliar and, to some American readers, seemingly high-flown language. Enjoy! For Part V, "Instructions for Practice," pages 169-201. *Here, the Buddha seems to shift tactics in teaching the Sangha. He relies less on elaborate logic than in previous sections, and more on concrete analogies: objects such as a scarf or the sound of a bell that can be experienced with the senses of those present. Why do you suppose the Buddha takes this approach at this point? *What are some of the Buddha's specific instructions for the practice of the Path? How do these emerge from or relate to the material presented previously? *This may be a good time to consider the elements of the supernatural that are described in the sutra. The Buddha's hands are webbed and his skin appears as purple-toned gold; at one point, the light of all the Buddhas in all directions floods the hall. How does this impact you as a reader? How do your values, preconceptions, and expectations interact with this spectacle? By contrast, how might the members of a Chinese farming village in the year 1000 respond to hearing it, do you imagine? For Part VI, "Twenty-Five Sages," pages 205-259 *This section opens with another of Ananda's particularities. What is Ananda after here; what is he trying for? How does the Buddha respond? *Once again, Buddha Shakyamuni adjusts his teaching method to suit the needs of his students. What does he do in this chapter? *There is a certain symmetry or correspondence between Part 6 and Part 3, "The Matrix of the ThusCome One." How does this later section develop, or reinforce, or recontextualize (choose the verb you like) that earlier section's teachings? *What are the unique capacities and practices of "the Bodhisattva who Hears the Cries of the World," Avalokiteshvara (also known as Kanzeon, Kannon, Guan Yin, Kwanseum)? Why does Manjushri recommend this path for Ananda, and for beings in "the Dharma's ending-time"? For Part VII, "Four Clear and Definitive Instructions on Purity," pages 263-276 *How would you characterize the Buddha's ethical teachings in this section? What is emphasized? Is there anything one might expect to find here that is not definitely indicated? *For whom are these teachings given (i.e., monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen...)? For anyone and everyone under all circumstances?

For Part VIII, "The Surangama Mantra," pages 279-307 In this passage, the sutra turns once again: from exhortations on ethical purity, to the essentially esoteric matters of establishing a ritually pure space, and the recitation of the Surangama dharani (also called a mantra). *Rather than attempting to probe these matters of faith analytically, I would invite you to consider them as means to an end. These practices, particularly the recitation of mantra and dharani, have a long history as spiritual practices, which is to say, as methods, as means. The best way to find out how such practices work is to give them a good-faith try. How? *The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, a Soto Zen group, has prepared an English translation of the dharani. It is chantable and elegant, although some of the word choices are unconventional (for instance, what exactly is a "daemon" and what has it to do with Buddhism?). If you are interested, you can find it here. I have recited and copied this translation myself, and found it beneficial. For Part IX, "Levels of Being," pages 313-388 *How is Ananda doing at this point? Is he beginning to ask better questions? *This section describes two phenomena: the stages one passes through in the Buddhist path, and the trajectories of individuals' lives according to their habits of body, speech, and mind (samsara). Some basic questions follow from this: *How does one develop through these stages? *Considering the experiences of hells and ghosts worlds and god realms described here: how do these arise? Are these real in any way, and if so, in what way? *Why do you suppose these two topics, the path and the characteristics of samsaric life, described together? What kind of relation is there between the two descriptions? For Part X: "Fifty Demonic States of Mind," pages 391-404 *The title of this section evokes the supernatural, a world of demons and spirits. What are the fifty demonic states described? How do they emerge, naturally or supernaturally or otherwise? In what context are they presented? *Is there a way in which this material follows logically from previous sections in this sutra? If so, how does it follow? *How does body relate to mind and vice versa in this section?

5 I wish to extend the virtue of these verses to all sentient beings. Together may we progress along the Buddha path of liberation. --"Soeko," from the Tendai Daily Service

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