Śūraṅgama Sūtra


The Śūraṅgama Sūtra is a Mahayana Buddhist sutra that has been especially influential in Chan Buddhism. The general doctrinal outlook of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is that of esoteric Buddhism and Buddha-nature, with some influence from Yogacara. There have been questions regarding the translation of this sutra as it was not sponsored by the Imperial Chinese Court and as such the records regarding its translation in the early eighth century were not carefully preserved ; however, it has never been classified as apocrypha in any Chinese-language Tripitakas including the Taisho Tripitaka where it is placed in the Esoteric Sutra category. The sutra was translated into Tibetan during the late eighth to early ninth century and a complete translation exists in Tibetan, Mongolian and the Manchu languages. Current consensus is that the text is a compilation of Indic materials with extensive editing in China, rather than a translation of a single text from Sanskrit. A Sanskrit language palm leaf manuscript consisting of 226 leaves with 6 leaves missing was discovered in a temple in China; if verified, the questions regarding the origin of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra can be put to rest.

Title

The complete title preserved in, meaning:
An alternate translation of the title reads:
An original Sanskrit version of Śūraṅgama Sūtra is not known to be extant, and thus its full Sanskrit name is not known.
Śūraṅgama means "heroic valour", "heroic progress", or "heroic march".

The name of the ''Śūraṅgama Sūtra'' in different languages

A common translation of the sutra's name in English is the "Heroic March sutra", or the "scripture of the Heroic Progress".
The full title of the sutra is appears as:.
It is also known by abbreviated versions of the title such as or simply and more commonly.

[|History]

Authorship

The first catalogue that recorded the Śūraṅgama Sūtra was Zhisheng, a monk in Tang China. Zhisheng said this book was brought back from Guangxi to Luoyang during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. He gave two different accounts in two different books, both of which were published in 730 CE.
  1. According to the first account found in The Kaiyuan Era Catalog of the Buddhist Tripitaka the was translated in 713 CE by a Ven. Master Huai Di and an unnamed Indian monk.
  2. According to the second account, in his later book Continuation to the History of the Translation of Buddhist Sutras Mural Record, the was translated in May 705 CE by Śramaṇa Pāramiti from central India, who came to China and brought the text to the province of Guangzhou. The text was then polished and edited by Empress Wu Zetian's former minister, court regulator, and state censor Fang Yong of Qingho. The translation was reviewed by Śramaṇa Meghaśikha from Oḍḍiyāna, and certified by Śramaṇa Huai-di of Nanlou Monastery on Mount Luofu.
Dispute about this text arose in 8th century in Japan, so Emperor Kōnin sent Master Tokusei and a group of monks to China, asking whether this book was a forgery or not. A Chinese upasaka or layperson told the head monk of the Japanese monastic delegation, Master Tokusei that this was forged by Fang Yong. Zhu Xi, a 12th-century Neo-confucian who was opposed to Buddhism, believed that it was created during the Tang Dynasty in China, and did not come from India.
The Qianlong Emperor and the Third Changkya Khutukhtu, the traditional head tulku of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan/Vajrayana Buddhism in Inner Mongolia, believed in the authenticity of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. They later translated the Śūraṅgama Sūtra into the Manchu language, Mongolian and Tibetan.
In China during the early modern era, the reformist Liang Qichao claimed that the sutra is apocryphal, writing, "The real Buddhist scriptures would not say things like Surangama Sutra, so we know the Surangama Sutra is apocryphal. In the same era, Lü Cheng wrote an essay to claim that the book is apocryphal, named "One hundred reasons about why Shurangama Sutra is apocryphal".

Hurvitz claims that the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is "a Chinese forgery". Faure similarly claims that it is "apocryphal."
Ron Epstein gives an overview of the arguments for Indian or Chinese origin, and concludes:
A number of scholars have associated the Śūraṅgama Sūtra with the Buddhist tradition at Nālandā. Epstein also notes that the general doctrinal position of the sūtra does indeed correspond to what is known about the Buddhist teachings at Nālandā during this period.

Translations

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra was translated into Tibetan probably during the late eighth to early ninth century. However possibly because of the persecution of Buddhism during King Langdarma’s reign, only a portion of Scroll 9 and Scroll 10 of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra are preserved in the surviving two ancient texts. Interesting enough, Buton Rinchen Drub Rinpoche mentioned that one of the two texts was probably translated from Chinese; thereby suggesting the second text may have possibly been translated from Sanskrit.
The entire Śūraṅgama Sūtra was translated in 1763 from Chinese into the Manchu language, Mongolian and Tibetan languages and compiled into a quadralingual set by command of the Qianlong Emperor. The third Changkya Khutukhtu Rölpé Dorjé or 若必多吉 or Lalitavajra convinced the Qianlong Emperor to engaged in the translation. The third Changkya Khutukhtu supervised with the help of Fu Nai the translation of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. The complete translation of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra into Tibetan is found in a supplement to the Narthang Kangyur.
There are a few English translations:

Doctrinal orientation

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra contains teachings from Yogācāra, Buddha-nature, and Vajrayana. It makes use of Buddhist logic with its methods of syllogism and the catuṣkoṭi "fourfold negation" first popularized by Nāgārjuna.

Main themes

Some of the main themes of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra are the worthlessness of the Dharma when unaccompanied by samādhi power, and the importance of moral precepts as a foundation for the Buddhist practice. Also stressed is the theme of how one effectively combats delusions that may arise during meditation.
Ron Epstein and David Rounds have suggested that the major themes of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra reflect the strains upon Indian Buddhism during the time of its creation. They cite the resurgence of tribal influences, and the crumbling social supports for monastic Buddhist institutions. This era also saw the emergence of Hindu tantrism and the beginnings of Esoteric Buddhism and the siddha traditions. They propose that moral challenges and general confusion about Buddhism are said to have then given rise to the themes of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, such as clear understanding of principles, moral discipline, essential Buddhist cosmology, development of samādhi, and how to avoid falling into various delusions in meditation.

Two types of mind

David Rounds notes that the Buddha makes a very important distinction when teaching his cousin, Ananda, about his mind that there are in fact not one, but two different types of mind that we need to be aware of in our spiritual cultivation:

Tathagatagarbha

Rounds and Epstein explain the Buddha Nature, the Matrix of the Thus Come One as spoken of in the Surangama Sutra:

Śūraṅgama Samādhi

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra teaches about the Śūraṅgama Samādhi, which is associated with complete enlightenment and Buddhahood. This samādhi is also featured extensively in the Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sūtra, another Mahāyāna text. It is equally praised in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, where it is explained by the Buddha that this samādhi is the essence of the nature of the Buddha and is indeed the "mother of all Buddhas." The Buddha also comments that the Śūraṅgama Samādhi additionally goes under several other names, specifically Prajñāpāramitā, the Vajra Samādhi, the Siṃhanāda Samādhi, and the Buddhasvabhāva.

White Parasol Crown Dhāraṇī

In addition to the sūtra's contents, the dhāraṇī contained in it is known in Chinese as the Léngyán Zhòu, or Śūraṅgama Mantra. It is well-known and popularly chanted in East Asian Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the dhāraṇī is known as the "Sitātapatra Uṣṇīṣa Dhāraṇī". This is sometimes simplified in English to "White Canopy Dhāraṇī" or "White Parasol Dhāraṇī." In Tibetan traditions, the English is instead sometimes rendered as the "White Umbrella Mantra." The dhāraṇī is extant in three other translations found in the Chinese Buddhist canon, and is also preserved in Sanskrit and Tibetan.
According to Venerable Hsuan Hua, the dhāraṇī contains five major divisions, which "control the vast demon armies of the five directions":
as manifestations of the five skandhas are described in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. In its section on the fifty skandha-māras, each of the five skandhas has ten skandha-māras associated with it, and each skandha-māra is described in detail as a deviation from correct samādhi. These skandha-māras are also known as the "fifty skandha demons" in some English-language publications. Epstein introduces the fifty skandha-māras section as follows:

The Three Non-Outflow Studies

The Buddha explained five foremost precepts which must be upheld.
These precepts are the basis to samadhi which in turn reveals wisdom. The Buddha describes these four rules as clear and unalterable instruction on purity which transverse time and place. The same instructions were also transmitted from former Buddhas.
Even though one may have some wisdom and the manifestation of Chan samadhi, one is certain to enter the path of demons, spirits and deviants if he does not cease lust, killing and stealing respectively. Such people will revolve in the three paths and are bound to sink into the bitter sea of birth and death when their retribution ends.
If people make false claims to be Buddha or certified sages, such people will lose proper knowledge and vision, and later fall into sufferings of hells.

Influence

China

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra has been widely studied and commented on in China. Ron Epstein...
The Śūraṅgama Sūtra is one of the seminal texts of Chán Buddhism. It was first transmitted by Yuquan Shenxiu, the original sixth patriarch and the seminal figure of the Northern school. It "is connected with the enlightenment of" Changshui Zixuan from the Song dynasty and Hanshan Deqing from the Ming.
The Śūraṅgama Sūtra is being cited in case 94 of the Blue Cliff Record:
Dōgen commented on the verse "When someone gives rise to Truth by returning to the Source, the whole of space in all ten quarters falls away and vanishes":
The contemporary Chán-master Venerable Hsu Yun wrote a commentary on the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. Venerable Hsuan Hua was a major modern proponent of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, which he commented and used in his instructions on protecting and supporting the Proper Dharma. About the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, he said:

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