Back to feed
Slow Days·서른 사내의 생각

Surangama Sutra: The Perfect Penetration of the Twenty-Five Sages

NS
normalstory
cover image

Surangama Sutra: The Perfect Penetration of the Twenty-Five Sages

Perfect penetration: complete unobstructed pervasion, the principle of true suchness realized through wisdom. Its essence is complete and pervades all beings everywhere; its functioning is free and unobstructed and works through all existence.

The twenty-five practices of perfect penetration of the twenty-five sages.

The eighteen realms: perfect penetration through the six dusts, perfect penetration through the six faculties, perfect penetration through the six consciousnesses. The seven elements. Six liberations, one delusion: when one is untied, all are untied. Through hearing, seeing, or any one gateway, awakening can be reached.

Imokgeo: the method of resolving this.

(p. 179) Maitreya Bodhisattva rose from his seat and said that the desire to seek worldly fame had completely disappeared. He attained the most subtle and perfect samadhi of mind-consciousness and realized that even the pure and impure lands of the Buddhas filling space, and even their existence and nonexistence, all appear as transformations of mind itself. If the Buddha asks through what cause he attained complete penetration, then in his view it is best to closely contemplate that the ten directions arise only from consciousness, so that the knowing mind becomes perfectly bright, enters the truth of complete accomplishment, goes far beyond dependent arising and imagined attachment, and attains the patience of the unborn.

(p. 181) Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva rose together with fifty-two fellow bodhisattvas and said: if a son remembers his mother just as the mother remembers her son, then even though mother and son pass through many lives, they will never be far apart. If the mind of sentient beings remembers the Buddha and practices recitation of the Buddha's name, then whether now or in future lives they will surely see the Buddha. The distance from the Buddha will not be great, and without borrowing expedient means, the mind will naturally open. This is like a person steeped in fragrance whose body becomes perfumed; this is called the adornment of fragrant light.

He said that from the causal stage he entered the patience of the unborn through the mind of nianfo, remembrance of the Buddha, and that even in this world now he leads those who recite the Buddha's name into the Pure Land. If the Buddha asks through what cause he attained complete penetration, then in his view the best way is to make no special distinctions, discipline all six sense faculties, and let pure thought continue one after another until samadhi is entered.

(Minjoksa, Surangama Sutra)

* Dependent nature (uitagi-seong): something that does not arise easily from its own cause alone, but must wait for other conditions in order to arise.
* Imagined attachment (byeongye-sojip-seong): "imagined" means conjecturing and calculating in all directions; "attachment" means generating attachment to all good and evil through one's own emotions and desires. In other words, it refers to producing false discrimination, speculating in many directions, and becoming attached.

This English version was translated by Codex.

친절한 찰쓰씨
Written by
친절한 찰쓰씨

Pleasant Charles — UI/UX researcher at AIT. Keeping notes on design, planning, and slow days here since 2010.

More on the author's page

Keep reading

Slow Days

With a single thought, a whole world arises.

Apr 30, 2026·1 min
Slow Days

부유함은 상태가 아니라 감정이다

Feb 16, 2026·1 min
Slow Days

Reading a book next to my coding

Jan 18, 2026·1 min