Practices and Vows of
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva

Chapter Forty, New Edition

 

 

SUTRA: 

In one thought I see in the three periods of time,
All the Lions Among Men,
And also constantly enter the states of the Buddhas
And their liberation like an illusion, and their awe-inspiring powers. 

On the tip of an extremely fine hair,
Appear the adorned kshetra-lands of the three periods of time.
On a hair tip are the kshetra-lands of the ten directions as numerous as particles.
I deeply enter, beautify, and purify them all. 

All of the illuminating Lamps of the World of the future
Who accomplish the path, turn the Wheel of Dharma, and awaken living beings;
I go to visit and draw near to them all
As they complete the Buddha’s work and manifest Nirvana. 

I quickly complete the spiritual powers,
The power of thoroughly entering the Mahayana through the Universal Door,
The power of cultivating all merit and virtue through wisdom and practice.
The power of the awe-inspiring spirit to shield all with great kindness. 

COMMENTARY: 

In one thought I see in the three periods of time. In a period of time as short as a single thought, I see all the Buddhas of the ten directions and the three periods of time. All the Lions Among Men refers to all Buddhas. And also constantly enter into the states of the Buddhas...I always enter into the states of the Buddhas. What are the states of the Buddhas? They are inconceivable states. An inconceivable state means one in which one thought is myriad kalpas, and myriad kalpas are but one thought. Most people without wisdom or the roots of goodness cannot believe this. Because they lack wisdom, they cannot fathom these states.

And their liberation like an illusion, and their awe-inspiring powers. Entering the Buddhas’ state is just like entering samadhi which is like an illusion. Samadhi which is like an illusion is also the samadhi of liberation. One is liberated from everything, and everything is like an illusion or a transformation. One has spiritual powers in which one can playfully roam everywhere to purify Buddha lands and one teaches and transforms living beings. This is the state of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, which in general is an inconceivable state. This is the samadhi which is like an illusion. If you say it is true, it is still like an illusion, and if you say it is false, yet it contains something real. It is also a real state. The illusion-like samadhi and liberation is accompanied by the awesome power and great awesome virtue of spiritual powers.

On the tip of an extremely fine hair. On the tip of a hair within a minute particle, appear the adorned kshetra-lands of the three periods of time. Thus there is a saying,

The kshetra-lands of the Jeweled King appear on the tip of a hair.
Sitting on a minute particle, he turns the Wheel of Dharma.

This is the same kind of state expressed by these lines of the Sutra. That is, there “appear the adorned kshetra-lands of the three periods of time.” These are the adorned kshetra-lands of the Buddhas of the three periods of time.

On a hair tip are the kshetra-lands of the ten directions as numerous as particles. All the lands of the ten directions as numerous as smallest atomic particles in a kshetra-land can appear on the tip of one hair. I deeply enter, beautify, and purify them all. And in these kshetra-lands of the Jeweled King on each hair-tip, I turn the great wheel of Dharma. By means of the power of the ten great king of vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, I deeply enter this state, adorn all lands, purify the Buddha lands, and teach and transform living beings.

All of the illuminating Lamps of the World of the future refers to all the Buddhas of the future. Who accomplish the path, turn the Wheel of Dharma, and awaken living beings; all the Buddhas attain the path, turn the Wheel of Dharma, and teach and transform all living beings. To “awaken living beings” is to teach and transform all sentient beings. I go to visit and draw near to them all. When each Buddha is about to enter Nirvana, I will go to his Bodhimanda and draw near to him. As they complete the Buddha’s work and manifest Nirvana. After they have completed all of their work as Buddhas, they manifest Great Nirvana.

I quickly complete the spiritual powers. They will cause me to quickly complete and perfect all of my vows and spiritual powers. The power of thoroughly entering the Mahayana through the Universal Door. I use the power of the practices and vows that manifest through the Universal Door to totally enter the ocean of all the teachings of the Great Vehicle. The power of cultivating all merit and virtue through wisdom and practice. This is the power of my wisdom, the practice of deep Prajna, and the power of my complete cultivation of all merit and virtue. The power of the awe-inspiring spirit to shield all with great kindness. My great awesome virtue and the power of great, kind, and compassionate vows shield all living beings everywhere.

SUTRA: 

The power of supreme blessings to purify and adorn everywhere,
The power of wisdom that is unattached and without reliance,
The awe-inspiring power of samadhi, wisdom, and skill-in-means,
The power to universally accumulate Bodhi. 

The power of purifying all good karma,
The power of eradicating all afflictions,
The power of subduing all demons,
The power to perfect all of Samantabhadra’s practices. 

I am able to adorn and purify everywhere the ocean of kshetra-lands,
And liberate the ocean of all living beings.
I’m well able to discern all Dharmas, like an ocean,
And can deeply enter into the ocean of wisdom. 

COMMENTARY: 

The power of supreme blessings to purify and adorn everywhere. “Everywhere” means to pervade everywhere. Purify means to make pure. It’s the power of the supreme blessings that pervades everywhere and purifies all that is cultivated. “Supreme blessings” distinctly surpasses all others. Ordinary people do not possess these kinds of blessings. What kind of blessings are these? These sorts of blessings transcend the three realms of existence. They are the blessings and virtue of the Bodhisattvas and those that are cultivated by the Buddhas.

Why do I say that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can possess this kind of power of supreme blessings? With the exception of the Buddhas, only the Bodhisattvas can possess these kinds of adornments and supreme blessings that reach everywhere and purify everything. The Buddha’s body is called the body adorned with both blessings and wisdom, and so is the Bodhisattva’s body. The bodies of both are adorned or beautified with blessings and wisdom, which can only come about from cultivation for measureless numbers of kalpas. They cultivated all kinds of roots of goodness and did various kinds of good deeds throughout measureless numbers of kalpas, and so they can be adorned with superior blessings. Therefore, these kinds of adornments are the adornments of blessings and virtue.

The power of wisdom that is unattached and without reliance. Since blessings and virtue are supreme, wisdom should also be supreme. What kind of wisdom is supreme? It is the wisdom without any attachment. To have no attachments is to also be without any reliance. Dependence or reliance on something is attachment, and attachment is dependence. Being without attachment is the power of wisdom that is unattached and without reliance.

The intellect of ordinary people has attachments. Whatever state they perceive, they become attached to that state or experience. They cannot attain liberation. The wisdom of liberation is the wisdom of true understanding that is without any attachments. If you are attached, then you cannot truly understand, and you do not have real wisdom. Your inferior wisdom is called worldly eloquence and intelligence. This is a kind of intelligence that uses mundane wisdom to debate or argue with others. So there is attachment to things in worldly eloquence and intelligence.

The awe-inspiring power of samadhi, wisdom, and skill-in-means. If you do not have the power of samadhi, you cannot produce the power of wisdom; if you do not have the power of wisdom, your power of samadhi can’t come forth. If you have the power of great wisdom, then you have the power of samadhi. If you have no samadhi, you cannot be one who has great wisdom. Where does the power of samadhi come from? It comes from the power of the moral precepts. If you do not hold precepts, then you cannot have the power of samadhi, and without the power of samadhi, you do not have the power of wisdom. To be without the power of wisdom is to be without the power of the moral precepts.

If you have wisdom, then you can hold the moral precepts. But those without wisdom cannot hold the precepts. Why is this? It is because of extreme ignorance. If one’s ignorance is too severe, then one has no wisdom. If one is without wisdom and breaks the moral precepts, one feels that one has not broken them. One still believes that one has upheld the moral precepts. Why? This is because one is really foolish. One believes that one’s violation of the moral precepts was not a violation. This is called transgressing without realizing one has transgressed. One does not recognize that one has broken the precepts.

What is the power of “skill-in-means?” The Dharma of skill-in-means is an unfixed Dharma. The Dharma of skill-in-means is to “contemplate and teach according to the conditions and speak the Dharma for the sake of individuals.” This means to contemplate the potentials and conditions and then speak the Dharma appropriate to that particular person. So one contemplates the conditions of the listener and speaks the Buddha- dharma. Therefore, it is said, “One bestows the particular teaching to each individual; one prescribes the medicine that is suitable to cure his illness.” You speak the Buddha-dharma specifically for that person. You prescribe the medicine for that illness. This is the meaning of the Dharma of skill-in-means.

If you have skill-in-means, you must also have “awe-inspiring spiritual powers.” “Awe-inspiring” refers to awe-inspiring virtue. What is awe- inspiring virtue? It is that which causes awe in others. Spiritual powers means that for example, someone may lie to you and think he is very clever because he deceived you. However, with your spiritual powers he cannot cheat you. This is what is meant by awe-inspiring spiritual power.

The power to universally accumulate Bodhi. Everything whatsoever comes about because of progression. The great comes from the small; one goes from near to far; and one enters the deep from the shallow. Bodhi is also cultivated to accomplishment bit by bit; one does not achieve it in one day. Shakyamuni Buddha “cultivated blessings and wisdom for three great asamkhyeya kalpas.” This is to accumulate Bodhi. “For one hundred kalpas he cultivated to attain the hallmarks and subsidiary features.” This is also to accumulate Bodhi.

What does it mean to accumulate Bodhi? For example, all of you began to learn the Buddha-dharma at the beginning of last year. This is what is meant by learning Bodhi. To learn the Buddha-dharma is the same as learning Bodhi. And learning Bodhi is to accumulate Bodhi. To accumulate means to amass, to collect, or gather together. From the time you began your learning of Bodhi until the present, your Bodhi has increased day by day. And your understanding of the Buddha-dharma has also increased each day. When you first began learning the Buddha-dharma, you did not understand anything that I said. After a time you could understand a little. This is accumulating Bodhi. Then after having listened for a long time, you could understand everything that I said. You say, “Oh, originally that’s the way it is!”

Why were you able to understand everything? Because you have accumulated Bodhi. You understand the Buddha-dharma. This is called accumulating Bodhi. In order to accumulate Bodhi, you must have strength and you need to have perseverance. It will not work if you accumulate Bodhi today but not tomorrow. When you do not continue for a day, then what you have accumulated will be diminished by a day. If you learn Bodhi today, but not tomorrow, you will lose what you have learned, and you won’t understand.

For example, our young novice here told everyone he would be gone for two weeks, but he did not return for six weeks. He was away three times as long as he said he would be. During those six weeks he lost a lot of Bodhi, but he does not feel this is the case. He doesn’t know how he lost it. By not attaining it, one is actually losing it. Instead of studying the Buddha-dharma, he ran off and bounced around from one place to another. During this time he was not accumulating Bodhi, but caused it to be dispersed.

From this explanation, it is easy for all of you to understand the principle of accumulating Bodhi. If you learn the Buddha-dharma, you accumulate Bodhi. If you do not learn the Buddha-dharma, you lose Bodhi. Bodhi is enlightenment. So if you lose Bodhi, you are not enlightened. You are not enlightened to the fact that you are mistaken. And you are not enlightened to or aware that you have wasted all of your time. You had such a good opportunity to learn the Buddha-dharma, but you casually went running around from place to place. Wouldn’t you say that this is foolish? Foolish people cannot accumulate Bodhi.

In order to accumulate the power of Bodhi, you must have the power of samadhi, wisdom, and spiritual powers that were previously mentioned. The power of Bodhi refers to the power of enlightenment. And enlightenment refers to understanding things you did not previously understand. For example, now you can say, “Before I didn’t understand the Buddha-dharma, but now as soon as I hear it, I understand it, even to the point where I understand it without having heard it.”

Fundamentally, cultivating the power of the moral precepts is very important. One must uphold the moral precepts. For example, to casually drink a little wine is not to maintain the moral precepts. To casually engage in improper behavior is to not uphold the moral precepts. To casually indulge in confused activities is to not accumulate Bodhi. If you transgress the precepts, not only do you not acquire Bodhi, you are actually losing Bodhi.

The power of purifying all good karma. When we do good things, why do we not become Buddhas? It is because our good karma is mixed with bad karma. We may do good deeds, but within the good we do there is some evil. Or we may do bad deeds, but within them there is some good.

What does it mean to do a good deed, which contains some bad? You may happen upon a poor person who has nothing to eat and no clothes to wear, and you decide to help him. After you have helped him, you try to take advantage of him. “I was good to him before. Now he should do some volunteer work for me, and I won’t need to give him too much money.” If you have helped someone, and then ask him to do something for you, of course he will feel embarrassed to ask you to pay him for his work. For example, he works for one day and should receive twenty dollars, and you give him ten dollars. Without it being readily apparent, it’s ten dollars less expensive for you. This is an example of doing something good and yet harboring a selfish motive. Giving him ten dollars in this situation has no merit and virtue.

In general, you do good with an ulterior motive. That is, you want something. What do you want? You want to get extremely good rewards in the future for doing some good deed now. So the good karma you created is not pure, because the good karma is mixed with bad karma. It is impure. Whatever good things we do, for example when we help other people, should be done without any hope for benefit in return. If you want people to benefit you, then you’re being selfish. Basically you are not helping others but are only helping yourself. If you were really helping others and not yourself, why would you hope that others would help you? Why do you want them to have a good impression of you? Explain that. Now you help others, and yet you hope they will be grateful to you, thank you, and help you in the future. Is this not greed? Having a greedy mind like this is not truly helping people.

The way to truly benefit others and to truly do good deeds is described in this saying,

When doing good for others, don’t seek for a reward.
Having given things to others, do so without regrets.

Whenever you do something good for anyone, you should not seek for a reward. Others may return your favor in the future, but that is up to them. You should not hope for or cling to these conditions. Wishing for this is just clinging to conditions.

For example, some people who do good deeds like to make offerings to the Three Jewels. However, whenever they offer something, they make an announcement or put an advertisement in the newspaper. There is a person who visits our temple occasionally with some vegetables, fruit, or something else, which he has bought. Whenever he comes, it is certain that he will want everyone to see what he has brought. It’s as if he’s saying, “Look at me! I’m a Dharma protector. I’m a great Dharma protector! I’ve come to make offerings to the Three Jewels!” Take a look at this. This is not true goodness. There is another saying,

Good that you want others to see is not true good.
Evil that you try to conceal from others is great evil.

“When doing good for others, don’t seek for a reward.” Do not seek a recompense from anyone you benefit. “ Don’t regret good deeds you have done for others.” After you have given someone something, do not think, “That’s really too bad. I shouldn’t have given it to him.” Once you have given something to others, that’s it. The material things of this world should be used by the people in this world.

The verse I quoted says, “Good that you want others to see is not true good.” If you do a good deed and want others to know about it, then it is not true good. Why? Because you are greedy for fame. You hope people will say, “That person is truly someone who does good deeds. I’ve seen him do good deeds.” You want everyone to know about this. You wish to put an advertisement in the newspaper. This is not true goodness. It is false. However, even though it is false giving, it is a little better than doing nothing at all. You wish to do something that is false, but gradually it can become true. If you don’t even do what is false, then that is worse.

“Evil that you try to conceal from others is great evil.” To do bad deeds and fear that people will know about them is the greatest evil. To do good deeds that you would like others to see is not pure good karma.

You might ask, “If I should do good things without the desire to have people know about them, then should I do good in secret so that others will not know?” No. This is not necessary. You do not need to let others know, and you do not need to conceal your deeds from others. If you are determined to do good deeds in secret, you are still seeking for fame. You are seeking for recognition as a person whose good deeds are not known by others. It is seeking for fame just the same.

Then how should you be? The most important aspect of cultivating the path is right here. You should not purposely want to be seen by other people. You also do not want to purposely avoid being seen. Act as if not acting. When you do things, do them as if you were not doing anything. If you do things and tell people about your good activities, that is just wanting to have recognition or fame.

However, to conceal your good deeds is another manifestation of desiring fame. You wish to be recognized as someone who does things without wanting people to know about them. This is the difficult aspect of cultivating the path. If you do good things and want people to know about them, then you have an attachment. If you don’t want people to know about them, you also have an attachment. What should you do? Act as if nothing is going on. Do not be attached. Do not be particularly concerned whether other people know about your deeds or don’t know about them. You should think, “I’m doing this deed as if I haven’t done anything.” If you haven’t done anything, then how could you wish for fame or not wish for fame? You couldn’t. There wouldn’t be any such thought at all. Just that is pure, good karma. Pure good karma is pure Dharma. The power of purifying all good karma is especially great.

The power of eradicating all afflictions. “To eradicate,” means to destroy or extinguish. What is destroyed? Your afflictions are destroyed. This is most difficult. You are capable of accomplishing just about anything. However, to destroy your afflictions is something you find most difficult to do. Afflictions are without end. Since they are endless, they are the hardest to destroy. Yet you still want to destroy them.

One of the Four Vast Vows is, “I vow to cut off the infinite afflictions.” To vow to cut them off means to eradicate them. If you cut them off, where do they go? From where do you cut them off? How do you cut them off? How do you destroy them? If they are not produced, then they are destroyed. Not to give rise to afflictions in the first place is to eradicate them. If you give rise to afflictions, your afflictions have not been eradicated. If there is production, then there will be destruction. If there is destruction, then there will be production. If, however, you are without production or destruction, then you will be without afflictions, and just that is to eradicate all afflictions.

There are very many afflictions. Due to the constraints of time, we can say that they are greed, hatred, and delusion. These are the most fundamental afflictions. If your mind is without greed, hatred, and delusion, then you have the power to eradicate all afflictions.

We say that we vow to cut off afflictions. You can make another vow. What vow can you make? I vow not to cut off my afflictions. If you do not cut them off, then what is the purpose of keeping them? Keeping them can be very useful. If you cut off your afflictions, you cut off Bodhi as well. So I do not teach you to cut off your afflictions. “Afflictions are just Bodhi.” What should you do with them if you do not cut them off? Change them. How do you change your afflictions?

This is the change that means to transform, as in the phrase “infinite changes and transformations.” Everyone pay attention to “infinite changes and transformations.”

The Doctrine of the Mean says,

From movement there is change.
And from change there comes transformation.
Only a person with utmost sincerity in the world can bring about a transformation.

Therefore, you want to transform your afflictions. The important point is right here. The text says to cut them off. Now, I’m changing it to “change them.” You want to change your afflictions, not cut them off. If you cut them off, then you cut off Bodhi. Why? Because afflictions are just Bodhi.

How can you transform your afflictions? Of course there is a method to do this. Nowadays science has advanced and chemistry is well developed. Afflictions are Bodhi. Before we said they should be cut off, but now I’m saying we should transform them. What’s the method to transform them? Now I will use a metaphor. Afflictions are ice, and Bodhi is water. If you smash the ice and put it away, that is the same as cutting it off. When you do that with afflictions, then there is no Bodhi either. But if you take the ice and melt it in sunlight, then it will change to become water. Water is analogous to Bodhi. Therefore, the principle that afflictions are Bodhi is just like this. If you transform your afflictions, like changing ice to water, they become the inherently existent Buddha nature. This is Bodhi or the Way of Enlightenment.

This is a very simple principle and I have often explained this to you. However, you have not paid close attention to it, so you are not able to use it. If you strike someone on the head with a chunk of ice the size of a tea cup, it can fracture his skull and he will start bleeding. You could even kill him and quickly send him off to see King Yama. This is what can be done with a piece of ice. But if you melt the ice into water, and personally throw a bowlful of water with as much force as possible—even a thousand or ten thousand pounds of force—at someone’s head, it will not harm him. He will feel the force of water on his head, but cannot be killed by it. This analogy shows that if you use the Bodhi mind to teach and transform living beings, they will be very happy to accept it. But if you use afflictions to teach and transform them, even at the risk of their own lives, they will refuse to accept your teaching. They would rather die than accept your teaching. Ice and water are basically the same thing, but when ice changes to become water, this minor transformation makes a big difference.

Therefore, we should transform our afflictions and not cut them off. If we cut them off, then we will be without Bodhi as well. If you throw away the ice, which can kill a person, then you will not have the water either.

Where do afflictions come from? They come from Bodhi. However, they have changed into ice. So we can say that ice is water and water is ice.

Afflictions are just Bodhi. If you are capable of using them, they are Bodhi. But if you are not capable of using them, they are afflictions. When you’re capable of using them, it is inexpressibly wonderful. If you are not capable of using them, it is inexpressibly crude and meaningless. For this reason, I tell all of you not to cut off your afflictions, but to keep them.

The power of subduing all demons. “To subdue demons” means to prevent them from disturbing your cultivation of the path and even have them become your Dharma protectors. There are many ways to subdue demons. You can subdue demons with your own spiritual powers, subdue demons with your own strength of the path, or subdue demons with your own virtuous practices. You can subdue demons with your own samadhi- power, subdue demons with your own wisdom-power, or subdue demons with your own power of moral discipline. There are many different ways to subdue demons.

There is not just one kind of demon. There are heavenly demons, earthly demons, demons among people, weird ghostly demons, and li mei and wang liang ghostly demons. There are also the demons of states, sickness demons, and demons of your own mind. External demons which include heavenly demons, earthly demons, demons among people, ghostly demons, and li mei and wang liang ghostly demons are not hard to subdue. Only the demons of your own mind are difficult to subdue. The demons of your own mind are always present inside your mind. They cause you to engage in immoral behavior. The most difficult to subdue are the demons of your own mind. If your power of upholding the moral precepts is solid and strong, and you have the true power of the precepts, then even if all the demon kings came to challenge you, none of their demon king spells could shake or disturb your power of the moral precepts. If you have samadhi power, you will also be able to subdue all demons.

So it is said,

If a great mountain collapses in front of you, you are not afraid.

Regardless of how big the mountain is, if it crumbles right before you, you’re not frightened at all.

If a beautiful woman appears before you, you are not moved.

The most difficult moral transgression for a person to resist is the demon of lust. Whether you are a man or a woman, it is difficult to remain steadfast when the demon of lust comes. The demon of lust may use the body of an ordinary person to challenge you, or it may manifest a transformation body to challenge you, or it may challenge you in your dreams. You may not move when it appears in a transformation body or as a person. However, in order to steal your treasures, it comes to bother you in your dreams. In your dream it appears as the most beautiful woman to seduce you. If you do not have enough samadhi power, you will be troubled by this demon of lust.

If you are a man, the demon of lust will appear as a woman. If you are a woman, it will appear as a man. When it manifests as a man, it will either appear as a very handsome man or as the person the woman most likes in ordinary life. At this point, if a woman’s samadhi power is insufficient, she will be turned by this demonic state. If she does have enough samadhi power, she will not be moved by these demonic states.

To sum it up, there are many kinds of demons. And there are many ways to subdue these demons as well. If you have the power of wisdom, you can subdue demons. If you have the jeweled wisdom sword, then when any demon king comes, you can kill him. What kinds of people are moved by these demons? They are all people who are foolish and without any wisdom.

After all this discussion, ultimately what does “demon” mean? It refers to the Sanskrit term Mara. Mara translates into English as “killer.” Demons specialize in destroying people. What kind of people do they destroy? Those who cultivate the path. If you wish to cultivate the path, demons will want to come and destroy your karma in the path. Now we are talking about “the power to subdue all demons.” What else can you use to subdue demons? You can use the power of mantras to subdue demons. If you can successfully hold mantras, then you can subdue all demons. If you can skillfully recite Sutras, then you can subdue all demons. If you bow to Sutras to the point that you invoke a response, you can also subdue all demons. Therefore, there are many ways to subdue demons. Since there are many kinds of demon kings, there are many methods to subdue them. The important question is whether or not one can use them at the appropriate time.

Talking about holding mantras, the Shurangama Mantra is made up of five assemblies or sections. And these five assemblies correspond to five divisions. The middle division is the Buddha division. The eastern division is the Vajra Division. The southern division is the Jeweled Birth Division. The western division is called the Lotus Division. The northern division is called the Accomplishment Division. In the Buddha Division, in the center, Vairochana Buddha is the host. This is just Shakyamuni Buddha. In the Vajra Division in the East, Akshobhya Buddha is the host. Ratnasambhava Buddha is the host Buddha for the southern division. Amitabha Buddha is the host for the western Lotus Flower Division. Amoghasiddhi is the host for the Accomplishment Division in the north, which is also called the Karma Division.

The five directions with their five divisions have five kinds of dharmas.

The first is the dharma for extinguishing catastrophes, which can dispel and extinguish all kinds of disasters and difficulties.

The second is called the dharma for increasing and benefiting. When you recite the mantra, it will help to strengthen your resolve for the path and to increase your wisdom, so that everything you encounter will be beneficial. This is called the dharma for increasing and benefiting.

The third is the dharma for subduing. This refers to using the great spiritual power of the mantra to subdue you so that you are very well behaved and obedient. You must behave yourself. This is called the dharma for subduing.

The fourth is called the dharma of hooking and summoning. What is the dharma of hooking and summoning? If a demon is a thousand miles away, ten thousand miles away, a million miles away, or a billion miles away from you, even to the point that it is in another world or on another celestial body, when you recite the mantra you can hook and summon him like grabbing him with a hook and bringing him to you. It’s impossible for this demon to avoid coming to you. This is called the dharma of hooking and summoning.

The fifth is the dharma of accomplishment. No matter what you do, when you recite this mantra, you will successfully complete your task. This mantra possesses these five kinds of powers. The Shurangama Mantra is wonderful beyond words and an inconceivable state. This is the meaning of, “the power to subdue all demons.”

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