大乘起信論裂網疏 6.64

6.64

Question: When a person cultivating samādhi gets to see the forms of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, how can one know that this is not the opening of roots of goodness and mutual resonance and interaction along the Path, so that you lump them all together under the name of demonic events? Answer: The *Yuanjue jing* (Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment) states: 'Any realm that is not what that [teaching] hears should never be seized upon.' Truly, when a practitioner cultivates samādhi, if the realm seen accords with the samādhi, only then is it called an auspicious mark; yet even this auspicious mark still must not be taken as an understanding of holiness. If it does not accord with the samādhi, it definitely belongs to demonic events. Now, cultivating the fundamental tathatā samādhi is neither the time of reciting the Buddha's name nor of bowing in repentance to seek response; still less should one falsely interpret it as mutual resonance and interaction along the Path, thereby sitting by and being deluded by it.