顯密圓通成佛心要集 2.6

2.6

Second, the gateway of extinguishing sinful obstacles and keeping ghosts and spirits far away: more than twenty sūtras, such as the Bodhimaṇḍavyūha Dhāraṇī Sūtra, the Paramasarvadhāraṇī Sūtra, and the Kūṭāgāra Dhāraṇī, all state: "If one writes out the dhāraṇī and places it inside a Buddha image, a stūpa, or a vajra pestle, or writes it on banners, in halls and palaces, or on paper, white silk, bamboo slips, silk fabrics, birch bark, walls, wooden boards, and the like, any sentient being who sees it, touches it with body or hand, passes through its shadow, or has the dust from the mantra letters blow onto their body; or if one writes it and wears it upon the crown of the head, on the body, or within one's clothing; or if one writes it on a banner, and the wind blows the banner so that it moves and points toward sentient beings; or if one writes it on sound-producing instruments like bells, drums, hand-bells, small bells, conches, and cymbals, and someone hears the sound—all these sentient beings described above, even if they have committed the crimes of the five uninterrupted [hells] and karma that even all Buddhas cannot repent for, will have them completely extinguished and in future lives be born in Buddha-lands, to say nothing of those who personally recite and uphold it." Therefore the ancients said: "The extreme faults of the five uninterrupted [crimes] vanish like clouds at a single thought; the immense offenses of the ten evil deeds scatter like mist upon the mere hearing." Again, the Mahāpratisarā Verses say: "Even if one commits the pārājikas and ten evil crimes, / Kills an arhat or one's revered parents, / Commits the five unpardonable acts or the seven without obstruction, / In an instant and with the sound, they are all extinguished; / The sacred power and merit of the mantra are boundless, / Therefore I praise its inconceivability." Moreover, various dhāraṇī sūtras such as the One-Syllable Mantra in the Final Age state: "Within five hundred yojanas in all four directions from one who upholds the mantra, all evil astrological stars, ghosts, spirits, and heavenly demons will entirely scatter and flee, while those who generate good intentions to protect will not leave. If any obstinately refuse to leave and cause hindrances, their heads will be split into a hundred pieces and their bodies and minds shattered into dust; thus the practitioner will be free from all demonic obstacles and reach bodhi." Question: "Some say that upholding mantras can provoke demonic obstacles. Why do you now say instead that it can keep demonic obstacles far away?" Answer: "This is mere street talk without basis in the sacred teachings. Now, the various sūtras of the esoteric division all state that dhāraṇīs can keep demonic obstacles far away—setting that aside for the moment, take for example the exoteric Lotus Sūtra: fearing that those who expound, recite, and cultivate the Lotus Sūtra might encounter demonic obstacles, it preached the 'Dhāraṇī Chapter' to eliminate evil demons. Thus that sūtra says: 'If anyone disobeys my mantra / And harasses the preacher of Dharma, / Their head will split into seven parts, / Like the branch of an arjaka tree.' Furthermore, the Treatise Explaining the Mahāyāna states: 'Those who sit in meditation must recite mantras to eliminate demons.' Also, the Mohe Zhiguan states: 'If demonic obstacles harass and disturb the practitioner sitting in meditation, one should recite the various demon-subduing mantras from the Mahāyāna Vaipulya teachings; upon emerging from meditation, one should also recite mantras.' In addition, the Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra says: 'Bodhisattvas of the tenth ground are still protected by mantras, to say nothing of ordinary people.' Therefore the Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: 'If one sits in the bodhimaṇḍa without upholding mantras, to keep one's body and mind far from demonic affairs is impossible.' It also says: 'Sentient beings of the final age take joy in cultivating samādhi; fearing they may become like demonic heretics, you should encourage them to uphold my dhāraṇī-mantra. If they cannot yet recite it, write it in the meditation hall or wear it on the body, and no demons will be able to move them.' Passages such as these are extremely numerous in the canonical teachings. We see with our own eyes in this world that when people are harmed by ghosts and spirits, mantra upholders can even dispel them; how then would they dare to harm the practitioner himself?"