The Surangama Sutra

The Surangama Sutra, or Leng Yen Ching, is a Buddhist apocalyptic text, which, alongwith an abridged commentary by Ch’an Master Han Shan, has ably been translated from Chinese into English by Charles Luk. Containing apocalyptic thinking, it is asserted that this Sutra will disappear upon the disappearance of the dharma. The basic concern of the text is to point out as to how the law of causality terminates in the emergence of delusion, and on account of delusion Samsaric bondage is given rise to. The only way to overcome delusion, and thereby bondage, is to attain the state of enlightenment. Since the attainment of enlightenment is seen as the solution of the problem, the text, thus, engages in laying down the road map of specific practices that enable one to reach the liberative goal of salvation, which is freedom from the law of causality and thereby from delusion and bondage. Insofar as the store consciousness (alaya) continues to function, to that extent causality will remain operative. The methods, as developed in the text, are thus aimed at breaking the alaya. Upon the destruction of three marks of the alaya, which are self-evidencing, perception and form, the practitioner attains what is called the Surangama samadhi, or the gateway to perfect enlightenment. Upon the attainment of enlightenment is revealed the nature of the Tathagata store of one reality.