Rebirth Views In The Surangama Sutra

REBIRTH VIEWS IN THE
SURANGAMA SUTRA
(Fifth Edition)
Dr. Bhikkhunī Giới Hương
Ananda Viet Foundation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This revised and enlarged edition of Rebirth Views in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra was first published ten years ago (2008). The second, third, and fourth editions were reprinted in 2012, 2014, and 2016 at Phương Đông Publishing. This current edition (2018) will be printed at Hồng Đức Publishing, HCM City, Việt Nam and Ananda Viet Foundation Publishing, Westminster, California, USA. In presenting this edition, I have maintained the contents written in the first edition, however, for the sake of greater clarity, a few changes have been made, errors have been corrected, the Pāli and Sanskrit terms are included, and a summary, as well as discussion questions, have been added at the end of each chapter.

I would like to gratefully acknowledge with special thanks Bhikkhunī Viên Ngộ, Bhikkhunī Diệu Giác, Bhikkhunī Viên Quang, and Pamela C. Kirby (English editor) who worked as my assistants for English translating, proofreading, book design, and publication of this book.

University of California, Riverside, California

Spring, March 01, 2018

Thích Nữ Giới Hương

CONTENTS

Foreword by the Most Venerable Như  Điển                      
Acknowledgments                                                                                        
Preface by Dr. Bhikkhunī Giới Hương                                             
Chapter I: The Background of Buddhism                             
Chapter II: The Reason for the Śūraṅgama                            
Chapter III: Asking about the Mind                                                   
Chapter IV: Two Fundamental Roots                                                
Chapter V: Two Difficult Problems                                                  
Chapter VI: Śamatha                                                                                      
Chapter VII: The Śūraṅgama Precepts                                               
Chapter VIII: The Spiritual Mantra of Śūraṅgama    
Chapter IX: Twelve Species of Living Beings                      
Chapter X: Three Gradual Progress Steps                             
Chapter XI: Bad Habits Produce Seven Realms                    
Chapter XII: Ten Habitual Causes of Hell                            
Chapter XIII: Six Consequences                                                  
Chapter XIV: Immortals, Heavens & Asuras                            
Chapter XV: Conclusion                                                                
Works Cited
Index  
Glossary         
Works

I have had the good fortune to read many books. These books play the role of my teachers. They are as close as my siblings, family, or friends. I can meet with the books any time and anywhere in the morning, afternoon, evening, or midnight. With the moonlight shining through the windows of the meditation room, the books are available in front of me and I can read delightedly. If there is a question, I just open the book; there is the right answer. The book plays the role of informing readers of right and wrong.

PREFACE

One night, the Buddha stood contemplating quietly at the bank of a glistening river. Venerable Śāriputra, who was behind, looked down the moonlight shimmering on the water and suddenly lamented, "Blessed One! It is pitiful! There are people who drowned by jumping into the deep water to look for the moon."

The Buddha replied, "Yes! It's pitiful! But even more pitiful, there are those who never believe there is a moon in the world."

Some people search for the moon at the water bottom. They who have seen the moonlight shimmering on the water’s surface dive into the water looking for the moon and risk drowning. They are not aware that it is very simple; all they have to do is raise their heads up, and the moon is always there in the sky. Then there are other people who believe that the world is without the moon although the full moon is radiating light covering the entire world. Śūraṅgama Sūtra called these miserable people human (manussa) beings who are trapped in the cycle of birth and death.

In the third paragraph of Chapter I, there is mention of the root of ignorance (avijjā) and enlightenment (Nibbāna, prajñā) as the Buddha told Venerable Ānanda, "Since beginningless time onward, all living beings have had many upside-down ways and have created karma seeds which are naturally grouped as the aksha cluster.

Those who cultivate cannot accomplish the unsurpassed bodhi, but instead reach the level of voice-hearer (śrāvakas), pratyeka Buddhas, heretics, heavenly beings (devas), demons (maras), or relatives of ghosts (pittivisaya), because they have not yet recognized the two fundamental roots. They have cultivated wrongly and confusedly, as if trying to cook sand in the hope of creating rice. They may pass through countless eons as molecules of dust, and they will obtain nothing of what they want.

What are two fundamental roots? “Ānanda, first of all, the root of beginningless birth and death is the illusory consciousness (samohaṃ) that you and all living beings now make use of and consider it as your self-nature.

“Secondly, the purified origin of beginningless bodhi Nirvana, the bright original reality of the seeing essence, can create all conditions and is disregarded. Living beings have ignored the original awakening; therefore, though they use it to the end of their days, they are still unaware of their enlightenment, and then they regrettably enter the six realms.” Rebirth Views in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra examines the profound philosophical ideology contained in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. It points to the mind of illusion that leads to reincarnation and suffering and shows us how to escape.

Just as a gardener selects the most beautiful flowers that she knows will please the recipient, contents of this book mention only rebirth views in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.

I would like to prostrate devotedly toward Đại Ninh province, Vietnam, to Most Venerable Master Hải Triều Âm who wholeheartedly taught us the gardener's art from 1983, 1984, and 1985 and planted in us the good seeds of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. Today, these seeds are blooming. If we have gained any merit and virtue from this book, we respectfully offer it to our Master and all beings in the world.

With a full heart of dedication, but with the awakening and capacity weak, I hope that wise readers correct mistakes so that next editions of Rebirth Views in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra will be better.

With sincere gratitude,
Dr. Bhikkhunī Giới Hương
August 30, 2008

AUTHOR

Dr. Bhikkhunī Giới Hương (world name Śūnyatā Phạm) was born in 1963 in Bình Tuy, Vietnam and ordained at the age of fifteen under the great master, the Most Venerable Bhikkhunī Hải Triều Âm. In 1994, she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Literature from Sài Gòn University. She studied in India for ten years and in 2003, graduated with a PhD in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Delhi, India. In 2005, she settled down in the United States and in 2015, she earned a second Bachelor's Degree in Literature at the University of Riverside, California.

Currently, she is pursuing a degree in the Master of Arts Program at the University of California, Riverside and works as a lecturer at the Vietnam Buddhist University in HCM City. She favors quietly reflecting on Dharma, and that leads her to write, as well as translate, Buddhist books and lyrics for music albums on her Bảo Anh Lạc Bookshelf.

In 2000, she established Hương Sen Temple, Bình Chánh, Sài Gòn, Việt Nam. In 2010, she founded Hương Sen Temple in Perris, California, USA, where she serves as abbess.