治禪病祕要法

Method for treating attachment to music:

Furthermore, Shariputra! If members of the fourfold assembly delight in music and never tire of chanting verses and singing, this stirs the wind element, making them unrestrained like horses, like dogs in autumn, or like the king of the yini deer. Bewildered and foolish, their minds become like paste; they cling to everything everywhere and cannot restrain themselves. They must be treated quickly.

The method for treating this illness is first to visualize an incomparably beautiful celestial maiden whose two hands naturally hold various musical instruments that produce myriad sounds. Once the practitioner sees that this celestial maiden surpasses external forms by hundreds of millions of times and hears celestial sounds with which worldly music cannot compare, the practitioner delights in seeing her form and hearing her voice.

Therefore, instruct the practitioner: By looking upon this woman, the six faculties and sense organs give rise to their respective objects. Through the power of counting the breaths, the practitioner sees that what appeared lovely has become six venomous snakes born from the eyes. They emerge from the eyes and enter the ears.

The practitioner further sees two creatures shaped like owls, crying loudly with harsh voices, breaking open the head, drawing out the brain, and fighting to devour it. At the other four sense organs, the practitioner sees cats and mice, and dogs pounding the liver and fighting to eat it. Thus, on seeing the form of any woman, the practitioner sees the thirty-six constituents displaying their impurity.

The worms within the womb are the woman's necklaces. The practitioner sees excrement moving within the musical instruments held by the woman. The worms beat drums and make the pounded liver cry out, speaking monstrous things unbearable to hear.

Their sounds resemble the wailing of rakshasas. The practitioner therefore becomes disenchanted, goes to a wise person, relates the evil and unwholesome karma previously created, and sincerely repents. The wise person should then teach the contemplation of impermanence.

The Buddha told Shariputra:

– You should carefully uphold this method for treating attachment to music. Take care not to forget it.

At that time, Shariputra, Ananda, and the others heard the Buddha's teaching, rejoiced, and respectfully practiced it.

Method for treating attachment to chanting praises:

Furthermore, Shariputra! A practitioner who delights in composing and chanting verses and uses a beautiful voice to offer praise resembles wind stirring the leaves of a sala tree and producing harmonious sounds. The voice is like the voice of Brahma, pleasing the ears of people, and the practitioner creates agreeable phrases that gladden them.

Under the influence of the wind element, however, the practitioner becomes arrogant and conceited. The mind is like wild grass blown about by the winds of affliction, never at rest anywhere. Raising the banner of pride, beating the drum of self-importance, and stirring all the vessels, the practitioner consequently becomes deranged, like a crazed and foolish ape plucking and breaking flowers and fruits.

The mind does not rest even briefly, and the practitioner cannot count the breaths. This must be treated immediately.

The method of treatment is as follows: First visualize seventeen precious banners raised on high. In the center of the banners is a gandharva whose body resembles white jade. His body moves as he recites verses.

From the pores of his body appear great lotus flowers, and upon the lotuses are hundreds of thousands of bhikshus whose myriad voices surpass the practitioner's own voice by hundreds of thousands of times. Through this, the practitioner's pride gradually ceases. A wise person should instruct the practitioner to contemplate the magnificent banners carefully.

Upon seeing the magnificent banners and a bright crystal mirror, the practitioner sees the bhikshus and others. Through the sound of pride, that impure mind transforms into rakshasas uttering coarse and evil sounds, with fire emerging from their mouths. Yakshas also come from the four directions, pull out the tongue, take out the heart, and place them atop the banners.

The mind is shaken, and they weep and howl like intoxicated elephants roaring. At times they speak in faint voices like pishachas chanting. Through this, the practitioner comes to regard all beautiful sounds as though someone were calling the names of the practitioner's own parents while reviling them as immoral.

The practitioner therefore becomes disenchanted, no longer delights in hearing such sounds, and gives rise to the perception of renunciation. A wise person should teach the contemplation of the eight sufferings. Contemplate the eight sufferings as previously explained.

The Buddha told Shariputra:

– You should carefully remember this method for treating attachment to chanting praises. Take care not to forget it.

At that time, Shariputra, Ananda, and the others heard the Buddha's teaching, rejoiced, and respectfully practiced it.

Method for treating an excessive water element:

Furthermore, Shariputra! When members of the fourfold assembly enter the water samadhi, water flows throughout their bodies, and they no longer perceive body or mind, as though they were a great ocean. After emerging from samadhi, food and drink have no flavor; illnesses of heat and dampness arise in the mind; the water vessels increase and pulsate; and the illness of heat below does not subside. This must be treated immediately.

The method for treating this illness is to visualize a garuda with a bhikshu seated upon it, roaming fearlessly over the great ocean. All the nagas and rakshasas flee in terror. The bird seizes and devours the nagas.

Terrified, the nagas drain away all the water and transform into four snakes. The garuda king holds the four snakes in its beak. The bhikshu seated upon it searches for water but finds none.

Fire issues from the garuda king's eyes and burns the snakes. Terrified, the snakes become like illusory persons conjured by a magician: they disappear from sight and enter the bhikshu's body. The bhikshu then emerges from samadhi.

The practitioner should take worldly purgative medicine as treatment and visualize two fire-jewels: one in the stomach and bronchial region, pressing upon the vessels, and the other at the anus, shaped like a heated stone pellet. Visualize the spirit of Snow Mountain named Uttagaja, whose body is sixty feet tall and white as snowy shell-jade. He holds a fragrant medicine named Sahanaga and gives it to the practitioner.

Before taking this medicine, the practitioner must first arouse the aspiration for unsurpassed bodhi. After taking the medicine once, disorders of the 404 vessels will never recur for the rest of one's life, much less fail to diminish. To cause that spirit to arrive quickly, one must bathe and cleanse oneself, refrain from eating the five pungent plants, drinking alcohol, and eating meat, remain in a quiet place, single-mindedly count the breaths, invoke the spirit's name, and recollect his form for a period of one to seven days.

The great spirit of Snow Mountain, together with the twelve spirits of White Light and others, will come before the practitioner, first teach the Dharma, and afterward give the practitioner medicine. They will also teach the twelve methods of meditation. Those spirits are all great bodhisattvas of the fifth bhumi.

If a practitioner is ill, the practitioner should first recollect the spirit Uttaragaja, then recollect the Spirit of Heroic Strength, Spirit of Great Power, Spirit of Might, Spirit of Wisdom and Practice, Spirit of Sovereignty, Spirit of Excellent Arms, Spirit Kumara, Spirit Difficult to Overcome, Spirit of White Radiance, Spirit King of White Radiance, Spirit Medicine King, and the other twelve spirits of White Light.

After seeing them, the practitioner should ask each spirit about a different Dharma gateway. Those spirits should first enable the practitioner to see Maitreya Bodhisattva. In the presence of Maitreya Bodhisattva, the practitioner will see Manjushri, all the bodhisattvas, and the Buddhas of the ten directions.

If that person did not violate the four grave precepts in the past and does not violate the four grave precepts in the present, then upon seeing the spirits, the person immediately attains the sign of the Path. If the practitioner has violated the precepts, the spirit kings will instruct the practitioner to repent fully for one thousand days. Only afterward will the practitioner see Maitreya Bodhisattva, Manjushri, and the other great beings, and thereafter attain the sign of the Path.

The Buddha told Shariputra:

– If a practitioner becomes ill because the descending water element stirs the 404 vessels and wishes to be cured, the practitioner must take Saha and the other medicines that eliminate illness. All affliction will cease, the ocean of obstructive karma will be entirely extinguished, and the practitioner will swiftly see the sign of the Path. Therefore, you should carefully uphold this teaching. Take care not to forget it.

At that time, Ananda, Shariputra, and the others heard the Buddha's teaching, rejoiced, and respectfully practiced it.

Method for treating headaches, eye pain, and deafness caused by the fire element:

Furthermore, Shariputra! When a practitioner enters the fire samadhi, each bodily joint is scorched by fire, the large and small intestines blaze simultaneously, and the fire vessels burn. Upon descending from samadhi, the practitioner has a slight headache, the vessels contract, the eyes become red, and the ears ring. Illness consequently arises and must be treated quickly.

The method for treating this illness is first to visualize a lapis-lazuli jar filled with multicolored water, from which flowers of assorted jewels arise. Upon every flower are hundreds of thousands of transformation Buddhas. All the transformation bodhisattvas emit light from the white curls between their eyebrows, illuminating the fiery radiances and causing them to transform into golden dragons.

Upon seeing this, the practitioner immediately rejoices and visualizes the jar, with fire beneath it and the lotus dais above it. The practitioner approaches the Buddhas and grasps the jar with a hand, which immediately becomes cool. The practitioner therefore draws the body near the jar and bows to the Buddhas.

The transformation Buddhas then emit light from between their eyebrows and rain down amrita water, bathing every joint. Wherever a drop of amrita falls, that place transforms into lapis lazuli. As the large and small intestines are filled and bathed with amrita water, the red fire gradually goes out, and precious flowers arise, radiating pink and white light.

One should further visualize Maheshvara riding a golden-yellow ox and holding a precious water vessel. He comes before the practitioner. The water contains various medicines, including a medicine named Destroyer of Poison, which he gives the practitioner to drink.

He also holds a jewel named Chandramani—called Essence of the Moon in the Song dynasty—and places it upon the crown of the practitioner's head. Various medicines flow from it and drip into the ears, eyes, and nose. Merely seeing this once immediately cures the illness.

Maheshvara is a great bodhisattva who constantly sports within the Shurangama Samadhi. He immediately emits a great radiance from between his eyebrows, which transforms into an image of the Buddha. Five hundred immortals surround the World-Honored One, who teaches the practitioner the amrita Dharma for curing illness, and tells Shariputra: “You should carefully uphold this teaching.

Take care not to forget it.” At that time, Shariputra, Ananda, and the others heard the Buddha's teaching, rejoiced, and respectfully practiced it.

Method for treating the illness in which one enters the earth samadhi, sees inauspicious and terrifying things, and loses control of the mind:

Furthermore, Shariputra! When a practitioner enters the earth samadhi, the four directions appear like the faces of black mountains amid majestic ranges. Boundless kumbhandas sit with legs spread upon the hard ground, displaying ugly and evil forms, though parts of their bodies are handsome.

There are also five mountains toward which yakshas rush in rivalry, contending to seize them. The kumbhandas cry out urgently with terrifying voices in pain and fear and advance toward the practitioner. The practitioner also sees ghosts with disheveled hair holding great iron clubs, with mountains atop the clubs, coming toward the practitioner.

Yakshas are also seen carrying mountains and dancing. Rakshasas bearing trees approach the yakshas, and the angry rakshasas fight with them. Pishacha ghosts carry black mountains upon their heads and hold tiger corpses in their mouths.

Seeing this, the practitioner is startled, and the hair of the body stands on end in terror. Ferocious rakshasas fight with yakshas. When the rakshasas prevail, they cut off the yakshas' heads, use the limbs of the pishachas as necklaces and the bodies of kumbhandas as garlands, and shout and dance upon the earth.

Their upper canine teeth appear like branches of sword-trees; hail falls from their eyes, and they emit fire, thunder, and lightning. When the yakshas prevail, they seize the rakshasas, flay the skin from their faces, gouge out their female organs, cut apart the bodies of the kumbhandas, use the limbs of the pishachas as garlands, wind them around their ears and necks, and dance upon the earth. Their bodies sway as they cry out loudly, exceedingly dreadful and terrifying.

The practitioner further sees the spirit of the four great seas, born from his mother, come to Lou Pimu and lie face upward in the ocean. He has as many as one thousand heads, with two thousand arms and legs on each head, caressing the four sides of his body. He displays a deep female organ, exceedingly terrifying, like a mountain of blood. Its hairs are utterly hideous, resembling the trunks of ancient sword-trees. From within it arise ancient trees like forests and mountains of swords, along with hundreds of thousands of immeasurable donkey ears, ox heads, lion mouths, horse legs, wolf tails, bodies of kumbhandas, and ghosts of this kind, all emerging from within the mountain.

The practitioner further sees great nagas with hundreds of thousands of heads, tens of yojanas long, emerging from within the mountain.

The practitioner sees a ghost resembling a hundred beasts, shaped like a lion and possessing ten thousand legs; between the claws of its feet appear countless hundreds of thousands of venomous snakes.

The practitioner further sees a hungry ghost whose immense body is one billion yojanas long, vomiting poison and fire and carrying mountains, appearing from within.

The practitioner further sees one thousand wolves following one another tail to tail, with grotesque bodies and teeth like sharp stones, appearing from within.

The practitioner further sees one thousand tigers whose tails also have heads; joined to their bodies, they walk sideways and appear from within.

The practitioner further sees naga maidens adorned with necklaces and of rarely seen beauty emerge from within, only to be seized and eaten by yakshas. Jackals, cats, rats, mice, monkeys, apes, wild dogs, foxes, specters, evil ghosts, and every vicious beast appear from within.

There also appear Avichi hell, the spirit of Yanjiao Mountain, the eighteen spirits of the hells, nine hundred million ox-headed Abans, eight billion hungry ghosts, fifty billion worms, one hundred billion latrine maggots, and transformations of all such forms.

Ugly and evil ghosts and spirits may hold mountains of knives, grasp ancient sword-trees, move Mount Sumeru, or shake the Iron-Ring Mountains, resembling Mount Gandha.

The practitioner sees the practitioner's own body filled with the earth element. Its 336 joints are each like a mountain rising as high as the Formless Realm, while water flows from the navel. The four great venomous snakes frolic in the water; fire issues from the mouth; the ten evil rakshasas run within the fire; wind blows from the ears; wind emerges from the anus and shakes all the mountains. All the approaching ghosts and spirits become angry and shed tears. The practitioner is consequently terrified and elated and develops deranged madness. If these things are seen, they must be treated immediately.

The method of treatment is as follows: First visualize one sun together with the Sun Deva in a palace made of four kinds of jewels, with hundreds of thousands of musical instruments being played above a black mountain. The sun illuminates the black mountain and gradually makes it brilliantly bright. Once one sun has been successfully visualized, visualize two suns. After successfully visualizing two suns, contemplate the white bones of one's own body, its 336 joints as white as Snow Mountain, with the suns shining upon the snowy mountain.

Next visualize the Moon Deva above the crown of the head, in a palace made of four kinds of jewels, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants who hold a moon-jewel upon the crown of the practitioner's head. Once this visualization is accomplished, visualize a third mountain.

There is another sun exactly as described above. After seeing this sun, visualize the bones at the crown of the head as white as Snow Mountain. Begin in the same manner as before.

There is also another moon. After seeing this moon, visualize a sun above the fourth mountain illuminating this black mountain.

After seeing the sun, visualize the 336 joints of one's body as mountains of white bone, the bones facing one another, four bones opposite one another. Between each pair of bones is a bright moon, and devas hold two jewels in their hands, maintaining them in the two directions. In this way, the joints between every pair of bones should all correspond during the interval in which the heart is stilled for ten inhalations and exhalations. Contemplate carefully until they are seen clearly. See within every joint twenty-eight bright and beautiful stars, like seven precious jewels.

Once this visualization is accomplished, further visualize a golden garuda king wearing a mani jewel upon its head and seizing four snakes and six nagas. The snakes are terrified, the nagas flee, and all are agitated for a time. Their state resembles utter darkness.

All this results from the karmic retribution of having violated the precepts in previous lives, and one must repent and restore the pure and strict precepts. Through the purity of the precepts, the light of the sun and moon becomes brilliant and doubly radiant. If the mind entertains evil thoughts or the mouth utters evil words, committing a dushkrita offense, black earth will rain upon the mani jewel, dust will cover the sun and moon, and the stars will cease to move.

An asura king with 999 arms and one thousand heads will appear all at once and obscure the sun, moon, and stars. This is called regression, caused by the knife of an evil mind, the fire of evil speech, and plunder by the bandit of precept violation. If one wishes to drink this supreme medicine of amrita, one must first uphold the precepts, purify all deportment, and repent of obstructive karma and evil, unwholesome offenses.

One must further bind the mind and attention, sit upright in one place, count the breaths, retain the breath, and contemplate the 336 joints just as before, causing the bones of each joint to face one another. The retinues of the moon and stars should be as described above. The mind then becomes bright and keen.

Between every joint, one sees the moonlight like cloth and the stars like threads, sewn together. One sees four suns appear; the waters of the four seas diminish by one-third, leaving two-thirds. One sees five suns appear; Mount Sumeru melts entirely, and the great oceans dry up.

One sees six suns appear and visualizes all these mountains gradually melting away. One sees seven suns appear, and the caverns within the earth burst into flame. The rakshasas fly and stand in the sky, up to the Desire Realm, with banners of fire following behind them.

They then proceed to the Form Realm, and the fire follows them there as well. As they approach the Formless Realm, their hands and feet are scorched; what remains of them falls into the fire. Their roars are exceedingly terrifying and shake the earth.

When one enters this samadhi, the great earth trembles slightly, like a turning wheel. One must quickly hold the mind and visualize the 336 joints as vajra mountains, beautiful in form and surpassing Mount Sumeru. Earth, water, wind, and fire cannot shake them.

One sees only four snakes holding mani jewels in their mouths amid the bone mountains.

At that time, one must first visualize images of the Buddhas. One sees the boundary of vajra and magnificent vajra banners bearing mani mirrors, within which the images of the seven Buddhas of the past appear. One must then contemplate the white curl between the eyebrows of Vipashyin Buddha, the white curl between the eyebrows of Shikhin Buddha, the white curl between the eyebrows of Tishya Buddha, the white curl between the eyebrows of Krakucchanda Buddha, the white curl between the eyebrows of Kanakamuni Buddha, the white curl between the eyebrows of Kashyapa Buddha, and the white curl between the eyebrows of Shakyamuni Buddha.

One sees the white curls between the eyebrows of the seven Buddhas, colored like crystal. Exceedingly cool water washes all 336 bone joints. Cleansed by the water from the white curls, they become luminous, extremely white, pure in color, fresh, beautiful, and wondrous, like crystal mirrors, beyond all comparison.

Through this, one further sees five vajra wheels rise from below upon magnificent banners made of the seven jewels. They revolve in the sky and proclaim the meaning of the Four Truths. Although seeing and hearing these things, one must single-mindedly contemplate the white bone mountains of one's own body.

One then sees Shakyamuni Buddha pour water from a bathing vessel upon the crown of one's head, and the other six Buddhas do likewise.

At that time, Shakyamuni Buddha says: “Child of the Dharma! Form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self. You should contemplate them carefully.”

He further expounds at length the teachings of emptiness, signlessness, non-action, and wishlessness, declaring that the body is empty and quiescent, the four elements have no master, the five skandhas have no abode, and their ultimate quiescent extinction is identical to empty space. Through this, one immediately realizes the impermanence and dissolution of the world. By contemplating the Four Noble Truths, within the interval of five inhalations and exhalations one destroys all two billion burning fetters and becomes a stream-enterer.

Within the interval of ten inhalations and exhalations, one escapes the currents of desire and becomes a once-returner. Within the interval of ten inhalations and exhalations, one cuts off the dull proclivities, the fetters of the Desire Realm and Form Realm, and the fundamental fetters; one will no longer return to the Desire Realm and becomes a non-returner. Within the interval of ten breaths, one sports within the Dharma of emptiness.

The mind is no longer bound or obstructed and, corresponding within the thirty-four moments of mind, is liberated from the ten roots—the ten proclivities. Neither extinguished nor destroyed, one topples the ninety-eight mountains of fetters. The great signs of heroic vigor and bright banners of Dharma wisdom come from the four directions.

Precious vajra seats rise from below and join together, extensively expounding the Dharma of emptiness. Five vajra wheels remain beside the left knee and spontaneously expound at length the nine unobstructed paths and eight liberations. Shravakas of the past all enter the Vaidurya Samadhi and stand before the practitioner.

Shakyamuni Buddha extensively teaches the practitioner the subtle meaning of the realm of vajra-like samadhi. In that stillness, the practitioner no longer perceives body or mind and enters the vajra samadhi. Upon emerging from the vajra samadhi, the mountains of fetters disintegrate, the roots of affliction are completely severed, the river of ignorance runs dry, servitude to aging and death is extinguished, and birth is ended forever.

The holy life has been established, like refined pure gold. One no longer receives any desires, and the task has been accomplished. This is called a Great Arhat.

If one who has aroused the aspiration for unsurpassed bodhi first sees the light from the white curls between the eyebrows of the seven Buddhas, each ray divides into ten branches and transforms into ten precious flowers, precious trees, and precious platforms arrayed in the sky. At that time, the Buddhas of the ten directions also emit light as described above, washing between the bone joints. Within every ray from a Buddha's white curl, they teach eighteen Dharma gateways of loving-kindness, eighteen Dharma gateways of great compassion, eighteen Dharma gateways of great sympathetic joy, and eighteen Dharma gateways of great equanimity.

These gradually increase, and the practitioner is instructed to cultivate the four immeasurable minds. Once the four immeasurable minds are perfected, the Buddhas teach the practitioner ten kinds of perfectly luminous mind. When the mind has become luminous, they teach: form itself is emptiness; it is not that form becomes empty only after being extinguished.

After emptiness has been contemplated, they teach the six bodhisattva practices. Having practiced these six teachings, one cultivates the six recollections and recollects the Buddha's Dharma body. After recollecting the Buddha's Dharma body, one arouses the mind of dedication.

Once the mind of dedication is accomplished, one establishes the four great vows and does not abandon sentient beings. When the four vows are fulfilled, one possesses the bodhisattva precepts. Having accomplished the bodhisattva precepts, one trains in a practice resembling the perfection of generosity.

Having accomplished the perfection of generosity—dana-paramita—one trains in a practice resembling the ten paramitas. Once this visualization is accomplished, one contemplates inner emptiness and outer emptiness and sees hundreds of thousands of immeasurable Buddhas directly before one. They pour water upon one's head, wrap thick silk around it, and teach the Dharma of emptiness to the practitioner.

Through this, one realizes emptiness of mind and enters the bodhisattva stage. This is called the Stage of Nature, the initial realm of a bodhisattva. One may give rise to overweening pride regarding this Dharma and must therefore understand that this is only a sign of the initial realm of the bodhi mind.

The Buddha told Shariputra:

– This is called the method for treating the earth samadhi, extinguishing overweening pride, the mother of ignorance, and the terrifying manifestations of the three poisons. You should carefully uphold it. Take care not to forget it.

At that time, Shariputra, Ananda, and the others heard the Buddha's teaching, rejoiced, and respectfully practiced it.

Method for treating the wind element:

Furthermore, Shariputra! When a practitioner enters the wind samadhi, the practitioner sees the nine orifices within the body resembling great ravines and caves, emitting winds of five colors. The practitioner also sees the 336 joints of the body as white as Snow Mountain, while at every bone joint the wind reveals upright ghostly corpses. These ghostly corpses hold iron clubs in their hands, wear necklaces made of one thousand skulls, and come toward the practitioner together with ninety-eight kinds of naga ghosts. Upon seeing them, the practitioner is terrified, and the hair of the body stands on end. The practitioner consequently becomes deranged or develops white leprosy. This must be treated immediately.

The method for treating this illness is first to contemplate Snow Mountain and Fragrant Mountain, upon which dwell four great immortals, all of whom are great bodhisattvas. Visualize the bodies of these immortals as made of pure gold, sixty feet tall, holding a flower in one hand and a vajra wheel in the other, with fragrant medicine in their mouths. They guard and escort the practitioner, preventing the wind from arising.

The immortals hold the flowers, recite an incantation over water, and cause nagas to appear. The nagas draw in all the winds; their bodies swell enormously, and they lie asleep upon the ground, unable ever to awaken. One should contemplate these nagas as resembling plantain trees, with sheath wrapped around sheath, unable to breathe forcefully.

At that time, the World-Honored One spoke this mantra:

“Namo Buddha, namo Dharma, namo Sangha. Namo Maha lishi pishala shaja, ai dutta datta, samanta, vajra chidala, kutta sheta, chali chali, maha chalita, malita, malakshi sicham, pingyam ping ayamping, lijiu kukuku, chi sarva dharani, chi apianti maku, liyingyi, tadi tadi, tama tama, svaha.”

After the World-Honored One had spoken this mantra, he told Shariputra:

– Immeasurable Buddhas of the past spoke this mantra; I also speak this mantra in the present; and in the future, Maitreya and the bodhisattvas of the Worthy Kalpa will also proclaim its merit. Like the Sovereign Deva, it can cause evil bhikshus in the five-hundred-year period of the later age to purify, harmonize, and regulate their minds. It effectively treats increases and decreases of the four elements. It also treats the 404 kinds of mental illness in which the 404 vessels produce visionary states, as well as the seeds of the ninety-eight proclivities and the nature of sensual desire. It also treats the obstructive karma of violating the precepts and all evils, permanently severing them without remainder. This is called the dharani that effectively treats the seventy-two kinds of illness and sorrow. It is also called the dharani that uproots ignorance and the five skandhas. It is also called the teaching by which one sees all Buddhas and shravakas in the present, who expound the true Dharma that destroys all fetters.

At that time, the World-Honored One spoke these verses:

– The Dharma-nature has no support;

The contemplation of emptiness is likewise.

If one can contemplate the four elements,

One will not be slain by the proclivities.

Take medicine and practice meditative concentration;

Recite this dharani.

Single-mindedly recollect all Buddhas,

And the fetters will never arise.

The ocean of afflictions will dry up;

The river of craving will also be left behind.

The causes of desires will no longer exist;

Sovereignty is liberation.

Free from calamity, the mind is tranquil,

Sporting in the six superknowledges;

One should also transmit this dharani

And teach it to others.

After the World-Honored One had spoken these verses, he told Shariputra:

– You should now understand that after my nirvana, in the future age, if any bhikshu, bhikshuni, upasaka, or upasika hears this exceedingly profound and essential secret teaching that purifies shila, together with the remedies for illnesses arising during meditative practice and this Dharani of the Radiant Supreme Banner, you should know that this person has planted roots of goodness not merely in the presence of one Buddha, two Buddhas, three, four, or five Buddhas. For a long time, this person has cultivated the three kinds of bodhi mind in the presence of immeasurable hundreds of thousands of Buddhas. Only now has this person come to hear this profound and essential secret Dharma and practice according to its teaching. You should know that this person is approaching the final body. Like swiftly flowing water, this person will quickly attain the four fruits of the shramana and the bodhisattva practice.

When the Buddha spoke these words, five hundred sons of the Shakya clan redoubled their diligence and perfected the six superknowledges. In the city of Shravasti, one thousand shudras—farmers—who had practiced meditation and become deranged due to past-life causes heard the Buddha's teaching, immediately rejoiced, and attained stream-entry. Eight billion devas treated disorders of their four elements, becoming free of affliction in body and mind. At that very moment, they aroused the aspiration for the unsurpassed Path, and celestial flowers rained everywhere, scattering upon the Buddha and the great assembly. At that time, the devas, nagas, and the rest of the eight classes of beings in the assembly heard the Buddha's teaching and spoke unanimously:

– The Tathagata appears in the world precisely to cure the madness, cruelty, and wrong views of rakshasas and human beings, restoring their original minds. He is like a beautiful garland, exceedingly delightful. Excellent indeed! The World-Honored One is like an udumbara flower, appearing only once at the proper time.

At that time, the great assembly praised him in verses:

– Prince of the solar lineage,

Descendant of the Ikshvaku clan,

Maternal grandson of Moon of Starry Radiance,

Son of Lady Maya;

At birth he walked seven steps,

His footsteps shaking the great trichiliocosm.

Spirits of the ten directions appeared;

He bore the thirty-two auspicious marks.

He cast away his kingdom like spittle

And sat beneath the pippala tree.

At the supreme vajra seat of awakening,

He subdued billions of maras.

He attained the bodhi Path,

His face radiant like the full moon.

The defilements of his mind forever ended;

I now bow to him single-mindedly:

The most excellent of the Shakya clan,

Foremost in loving-kindness and compassion,

Who enables all sentient beings

To escape forever the suffering of birth and death.

After the World-Honored One heard the fourfold assembly speak these verses, he once again earnestly stroked the crowns of Shariputra and Ananda with his golden-colored hand and entrusted this matter to them. At that time, Shariputra, Ananda, and the great assembly heard the Buddha's teaching, rejoiced, and respectfully practiced it.

Method for treating beginners in seated meditation who are afflicted by specters and various disturbances and cannot attain concentration:

(The Venerable Ananda asks)

Thus have I heard:

At one time, the Buddha was staying in Jeta Grove, Anathapindika's Park, in the kingdom of Shravasti, at the dwelling place of the ghost Nalilou, in the lecture hall built by Lady Mallika. Luoxunyou and one thousand other sons of elders who had newly gone forth invited the Venerable Ananda, Mahakashyapa, Shariputra, and others to serve as their preceptors. Mahakashyapa instructed the one thousand bhikshus to practice mindfulness by counting the breaths in a secluded place.

They were afflicted by specters and saw a ghost-spirit whose face resembled a pipa lute, with four eyes and two mouths. Facing them, it swayed, emitted light, and struck beneath both armpits and at other places on the practitioner's body, while its mouth sang, “puyi, puyi.” It spun like a wheel of fire and resembled a flash of lightning, suddenly arising and suddenly vanishing, causing the practitioner's mind to become unsettled.

If this is seen, it must be treated immediately.

The method for treating this illness is to instruct the practitioner that when “puyi” comes, the practitioner should single-mindedly close the eyes and silently rebuke it, saying: “I know you. I know that here in Jambudvipa you eat fire, smell fragrances, and steal lap-ket-chi. You engage in wrong views and take delight in destroying the aggregate of precepts. I now uphold the precepts and will never fear you.” If the practitioner is a monastic, the practitioner should recite the preface to the precepts. If the practitioner is a householder, the practitioner should recite the Three Refuges, Five Precepts, and Eight Precepts. The ghost will then cower and depart.

After hearing these words, Ananda addressed the Buddha:

– World-Honored One, these bhikshus, the sons of elders, have escaped all evils and are no longer bound by specters because the World-Honored One taught them how to treat the puyi ghost. In a later age, one thousand years after the Buddha's nirvana, one may wish to teach bhikshus, bhikshunis, upasakas, and upasikas to cultivate breath-counting in secluded places and practice mindfulness of anapana concentration. If ghosts and spirits disrupt the Path, transforming into mice, either black or red, grasping the practitioner's mind, scratching the practitioner's feet, two hands, and two ears, and touching every part of the body; or if they make bird cries or the moans of ghosts, steal human speech, or appear as fox spirits that transform into pure-looking women, adorn their bodies, massage and press the practitioner's body to make it comfortable, and speak of unlawful things; or if they appear as dogs barking and howling without restraint, or as ferocious birds of a hundred kinds uttering various cries, usurping speech and shouting loudly in different voices; or if they appear as children in hundreds of thousands of forms, in myriad diverse manifestations, making various sounds and approaching the practitioner; or if the practitioner sees lice, flies, fleas, or cobras, or they enter the ears buzzing like queen bees, enter the eyes like sand falling directly into them, or touch the heart and perform various maddening acts, causing the practitioner to become deranged, abandon the secluded place, and engage in heedless conduct—how should these be treated?

The Buddha told Ananda:

– Listen closely, listen closely, and carefully reflect upon this matter. I shall explain it to you. If members of the fourfold assembly encounter this demonic affliction, you should teach them the method for treating ghosts. This puyi ghost has sixty-three names. In the past, during the time of Kanakamuni Buddha, there was a bhikshu who was about to attain stream-entry. Because of wrong pride, he was expelled by the Sangha. He died in anger and vowed to become a ghost. He has continued until the present day to trouble the fourfold assembly. His lifespan is one kalpa; when the kalpa ends and his life is over, he will fall into Avichi hell. Today you should know their names, single-mindedly bind your mindfulness, and do not allow them to cause disturbance.

The World-Honored One then said:

– Puyi is an evil yaksha, also called a dream ghost. When one sees puyi approaching in a dream, one immediately loses one's vital essence and should give rise to repentance: “Because of evil causes and conditions from past lives, I have now encountered this harmful evil ghost and bandit that violates the precepts. I now wield the whip of mind to restrain all my faculties and prevent heedlessness.” When this ghost-spirit dwells in the air, it is called the space ghost; when it is within bedding, it is called the belly-crawling ghost. It also has three names: the first is Shensuo, Ka fuchiu Na chiuni chilei fuchiu A maleka svaha; the directional-path ghost; the limi ghost; the wangliang ghost, a kind of ghost transformed from wood or stone; the pus-eating ghost; the phlegm-and-saliva-eating ghost; the water spirit ghost; the fire spirit ghost; the mountain spirit ghost; the garden-and-forest spirit ghost; the female ghost; the male ghost; the boy ghost; the girl ghost; the kshatriya ghost; the brahmin ghost; the vaishya ghost; the shudra ghost; the walking ghost; the fast-walking ghost; the cart-riding ghost; the donkey-eared ghost; the tiger-headed ghost; the cat-and-mouse-voiced ghost; the cuckoo-and-pigeon ghost; the owl-voiced ghost; the shijiao bird ghost, a bird with tall legs and wings whose feathers are sharp like knives and blue in color; and the jiaozhi bird ghost. They may also transform into the eight classes of ghosts and spirits: the false-appearance ghost, the eight-horned ghost, the white-mouse ghost, the Lotus-Color ghost, the fox-enchantment ghost, the specter ghost, the hundred-creature spirit-specter ghost, the four-evil pishacha ghost, the kumbhanda ghost, and others. These are the names of the sixty-three kinds of ugly and evil ghosts and spirits. When ghosts cause disturbance, one must count the breaths until utterly calm and sincerely recollect the seven Buddhas of the past, invoking their names: “Namo Vipashyin Buddha, Shikhin Buddha, Tishya Buddha, Krakucchanda Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, Kashyapa Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha.” After recollecting the names of the seven Buddhas, one must uphold the Dharani of All Sounds.

The World-Honored One then recited the mantra:

– A di, a di ka le sha tuan di li fu qi nou. Chi yu mi tha yu mi, tha ma ha ka lou ni ka mi duo la pu ti sa duo.

If a person's mind is disturbed by the troubling puyi ghost or it creates various illusory states, the person must recite this dharani, the names of the seven Buddhas, and the name of Maitreya Bodhisattva, single-mindedly count the breaths, and recite the pratimoksha one hundred times. Then all these evil ghosts will be subdued and will no longer trouble members of the fourfold assembly practicing the Path.

The Buddha told Ananda:

– You should carefully preserve this method of purifying body, speech, and mind, regulating deportment, and driving away evil ghosts, so that the fourfold assembly of disciples may flourish, not give rise to distracted thoughts, and enter samadhi. You must carefully uphold it. Take care not to forget it.

At that time, the Venerable Ananda heard the Buddha's teaching, rejoiced, and respectfully practiced it.

– Furthermore, Ananda! If, while practicing seated meditation, a practitioner develops illness in both ears, aching throughout all the bone joints, itching in both palms, pain beneath both feet, a trembling lower heart, twisting sinews, and blurred vision, this is the domain of spleen ghosts. They come to seize speech, scatter fragrant flowers, or perform monstrous tricks. This must be treated immediately.

The method for treating this illness is first to contemplate the two bodhisattvas Medicine King and Superior Medicine holding golden vessels and pouring water over the practitioner's body. Next contemplate the spirit king of Snow Mountain holding white flowers and approaching the practitioner, covering the crown of the practitioner's head. White light flows into and permeates the practitioner's pores and body, which immediately become supple and exhibit no other sign.

Afterward, one sees the youth Shepo holding Immortal Flowers and scattering them upon the practitioner. From the center of every flower rain various subtle medicines, permeating the pores. All itching and pain in the spleen, every kind of suffering, whispered voices, and the various ghosts and spirits disappear forever.

Medicine King Bodhisattva and Superior Medicine Bodhisattva teach the practitioner the impartial Great Vehicle Dharma. All the spirit kings of Fragrant Mountain and Snow Mountain, together with the youth Shepo, also teach the twelve gateways of meditation according to the practitioner's faculties, compound medicines according to the illness, and give medicinal prescriptions and incantations. Through this, one sees the Venerable Pindola, the other arhats, and five hundred shramaneras such as Chundapa.

They all come before the practitioner at that time. Each shravaka teaches a method for treating illness. Some arhats, relying on the Buddha's words, instruct the bhikshu to contemplate the crown of the head gradually becoming hollow and, upon moving the body, to see that it is entirely empty.

Oil is poured upon the crown of the practitioner's head. Brahma King holds medicine the color of pure gold and pours it throughout the practitioner's body. Medicine King Bodhisattva teaches the various Dharmas.

Those who have aroused the shravaka aspiration follow Pindola's teaching and attain stream-entry. Those who have aroused the Great Vehicle aspiration rely upon the teachings of Medicine King Bodhisattva and Superior Medicine Bodhisattva and immediately attain the samadhi in which all Buddhas appear directly before them.

The Buddha told Ananda:

– After the Buddha's parinirvana, if disciples of the fourfold assembly wish to practice seated meditation, they must first sit upright in tranquility for seven days and then cultivate the mind of breath-counting for seven days. They must also take medicines to eliminate these illnesses and disruptive sounds. Stabilize the mind and guard the attention; cultivate the mind and body; harmonize the elements; do not waste time. Be single-minded and wholehearted. In upholding the precepts, do not violate even minor precepts or rules of deportment. Protect them as one would protect one's eyes, like a gravely ill person following a physician's instructions. The practitioner should likewise advance constantly and never regress, acting as though extinguishing a fire upon one's head and following the teachings of the sages and saints. This is called the medicinal treatment for warming the body.

The Buddha told Ananda:

– You should carefully uphold it. Take care not to forget it.

At that time, the Venerable Ananda heard the Buddha's teaching, rejoiced, and respectfully practiced it.

The Essential Secret Dharma for Treating Illnesses of Meditation

End of the second fascicle