A Personal Experience of Peacefully Chanting the Shurangama Mantra

Last night while reciting the Shurangama Mantra, I recalled the Master's teaching that one can recite while striking a wooden fish. So, I used a pen to tap on the table while reciting. At first, everything was normal, but after a few minutes, I felt that my articulation, rhythm, and tone were completely different from usual, as if it wasn't me reciting. These changes were not under my conscious control; they seemed to arise automatically. At that moment, I felt my consciousness was extremely faint; I could barely keep my eyes open, only just able to make out the words. Yet, the recitation was very smooth and fast, with a rhythm like chanting. After finishing the recitation, my consciousness remained very faint, and I had to lean on the table to lie down on the bed. After resting for quite a while, my consciousness finally returned to normal.

Comment: This is the inconceivable blessing power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Normally, recitation and sound are acts of consciousness, but here, one's own consciousness was inactive and powerless. Therefore, this recitation was not a consciousness-led action. This recitation was, firstly, upheld and blessed by the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or Dharma protectors, and secondly, regulated by one's own manas (mental faculty), a recitation led by manas—in other words, manas reciting by itself. The first point is easy to understand, but how to understand the second? Why did manas control consciousness, even replacing consciousness in recitation? This involves the power of meditative concentration (samadhi). The blessing power certainly exists, but let's set that aside for now. Because manas recognized the importance of the Shurangama Mantra, it participated in the conscious recitation and, having become very familiar with it, began to recite autonomously, replacing consciousness, which became powerless. This is a state of slight mantra samadhi, and deeper samadhi states may follow, making subsequent practice swift and smooth. With the emergence of samadhi, manas takes the lead directly, making the recitation and memorization of the Shurangama Mantra very easy. There's no need for conscious recollection; consciousness only needs to participate slightly.

If this weren't demonstrated by actual instances, ordinary people wouldn't believe it. Some might say: How could manas recite or memorize? This is simply absurd. So, what exactly is the principle behind memorization and samadhi? Memorization and samadhi are acts of manas, led by manas, with no other reason. Because consciousness was clearly powerless, unable to control or understand what was happening, and couldn't even see the text clearly—how could it recite?

This state is identical to what I experienced during my intensive practice period when reciting the Shurangama Sutra. At that time, because I recited so fast, without thinking, as I continued reciting, my eyes could no longer see the words in the book, yet my mouth recited extremely rapidly—so fast that others couldn't keep up. It should be more accurately called reciting from memory. At that moment, my mind was empty and still, unmoving like water, as if entering samadhi. I only hoped the wooden fish wouldn't stop, the sutra wouldn't end, and the chanting could continue forever without ceasing. From then on, I could recite the Shurangama Sutra from memory without any deliberate effort to memorize it.

From this, we can see how immense the blessing power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is when upholding, reciting, and memorizing the Shurangama Sutra, the Shurangama Mantra, and other Mahayana scriptures; how extraordinary the spiritual responses are; and how rapidly practice advances. The merit of reciting and memorizing the Shurangama Mantra is inconceivable. Its benefits and virtues are explained in detail in Volume Seven of the Shurangama Sutra. I hope those whose practice has not yet stabilized will resolve to cultivate the Shurangama Mantra, use it well, and accelerate their progress on the spiritual path.