爾時觀世音菩薩 即從座起 頂禮佛足 而白佛言 世尊 憶念我昔 無數恒河沙劫 於時有佛 出現於世 名觀世音 我於彼佛 發菩提心 彼佛教我 從聞思修 入三摩地 初於聞中 入流亡所 所入既寂 動靜二相 了然不生 如是漸增 聞所聞盡 盡聞不住 覺所覺空 空覺極圓 空所空滅 生滅既滅 寂滅現前
ěr shí guān shì yīn pú sà jí cóng zuò qǐ dǐng lǐ fó zú ér bái fó yán shì zūn yì niàn wǒ xī wú shù héng hé shā jié yú shí yǒu fó chū xiàn yú shì míng guān shì yīn wǒ yú bǐ fó fā pú tí xīn bǐ fó jiào wǒ cóng wén sī xiū rù sān mó dì chū yú wén zhōng rù liú wàng suǒ suǒ rù jì jì dòng jìng èr xiàng liǎo rán bù shēng rú shì jiàn zēng wén suǒ wén jìn jìn wén bù zhù jué suǒ jué kōng kōng jué jí yuán kōng suǒ kōng miè shēng miè jì miè jì miè xiàn qián
Key Message
The path to enlightenment is not one alone. The gate of entry differs according to one's faculties and karmic affinity, but all lead to the same place of perfect penetration.
▸Volume Five contains the most practically instructive section of the Śūraṃgama Sūtra — the 'Twenty-Five Methods of Perfect Penetration' (二十五圓通).
Volume Five contains the most practically instructive section of the Śūraṃgama Sūtra — the 'Twenty-Five Methods of Perfect Penetration' (二十五圓通). The Buddha asks Mañjuśrī to compare and evaluate twenty-five bodhisattvas and arhats, each describing the particular method of practice through which they attained 'perfect penetration' (圓通) — all-pervading enlightenment. The twenty-five methods each select one of the six sense organs (六根), six sense objects (六境), six consciousnesses (六識), and seven great elements (七大), demonstrating that each practitioner reached enlightenment by following the faculty most suited to them. Among these, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva's method of perfect penetration through the ear faculty (耳根圓通) is selected in Volume Six by Mañjuśrī as the supreme practice for this world. This structure shows the Mahāyāna Buddhist teaching of skillful means (方便) — there is not one single path to awakening, but many gates corresponding to each practitioner's faculties.