Ananda's Fault

When Ānanda saw the Buddha, he bowed and wept in sorrow. He regretted that, since time without beginning, he had devoted himself to erudition but had not fully developed his practice on the Path. Respectfully and repeatedly he asked the Buddha to explain for him the elementary steps that lead to attainment in the wondrous practices of calming the mind, contemplative insight, and meditation in stillness — practices through which the Thus-Come Ones from all ten directions had become fully awakened.

Meanwhile, as many Bodhisattvas as there are sand-grains of the River Ganges, along with the great Arhats, Solitary Sages, and others from the ten directions, all eagerly wished to listen. They sat down and waited silently to hear instruction from the Sage. Then the World-Honored One, before the great assembly, extended his golden-hued arm, circled his hand on the crown of Ānanda's head, and said to Ānanda and to all gathered there, “There is a samādhi called ‘The Great and Royal Suraṅgama that Is Spoken from above the Crown of the Buddha's Head and that Is the Perfection of the Myriad Practices.’ It is a wondrous and magnificent Path, the unique portal through which the Buddhas in all ten directions have passed in order to transcend the conditioned world. You should all now listen attentively.”

Ānanda humbly bowed and waited for compassionate instruction. Why was Ānanda unable to resist the evil spell, even though he was already a first-stage Arhat? He had been practicing samādhi with his conscious mind.... For instance, when he listened to sutras, he remembered the principles that the Buddha spoke of. But the conscious mind which remembers the principles cannot lead to the fundamental solution, and so when Ānanda encountered a demonic influence, he failed to recognize it.... The conscious mind is subject to coming into being and ceasing to be and is not ultimate.... If instead one bases one's practice on the true nature which neither comes into being nor ceases to be, one can develop a samādhi which neither comes into being nor ceases to be. That is a genuine samādhi, one that cannot be affected by outside forces....

The power of such a samādhi can be victorious in any set of circumstances, agreeable or disagreeable. In the midst of them all, one can remain “still and just as one is, fully and forever luminous.” That is genuine samādhi. If happy situations make you happy and sad events make you sad, you're being influenced by circumstances. If you keep jumping from joy to anger to sorrow to happiness, you're being influenced by circumstances. Instead, you should be like a mirror, which reflects what appears in it and then is still.... That is to have genuine wisdom.  

The Buddha said to Ānanda, “You and I are members of the same family, and we share the affection that is natural among relatives. At the time you first made the resolve to become enlightened, what excellent attributes did you see in my Dharma that immediately led you to reject the deep familial affection and conjugal love found in the world?”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “I saw the thirty-two hallmarks5 of the Thus-Come One, which were so supremely wondrous and incomparable that his entire body shone like crystal, with an interreflecting radiance. I often thought to myself that a body with such hallmarks could not be the consequence of an act of sexual love. Why? The energies of desire are coarse and murky. Foul and putrid intercourse results in a turbid merging of procreative substances; such things as that cannot generate a body with such a wondrous, pure, magnificent, and brilliant concentration of purple-golden light. That is why I admired the Buddha and why I let the hair fall from my head6 so I could follow him.”

The Buddha said, “Excellent, Ānanda! All of you should know that since time without beginning, all beings have been undergoing death and rebirth over and over simply because they have not been aware of the pure understanding which is the essential nature of the everlasting true mind. Instead, the workings of their minds are distorted, and because the workings of their minds are distorted, they are bound to the cycle of death and rebirth.”

“Now you all wish to inquire about unsurpassed enlightenment and to discover the truth of your own nature. You should answer my questions straightforwardly, because that is the path that the Thus-Come Ones everywhere throughout the ten directions have taken as they freed themselves from death and rebirth. Their minds and their words were straightforward, and therefore, at every point in their progress from the first stage to the last, they were never in the least evasive.”

“Now, Ānanda, I ask you this: when, in response to the thirty-two hallmarks of the Thus-Come One, you first made the resolve to attain full awakening, just what was it that saw those hallmarks, and who was it that took delight in them and loved them?”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, I delighted in them and loved them with my mind and eyes. Because I saw with my eyes the excellent hallmarks of the Thus-Come One, my mind admired and delighted in them. In this way I became resolved to extricate myself from death and rebirth.”

The Buddha said to Ānanda, “It is as you say: your mind and eyes were the reason for your admiration and delight. Someone who does not know where his mind and eyes are will not be able to overcome the stress of engagement with perceived objects. Consider, for example: when bandits invade a country and the king sends forth his soldiers to drive them out, the soldiers must first know where the bandits are. It is the fault of your mind and eyes that you are bound to the cycle of death and rebirth. I am now asking you: precisely where are your mind and eyes?”