The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume 5: The Twenty-Five Sages' Gateways to Perfect Penetration — the Youth Xiangyan (Fragrant Adornment)

Original text: 香严童子。即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我闻如来教我谛观。诸有为相。我时辞佛。宴晦清斋。见诸比丘烧沉水香。香气寂然。来入鼻中。我观此气。非木非空。非烟非火。去无所著。来无所从。由是意销。发明无漏。如来印我。得香严号。尘气倏灭。妙香密圆。我从香严。得阿罗汉。佛问圆通。如我所证。香严为上。

Explanation: At this point, the Child of Fragrant Adornment (Xiangyan Tongzi) rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: I heard the Tathāgata teach me to carefully contemplate all conditioned marks. After I took leave of the Buddha, I began to engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and deliberation alone in a quiet place. One day, I saw several bhikṣus burning aloeswood incense, and the fragrance, unnoticed, drifted over and entered my nose. I contemplated this fragrance, deliberating in my mind that it did not come from the fragrant wood, nor from empty space, nor from the smoke, nor from the fire; after the fragrance vanished, it did not adhere to anything, having no place to go, and when the fragrance arrived, no place from which it came could be found. As I contemplated thus, my mental thoughts ceased entirely, all mental imaginings dissolved, and I realized the fourth fruit, beyond training (aśaikṣa), becoming an arhat with the exhaustion of outflows. The Tathāgata certified me with the title "Fragrant Adornment." From then on, worldly defiled odors no longer existed within my realm, while the wondrous fragrance was subtle, secret, and perfect. I realized arhatship through fragrant adornment. The Buddha asked me about the gateway to perfect penetration; as I realized it, fragrant adornment is supreme.

When the Child of Fragrant Adornment contemplated the fragrance, his meditative concentration was extremely deep and subtle, his deliberation very keen and refined, his observation penetrating to the finest detail, to the point of giving rise to meditative absorption (samādhi). The Child of Fragrant Adornment deliberated: from where does the aloeswood fragrance come? If it came from the fragrant wood, then wherever the fragrant wood is located there should be such fragrance; yet when the aloeswood is not burning, there is no such fragrance. If the fragrance came from empty space, then since empty space is always present, the fragrance should persist constantly—but this is not so. If the fragrance came from the smoke, yet the smoke of ordinary wood carries no such scent. If the fragrance came from the fire, yet other fires carry no such fragrance. Finally, he determined that the fragrance comes from nowhere and goes nowhere—the fragrance is empty—and thus his mind became empty, all afflictions completely fell away, and he realized the fruit of arhatship.

Realizing the fruit of arhatship requires at minimum the first dhyāna, and at the highest, the four dhyānas and eight absorptions. With such deep meditative concentration, the mind is extremely fine and meticulous, and the contemplative practice is all direct perception/valid direct cognition, without sentiment, conceptualization, imagination, or speculation. The deliberative function of the mind consciousness is very little, while the deliberation (manana) of the manas is used a great deal. Therefore, understanding relies on the mind consciousness, but realization must depend on the manas. When the mind consciousness knows that something is so but not why it is so, that is understanding; the manas not only knows that it is so, but also knows why it is so—therefore it is realization. The understanding of the mind consciousness is coarse and sketchy, unable to penetrate into fine detail, whereas the realization of the manas is fine and detailed, penetrating deep into the surface and the core, knowing the whole story from beginning to end. All states of samādhi wisdom are realized jointly by the manas and the mind consciousness, with meditative concentration and wisdom both complete.