The Shurangama Sutra, Volume Five: Aniruddha's Perfect Penetration among the Twenty-Five Sages

Original text:阿那律陀。即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我初出家。常乐睡眠。如来诃我为畜生类。我闻佛诃。啼泣自责。七日不眠。失其双目。世尊示我乐见照明。金刚三昧。我不因眼。观见十方。精真洞然。如观掌果。如来印我。成阿罗汉。佛问圆通。如我所证。旋见循元。斯为第一。

Explanation: Aniruddha rose from his seat, paid homage at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: When I first left home, I always loved to sleep, and the Tathāgata rebuked me, saying I slept greedily like an animal. Hearing the Buddha's rebuke, I wept and blamed myself, and did not sleep for seven days, ruining both my eyes. World-Honored One, You then taught me to cultivate the vajra samādhi of joyful seeing and illumination.

After this vajra samādhi was cultivated, I could see the scenes of the worlds in the ten directions without relying on my physical eyes—everything was extremely refined and real, penetratingly clear without obstruction, just like observing an āmalaka fruit in my own palm. The Tathāgata then certified me as having become an arhat. The Buddha asks about the dharma gate of perfect penetration; just as I realized it, by turning the seeing back around to follow its source—whereas originally the eyes looked outward at objects, I turned to look inward instead, contemplating the source of the ability to see form, and realized that form is empty and self is empty, becoming one beyond training of the fourth fruit. This is the foremost dharma gate that I cultivated and realized.

Aniruddha cultivated this vajra samādhi of joyful seeing and illumination, every day using his mind-eye to introspect on what exactly the ability to see form is, and how form is seen. His meditative concentration grew ever deeper, and the wisdom of his contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) grew ever deeper, until at last he found the source, the samādhi appeared, the divine eye (clairvoyance) manifested forthwith, and he attained the fourth fruit.

When cultivating, if precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom are all fully complete, and one is extremely diligent, the vajra samādhi will certainly manifest. This is a model of genuine practice—not like some people who are satisfied merely by diligently learning some knowledge, thinking they have arrived, their arrogance blazing while they amount to nothing. Knowledge accumulated by the mind consciousness is like a castle in the air; after death nothing remains, and the manas goes destitute to the next life together with the tathāgatagarbha—what could it possibly have?