The Dharma Gate of Penetration through the Nose Consciousness of Sundarananda in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Original text:孙陀罗难陀。即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我初出家。从佛入道。虽具戒律。于三摩提。心常散动。未获无漏。世尊教我。及俱絺罗。观鼻端白。我初谛观。经三七日。见鼻中气出入如烟。身心内明。圆洞世界。遍成虚净。犹如琉璃。烟相渐销。鼻息成白。心开漏尽。诸出入息化为光明。照十方界。得阿罗汉。世尊记我。当得菩提。佛问圆通。我以销息。息久发明。明圆灭漏。斯为第一。

Explanation: Sundarananda rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and replied to the Buddha: When I first left home and entered the Path by following the Buddha, although I kept the precepts well, my meditative concentration (samādhi) was not sufficient, and my mind was often scattered and restless; therefore I had not eliminated afflictions and had not attained the state of being without outflows (anāsrava). The World-Honored One taught me and Mahākauṣṭhila to contemplate the white vapor emitted from the breath going in and out at the tip of the nose. At first I contemplated carefully within meditation, and after twenty-one days, I saw the breath drawn in and out through the nose like smoke. My body and mind were inwardly luminous and clearly aware, and I could perfectly and thoroughly perceive that the great thousand worlds everywhere were empty and pure, as clear and transparent as crystal. At that time the breath between the nostrils turned white, my mind opened, wisdom surged forth, and afflictions were completely eliminated. All the outgoing and incoming breath transformed into light, illuminating the worlds of the ten directions. In this way I attained the fruit of arhatship, and the World-Honored One prophesied that I would in the future accomplish the Buddha Way. When the Buddha asked about the gateway to perfect penetration, I said: through contemplating the breath, I extinguished the breath; after the breath had been extinguished for a long time, the wisdom within my mind arose, and I clearly recognized that the breath at the tip of the nose as well as the five aggregates and eighteen realms are all empty and illusory. When wisdom was perfected, afflictions were completely eliminated. I regard this method as the foremost gateway to perfect penetration.

When Sundarananda first contemplated the breath, he had already attained the fruit of a stream-enterer (Srotaāpanna) or a once-returner (Sakṛdāgāmin), but his meditative concentration was not very good; his mind was scattered, and he had not attained the dhyāna of the first absorption, so he was not yet a non-returner (Anāgāmin). After contemplating the breath at the tip of the nose, his meditative concentration grew better and better, the power of concentration emerged, and his observation became deep, subtle, and minute; he then observed that the breath at the tip of the nose was like smoke. Without sufficient power of concentration, one cannot discover this phenomenon. The air and breath that are ordinarily invisible became visible at this time—extremely subtle, like smoke. This shows that the breath is also material form (rūpa), composed of various subtle particles of the four great elements; it is only that they are too subtle, and those without profound meditative concentration, whose minds are coarse, cannot see them. Being able to see subtle dharmas is great wisdom. Because he opened great wisdom, he inwardly saw through body and mind, and outwardly clearly perceived the world, knowing the illusory and unreal nature of the world, body, and mind. Supernatural powers appeared, afflictions were completely eliminated, and he became a great arhat of the fourth fruit.