The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Five: The Twenty-Five Sages' Dharma Gate of Perfect Penetration — Bhadrapāla

Original text: 跋陀婆罗。并其同伴。十六开士。即从座起。顶礼佛足。而白佛言。我等先于威音王佛。闻法出家。于浴僧时。随例入室。忽悟水因。既不洗尘。亦不洗体。中间安然。得无所有。宿习无忘。乃至今时。从佛出家。今得无学。彼佛名我。跋陀婆罗。妙触宣明。成佛子住。佛问圆通。如我所证。触因为上。

Explanation: Bhadrapāla and his sixteen companion bodhisattva-mahāsattvas rose from their seats, paid homage at the Buddha's feet, and addressed the Buddha, saying: "We heard the Dharma and left home to cultivate during the time of the Buddha Wēiyīn-wáng (Bhīṣmagarjita-ghoṣa-svararāja). Once, when the monks were bathing, I entered the bathing chamber in accordance with the customary order. While bathing, I suddenly awakened to the causal condition of water: it neither washes away the dust nor washes the body. In the midst of the bathing, there was perfect peace, and nothing was obtained or possessed. This habitual tendency from past lives was never forgotten, down to the present day, when I left home to cultivate under the Buddha and have now attained the stage of beyond training (aśaikṣa). That Buddha named me Bhadrapāla. Because the exquisite tactile sensation was proclaimed and made clear, I abide in the position of a Buddha's son. The Buddha asks about the gateway to perfect penetration; as I have realized it, the causal condition of touch is supreme."

Why can water neither wash away the dust nor wash the body? Because all dharmas lack self-nature (svabhāva), and insentient material form (rūpa) in particular lacks self-nature. Therefore, water has no actual function of washing away dust or washing the body. The dust being washed off is not the merit of the water, and the body becoming clean is not the merit of the water. Water and dust do not touch each other at all; water and the body do not touch each other at all; likewise, the body and the dust do not touch each other at all. Since material forms fundamentally have no boundary between them, they cannot change anything in one another. And yet what is the result? The dust is indeed washed off, and the body is indeed washed clean. This is truly a marvelous thing. Therefore Bhadrapāla realized the essential nature of all dharmas and called this marvelous thing the exquisite tactile sensation, and he proclaimed and made clear his realization of this exquisite tactile sensation, letting everyone know, so as to inspire everyone to realize this exquisite tactile sensation themselves.

However, to realize this exquisite tactile sensation, one must have profound meditative concentration (samādhi); without meditative concentration there is no realization whatsoever. What is produced by sentiment and intellectual understanding has no actual merit or benefit—like talking about food, it does not fill one's belly. Only when meditative concentration is deep can the questioning doubt be deep. If one can abide in questioning doubt at all times and in all places, and upon encountering a corresponding condition, gathers one's thoughts and contemplates deeply, one can awaken to the Way. Afterward, one will know not only that it is so, but also why it is so. Meditative absorption (samādhi) manifests before one, great wisdom arises, and even great supernatural powers may appear. All who truly realize it are like this.