Samyuktagama Sutra (347), Part Five

(5) Original text:佛告须深。作如是知。如是见者。为有离欲。恶不善法。乃至身作证。具足住不。须深白佛。不也。世尊。佛告须深。是名先知法住。后知涅槃。彼诸善男子独一静处。专精思惟。不放逸住。离于我见。不起诸漏。心善解脱。佛说此经已。尊者须深。远尘离垢。得法眼净。

Explanation: The Buddha told Susīma: "For one who knows and sees in this way, has he departed from sensual desire and unwholesome states, and even realized it with his own body, dwelling in complete stability?" Susīma replied to the Buddha: "No, World-Honored One." The Buddha told Susīma: "This is called first knowing the abiding of dharma, and afterward knowing nirvāṇa. Those good men, alone in a quiet place, deliberating with focused diligence, dwelling without heedlessness, depart from the view of self, give rise to no defilements, and their minds are well liberated." After the Buddha had spoken this sūtra, the Venerable Susīma was far removed from dust and departed from defilement, and attained the pure dharma-eye.

In this passage, the Buddha asks Susīma: with merely these views and knowledge, can one realize liberation with one's own body? Clearly not. These views and knowledge are intellectual understanding; afterward one must still engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and deliberation within meditative concentration in a quiet place, in order to attain complete stable dwelling, with body and mind fully abiding in the dharma of the twelve links of dependent arising. Finally one eliminates the view of self entirely, attains the full first dhyāna, exhausts the defilement of afflictions, and the mind attains liberation and wisdom attains liberation. After Susīma heard the Buddha expound the dharma of the twelve links of dependent arising, his mind departed from the dusty realms of the five-aggregate world, departed from the defilement of afflictions, and the eye that sees dharma became pure; he no longer saw the five-aggregate world, but saw the dharma of dependent arising, abiding in the dharma of dependent arising.

When some people see that Susīma realized the fruit right after hearing the dharma, they will think that realizing the fruit is very simple—that no meditative concentration is needed, that one only needs to deliberate a bit while listening to the dharma, and understanding it means realizing the fruit. In fact, it is not that simple. There are prerequisite conditions: this person must have meditative concentration, the causes and conditions for realizing the dharma must be complete, and under the Buddha's blessing power at that time, the causal conditions required for realizing the dharma could be fulfilled. While listening to the dharma, preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) was complete, enabling him to listen to the dharma and engage in contemplative practice single-mindedly, without the slightest distracting thought, extremely focused. The meaning of the dharma could penetrate deeply into the manas, completely transcending emotional sentiment and intellectual interpretation—so fast, in fact, that there was no opportunity for the mind consciousness's emotional sentiment and intellectual interpretation. This is because of prior training in meditative concentration: the manas was habituated to focused deliberation (manana), innate afflictive obstruction (kleśāvaraṇa) and afflictions were slight, so upon encountering the dharma he would deliberate, without any obstruction; hence realization of the fruit was swift.

If one were not at the Buddha's side, with the Buddha's field of influence and blessing power, swift realization of the fruit would be impossible, and the causes and conditions for realizing the fruit could not be quickly perfected. Other good teachers (kalyāṇamitra) have far less subjugating power than the Buddha, nor do they have such a powerful field of influence and blessing power as the Buddha. If a person cultivates very well, the influence of their field is extremely great. A person with a pure mind has a powerful power of edification and infection, able to influence the minds of those around them to become pure as well, thereby giving rise to meditative concentration, unifying the mind, abiding in meditative concentration, and subsequently giving rise to wisdom and elevating wisdom. Therefore, for those listening to the dharma at the Buddha's side, as long as they possessed a certain degree of causes and conditions for attaining the dharma, the Buddha's majestic power would bless them so that the causal conditions for attaining the dharma were fulfilled, and realizing the dharma became very easy.