Commentary on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (66)

The Means of the Demon King

When everyone's preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) is complete and the first dhyāna is about to arise, the demon king uses all kinds of means to create obstacles, striking at the weakest point within each person's mind, breaking through the vulnerable part, causing greedy desire to arise and meditative concentration to vanish, so that one cannot escape from the demon's grasp. If one's meditative power is firm and is not destroyed by the demon king, then at the end of life one will ascend to the form realm, which is higher than the demon king's realm, and thus one will no longer be subject to the demon king's jurisdiction and control.

What is there in the desire realm? The desire realm contains all kinds of greedy desires—wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep—with the desire between men and women being primary. If one transcends this desire and eliminates it, the demon palace will shake. If a practitioner's resolve for the Path is not firm and his merit is insufficient, he can easily be disturbed, and his meditative concentration will disappear. This is what the demon most hopes for, so he will try every means to make sentient beings love and crave this desire-realm world, so that his subjects will not decrease. Demon kings all hope that their subjects will grow ever more numerous, and therefore they must find ways to control their subjects, making all sentient beings have greedy desires so that they do not escape his control.

Therefore the Buddha said that if a mind of craving and delight arises, that is the realm of the demon. All of us in this world are under the demon king's control, and are also governed by Śakra Devānām Indra, who dwells in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven of the desire realm. If humans in the desire realm cultivate goodness, Śakra Devānām Indra is most delighted, because those who cultivate goodness will ascend to the desire-realm heavens at the end of life, and thus Śakra Devānām Indra's subjects increase. Therefore, on the first and fifteenth days of each month, he sends heavenly protectors and devas to patrol the human world to see whether there are more people practicing wholesome dharmas or more people practicing unwholesome dharmas. If there are more people cultivating wholesome dharmas, Śakra Devānām Indra is pleased; if there are more people practicing unwholesome dharmas, Śakra Devānām Indra is displeased. Knowing of this, people in the human world make offerings to the Buddha, eat vegetarian meals, observe the precepts, and do good deeds on the first and fifteenth of each month, in order to perform more wholesome karma so that after death they may ascend to the heavens and enjoy pleasures. Sometimes people in this world do things with a certain degree of sound reasoning.