A Wondrous Contemplative Practice for Eliminating Greed and Lust (Manas Training Section)

Original text of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Five:（乌刍瑟摩）我常先忆。久远劫前。性多贪欲。有佛出世。名曰空王。说多淫人。成猛火聚。教我遍观。百骸四肢。诸冷暖气。神光内凝。化多淫心。成智慧火。从是诸佛。皆呼召我。名为火头。我以火光。三昧力故。成阿罗汉。心发大愿。诸佛成道。我为力士。亲伏魔怨。佛问圆通。我以谛观。身心暖触。无碍流通。诸漏既销。生大宝焰。登无上觉。斯为第一。

Explanation: Ucchuṣma recalled that in the distant kalpas past, he had a heavy mind of craving and desire. Buddha King of Emptiness told him that a person whose mental nature is full of lust, because of abundant sexual desire, is each day as if dwelling amid a gathering of raging fire, burning up his own body and mind, constantly experiencing the scorching of body and mind, unable to find peace. In order to free him from this scorching torment, the Buddha taught Ucchuṣma a wondrous method to counteract craving and lust: every day, he was to contemplate and practice observing the cold and warm energies within the hundred bones and four limbs of his entire body, from head to toe and from toe to head, observing them all.

This is contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) beginning from the element of fire. The manifestation of the fire element in the material body is body temperature, sometimes cold and sometimes hot, pervading the whole body inside and out—that is, within the hundred-odd bones and the four limbs. The Buddha had Ucchuṣma contemplate all the warmth and coldness of his entire body. After Ucchuṣma practiced this contemplation for a period of time, enormous changes occurred in his body and mind: "the spiritual light turned inward and condensed, transforming the lustful mind into the fire of wisdom." What is spiritual light? It is mental vigor, energy, attention, and mental power—mainly referring to the spiritual strength of the manas. Not only did the attention of the six consciousnesses no longer scatter outward, but most importantly, the manas's energy no longer leaked outward to vent sexual desire; instead, it condensed inward, all applied to contemplating the cold and warm energies within the body. This energy and vitality that would otherwise have been vented outward was transformed inward, converted into the power of observation and the power of wisdom, giving rise to the light of wisdom—the fire of the mind became the light of prajñā.

The Buddha's method is not to forcibly suppress lustful thoughts from arising, but to skillfully transform and redirect them. The very same energy and passion is transferred elsewhere, applied to developing wisdom, applied to liberation—how ingenious is that? Suppression causes painful struggle, as unbearable as quitting gambling or drugs, whereas transformation is like guiding the fire back to its source, using it in a different place. After making full use of it, the fire-light samādhi arose, body and mind radiated with vibrant vitality, the afflictive outflows were exhausted, there was coolness and quiescence, the mind attained great ease, and he became an arhat. The dharma gate of perfect penetration that Ucchuṣma cultivated was: single-mindedly contemplating all the sensations of warmth and cold in the hundred bones and four limbs of the body, so that the fire element in the body could circulate and flow unobstructed throughout the whole body, no longer obstructed by lust or lingering within desire. From then on, all afflictions were extinguished, the great wisdom of liberating from the threefold world arose, and he ascended the path of supreme enlightenment.

Observing from the four great elements of earth, water, wind, and emptiness proceeds in the same way—contemplating the contact between the body faculty and sense objects. Craving and lust belong to the fire element, while broad-ranging greed belongs to the water element; one can contemplate that the water element within the body and the water element outside the body are no different, both returning to emptiness, thereby extinguishing greed and exhausting the afflictive outflows. Anger also belongs to the fire element; likewise one can contemplate the fire of the mind returning to emptiness, thereby extinguishing anger and attaining liberation. Any dharma among the five aggregates can serve as the object of contemplative practice; any can serve as an entry into the Path, any can extinguish afflictive outflows, and any can lead to nirvāṇa and liberation.