The Shurangama Mantra: The Most Powerful Mantra in Buddhism
The Shurangama Mantra is a powerful Buddhist mantra often used to banish evil spirits and remove negative energy. The Shurangama Mantra is so profound and wonderful, it is also known as the “Buddha’s Crown”, the mantra is so powerful that there is no place in space or the entire Dharma Realm that is not flooded by auspicious light of the mantra.
The Origin of Shurangama Mantra
The Shurangama Mantra is a long and old mantra of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Buddhism. Although relatively unknown in modern Tibet, there are several texts of the Shurangama Mantra in the Vajrayana Buddhist canon. It is related to the Tangmi and Shingon schools.
The word “Suramgama” is translated as “Great Samantha Firmly”. It means Buddha nature, the inherent true nature of all sentient beings that all Buddhist schools refer to.
It is vast and covers the whole universe, so it is called “Great”. Buddha nature, the original nature of sentient beings, which is pure from the past up to now, should be called “Samatha”, not affected, changed according to impermanence, so it is called “Firmly”. Therefore, the Shurangama Mantra is recited to direct the mind to this “Great Samantha Firmly” nature.
According to the opening chapter of the Shurangama Sutra, the origin of the Shurangama Mantra dates back to when Shakyamuni Buddha saved Ananda, in the Uṣṇīṣa on the top of his head released a very precious light, in the light spewed thousands of lotus flowers. wings, there was a Tathagata sitting on a lotus.
That Nirmāṇa-buddha is also Tejoraśi, and also appears countless Inner Secret Bodhisattvas with Vajra God filled with space.
Like the famous mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum”, the Shurangama Mantra is synonymous with the practices of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, an important bodhisattva of East Asian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism.
The Shurangama Mantra also mentions many Buddhist deities such as Manjushri Bodhisattva, Vajrapani Bodhisattva and Dhyani Buddhas, especially Medicine Buddha. It is often used for protection or purification for Zen masters and is considered part of Shingon Buddhism in Japan.
In 168-179 BC the bhikkhu Shramana Lokasema arrived in China, the now popularized version of the Shurangama Sutra and the Shurangama Mantra was translated and transliterated from Sanskrit into Chinese during the Tang dynasty.
To this day, monks and nuns in the Chinese Buddhist tradition, as well as many Buddhists of many other schools, recite this mantra as an essential aspect of daily practice.
The Meaning of Shurangama Mantra
The Shurangama Mantra is also known as the “Crown of the Buddha”, it is so powerful that there is no place in space or the entire Dharma Realm that is not flooded by the beautiful light of the mantra.
It is possible that no one understands this mantra, it is very difficult to explain line by line and word for word. But if you want to understand it, I can try my best to explain it to you.
The Shurangama mantra cannot be explained in one year, or three years, or even ten years. Now I will explain the general purpose of this mantra. This mantra consists of five councils (Five Phuong Buddhas), representing the five directions of East, West, South, North and Center.
The East is taught by Akshobhya as the presiding officer, the South is by Ratna-saṃbhava, the Center is a division of the Buddhas with Shakyamuni Buddha as the presiding officer. The West is the part led by Amitabha Buddha as the chair of the teaching. The North is the karmic division, Amoghasiddhi.
The Five Directions Buddhas watch over the five armies of demons that are in us and in this world. Because of these five demons, the Buddhas divided into five directions to limit their disturbance. If there were no Buddhas, demons would manifest themselves in our world.
And so, when you recite the Shurangama Mantra, the five armies of demons in the five directions will panic and surrender. They did not resist the power of the Shurangama Mantra. The five Buddha divisions in the mantra make it the most powerful mantra in Buddhism.
Many people asking questions on Buddhist forums are; “What is the effect of the Surangama Mantra? Should chanting the Surangama Mantra?”. But in my opinion you should not be attached, your attachment will not be as good if you are a normal person.
Yes, if you just rely on mantras, but your inner nature is a group of false and malicious thoughts, negative and impure thoughts, lustful thoughts… In that case, mantra will be ineffective and sometimes counterproductive. If you want to avoid disaster, you must first clear your own mind.
The purity of your mind is what really dispels the calamities. If you are full of greed, anger, and stupidity, no mantra will work. We must be kind and full of goodness, wanting to help others. Our mind should be healthy if we want to recite the Shurangama Mantra.
Benefits of Reciting the Shurangama Mantra
Many people believe that as long as people recite the Shurangama Mantra, the world will still exist, if no one else recites the Shurangama Mantra, the world will be destroyed very quickly, because at that time the Dharma will no longer exist.
From the beginning to the end of each sentence is the favorite method of the Buddhas, each sentence has a function, each word has a high, profound, and wonderful point; All have inconceivable divine powers.
Just reciting a sentence, a word, an assembly or the whole mantra will make the heavens and earth shake, ghosts and gods cry, demons stay away. The halo of the Buddha’s humiliation represents the power of the mantra, which is capable of dispelling all darkness and causing the practitioner to accomplish all good merit.
If you uphold the Shurangama mantra and do good deeds, you will definitely become a Buddha in the future and attain the unsurpassed state of righteous enlightenment. If you regularly recite this mantra, you will eliminate the karma of many previous lives. That is the benefit when chanting Shurangama mantra.
All Buddhas in the ten directions are born from this mantra, so it is possible to call the Shurangama Mantra the mother of the Buddhas. All Tathagatas in the ten directions rely on this mantra to achieve the path of unsurpassed righteous enlightenment.
They manifest themselves as numerous as the dust particles of the lands to turn the wheel of dharma, to teach sentient beings, to prophesy for sentient beings in the ten directions, to save sentient beings from suffering, to make all sentient beings great and small. excess rights are liberated; They all depend on the majesty of the Shurangama Mantra. If you want to attain Arahantship, you must recite this mantra to avoid ghosts.
The function of the Shurangama mantra is extremely powerful, in the Dharma-ending age, if anyone memorized this mantra or encouraged others to memorize it, fire could not burn that person to death and water could not drown them. No matter how strong the poison is, it can’t harm them.
For those who often recite this mantra, the poison will turn into nectar as soon as it enters the mouth. One who recites this mantra will not be reborn in bad realms; They can’t even if they want to.
Why? Because this spell holds them back and doesn’t let them go to those places. If we have not accumulated enough merit, then when chanting the Shurangama Mantra, the Buddhas of the ten directions will bless us with good merit.
Suppose the mind is often scattered and cannot be concentrated to generate concentration, but if the mind thinks of the Shurangama mantra and then recites it with his mouth, Vajra Bodhisattva will silently protect us until When the mind is scattered, it gradually dissipates and concentration is generated.
They will silently support you to open your wisdom and turn your mind to the point of understanding all things in 84,000 countless eons.
The above boundless benefits are due to the Lotus Buddhas extracted from many sources on the internet, of course, the Shurangama Mantra is a very important mantra in Buddhism, but only for the benefits listed above that we try our best. Reciting when not understanding the main purpose of Buddhism, with a sincere heart, a pure mind, not mixed with evil, then chanting mantras will be effective.
