‘Those ignorant, deluded or negligent
of the Buddha’s true teachings
might be ready for Mara’s false teachings.’
‘阿难。彼善男子。受阴虚妙。不遭邪虑。圆定发明。三摩地中。心爱圆明。锐其精思。贪求善巧。尔时天魔。候得其便。飞精附人。口说经法。其人不觉。是其魔著。自言谓得。无上涅槃。来彼求巧。善男子处。敷座说法。其形斯须。或作比丘。令彼人见。或为帝释。或为妇女。或比丘尼。或寝暗室。身有光明。是人愚迷。惑为菩萨。信其教化。摇荡其心。破佛律仪。潜行贪欲。口中好言。灾祥变异。或言如来。某处出世。或言劫火。或说刀兵。恐怖于人。令其家资。无故耗散。此名怪鬼。年老成魔。恼乱是人。厌足心生。去彼人体。弟子与师。俱陷王难。汝当先觉。不入轮回。迷惑不知。堕无间狱。’
– 楞严经之五十阴魔章: 想阴魔之一（佛陀）
In the Surangama Sutra, where the Buddha warned of fifty demonic states that unmindful spiritual practitioners might fall prey to, he spoke of the possibility of how (as summarisd from the Chinese text above)… ‘that good man [or woman]… greedily seeks skilful means [to further spirituality]. Then, Mara [the chief heavenly demon], having awaited to take this convenience, [sends a] flying spirit [demonic ghost] to possess this [or another] person. With one’s mouth preaching the Dharma of the sutras, this person is not aware, that he [or she] is possessed by a demon, self-proclaiming to have attained unsurpassable Nirvana [Buddhahood].
[He or she] comes to others who seek skilful means [too], where the good man [or woman] is, arranging a seat to preach. His [or her] form changes momentarily, perhaps as a Bhiksu [Buddhist monk], for others to see… perhaps as a woman [or man], perhaps as a Bhiksuni [Buddhist nun]… This person [disciple(s) and/or teacher] is deluded and confused, misled that he [or she] is a Bodhisattva. Believing in such teachings, the mind is swayed to break the Buddha’s disciplinary rules [monastic and/or lay precepts], to secretly practise [acts of] craving .
[His or her] mouth is fond of speaking about variations of [omens concerning] disasters and auspiciousness… Perhaps speaking of fires [at the end] of kalpas [world cycles], perhaps speaking of wars and fighting, terrorising [frightening] people, causing their families’ wealth [and properties] to be dissipated without [valid] reason.
This is named a “bewildering ghost”, whom when old in years, becomes a demon, who troubles and confuses people. When the thought of being tired and satisfied arises, he [or she leaves to] possess another person’s body. The disciple[s] and teacher, [thereafter] all fall into troubles [difficulties] with the law. You should first be aware [of this, so as] to not [re-]enter rebirth, become confused [deluded] and unaware, [thereafter] falling into the Uninterrupted [Avici] Hell.’
Due to the great weight of the Surangama Sutra’s moral authority, it is also known as a demon-reflecting mirror (照妖镜), as inner and outer demonic influences are clearly reflected in its final chapter on ‘50 Demonic States Of The Aggregates’, where the above teaching is listed as the twenty-first – out of great compassion and wisdom by the Buddha to prevent truthseekers from straying off the path to enlightenment.
Those who truly strayed away due to demonic influences are those who have not learnt about the teachings in this chapter in time, or who wilfully refuse to see themselves reflected in it, as it reveals their true colours. Being so powerful for recognising demons, this sutra will be the first that Mara seeks to destroy in this Dharma Ending Age (when the Buddha predicted the general decline of the integrity of the Dharma being upheld), to urge forgetfulness of, so as to pave the way for his minions to take greater siege of this world. As such, this is a crucial time to recall and study this teaching. The above passage on doomsday sayers has been selected as representative of a common phenomenon in our times. The following is commentary on it.
Demons can influence both teachers and students with especially strong weaknesses of greed and delusion, that are not always obvious to the unmindful. We ought to note that just because someone appears to preach the Dharma correctly or even excellently to some extent does not mean that person will always do so. No individual teaching by anyone should be received without continual wise discernment.
It is horrifying but possible that demonic possessions can take place over a long period of time, especially in this Dharma Ending Age, when Mara’s workings are capable of being more elaborately tactical. For instance, a teacher who appears to have built up much confidence in the masses through his or her proper teachings of the Dhama over some time might turn out to be possessed all along, or later, when he or she cunningly confuses followers by subtly introducing poisonous ideas that run counter to the Dharma presented earlier, with pretense of continual good will.
As a glaring sign of having great egos and craving to gather attention and followers, false teachers might claim to be ‘supreme’ masters or ‘true’ Buddhas, or even manifestations of Arhats and Bodhisattvas. This is clearly against the orthodox Buddhist practice of not attracting followers with arbitrarily community or self-appointed status; but only with the pure Dharma and exemplary moral conduct.
Some false teachers might not explicitly claim to be enlightened, while continually dropping hints that they have some special attainments or amazing abilities, or that they are ready to be born in Pure Land (or came from Pure Land), before possibly brushing away suggestions of being highly accomplished or enlightened out of false modesty later. Some know their disciples are openly and continually claiming that they as their teachers are ‘enlightened’, but never admonish for restraint – because this is exactly what they want them to do – to advertise their ‘status’ to attract more followers.
False teachers’ so-called supernormal powers (and special experiences) are usually hearsay, cannot be objectively proven, or can be analysed and disclosed to be sleight-of-hand tricks or psychological mind games. If they often manifest ‘true’ powers, all the more should they be stayed away from, as again, the Buddha taught that only the Dharma should be used to attract followers. Refusal to abide by fully enlightened advice of the Buddha means they cannot be enlightened. Faith in teachers only due to their ‘supernormal’ powers or fame is simply blind faith; not rooted safely in the Dharma.
Demonic influences can occur at many levels – from the workings of personal demons (greed, hatred and delusion) to actual demons’ mental suggestions and physical possessions. Just as demonic influences can come from once ‘trusted’ teachers, they can come from ‘close’ disciples too, who feed their teachers seriously erroneous ideas for propagation to the masses.
As false teachers can even appear to be ‘monastics’, this is why we should rely on the Dharma and not any personality (依法不依人) or the person’s fame and projected status. We must remember that as there are many evil cults with huge followings in history, mere popularity does not equate to truthfulness or worthiness. It was a religiously held belief, for example, by many, that the earth is stationary, which is totally untrue. Amazing as it is, some still believe the earth to be unmoving (and flat)!
Long-time followers of teachers who now advocate questionable teachings have to resist the natural urge to defend these new unsound teachings out of blind loyalty, for true loyalty, as expected by the Buddha, is towards the Dharma; not any misguided persons. (They should correct them with the right Dharma instead. Although real demons are unlikely to easily regret their ways, they should nevertheless try.) Whether the Buddha is around in person or not, he should always be seen as our fundamental teacher, whose teachings in the sutras we take bearings from after proper reflection.
As deluded followers tend to rationalise unwholesome speech and actions of their beloved teachers, these teachers thus become more audacious in flouting the Buddha’s important moral guidelines, and gradually urge their followers to do the same, openly or discreetly, thus sabotaging their spiritual progress. Acts of craving done might include public or private amassing of fame, wealth and power, and/or having sexual misconduct secretly in the name of ‘spirituality’.
A possible attribute of the false teachers highlighted in the Surangama Sutra excerpt is that to gather attention of larger followings, they like to repeatedly speak of impending terrible or doomsday disasters, especially those that are already proven not to exist, will not exist, or unprovable to have been alleviated by them and their followers. They cause needless panic and fear frequently, disrupting individuals’ peace of mind, familial harmony and societal stability, thus tarnishing Buddhism’s name, especially after having gained popularity in its name. Such is the deviousness of these demons, who build up faith in some right Dharma, only to tear it down later with corrupted teachings unapologetically.
They can cause loss of wealth when donations are suggested for publicising warnings or creating ‘merits’ to alleviate imaginary disasters. There are endless flip-flop contradicting variations of what they say because each time a predicted disaster pronounced with grave ‘exactness’ does not occur, they have to rationalise why the event was cancelled or postponed. Some terrible consequences of being possessed by such demons is that they can wreck havoc in one’s name and person via speech and actions without the person knowing this, getting them and their followers into much legal trouble later.
If those who claim to propagate ‘the (near-)end of the world is coming’ for the ‘good’ of all do not cash in (nearly) all their possessions and fortune (since the end is ‘really’ near) to propagate this idea all the way, how do they expect others to believe them all the way? Do they even give up half of it all? If not, what they propagate does not even deserve half a moment of anyone’s attention. For those with large or small organisations, should they not cash in all their assets, such as properties, to spread their crucial final message worldwide? That they do not do so means even they doubt or disbelieve their own propaganda. Or they are outright liars.
Some followers rationalise that it is but a skilful means to spread doomsday hoaxes to urge more spiritual practice. This cannot be the case as such repeated offences are downright lies, which run counter to basic morality. The Buddha himself, being the unsurpassable master of skilful means, neither resorted to nor approved such dangerous methods, which can cause, as we know from history, mass panic, family and job abandonment, violence sprees, depression and even suicide.
The Dharma is most easily destroyed by those who appear to propagate and defend it ‘well’ – by causing subtle but definite growing rifts in the Buddhist community. In fact, the Buddha taught that the Buddhadharma in our world can only be destroyed inside out by false ‘Buddhists’. This includes creation of schism in the Sangha, which is one of the direct paths to rebirth in the deepest hell for the longest time.
With deluded followers uncertain of how to (dis)continue following their once beloved but later wayward yet unrepentant teachers, while lacking ability to sift truth from deceit, their spiritual lives become confused, especially if they do not know any orthodox teacher to address these issues objectively. There is, after all, nothing more treacherous than to build a well with pure water, representing the true Dharma, only to add in a little yet lethal poison later – for drinkers who already have complete trust in the well’s water.
As it takes sharp analytical minds to filter fact from fiction, to sort the precious baby representing the Dharma from the bathwater representing defiled teachings, to see how spiritually and physically dangerous misinformation can be, especially when it involves the Dharma, it is best to altogether avoid teachers suspected to be false, by using the Buddha’s sound guidelines for reference. Only teachers who abide by the Buddha’s teachings should be learnt from and supported, especially in this age, when they will be increasingly rare and precious. (By various Dharma protectors: 19.12.2012)
‘How can those ignorant, deluded or negligent
of the Buddha’s first teaching to disappear
to ensure his final teaching thrives?’
(This article also appeared at http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,11253,0,0,1,0)
Dharma Protection Fellowship 