Let us continue with selections from “Meditation on the Organ of Hearing,” in the Surangama Sutra translated by Upsaka Lu K’uan Yu, where Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva expounds on the benefits of Sound meditation and Her vow to liberate living beings.
“If there are women who are keen to fulfil their home duties, thereby setting a good example to other families and the whole country, I will appear as a queen, a princess, or a noble lady to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are young men who are chaste, I will appear as a celibate youth to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are young women who are keen to avoid carnality […], I will appear as a maiden to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are gods who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as a deva to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are dragons (nagas) who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as a naga to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are yaksas who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as a yaksa to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are gandharvas who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as a gandharva to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are asuras who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as an asura to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are garudas who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as a garuda to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are kinnaras who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as a kinnara to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are mahoragas who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as a mahoraga to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are living beings who wish to be reborn as human beings, I will appear in human form to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.
If there are non-human beings, with or without forms, thoughtful or thoughtless, who wish to be freed from bondage in their realms, I will appear as one of them and teach them the Dharma so that they can reach their goals.
These are my thirty-two transformation-bodies in response to (the needs of) all countries in samsara, achieved by means of the uncreated sovereign power of Samadhi realized in my practice of sublimating the faculty of hearing.
World Honored One, I also use this uncreated sovereign power of Diamond Samadhi, derived from sublimating hearing, to share with all living beings in the six realms in the ten directions the same plea for compassion, and to bestow upon them fourteen kinds of fearlessness which emanate from my body and mind.
1. Since I myself do not meditate on sound but on the meditator, I cause all suffering beings to look into the sound of their voices in order to obtain liberation.
2. By returning (discriminative) intellect to its (absolute) source, I cause them to avoid being burned when they find themselves in a great fire.
3. By returning hearing to its source, I cause them to avoid drowning when they are adrift on the sea.
4. By stopping wrong thinking and thereby cleansing their minds of harmfulness, I lead them to safety when they wander in the realm of evil ghosts.
5. By sublimating their (wrong) hearing to restore its absolute condition, thereby purifying all six organs and perfecting their functions, I cause them, when in danger, to be immune from sharp weapons which become blunt and useless like water that cannot be cut and daylight that cannot be blown away, because their (underlying) nature does not change.
6. By perfecting the sublimation of their hearing, their bright light pervades the whole Dharma realm to destroy the darkness (of ignorance), thereby dazzling evil beings such as yaksa, raksa, kumbhanda, putana, etcetera, who cannot see them when they meet them.
7. When hearing is reversed so that sound vanishes completely, all illusory objects of sense disappear so that (practisers) are freed from fetters which can no longer restrain them.
8: The elimination of sound to perfect hearing results in universal compassion so that they can pass through regions infested with robbers and bandits who cannot plunder them.
9. The sublimation of hearing disengages them from the objects of sense and makes them immune from (attractive) forms, thereby enabling lustful beings to get rid of desires and cravings.
10. The sublimation of sound eliminates all sense data and results in the perfect mingling of each organ with its objects and the total eradication of subject and object, thereby enabling all vindictive beings to bury anger and hate.
11. After the elimination of sense data and the return to the bright (Reality), both inner body and mind and outer phenomena become crystal clear and free from all hindrances, so that dull and ignorant unbelievers (icchantika) can get rid of the darkness of ignorance.”
12. When their bodies are in harmony with the nature of hearing, they can, from their immutable state of enlightenment (bodhimandala), re-enter the world (to liberate others) without harming the worldly and can go anywhere to make offerings to Buddhas countless as dust, serving every Tathagata in the capacity of a son of the King of the Law and having the power to give male heirs with blessed virtues and wisdom to childless people who want boys.
13. The perfecting of the six organs unifies their divided functions so that they become all-embracing, thus revealing the Great Mirror (Wisdom) and immaterial Tathagata womb compatible with all Dharma doors taught by Buddhas as uncountable as dust. They can bestow upright, blessed, gracious, and respect-inspiring girls on childless parents who want daughters.
14. In this great chiliocosm [or a collection of many worlds], which contains a hundred lacs [or 100,000,000] of suns and moons, there are now Bodhisattvas countless as sand grains in sixty-two Ganges rivers. They practice the Dharma to set a good example to all living beings by befriending, teaching, and converting them; in their wisdom, although their expedient methods differ.”
