Shurangama Mantra with Verses and Commentary

by Venerable Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua

521. ĐÁT LIỂM BỘ CA

怛斂部迦

 

 

Tâm độc ý ngận hại thương sanh

Tánh hóa kim thạch thảo mộc hình

Bổn chất liệt ư chậm tỳ đẳng

Nha phiến ma dược sát nhân tinh.

 

心毒意狠害蒼生

性化金石草木形

本質烈於鴆砒等

鴉片麻藥殺人精

English Translated by the International Translation Institute

Revised by Bhikshu Heng Shun

 

521. Dan Lian Bu Jia

 

Verse:

 

With vicious thoughts and cruel intent, they harm sentient beings.

Their nature transforms into metal, stone, grass, and wood.

Their essential character is as deadly as the Chen bird, arsenic, and other poisons,

Killing people the same way opium and narcotics do.

 

Commentary:

 

Th is line of mantra refers to ghosts of toxic herbs.

 

With vicious thoughts and cruel intent, they harm sentient beings.

 

When they were human beings, their hearts were already extremely cruel and malicious. They took delight in harming people.

 

Their nature transforms into metal, stone, grass, and wood.

 

After they die, they become ghosts and their malicious nature transforms into various metals, stones, and plants.

 

Their essential character is as deadly as the Zhen bird, arsenic, and other poisons.

 

The poison of these ghosts is fiercer than that of Zhen wine and arsenic. Zhen is a poisonous bird, whose feathers can be soaked in wine to make it toxic. People who drink the wine will have their five viscera (liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys) incinerated and bleed from the seven apertures of their body. In ancient times, when a king wanted to sentence a certain minister to death, he would give Zhen wine to that minister. After drinking it, the person would immediately die from the poison.

 

Killing people the same way opium and narcotics do.

 

Opium is extracted from plants, as are many other kinds of narcotics and hallucinogenic drugs. Th ese plants contain toxins. Behind them are these ghosts of toxic herbs who are creating trouble. They also spread poisonous vapors onto metals and stones. Although opium and narcotics are less toxic than Chen wine or arsenic, and cause people who take them to feel a false sense of comfort and ease, the truth is they bring only harm and no benefit at all. Generally speaking, these poisons belong to the fire element. Th at is why it is said: "Th e accumulation of heat produces toxins.” When people have excessive heat in their bodies, it can transform into toxins. Therefore, many Chinese herbal medicines serve the function of "alleviating fever and detoxification." Opium, marijuana, and narcotics are all transformations created by evil spirits with the intent to kill people.