Fifty Demonic States of Mind (8)
“Further, after the sense-perception skandha is gone, while being in the Samadhi with perfect clarity and without any mental distress, the good practitioner may give rise to a longing for psychic knowledge of distant happenings, so he concentrates all his mental streams into an intense investigation. Fervidly, he seeks for imperceptible responses from afar.
“Seizing this long-awaited opportunity, a demon from the heavens will descend on someone to possess that person, using him as a mouthpiece to expound his own theories. Without realizing that he’s been possessed, that person will come to the whereabouts of the good practitioner who seeks for psychic responses, claiming that he has attained ultimate Nirvana, and setting up an altar to preach the demon’s methods. He will briefly appear to be hundred-year-old or even thousand-year-old, and his listeners will give rise to such a strong devotion to him that they are eager to serve him, to make the Four Kinds of Offerings (nourishment, clothing, bedding, and medicine) to him, and never become weary, let alone parting with him. He can make everyone in the audience believe that he’s been their good teacher and wise mentor since past lifetimes. They grow more and more adhered – as if glued – to his teachings, believing that they have obtained something unprecedented.
“The practitioner is then fooled into thinking that the demon-possessed person is a Bodhisattva. Sticking around him, inevitably he is led to break the Buddha’s precepts and to engage in all sorts of indulgence.
“The possessed ‘teacher’ will ardently proclaim that in a past life he had enlightened this person and that person, who back then were his wife, sibling, or such and such, and that now he has come to their rescue again, in order to bring all people together and return to a certain world to make offerings to a certain Buddha. Or he may speak of a Heaven of Brilliant Light, where a certain Buddha presides, where all the Tathagatas take repose. Ignorant people will believe his words and forget all about the original, proper Dharma.
“This demon is a plague ghost who has turned into a demon in its old age to disturb practitioners. Once it becomes weary of the game, it will abandon the person it possessed, and subsequently the followers and the ‘teacher’ will get into trouble with the law.
“You all must be vigilant about this and steer clear of the unfortunate cycle of transmigration; otherwise, if you become confused, you will fall into the Unrelenting Hell.”
又善男子，受阴虚妙，不遭邪虑，圆定发明，三摩地中，心爱悬应，周流精研，贪求冥感。尔时天魔，候得其便，飞精附人，口说经法。其人元不觉知魔着，亦言自得无上涅槃 ，来彼求应善男子处，敷座说法。能令听众，暂见其身如百千岁，心生爱染，不能舍离；身为奴仆，四事供养，不觉疲劳。各各令其座下人心，知是先师本善知识，别生法爱，粘如胶漆，得未曾有。是人愚迷，惑为菩萨 ，亲近其心，破佛律仪，潜行贪欲。口中好言：我于前世，于某生中，先度某人，当时是我妻妾兄弟，今来相度，与汝相随，归某世界，供养某佛。或言别有大光明天，佛于中住，一切如来所休居地。彼无知者，信是虚诳，遗失本心。此名疠鬼 ，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。
Buddha Mind 