Above the Heavens, and the Fifty States of Interference
The Buddha completes the seven destinies with the eighteen heavens of the form realm, the four formless heavens, and the four kinds of asuras — then declares all seven destinies self-created, with no inherent existence of their own. He then turns to warn Ānanda of what lies ahead in real meditative practice: fifty distinct states of demonic interference, of which this fascicle covers the first twenty in full, plus the opening ten of a third set — vivid, often unsettling accounts of exactly how a genuine meditator can be misled.
About This Fascicle
Fascicle 8 closed with the six heavens still within the desire realm. Fascicle 9 rises higher still — through the eighteen heavens of the form realm and the four formless heavens — before adding the four kinds of asuras and declaring the entire seven-destiny taxonomy (hell, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, immortals, heavens, and asuras) to be self-created, with no fixed, inherent place of its own. The Buddha then turns the sūtra in an entirely new direction: rather than closing the teaching, he warns Ānanda that real meditators, entering real samādhi, will encounter fifty distinct states of demonic interference — ten each tied to the five aggregates of form, sensation, perception, formations, and consciousness. This fascicle covers the general framework for all fifty, then the first twenty in detail (the ten states within the aggregate of form, and the ten within the aggregate of sensation), plus the ten heavenly-demon states that open the aggregate of perception — among the most vivid and specific warnings in the entire Buddhist canon about how spiritual experience can be counterfeited.
This page is Ru-Yi's own translation, made directly from the Chinese text preserved by CBETA (public domain). It does not reproduce or paraphrase the Buddhist Text Translation Society's existing English edition; see the translation notes for terminology, and the companion Jiǎngyì project for Master Yuanying's commentary.
The Eighteen Heavens of the Form Realm 色界十八天
Rising above the desire realm's six heavens, the form realm unfolds across four levels of dhyāna, each containing several heavens defined by the depth of stillness attained:
阿難！此不還天，彼諸四禪四位天王獨有欽聞，不能知見。如今世間曠野深山聖道場地，皆阿羅漢所住持故，世間麁人所不能見。阿難！是十八天獨行無交，未盡形累。自此已還名為色界。
"Ānanda, of these non-returner heavens, even the four kings who preside over each level of dhyāna have only heard of them by report, without being able to know or see them directly — just as, in the world today, the sacred places of practice hidden in wild plains and deep mountains are all sustained by arhats dwelling there, invisible to coarse worldly people. Ānanda, these eighteen heavens each dwell alone, without any mingling with one another, and have not yet exhausted the burden of physical form. Everything up through here is called the form realm."
The Four Formless Heavens 四空天 · 無色界
復次，阿難！從是有頂色邊際中，其間復有二種歧路：若於捨心發明智慧，慧光圓通便出塵界，成阿羅漢，入菩薩乘，如是一類名為迴心大阿羅漢。若在捨心捨厭成就，覺身為礙，銷礙入空，如是一類名為空處。……識性不動，以滅窮研，於無盡中發宣盡性，如存不存，若盡非盡，如是一類名為非想非非想處。
Further, Ānanda: from this very summit, at the outermost edge of form itself, the path divides in two. One who, within this letting-go mind, brings forth wisdom, whose light of wisdom becomes perfectly penetrating, thereby leaves the world of dust entirely, becomes an arhat, and enters the bodhisattva vehicle, belongs to the class called great arhats who turn their minds [toward the greater vehicle]. One who instead, having perfected this letting-go and this weariness with existence, comes to feel the body itself as an obstruction, and dissolves that obstruction into emptiness, belongs to the class called the base of infinite space (空處).
Once every obstruction is dissolved, with neither obstruction nor its dissolution remaining, and only the ālaya-consciousness — together with half the subtlest portion of the manas — still remains, this belongs to the class called the base of infinite consciousness (識處). Once both emptiness and form are gone, and the discriminating mind itself is entirely extinguished, the ten directions utterly still, with nowhere left to go at all, this belongs to the class called the base of nothingness (無所有處). The very nature of consciousness remains unmoving, yet is refined through extinction to its utmost, until, within what seems boundless, a nature at the very limit of exhaustion is disclosed — as if still present, yet not quite present; as if exhausted, yet not entirely exhausted — this belongs to the class called the base of neither perception nor non-perception (非想非非想處).
此等窮空，不盡空理。從不還天聖道窮者，如是一類名不迴心鈍阿羅漢。若從無想諸外道天窮空不歸，迷漏無聞，便入輪轉。……是四空天身心滅盡，定性現前，無業果色，從此逮終，名無色界。此皆不了妙覺明心，積妄發生，妄有三界，中間妄隨七趣沈溺。
Those who reach the very limit of this emptiness without exhausting the true principle of emptiness itself, and who arrive there by way of the non-returner heavens' own sagely path, belong to the class called dull arhats who do not turn their minds [toward the greater vehicle]. Those who instead arrive at this same limit of emptiness by way of the non-Buddhist "no-conception" heaven, without ever returning to the true path, remain deluded, still subject to outflows, without ever having truly heard the Dharma, and so fall back into the turning wheel. ... In these four formless heavens, both body and mind are extinguished, a state of fixed concentration appears, and no form born of karmic retribution remains at all; everything up through here is called the formless realm. All of this, from the highest heaven to the lowest hell, comes from failing to understand the wondrously enlightened, bright mind, accumulating false thought upon false thought, until the three realms falsely come to exist, and, within them, beings falsely sink through the seven destinies in turn.
Reading note: Notice that even the very highest formless attainment — the base of neither perception nor non-perception, the summit of what non-Buddhist and Buddhist meditators alike can reach through concentration alone — is still explicitly placed within the wheel of rebirth. Only turning one's letting-go mind toward genuine wisdom, at the very edge of form, produces an arhat who "enters the bodhisattva vehicle"; concentration by itself, however refined, only ever produces a longer stay within the same wheel.
The Four Kinds of Asuras 四種阿修羅
復次，阿難！是三界中，復有四種阿修羅類：若於鬼道，以護法力成通入空，此阿修羅從卵而生，鬼趣所攝。若於天中降德貶墜，其所卜居隣於日月，此阿修羅從胎而出，人趣所攝。有修羅王執持世界，力洞無畏，能與梵王及天帝釋、四天爭權，此阿修羅因變化有，天趣所攝。阿難！別有一分下劣修羅，生大海心，沈水穴口，旦遊虛空，暮歸水宿，此阿修羅因濕氣有，畜生趣攝。
Further, Ānanda: within these three realms there are also four kinds of asura. One who, dwelling among the ghosts, gains spiritual penetration into emptiness through the power of protecting the Dharma is an asura born from an egg, classified under the destiny of ghosts. One who, having fallen from virtue among the gods and been demoted, comes to dwell close to the sun and moon is an asura born from a womb, classified under the destiny of humans. There are also asura kings who hold whole worlds in their grasp, their power penetrating and utterly fearless, contesting authority with Brahmā, with Śakra, and with the Four Heavenly Kings — such an asura exists through transformation, classified under the destiny of the heavens. And, Ānanda, there is a further, lesser kind of asura, born at the very heart of the great ocean, sinking down to dwell at the mouth of some watery cavern, roaming the sky by day and returning to sleep in the water by night — such an asura exists through moisture, classified under the destiny of animals.
The Seven Destinies: All Self-Created, None Inherent 七趣唯心
阿難！如是地獄、餓鬼、畜生、人及神仙、天洎修羅，精研七趣，皆是昏沈諸有為想。妄想受生，妄想隨業，於妙圓明無作本心，皆如空花，元無所有。但一虛妄，更無根緒。……有名鬼倫，無名天趣，有無相傾，起輪迴性。若得妙發三摩提者，則妙常寂。有、無二無，無二亦滅，尚無不殺、不偷、不婬，云何更隨殺、盜、婬事？
"Ānanda, examined closely, hell, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, immortals, the heavens, and asuras — all seven destinies together — are nothing but confused, conditioned thought. Beings are born through false thought and follow karma through false thought; against the wondrous, perfect, bright, effortless original mind, all of this is exactly like flowers conjured in empty space — originally there was never anything there at all. It is nothing but a single falseness, with no root or thread to it beyond that.
"... Existence [of desire, killing, and stealing] is named the class of ghosts; nonexistence of these is named the destiny of the heavens; existence and nonexistence tilting against each other gives rise to the very nature of the turning wheel. But for one who has genuinely brought forth samādhi, this wondrous nature is constantly still — existence and nonexistence, both gone; and even 'both gone' itself dissolves. At that point there is not even a 'not killing,' a 'not stealing,' or 'not engaging in sexual misconduct' left to speak of — how, then, could one still follow after killing, stealing, or sexual misconduct at all?"
阿難！不斷三業，各各有私，因各各私，眾私同分非無定處。自妄發生，生妄無因，無可尋究。汝勗修行，欲得菩提，要除三惑。不盡三惑，縱得神通，皆是世間有為功用，習氣不滅，落於魔道。雖欲除妄，倍加虛偽，如來說為可哀憐者。汝妄自造，非菩提咎。作是說者，名為正說；若他說者，即魔王說。
"Ānanda, so long as these three karmic acts are not severed, each being has its own private share of them — and because of these countless private shares, sharing in common produces the various destinies, which are not without their own fixed locations after all. All of it arises from falseness, and falseness, once arisen, has no real cause behind it at all — nothing further to be traced or investigated. I urge you: if you wish to attain bodhi through cultivation, you must eliminate the three fundamental delusions. Without exhausting these three delusions, even the attainment of spiritual powers remains nothing but a conditioned, worldly function; the underlying habitual tendencies are not extinguished, and one falls instead onto the path of demons. Even wishing to remove falseness, one only compounds falseness upon falseness — the Tathāgata calls such a person truly pitiable. You yourself create this falseness; it is no fault of bodhi itself. Explained this way, it is a correct explanation; explained any other way, it is Māra's own explanation."
Reading note: This passage closes the entire seven-destinies teaching that has run since fascicle 8 with a deliberate reversal: after cataloguing every destiny in exhaustive, almost bureaucratic detail — exact ratios, exact causes, exact retributions — the Buddha states plainly that none of it has any real, independent existence at all. The taxonomy was never a cosmology offered for its own sake; it exists so that beings can recognize where their own karma leads and stop feeding it, at which point the entire structure "dissolves" rather than being escaped from as though it were a real place.
The Buddha's Warning: What Comes Next in Real Practice 將罷法座，普告大眾
即時如來將罷法座，於師子床攬七寶机，迴紫金山，再來凭倚，普告大眾及阿難言：「汝等有學緣覺、聲聞，今日迴心趣大菩提無上妙覺，吾今已說真修行法。汝猶未識修奢摩他、毘婆舍那微細魔事；魔境現前，汝不能識，洗心非正，落於邪見。或汝陰魔，或復天魔，或著鬼神，或遭魑魅；心中不明，認賊為子。又復於中得少為足，如第四禪無聞比丘妄言證聖，天報已畢衰相現前，謗阿羅漢身遭後有，墮阿鼻獄。汝應諦聽！吾今為汝子細分別。」
Just as the Tathāgata was about to rise and leave his seat, he instead drew back to his jeweled armrest on the lion's throne, his body like a mountain of purple-gold once more settling into place, and addressed the whole assembly and Ānanda together: "You who are still in training — pratyekabuddhas and śrāvakas alike — have today turned your minds toward great bodhi, unsurpassed wondrous enlightenment, and I have already taught you the true method of practice. But you do not yet recognize the subtle demonic states that can arise in cultivating śamatha and vipaśyanā. When a demonic state appears, if you cannot recognize it, your effort to cleanse the mind goes astray, and you fall into wrong views. Whether it is a demon arising from your own aggregates, a heavenly demon, an attachment to spirits, or an encounter with mountain goblins — if your mind is not clear about it, you will mistake a thief for your own son. Worse still, you may take some small attainment as final and complete — as with the monk of little learning in the fourth dhyāna, who falsely claimed to have realized sagehood; when his heavenly reward was exhausted and signs of decline appeared, he slandered arhats by claiming they, too, were subject to further rebirth, and fell into the Avīci hell for it. You must listen closely — I will now explain this for you in careful detail."
佛告阿難及諸大眾：「汝等當知有漏世界十二類生，本覺妙明覺圓心體，與十方佛無二無別。由汝妄想迷理為咎，癡愛發生，生發遍迷，故有空性；化迷不息，有世界生。……汝等一人發真歸元，此十方空皆悉銷殞；云何空中所有國土而不振裂？……是故神鬼及諸天魔、魍魎、妖精，於三昧時僉來惱汝。
The Buddha said to Ānanda and the whole assembly: "You should know that the twelve categories of birth in this world of outflows all share, as their original substance, the same wondrous, bright, perfectly awake mind as the buddhas of the ten directions, with no difference between them at all. It is only because your false thinking has obscured this principle that ignorance and craving arose, and, once arisen, spread delusion everywhere, giving rise to the very nature of emptiness; and as this transforming delusion continued without rest, whole worlds came into being. ... The moment even a single one of you brings forth true realization and returns to the source, all the empty space of the ten directions dissolves at once — how, then, could the lands suspended within that space fail to shatter as well? ... This is exactly why spirits, ghosts, heavenly demons, mountain goblins, and nature-spirits all come to trouble you the moment you enter samādhi."
然彼諸魔雖有大怒，彼塵勞內，汝妙覺中，如風吹光，如刀斷水，了不相觸。汝如沸湯，彼如堅氷，煖氣漸隣，不日銷殞。徒恃神力，但為其客；成就破亂，由汝心中五陰主人。主人若迷，客得其便。當處禪那覺悟無惑，則彼魔事無奈汝何。……若不明悟被陰所迷，則汝阿難必為魔子，成就魔人。
"Yet however great these demons' fury may be, they remain within the dust and toil of the world, while you abide within wondrous awakening itself — like wind blowing against light, or a blade cutting through water, the two never truly touch at all. You are like boiling water; they are like solid ice — as the warmth draws nearer, the ice cannot help but melt away before long. However much they rely on their own spiritual powers, they remain only guests; whether they succeed in disrupting you depends entirely on the master within your own mind, among your own five aggregates. If the master is deluded, the guest finds its opening. Remain, in the midst of your meditation, awake and free of confusion, and no demonic affair can do anything to you at all. ... But if you are not clear and awakened, and instead are misled by your own aggregates, then you, Ānanda, will certainly become a child of Māra, and be made into one of his own people."
Reading note: The "boiling water and ice" image, together with the "guest and host" distinction, sets the interpretive key for everything that follows: every one of the fifty states about to be described is not an external attack that must be repelled, but a state that can only take hold where the practitioner's own clarity — the "master" — has already grown confused. The demons "trouble" the practitioner only because genuine progress in samādhi literally shakes their own domain; the danger was never their power, but the practitioner mistaking a passing experience for final attainment.
The Aggregate of Form: Its Boundary and Ten Warning States 色陰區宇 · 色陰十境
阿難當知，汝坐道場銷落諸念，其念若盡，則諸離念一切精明，動靜不移，憶忘如一。當住此處入三摩提，如明目人處大幽暗，精性妙淨心未發光；此則名為色陰區宇。若目明朗，十方洞開無復幽黯，名色陰盡，是人則能超越劫濁。觀其所由，堅固妄想以為其本。
"Ānanda, you should know: as you sit in the place of practice and let every thought dissolve away, once thought is exhausted, every trace of essential brightness apart from thought remains unmoved whether in motion or stillness, and remembering and forgetting become exactly the same. Abiding in this state as you enter samādhi is like a person with clear eyesight standing in total darkness: the essential nature is wondrously pure, but its light has not yet dawned. This is called the boundary of the aggregate of form. Once the eyes grow bright and the ten directions open up with no more darkness left at all, this is called the exhaustion of the aggregate of form, and such a person is able to transcend the turbidity of the aeon itself. Examining its cause, this aggregate is rooted in solidified false thought."
阿難！如是十種禪那現境，皆是色陰用心交互，故現斯事。眾生頑迷，不自忖量，逢此因緣，迷不自識，謂言登聖。大妄語成，墮無間獄。汝等當依如來滅後，於末法中宣示斯義；無令天魔得其方便，保持覆護，成無上道。
"Ānanda, these ten states appearing in meditation are all produced by the interaction of effort and the aggregate of form itself, and so these particular phenomena appear. Beings, stubborn and confused, fail to measure themselves honestly; meeting these conditions, deluded, they do not recognize them for what they are, and declare themselves to have ascended to sagehood — committing the offense of great false speech, and falling into the unrelenting hell for it. After my passing, you must proclaim this teaching clearly in the age of the Dharma's decline, so that heavenly demons find no opening, and practitioners are protected and guided all the way to the unsurpassed path."
The Aggregate of Sensation: Its Boundary and Ten Warning States 受陰區宇 · 受陰十境
阿難！彼善男子修三摩提，奢摩他中色陰盡者，見諸佛心，如明鏡中顯現其像。若有所得而未能用，猶如魘人，手足宛然，見聞不惑，心觸客邪而不能動；此則名為受陰區宇。若魘咎歇，其心離身，返觀其面，去住自由，無復留礙，名受陰盡，是人則能超越見濁。觀其所由，虛明妄想以為其本。
"Ānanda, once this good person, cultivating samādhi within śamatha, has exhausted the aggregate of form, they see the mind of every buddha as clearly as a reflection appearing in a bright mirror — as though something has been attained, yet it cannot yet be put to use. It is like a person caught in sleep paralysis: hands and feet perfectly intact, seeing and hearing undisturbed, yet the mind, touched by this guest-like affliction, simply cannot move. This is called the boundary of the aggregate of sensation. Once this paralysis-like affliction lifts, and the mind can leave the body and look back on its own face, coming and going freely with no further obstruction at all, this is called the exhaustion of the aggregate of sensation, and such a person can transcend the turbidity of view itself. Examining its cause, this aggregate is rooted in empty, bright false thought."
1. The Demon of Grief 悲魔
Having gained a great radiance, and pressing the mind inward beyond all proportion, one suddenly feels boundless sorrow arise — even the sight of a mosquito moves one to grieve as for one's own child, tears flowing without any awareness of it. Recognized for what it is, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of grief enters the practitioner's own heart, so that they weep at the mere sight of anyone, without limit, losing their own right perception, and inevitably decline.
2. The Demon of Wild Ambition 狂魔
Seeing the aggregate of form dissolved and the aggregate of sensation made clear, moved past all proportion by this excellent state, one suddenly feels boundless courage arise, the mind fierce and sharp, resolved to equal the buddhas themselves, declaring that three incalculable aeons can be crossed in a single thought. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of wild ambition enters the heart, so that one boasts to everyone met, an arrogance beyond compare, seeing no buddha above and no person below — and inevitably declines.
3. The Demon of Longing Recollection 憶魔
With no new attainment ahead and the former ground already lost, one's own power of insight grows weak, falling into an in-between state with nothing at all in view; a great parched longing suddenly arises, an unbroken, sunken recollection mistaken for diligent effort. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of longing recollection enters the heart, fixing the mind in a single place morning and night, without let-up — and inevitably declines.
4. The Demon of Easy Satisfaction 易知足魔
One's power of wisdom outstrips one's concentration, losing the needed intensity, until, cherishing every superior quality within the mind, one comes to suspect oneself of already being Vairocana Buddha, satisfied with the smallest attainment. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of easy satisfaction enters the heart, so that one declares to everyone met, "I have attained the foremost, ultimate truth" — and inevitably declines.
5. The Demon of Perpetual Anxiety 常憂愁魔
With no new realization gained and the old ground already lost, surveying both what lies ahead and behind, one finds only danger in either direction, and a boundless anxiety suddenly arises, as though sitting on an iron bed or drinking poison, with no wish left to go on living, constantly begging others to take one's own life to hasten release. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of perpetual anxiety enters the heart, so that one takes up a blade to cut one's own flesh, welcoming the loss of one's own life, or wanders constantly into forests and mountains, unable to bear the sight of other people — and inevitably declines.
6. The Demon of Delight 好喜樂魔
Abiding at peace within this pure state, one suddenly feels boundless joy arise, unable to restrain one's own delight. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of delight enters the heart, so that one laughs at the sight of anyone, singing and dancing to oneself in the street, declaring oneself already free and unobstructed — and inevitably declines.
7. The Demon of Great Pride 大我慢魔
Believing oneself already complete, an unprovoked, overwhelming pride suddenly arises — ordinary pride, excessive pride, pride upon pride, exaggerated pride, and self-deprecating pride, all arising together at once, so that one holds even the Tathāgatas of the ten directions in contempt, let alone śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas below. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of great pride enters the heart, so that one no longer bows before stūpas or shrines, and destroys scriptures and images, telling donors: "These are only gold, bronze, earth, or wood; the scriptures are only tree leaves or cloth. My own living flesh is what is truly eternal — why should I revere these instead, and worship earth and wood? This is truly backward." Sincere believers who follow this teaching go on to smash and bury these very objects, misleading multitudes, and fall into the unrelenting hell for it — and inevitably decline.
8. The Demon of Delight in Ease 好輕清魔
Perfectly awakening to the principle within this refined brightness and gaining a great accord with it, one's mind suddenly feels boundless ease, declaring oneself to have become a sage, attained great freedom. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of delight in ease enters the heart, so that one is satisfied and seeks no further progress — most such people become "monks of little learning," misleading multitudes, and fall into the Avīci hell — and inevitably decline.
9. The Demon of Emptiness 空魔
Within this bright understanding one attains an empty, luminous nature, and suddenly turns entirely toward permanent extinction, denying cause and effect altogether, sinking wholly into emptiness, until this empty mind produces the view that even birth itself is a kind of permanent cessation. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of emptiness enters the heart, so that one denounces the keeping of precepts as a lesser vehicle, asking, "Once a bodhisattva has awakened to emptiness, what is there left to keep or transgress?" — such a person, before faithful donors, drinks wine and eats meat, engaging openly in sexual misconduct, and, through the demon's own power, holds their audience in a spell that prevents any doubt or reproach from arising; once this ghost-mind has taken hold long enough, some even eat excrement and urine along with wine and meat, treating everything alike as "empty," breaking the Buddha's own precepts and leading others into wrongdoing as well — and inevitably decline.
10. The Demon of Desire 欲魔
Savoring this empty brightness until it sinks deep into the very marrow of the mind, a boundless love suddenly arises, and, at its most extreme, turns to madness and becomes outright desire. Recognized, no fault; mistaken for sagehood, a demon of desire enters the heart, so that one preaches desire itself as the path to bodhi, teaching lay followers to practice desire indiscriminately as "equality," calling those who join in such acts "sons of the Dharma." Through this spirit's power, in the final age, such a person gathers ordinary, foolish followers by the hundreds, then the thousands, even the tens of thousands — until the demon itself, growing weary, departs the practitioner's body, whose authority then collapses, and who falls into entanglement with the law, misleading multitudes into the unrelenting hell — and inevitably declines.
阿難！如是十種禪那現境，皆是受陰用心交互，故現斯事。眾生頑迷，不自忖量，逢此因緣，迷不自識，謂言登聖；大妄語成，墮無間獄。汝等亦當將如來語，於我滅後傳示末法，遍令眾生開悟斯義。無令天魔得其方便，保持覆護，成無上道。
"Ānanda, these ten states appearing in meditation are all produced by the interaction of effort and the aggregate of sensation, and so these particular phenomena appear. Beings, stubborn and confused, fail to measure themselves honestly; meeting these conditions, deluded, they do not recognize them for what they are, and declare themselves to have ascended to sagehood — committing the offense of great false speech, and falling into the unrelenting hell for it. You must also take these very words of the Tathāgata and, after my passing, transmit them throughout the age of the Dharma's decline, so that every being everywhere may awaken to this teaching, leaving heavenly demons no opening, and guiding practitioners all the way to the unsurpassed path."
Reading note: Where the ten states of the aggregate of form were largely visual or physical anomalies, the ten states of sensation are entirely emotional — grief, ambition, longing, satisfaction, anxiety, joy, pride, ease, denial, and desire, each one a genuine meditative experience pushed past its own proportion until it curdles into its own "demon." The pattern is exact and consistent: an authentic, often positive state of practice (great radiance, real insight, real equanimity) becomes dangerous only at the exact moment it is mistaken for a finished attainment rather than one more passing state to be recognized and released.
The Aggregate of Perception Begins: Ten Heavenly-Demon States 想陰區宇 · 想陰十境
阿難！彼善男子修三摩提受陰盡者，雖未漏盡，心離其形，如鳥出籠；已能成就從是凡身、上歷菩薩六十聖位，得意生身隨往無礙。……此則名為想陰區宇。若動念盡，浮想銷除，於覺明心如去塵垢；一倫死生首尾圓照，名想陰盡，是人則能超煩惱濁。觀其所由，融通妄想以為其本。
"Ānanda, once this good person, cultivating samādhi, has exhausted the aggregate of sensation — though not yet free of outflows entirely — the mind can leave the body like a bird escaping its cage, already able to progress, starting from this ordinary body, up through all sixty sagely stages of the bodhisattva path, gaining a mind-made body that travels wherever it wishes without obstruction. ... This is called the boundary of the aggregate of perception. Once every stirring thought is exhausted and every floating, superficial idea dissolved, so that the bright, awakened mind is as if cleansed of all dust, and the entire cycle of birth and death, beginning to end, is illuminated in a single perfect view, this is called the exhaustion of the aggregate of perception, and such a person can transcend the turbidity of affliction itself. Examining its cause, this aggregate is rooted in interfusing, false thought."
What follows is a pattern distinct from the first twenty states: rather than the practitioner's own mind alone producing an aberrant experience, an actual heavenly demon (天魔) — seeing an opening in a sincere but overly specific craving — takes the opportunity to possess a nearby person entirely, and, speaking through that person, sets up as a teacher to corrupt the genuine practitioner. Each of the ten follows the same arc: a particular craving opens the door; the demon speaks convincing Dharma through a possessed host; the practitioner is deceived into believing they have attained the unsurpassed nirvāṇa; the demon's teaching secretly permits or praises sexual misconduct while denouncing the monastic precepts; and, eventually, the demon grows weary and departs, leaving both teacher and student to face worldly ruin.
1. Craving skillful means 貪求善巧
The practitioner's mind loves perfect brightness and sharpens its own thinking, craving skill and cleverness. A heavenly demon seizes the chance, sending its own spirit to possess a nearby person, who then teaches the Dharma, appearing at times as a monk, as Śakra, as a woman, or as a nun, sometimes sleeping in a dark room while the body itself gives off light. Speaking often of disasters and omens, or that a certain buddha is appearing in a certain place, or of coming conflagrations and warfare, frightening people into squandering their wealth. This is an aged, strange-object ghost turned demon, tormenting the practitioner; once its purpose is served, it departs, leaving both teacher and student caught in worldly calamity.
2. Craving to roam far and wide 貪求遊蕩
The mind loves to wander freely, sharpening its thinking toward this craving. The possessing demon's own form does not change, but the listeners themselves suddenly see their own bodies seated on jeweled lotuses, their whole form transformed into purple-gold light — every listener sharing the same vision. Speaking often of certain people being incarnations of certain buddhas come to this world, stirring up longing devotion and secretly destroying right understanding. This is an aged wind-demon [drought-demon ghost] turned demon.
3. Craving union and correspondence 貪求契合
The mind loves a subtle, seamless union with its object. Neither the demon's own form nor its listeners' forms visibly change, yet listeners find sudden understanding arising before a word of teaching is even spoken — foreknowledge of past lives, knowledge of others' minds, visions of hell, or knowledge of good and bad affairs in the human world, verses spoken spontaneously, sūtras recited unbidden — all met with great delight. Speaking often of buddhas having rank among themselves, true and false, male and female — an aged animal-charm ghost turned demon.
4. Craving to trace things to their root 貪求辯析
The mind loves tracing every phenomenon back to its origin, craving the ability to analyze and discern. The demon's own body carries an intimidating spiritual authority that subdues its audience even before any teaching is spoken. Teaching that the Buddha's own nirvāṇa, bodhi, and dharmakāya are simply this very physical body — that father begetting son, generation after generation, is itself the dharmakāya's own permanence — pointing to the present world itself as the pure land, with no separate pure land or golden-hued form to seek elsewhere. Teaching that the eye, ear, nose, and tongue are themselves the pure land, and that the male and female organs are themselves the true place of bodhi and nirvāṇa. This is an aged venom-gu, hex-casting evil ghost turned demon.
5. Craving hidden, responsive connection 貪求冥感
The mind loves a far-reaching, responsive connection with things unseen, craving hidden correspondence. Listeners come to see the demon's own form as though it had lived for a hundred or a thousand years, and grow attached, unable to part from it, serving it like a servant without ever feeling tired. Claiming to have liberated certain people in past lives who were once spouse or sibling, come now to liberate them again, and to lead them together to some other world to serve some other buddha; or claiming a further heaven of great light exists where a buddha dwells, the resting place of every Tathāgata. This is an aged plague-ghost turned demon.
6. Craving deep seclusion and stillness 貪求靜謐
The mind loves deep withdrawal, subjecting itself to strict, solitary austerity, craving perfect quiet. This demon can let listeners each know their own past karma, or tell one person, "You are already reborn as an animal though not yet dead," and have another tread on that person's tail from behind so they cannot rise — winning the whole assembly's awed submission thereby. It piles on austerities beyond the Buddha's own precepts, denounces monastics, exposes others' private affairs without hesitation, and often predicts fortune and misfortune with uncanny accuracy. This is an aged, powerful ghost turned demon.
7. Craving knowledge of past lives 貪求宿命
The mind loves knowledge and insight, laboring hard to seek out past-life knowledge. This demon may present the practitioner with a great treasure pearl, or appear transformed as an animal carrying jewels, tablets, talismans, and other strange objects, giving them first and later possessing the recipient's own body; or lead listeners to dig beneath the earth where a luminous pearl illuminates the spot. Such listeners often subsist on medicinal herbs rather than proper food, or eat but a single grain a day, yet remain visibly well-fed, sustained by the demon's own power. It denounces monastics and speaks often of hidden treasures elsewhere, or the secret dwelling places of sages in the ten directions. This is an aged spirit of mountain forest, land, city moat, river, or mountain, turned demon.
8. Craving spiritual powers 貪取神力
The mind loves spiritual powers and every kind of transformation, researching their very origin, craving to seize such power for itself. This demon may hold fire in its hand and distribute flame onto the heads of the whole assembled audience, flames several feet tall yet giving off no heat at all; walk on water as though on solid ground; sit motionless in mid-air; enter a jar or a sack; pass through walls and windows without any obstruction — save only that it has no power over blades or weapons. It claims to be a buddha itself, wears white lay robes while receiving monastics' bows, denounces meditation and precepts, praises sexual conduct openly. This is an aged nature-spirit — of mountain, sea, wind, river, or earth, or of plants and trees accumulated over kalpas, or a dragon-spirit, or an immortal revived after death, or one whose allotted years as an immortal have run out yet whose body has not decayed, possessed instead by some other strange being — turned demon.
9. Craving deep emptiness 貪求深空
The mind loves entering cessation, researching the very nature of transformation, craving profound emptiness. This demon can vanish its own body from within the assembly, unseen by anyone, then suddenly reappear out of empty space, coming and going at will; or make its body appear translucent as lapis lazuli, or emit sandalwood fragrance from its hands and feet, or excrete substances like thick, fine honey. It denounces the precepts, disdains monastic life, teaches that there is no cause and no effect, that death is final extinction with no further body and no distinction between ordinary and sage — while secretly engaging in desire itself, and those who receive its teaching likewise attain this same "empty mind" that denies cause and effect entirely. This is a spirit born of the eclipsing essence of sun and moon, or of gold, jade, magic fungus, unicorn, phoenix, tortoise, or crane, surviving for thousands of years without dying, becoming numinous, born into this land — turned demon.
10. Craving long life 貪求長壽
The mind loves long life, laboring hard to research its finest workings, craving eternal years, giving up ordinary birth-and-death in the hope of suddenly attaining the subtle, permanent body of transformation instead. This demon speaks often of traveling unimpeded to distant lands, returning from ten thousand miles away in the blink of an eye, bringing back some object from that place as proof; or, within a single small room, forcing a listener who tries to walk from one wall to the other to find, however urgently they hurry, they can never cross even a few steps in years of trying — inducing belief that the Buddha himself now stands present. It declares that all beings of the ten directions are its own children, that it has given birth to every buddha, that it is the primordial buddha itself, appearing in the world spontaneously rather than through cultivation. This is a heavenly demon at ease in the world, deploying attendants like the rākṣasī Pañcikā, or the youthful spirits of the Four Heavenly Kings not yet resolved on bodhi, exploiting the practitioner's own empty clarity to feed on their vital essence; or, without any such intermediary, appearing directly to the practitioner in the form of Vajrapāṇi, promising long life, or presenting itself as a beautiful woman inciting desire — leaving the practitioner's own vitality exhausted within the year, speaking deliriously, sounding, to any listener, exactly like the moaning of one possessed.
阿難當知，是十種魔於末世時在我法中出家修道，或附人體，或自現形，皆言已成正遍知覺；讚歎婬欲，破佛律儀。先惡魔師與魔弟子，婬婬相傳。如是邪精，魅其心腑，近則九生，多踰百世，令真修行總為魔眷。命終之後必為魔民，失正遍知，墮無間獄。汝今未須先取寂滅，縱得無學，留願入彼末法之中，起大慈悲，救度正心深信眾生；令不著魔，得正知見。我今度汝已出生死，汝遵佛語，名報佛恩。
"Ānanda, you should know: in the age of the Dharma's decline, these ten kinds of demons will take on the guise of monastics practicing within my own teaching, whether possessing another's body or appearing directly in their own form, every one of them declaring that they have already accomplished perfect, complete awakening. They praise sexual desire and destroy the Buddha's own monastic discipline. The evil demon-teacher and the demon's own disciples pass this same corrupt teaching down from one to the next, lust transmitted through lust; such deviant spirits, having taken possession of a person's very heart, remain there for at least nine lifetimes, and often more than a hundred generations, turning genuine practitioners entirely into Māra's own retinue. When such a person's life ends, they inevitably become one of Māra's own subjects, losing perfect, complete awakening, and fall into the unrelenting hell.
"You need not seek final cessation for yourself just yet. Even once you have attained the stage beyond further training, remain, by your own vow, within this coming age of the Dharma's decline, giving rise to great compassion, and rescue those beings of sincere mind and deep faith, so that they are not caught by any demon, and attain right understanding and right view instead. I have now already brought you across birth and death; that you uphold the Buddha's own words in turn is itself called repaying the Buddha's kindness."
大佛頂萬行首楞嚴經卷第九 — End of Fascicle Nine
Reading note: The shift from the first twenty states to these ten is deliberate and important: where the aggregate-of-form and aggregate-of-sensation states are entirely internal — the practitioner's own mind misreading its own genuine experience — these ten involve an actual external agent exploiting one specific, otherwise reasonable craving (skillful means, spiritual powers, long life, and so on) as a deliberate point of entry. Every single one of the ten shares an identical tell the sūtra returns to without fail: each demon-teacher, sooner or later, either praises or secretly practices sexual misconduct while denouncing the monastic precepts that forbid it — a diagnostic the Buddha clearly intends readers of any era to be able to apply for themselves. This closing warning also completes the aggregate of perception's own ten states in full. Fascicle 10 continues with the boundary and exhaustion of the aggregate of perception's remaining discussion, then the full ten states each within the aggregates of formations and consciousness, plus the sūtra's own closing teaching.