| Summary: | The aim of this paper is to provide a new interpretation for the term <i>Śūraṃgama-samādhi</i>, an important concept in the Mahāyāna literature, by proposing new exegeses of its primary and derivative meanings as they appear in the <i>Śūraṃgamasamādhi-sūtra</i> (<i>hereafter SSS</i>). While many have defined <i>samādhi</i> as a form of meditative practice, a state of mind, or a collection of terms as argued by Andrew Skilton, the concept <i>samādhi</i> in the <i>SSS</i> can be understood as a locus of gathering or convergence in the metaphorical sense. In <i>SSS</i>, this metaphorical location refers to the supramundane state of those buddhas and tenth-stage bodhisattvas, wherein all his supernatural powers and manifestations converge. Lamotte’s interpretation of <i>Śūraṃgama</i> as “marche héroïque/heroic progress”, however, only provides a single understanding of this polysemous concept. This article will offer a more nuanced understanding and interpretation of this compound term. Regarding the derivative meanings of the term, the present paper argues that the traditional interpretation of the term <b><i>Ś</i><i>ūraṃgama-samādhi</i></b> (in the derivative meaning) as self-referential to the <i>sūtra</i> itself (<i>Śūraṃgama-samādhi = SSS</i>) does not align with the meaning of the term as it appears in the <i>SSS.</i> The exclusion of “self-reference” in our interpretation of the derivative meaning of the term therefore avoids the paradox of an “infinite loop of self-reference” as presented by past studies on the subject.
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