Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
Thoughts arise due to the causes and conditions of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body combined, and go through arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. All these are momentary, illusory, and empty.
“Ananda, suppose a person, wearied and exhausted, falls asleep. Once deeply asleep, they awaken. Upon encountering external phenomena, they remember; when memory fails, they forget. This is the inverted arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing—where habits are absorbed and stored sequentially. This is called the faculty of mind. The mind together with weariness are both manifestations of bodhi, appearing as the state of fatigue.
“Because of the false dusts of arising and ceasing, a collected awareness emerges in between, which absorbs and internalizes these phenomena. This cognitive awareness has no substantial nature apart from the dual attributes of waking and sleeping, arising and ceasing.
“Thus, Ananda, you should know that this root of cognitive awareness does not come from waking or sleeping, nor from arising or ceasing. It is not produced by the faculty, nor is it born from emptiness.
“Why is this so? If it came from waking, then sleeping would vanish together with it—what then would be called sleeping? If it must exist at birth, then at cessation it would be the same as nonexistence—who then would undergo cessation? If it came from cessation, then birth would already be nonexistence—who then would know birth?
“If it issued from the faculty, then waking and sleeping would open and close together with the body. Apart from these two states, this cognitive awareness would be like illusory flowers in space, ultimately without any nature. If it were born from emptiness, then it would merely be empty knowing—what relevance would that have to your sense entry?
“Therefore, you should know that the entry of mind is illusory, not truly produced by dependent-arising nor by self-arising.”
The mind arises from a single thought of ignorance and delusion. Where do thoughts come from? They arise due to the causes and conditions of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. In other words, cognitive awareness/thoughts/mind arise from what the eyes see, the ears hear, the nose smells, the tongue tastes, and the body touches. Since the senses and the body are all illusory, the mind they create is also illusory, false, and empty. It has no self-nature.
The mind experiences four stages: arising (a thought emerges), abiding (memory remains), changing (memory is imperfect and becomes altered), and ceasing (memory is forgotten and disappears). Thus, the mind continuously arises and ceases. It is not the buddhanature or the wondrous luminous true mind.
Grandmaster recalls memories from kindergarten and elementary school, especially those that left a deep impression, along with certain names. Yet he cannot always remember recent events. This is a common phenomenon as people age. Sometimes he even forgets the names of disciples or masters he knows, especially those he speaks with rarely or sees infrequently. Still, he can recall details from his past, such as childhood love stories, the names of his teachers and principals, friends, and ex-girlfriends.
Grandmaster gave examples of people with memory problems, such as dementia, amnesia, and Alzheimer’s disease. For instance, he mentioned Chiung Yao’s husband, Ping Hsin-tao, and former US president Ronald Reagan—both of whom forgot even their own wives due to these conditions. He also talked about everyday memory lapses, like forgetting dreams upon waking, forgetting to take medicine or supplements, and forgetting the names of familiar people he hasn’t seen for some time.