Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
All phenomena arise and cease, except the sky, the cosmic space. One must use the non-arising and non-ceasing mind to seek the Buddha’s wisdom and to understand the Buddha’s mind, because the Buddha’s mind is non-arising and non-ceasing.
At that time the World-Honored One, out of compassion for those in the assembly—the pratyekabuddhas and sravakas whose bodhi mind was not yet at ease—and also for beings of the future in the dharma-ending age after the Buddha’s parinirvana who would arouse the bodhi mind, opened the wondrous path of cultivation of the unsurpassed vehicle, and proclaimed it to Ananda and the great assembly.
“If you are determined to arouse the bodhi mind and, in the Tathagata’s wondrous samadhi, do not give rise to weariness, you should first clearly understand the two decisive principles of the initial awakening of the mind.
“What are the two decisive principles of the initial resolve?
“Ananda! The first essential meaning is this: if you and the others wish to relinquish the sravaka path and cultivate the bodhisattva vehicle to enter the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, you must carefully examine whether your aspiration at the causal ground is the same as, or different from, the realization on the resultant ground.
“Ananda! If, on the causal ground, you take a mind of arising and ceasing as the basis of cultivation, yet seek the Buddha vehicle which is non-arising and non-ceasing, this is impossible.
“For this reason, you should clearly contemplate that all conditioned things in the world which can be created inevitably undergo change and destruction.
“Ananda! Observe the things in the world that can be created—what among them does not decay?
All phenomena in the world are arising and ceasing—including our thoughts and aspirations, but one cannot use the arising and ceasing mind to cultivate the bodhisattva path or to penetrate the knowledge and insight of the buddhas. One must use the non-arising and non-ceasing mind to seek the Buddha’s wisdom and to understand the Buddha’s mind, because the Buddha’s mind is non-arising and non-ceasing.
All things with form and phenomena are everchanging. For example, one’s aspiration to ordination can easily change. It is good to generate such an aspiration but it is more important to persist and persevere.
Last night, the sangha made a vow, but how many of you will commit to it unfailingly? We also know that spiritual cultivation is a slippery path. We cannot say that monastics will be able to keep their ordination vow forever. Many of them return to lay life; some succumb to temptations—falling in love, getting married, and living a mundane life.
Someone came to me and asked to be ordained, but not long after, he became enamored by a lady. Then, he came to ask me whether he could be a spiritual partner with the lady. Well, of course I always yielded to everyone’s wishes, so, naturally I granted his wish. I told this person that he could live as a householder, earn a living wearing either lama robe or lay clothing, and still come to the temple to deliver beings in a lama robe. He did that for a while, then stopped coming. I know this because his wife still came to see me, yet the husband was nowhere to be found.
There was another case of a monk who disrobed and led a married life for a while, then he came back with his wife to take the ordination vow together.
Sakyamuni Buddha specified that monks are allowed to become ordained again up to seven times, while nuns are not allowed to once they abandon their ordination vow. This shows a mind of arising and ceasing—it comes and it goes. With such a mind, it is impossible to seek the Buddha’s realization.
Everything with form deteriorates; human bodies inevitably decline. I deeply sympathize with those who seek blessings for cancer, tumors, strokes, and all kinds of illness. Having gone through it myself, I understand the pain of being sick—hospitalized, undergoing surgery, connected to IV lines and catheters, having blood drawn and transfused, lying in a hospital bed. Illness is real suffering. From the hospital room, I would look out at the drizzly sky and wonder when I could leave. It is through being ill that I have come to truly empathize with those who suffer.
The arising and ceasing body changes day by day; no one knows when the final day will come. Therefore, it is wise to attend to what truly matters without delay. Abide in the Buddha’s teaching: do virtuous deeds, refrain from evil, and purify the mind—this is the purification of body, speech, and mind.
The only way to be free from the cycle of rebirth is to purify body, speech, and mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. Only this endures—the mind that neither arises nor ceases.