Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
If we eliminate one root, the remaining five roots, along with all their functions and delusions, will also be uprooted. In this way, the wondrous luminous true mind will appear.
“Apart from change and tranquility, tasting has no outlet. Without separation and contact, the tactile awareness is fundamentally absent. Without extinction and arising, where can direct cognition abide?
“If you simply do not follow motion and stillness, union and separation, tranquility and change, passage and obstruction, arising and extinction, light and darkness—these are the twelve conditioned phenomena.
“Sever any one of these roots, free it from adhesion and turn it inward—return it to the source of true reality, and its original bright radiance will be revealed.
“Once this radiant nature is revealed, the other five kinds of adhesion are accordingly uprooted and completely freed. You will no longer rely on perceptions and views arising from external objects. The luminosity does not follow the roots; it relies on the roots to manifest its brightness. Thus, the six roots can function interchangeably.”
When the senses encounter changing phenomena—such as brightness and darkness for the eyes, sound waves for the ears, flavors for the tongue, odors for the nose, contact for the body, and so on—their functions are in use. However, if we separate ourselves from these variants, the sense faculties will not detect the sense objects, and thus cease to function. This is eliminating the six thieves—the six roots (sense faculties). They steal the radiance of the real luminosity—the master, the wondrous luminous true mind—by enshrouding it.
Once the function of one sense faculty is eliminated, the others are eliminated as well. When the five roots disappear, the mind or consciousness will become non-existent. Nothing remains except the buddhanature. One is liberated from all delusions, and the wondrous luminous true mind—buddhanature—will naturally manifest.
Uprooting the faculties of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind means the eyes and ears closing, the nose breathing normally, the tongue not tasting, the body not feeling, and the mind not thinking. As such, one enters meditation, and the wondrous luminous true mind that was concealed will manifest.
Ordinarily, the tongue discriminates among different flavors. For example, we don’t eat feces because we think it is dirty. Yet studies in Japan have found that the feces of a healthy person and the urine of a young boy can heal an ailing body.
Likewise, the body feels upon contact and thus mind consciousness arises. It arises when one feels and senses through the five roots. When one is no longer bound by mind-consciousness and the sense faculties, one is free from all afflictions. One abides in light and will naturally know and encompass everything.
In deep meditation, one’s heart-light radiates. Everything is pure, as the wondrous luminous true mind is uncontaminated by the five dusts. There are no more afflictions, delusions, envy, jealousy, etc. When one kills the six thieves, one attains the four sagely realms. In the very least, one becomes an arhat (sravaka).
Grandmaster Lu’s dharma bodies can go anywhere anytime and perform all kinds of dharma work. Many people have witnessed them. The dharma bodies appear through arduous cultivation of the inner heart-light. Whenever Grandmaster’s mind focuses somewhere, the dharma body appears there.
The Venerable Elder Xu Yun, while sitting in meditation in his enclosed room, saw his disciple urinating in the garden in the middle of the night.sa
Similarly, Vimalakirti manifested an emanation and sent him to the Fragrance Accumulation Buddhaverse, bringing back a bowl of fragrant rice. Vimalakirti had many wives, including the Goddess Who Scatters Flowers. He frequented brothels and moved freely with the world. He could do anything and go anywhere without becoming stained or affected because he maintained his pure heart-light and his buddhanature was never obscured.
To achieve such a state, first, one must attain non-leakage of the body and mind. Non-leakage of the mind means having no afflictions whatsoever, remaining unaffected by any phenomena. One’s resolve on the path becomes extremely firm. This is the Eighth Immovable Ground of bodhisattvahood, where there is no regression. The heart-light radiates, and one can freely act while remaining pure. The tenth ground is the Dharma Cloud. Beyond that is buddhahood.
Grandmaster has reincarnated in many eras and places. Everywhere is the same for him—the saha world, Maha Twin Lotus Ponds, or elsewhere. He is content with whatever comes his way. Nothing matters to him, especially money or longevity, which are merely concerns of the saha world.
He reminded us to honor the Guru, treasure the dharma, and practice diligently—as spoken by Guru Padmasambhava. He has expounded numerous pith instructions and cultivation methods in his books, which we can practice and realize for ourselves. To show that we value the dharma transmitted by the guru, making proper offerings is part of spiritual cultivation.