Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
Why does the Buddha teach us that everything arises due to causes and conditions, yet also says that the wondrous luminous true mind is unrelated to causes and conditions?
It is because causes and conditions matter in worldly dharma but do not apply to the transcendental beyond-worldly dharma. The wondrous luminous true mind is apart from all phenomena! And it is everything.
Ananda said to the Buddha,
“World-Honored One, if the wondrous nature of awareness is truly neither caused nor conditioned, then why does the World-Honored One often teach the bhiksus that the nature of seeing has four kinds of conditions—namely: dependence on emptiness, dependence on brightness, dependence on mind, and dependence on the eyes? How should this principle be understood?”
The Buddha said,
“Ananda, when I speak of the various phenomena of causes and conditions of the world, this is not the ultimate truth.
“Ananda, I now ask you: when worldly people say, ‘I can see,’ what is called seeing? What is called not seeing?”
Ananda replied,
“Worldly people rely on the sun, the moon, and lamp-light to see various forms, and this is called seeing. If these three kinds of light are absent, then they are unable to see.”
The Buddha said,
“Ananda, if the absence of light is called not seeing, then you should not be able to see darkness. But if you can indeed see darkness, though there is no light, how can it be said there is no seeing?
“Ananda, if in darkness one cannot see brightness and this is called not seeing, then right now, in brightness, you cannot see darkness—should this also be called not seeing? In this way, both states would be called not seeing. Furthermore, if the two—brightness and darkness—displace each other, it is not that your seeing nature temporarily ceases in between. Thus it is clear that both are still seeing—how could it be called not seeing?
“Therefore, Ananda, you must now understand: when you see brightness, the seeing is not the brightness; when you see darkness, the seeing is not the darkness; when you see emptiness, the seeing is not the emptiness; when you see obstruction, the seeing is not the obstruction. These four meanings are complete.
“You should also understand: when you see seeing itself, the seeing is not the seeing; seeing is beyond seeing; seeing cannot reach seeing. How then can you speak of causes and conditions, or of self-existing nature, or of combined attributes? You sravakas, narrow and lacking in insight, cannot comprehend the pure true reality.
“I now instruct you: reflect carefully and do not grow weary on the wondrous path of bodhi!”
The ultimate truth is in the sutra text yesterday: The wondrous luminous true mind is independent from all names and phenomena, yet it encompasses everything. In your Buddhist practice, when you reach the realm beyond all names and phenomena, what remains is buddhanature—the wondrous luminous true mind. In this transcendental realm, it is neither dependent arising (causes and conditions) nor self-arising (natural)—it is apart from all phenomena.
However, in worldly dharma, we speak of causes and conditions, such as the four kinds of conditions Sakyamuni Buddha spoke of previously. The Buddha says that the origination of all causes and conditions is emptiness. Even the causes and conditions are empty and not real. In the Tiantai School, there is The Threefold Contemplation: emptiness, falsehood, and the Middle Way.
The saha world is all about cause and effect, e.g. our parents are the cause and we are the effect; when you steal (cause), you are put in jail (effect).
Regarding beyond-worldly dharma, Grandmaster asks us to contemplate who we really are. According to the Taiwanese census, there are sixteen people named Sheng-Yen Lu. Which one is the real one? Similarly, “Grandmaster” is a mere term that many others use. Grandmaster’s appearance has changed from birth, youth, middle-age, to now at 80 years old. All are Grandmaster but also not. Who are you, really?
To manifest the wondrous luminous true mind, we must not be deluded by wealth, sensual pleasures, fame, food, sleep, and other worldly desires.
The truth is if you shut off all the lights of the saha world, leave behind all names and phenomena, and stop identifying as “you” or anything else, what remains is the buddhanature and the wondrous luminous true mind.