Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
In Volume Three, Sakyamuni Buddha explains that the six sense entries—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are illusory and unreal. [The six sense entries are also called the six senses, six roots, six sense bases, or six faculties.] In this discourse, Grandmaster Lu first covered the eye faculty and gave clear examples contrasting seeing with the eye faculty versus the seeing nature of the wondrous luminous true mind.
“Furthermore, Ananda, how are the six sense entries originally the Tathagatagarbha’s wondrous and true nature of suchness?
“Ananda, suppose one’s eyes become strained and fatigued from staring—both the eyes and the strain appear as manifestations of bodhi. Due to the false dusts of light and darkness, seeing arises between them. It absorbs these dust-like appearances and is thus called the seeing nature. Apart from light and dark, this seeing has no substance whatsoever.
Therefore, Ananda, you should know that this seeing does not arise from light or darkness, nor does it come from the faculty of the eye, nor is it born from emptiness.
Why is this so?
If it came from light, then it should disappear with darkness, and there would be no seeing of darkness.
If it came from darkness, then it should disappear with light, and there would be no seeing of light.
If it came from the eye faculty, then there should be no experience of either light or darkness, meaning the essence of seeing has no inherent nature of its own.
If it came from emptiness, then when it focused on visible forms, the perception should return to the eye faculty. And if emptiness could observe by itself, what would that have to do with your sense entry?
Therefore, you should understand that the entrance of the eye is ultimately false. It is neither produced by dependent-arising nor self-arising.”
In this Volume Three of the Surangama Sutra, the Buddha explains the six sense entries: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, as stated in the Heart Sutra. [Some translators use “six sense bases”, “six sense fields”, or “six roots” to refer to these sense faculties.] Their corresponding sense objects are sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects.
If we add the root of mind to the six sense bases, they become the seven sense bases. These seven can also be said to be earth, water, fire, wind, space, root, and consciousness.
The Buddha also explains the eighteen realms: the six roots (sense entries), the six dusts (sense objects), and the six consciousnesses.
In this section, the Buddha reiterates that nothing is real or true. All names and phenomena are false, illusory, and unreal. The only true reality is the wondrous luminous true mind, which is also buddhanature. This is the main point of the Surangama Sutra.
This teaching is consistent with the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, Vajra Sutra, and Heart Sutra. It is stated clearly in the following passage from the Heart Sutra: “No eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, nor mind; no forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, nor mental objects; nor is there the realm of the eyes, up to and including the realm of mind consciousness. There is no ignorance nor the ending of ignorance…”
Anything seen with the physical eyes is illusory and false. The eye faculty cannot see through walls, but the seeing nature of the wondrous luminous true mind can. For example, Venerable Xu Yun, while meditating, could see a disciple urinating in the flowerbed through the walls, without using his physical eyes. Grandmaster can see the northern lights while lying in bed in Seattle. One afternoon while driving, he saw numerous rainbow lights along the way that no one else could. These were not seen with physical eyes, but with the seeing nature. In deep meditation, he has also seen Sukhavati, Padmakumaras, and all the scenery there. These are all seen with the wondrous luminous true mind.
Because of eye strain or ailments one may see all sorts of images. But the true seeing nature of the wondrous luminous true mind has no fatigue or ailments. It is completely unrelated to the physical eyes, nor is it a matter of simply closing your eyes and seeing inward. In short, once you see with the wondrous luminous true mind, the experience is entirely different.
What is seen with the physical eyes is not true reality, since it is ever changing. The physical eyes are irrelevant to the seeing of the wondrous luminous true mind, and so are the celestial eye, dharma eye, and wisdom eye. Only the buddha eye relates to the seeing of the wondrous luminous true mind—it can see throughout the three times and across all ten directions.