Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
All phenomena arise from the consciousness; everything comes into existence because of the mind. Seeing, hearing, feeling, or knowing are not the true mind. The true mind exists independent of all sensory cognitions or consciousnesses.
Even if you master the nine stages of meditation, unless you cut off all afflictions, you cannot attain arhatship.
At that time, the World-Honored One gave teachings to Ananda and the great assembly, wishing for their minds to enter the state of birthlessness—the wisdom of the Tathagata. Seated on the lion’s throne, he blessed Ananda on his head and said,
“The Tathagata always teaches that all phenomena arise solely from the mind. All causes and effects, all worlds, and even the finest particles come into existence because of the mind.”
The state of birthlessness is a fruition, free from birth and death, attained by bodhisattvas on the eighth Immovable Ground. A mind that is concerned with arising and ceasing is a clinging mind—not the true mind.
Everything—including causes and effects, karmic retributions, all worldly phenomena, even microorganisms—exists because of the mind/consciousness.
“Ananda, if everything within all worlds—even down to blades of grass and the tiniest particles—when traced to its root, possesses actual substance, and even empty space has its name and attributes, then how could the ‘pure, wondrous, and lucid mind’—which is the nature of all minds—be without substance?
Although you can’t see dust mites or bacteria, they have minds too. The sky, air, rainbows, clouds, rain, thunder, lightning, hail, all possess actual substance—meaning form, attributes, and functions. Thus, the true mind should have it too.
“If you strictly regard discernment, awareness, and cognition as the mind, then this so-called mind ought to exist independently of all sights, smells, tastes, touches, and sensory phenomena, and possess a complete nature of its own.”
“As you now listen to my dharma teaching, discernment arises because of sound. Even if you extinguish all seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, and internally guard a secluded serenity, it is still merely a shadow of worldly discernment. [As long as there is a discernment (such as closing off all senses), that is still considered a trace of the dusts—such as a mental formation or subtle consciousness.]
“I do not tell you to outright deny this as mind. Rather, I urge you to closely examine and contemplate: If the discriminating nature exists independent of the dusts [senses], then that is your true mind. However, if the discriminating nature is not only apart from the senses but also devoid of any sensory substance, then it is still a reflection produced by the dusts.
“Since dusts are impermanent, when they change or perish, this mind would become like turtle hair or rabbit horns—utterly non-existent. In such a case, your dharma body would fall into extinction, and who would still be able to cultivate and realize the state of birthlessness?” “As you now listen to my dharma teaching, discernment arises because of sound. Even if you extinguish all seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, and internally guard a secluded serenity, it is still merely a shadow of worldly discernment.”
[The true mind exists and is substantial, but it is independent of the senses. However, thinking that it has no substance is a reflection of one’s mental formation. Otherwise “the mind without substance” would be dependent on the existence of the dusts, which can change anytime and disappear.]
Trying to close off all the senses and maintain inner peace is still considered a reflection of the consciousnesses. Even all nine stages of meditation where there is no time or spatial dimension, even when all have been extinguished, that is still not the true mind.
The true mind exists independent of the senses, including mental formations and consciousnesses. Yet it still has “substance.” If the mind has no substance apart from the sense consciousnesses, then it is not the true mind, because when the senses change and disappear, then the mind, too, disappear. If the mind disappears, the dharma body also disappears. Then there is no one trying to cultivate the state of birthlessness.
At that moment, Ananda and the great assembly fell silent, feeling lost within themselves.
The Buddha said to Ananda, “All cultivators in the world, though they may attain the nine stages of meditative stability, still fail to eliminate their outflows completely, and cannot even become an arhat. They continue to mistake the deluded thinking that causes birth and death for something real. Therefore, although you have heard much dharma, you have yet to realize the fruition of sagehood.”
The nine stages of meditation are the first dhyana, second dhyana, third dhyana, fourth dhyana, boundless emptiness meditation, nothingness meditation, boundless consciousness meditation, no-thought and no non-thought meditation, and complete extinction meditation. Even if you can enter the ninth stage of meditation, without cutting off all afflictions, you cannot attain arhatship.