Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
What is enlightenment? Here are several analogies; because only through analogies will one gain enlightenment.
What is the wondrous radiant true mind? It is when the mind is completely still. But as soon as the Buddha showed his luminous fist, Ananda’s mind moved. Therefore, all he saw was the luminous fist, and he missed the point on enlightenment that the Buddha was trying to teach.
The Surangama Sutra is a very important scripture on enlightenment. Only the enlightened one can expound on the sutra of enlightenment. Otherwise it’s like the blind leading the blind. The Buddha used many methods to guide Ananda to understand the true mind. Ananda had not reached attainment when the Buddha passed into parinirvana. Only after seeing many fellow disciples attain the Dao, did he cultivate seriously and eventually attain it himself. Attaining the Dao is not easy!
Humans are like guests or travelers on earth. Eventually we’ll leave—even if we may return. Padmakumara, Lotus Light Self-Mastery Buddha, and Sheng-Yen Lu are just temporary names—without real substance. What is truly real does not change—that is the wondrous luminous true mind. The past, present, and future are momentary phenomena. Once you find the true self, you’d comprehend the fundamental root of the wondrous luminous true mind—non-arising and non-ceasing. This is the most important point in the Surangama Sutra. It is taught in the Vimalakirti Sutra as the dharma gate of non-duality. From this, can you understand what enlightenment is?
At that moment, from the swastika mark on the Tathagata’s chest, a radiant treasure-light streamed forth, dazzling with hundreds of thousands of colors. It spread throughout all buddhaverses as numerous as dust motes in the ten directions, saturating the crowns of all the tathagatas in the jeweled realms, and then circled back to Ananda and the great assembly.
The swastika symbolizes boundless merits and virtue, auspiciousness, and the radiance of all virtues in harmony. All buddhas have this symbol on their chest, and so does Grandmaster. It is one of the thirty-two marks of perfection. Different from Buddhist swastika, Hitler used its mirror-image diagonally, and it’s counter-clockwise. Buddhist swastika is upright and clockwise.
The Buddha said to Ananda, “Now I establish for you the great dharma-banner, and I also enable all sentient beings in the ten directions to attain the subtle, wondrous, secret-natured, and pure luminous mind (buddha’s mind), and to gain the pure eyes.
“Ananda, earlier you answered that you saw the radiant fist. From what does it come? How did the fist form? And by whom was it seen?”
Ananda replied, “The Buddha’s entire body is made of Jambunada gold, resplendent like a jeweled mountain, born of purity—thus it radiates light. I truly saw it with my eyes. The five-wheel fingers were bent and formed a grasping gesture, so the appearance of a fist was shown.”
The Buddha said to Ananda, “Today I will speak to you in all sincerity: all those with wisdom must awaken through analogy. Ananda! For example, my fist: without my hand, it could not be formed; likewise, without your eye, your seeing would not exist. If your eye faculty is like my fist, would their principles be the same?”
Ananda replied, “Yes indeed, World-Honored One! If I had no eyes, I could not see. Comparing my eye faculty to the Tathagata’s fist, their meanings seem alike.”
The Buddha said to Ananda, “Though you say they are similar, this is not correct. Why? A person without hands has no fist at all, yet a person without eyes does not entirely lack sight. Why? Try asking a blind person on the road: ‘What do you see?’ That blind person will surely reply, ‘Before my eyes there is only darkness—I see nothing else.’
From this reasoning, the seen object is darkness, but why is there no seeing faculty?”
Ananda said, “But the blind see only darkness—how can that be called seeing?”
The Buddha said to Ananda, “Blind people with no eyes perceive only darkness. A person with eyes in a pitch-dark room also sees only blackness. Are the two darknesses different, or not?”
“Indeed, World-Honored One! The darkness seen by a seeing person in a dark room is no different from that seen by a blind person.”
“Ananda! A person without eyes sees complete blackness. If suddenly they gain sight, they will perceive the world of color—this is called seeing with the eyes.
A person in darkness sees only black, but if suddenly there’s light, they too see various colors—this might be called seeing with the lamp.
If you say the lamp sees because it has perception, then it is no longer a lamp. If the lamp does the seeing, what does that have to do with you?
Therefore, you should understand: a lamp only reveals colors; the one who sees is the eye, not the lamp. The eye reveals colors, but the seeing-nature itself is the mind, not the eye.”
Although Ananda had heard these words, he and the great assembly remained silent, mouths closed yet minds still unenlightened. Still hoping for the Tathagata’s compassionate voice to reveal the meaning, he joined his palms, purified his mind, and waited in reverence for the Buddha’s instruction.
The buddha’s mind is the wondrous luminous true mind. And the buddha’s eyes witness the buddhanature. This is the true understanding of the mind and seeing buddhanature.
To further describe “enlightenment,” Grandmaster Lu recounted a story of the Six Patriarch Huineng when he saw two monks arguing about a flag waving in the wind. One monk said the flag was moving, whereas the other said it was the wind moving. Huineng interrupted and said, “It’s neither the flag nor the wind that is moving; it’s your mind.” This is the key point! Because you see the flag move, your mind moves. Likewise, when your mind moves, you see it move. Only when the mind is unmoved do you experience the wondrous luminous true mind.
The Buddha simply picked up something like a flower without uttering a word. Actually, he didn’t need to pick up a flower—he could just sit there, doing nothing.
What is enlightenment? Think about it, and the answer will be revealed tomorrow.