Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
What is enlightenment?
Grandmaster Lu spelled out enlightenment very clearly. Enlightenment is understanding unattainability. All buddhas and bodhisattvas reach attainment due to this understanding.
Whether it’s a one-kilo gold bar or worthless rock; whether one shows a finger or not; whether the Buddha picked up a flower or did nothing at all; none of these are attainable because they are mere dusts that change endlessly.
Samsaric beings are like guests, wandering due to sensory delusion; they do not know they are the host—the wondrous luminous true mind.
Take for example a piece of gold versus a rock. Our cognition deems gold to be more valuable than the rock. But they are yours only temporarily; you can’t own them forever. This is unattainability. Understanding this is enlightenment. As such, one’s mind is unmoved. When unmoved, we become the host instead of a wandering guest.
A story of one-finger Zen to convey enlightenment: Someone asked a Zen Master, “What is enlightenment”? The master just showed him one of his fingers. His disciple, when asked the same question, mimicked the guru and at that moment, the guru cut off his finger. The guru understood but the disciple did not. The finger has nothing to do with enlightenment. Enlightenment is the immovable mind—with or without the finger. The wondrous luminous true mind is eternally present.
Grandmaster mentioned that the most important thing is to be the wealthiest in heaven—meaning to become a buddha—because although being the wealthiest in the saha world is good, as life would be easier and you could perform charity, it is only temporary. You can’t bring any of the worldly wealth when you pass away.
It’s stated in the Heart Sutra, “[Recognizing] there is nothing to gain, [one is] a bodhisattva.” In the Vimalakirti Sutra, when the Goddess Who Scatters Flowers asked Sariputra how he became enlightened and attained arhatship, Sariputra replied that it was due to unattainability. The goddess then remarked, “All buddhas and bodhisattvas attain buddhahood and bodhisattvahood only through [understanding] unattainability.”
Your delusion by everything in the saha world—such as wealth, sensual pleasures, fame, sleep, food, and the six senses—is the fundamental root of birth and death and reincarnation. But if you are not deluded, truly understand the mind and see the buddhanature, you can maintain your wondrous luminous true mind, and be liberated from the rebirth cycle. Only this is called enlightenment.
At that time, the World-Honored One extended his soft-cotton-like hand of light, unfolded the five-wheel fingers, and instructed Ananda and the great assembly:
“When I first attained enlightenment, at the Deer Park I said to Ajnata Kaundinya, the five bhiksus, and the fourfold sangha, ‘All sentient beings fail to realize bodhi and arhatship because they are misled by guest-dust afflictions.’
What was it that brought you to awakening then, leading to your realization of the holy fruit?”
At that time, Kaundinya rose and said to the Buddha,“It is also like when the sky clears after a storm and the bright sun rises—its rays shine into the cracks, illuminating the dust particles suspended in space. The dust stirs, but the empty space remains still. From this I reflected: What is still is called space; what moves is called dust. The meaning of ‘dust’ lies in its movement.”
The Buddha said, “It is so.”
At that time, Kaundinya rose and said to the Buddha, “I am now the senior among the sangha, and have alone attained the name of ‘the one who understood.’ I realized the fruition through the two words ‘guest’ and ‘dust.’
“World-Honored One! It is like a traveler who lodges at a wayside inn. Whether resting or eating, when those affairs are done, he packs up and moves on; he does not stay. But a true owner does not go anywhere. From this I reflected: ‘One who does not stay is called a guest; one who stays is the host. The meaning of “guest” lies in its not dwelling.’
“It is also like when the sky clears after a storm and the bright sun rises—its rays shine into the cracks, illuminating the dust particles suspended in space. The dust stirs, but the empty space remains still. From this I reflected: ‘What is still is called space; what moves is called dust. The meaning of “dust” lies in its movement.’”
The Buddha said, “It is so.”
In Sakyamuni Buddha’s sangha, Kaundinya was the first to become a bhiksu and the first to become an arhat. Deer Park is close to Varanasi, a 5000-year-old city at the bank of the Ganges River, where the Buddha first turned the dharma wheel.
Sentient beings fail to gain enlightenment and arhatship because they are deluded by what they perceive and their minds wander endlessly. Arhats, on the other hand, have “killed” these six thieves—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind. These are the dusts.
Let’s be clear: who is the guest, and who is the host? Humans are travelers in the six rebirth realms; they don’t recognize they are the host and cannot find their real home. They keep wandering because they are bound by desires and delusion. Once they gain enlightenment—understanding that there is nothing to gain—they stay unmoved; as such they become the host. Only in this way can you be liberated from samsara.
Like the sun, the host is unmoving, while all the lights are moving and they are the guests. The sky itself has always been still and quiet; anything that’s moving is considered the dust. Kaundinya understood this, thus he gained enlightenment and attained arhatship.
Once you are enlightened and know not to continue the rebirth cycle, this is the non-arising and non-ceasing wondrous luminous true mind.