Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
Everything in samsara is impermanent and has a place to return. Karma returns to karma—endlessly—and that is the rebirth cycle. Only after your karma is eliminated can you attain the wondrous luminous true mind and be liberated from the six rebirth realms.
The Buddha said to Ananda, “Let’s start with your seeing. The clarity of your seeing is innate and fundamental. Though this seeing is not the wondrously bright true mind itself, it is like the second moon seen when vision is unclear—it is not an illusion, but neither is it the real moon.
“Listen carefully. I will now show you the ground of no-return.
“Ananda, this grand lecture hall opens to the east. When the sun rises into the sky, it shines brightly. At midnight, when there’s a dark moon, and clouds and fog obscure the sky, it becomes dim again. When looking out the doors and windows, one sees openness; through the walls, one sees obstruction. Where there is distinction, one sees conditioned appearances; in dead emptiness, one sees voidness. When there is dust and haze, one sees gloom; when the sky clears and the air settles, one sees clarity.
“Ananda, you are observing all these changing appearances. Now I will return each to its source. What is its origin? These changes—light returns to the sun. Why? Without the sun, there’s no brightness. So brightness returns to [belongs to] the sun. Darkness returns to the dark moon. Openness returns to the doors and windows. Obstruction returns to the walls. Causes and conditions return to discernments. Emptiness returns to the void. Gloom returns to dust and haze. Clarity returns to the cleared sky. All phenomena in the world fall within these categories.
“Now, as for your faculty of seeing that perceives all eight of these conditions—to what can your seeing itself be returned? Why? If it returned to brightness, then in the absence of brightness, you shouldn’t be able to see darkness. Yet despite all the differences between brightness and darkness, your seeing does not change. Whatever can be returned is not you. What does not return—if it isn’t you, then what is?
“Therefore, you should know that your mind is originally wondrous, bright, and pure. It is because you fall into confusion and forget your origin that you are caught in the cycle of birth and death, drifting endlessly in samsara. This is why the Tathagata calls you pitiable and worthy of compassion.”
If you look at me, then close your eyes, can you still see me? Yes—through visualization, my image still appears clearly in your mind. However, this seeing is not the wondrous luminous true mind. Similarly, you have seen the moon, so even if you close your eyes, you can still visualize it. But this is not a second moon, nor the shadow of the moon.
Everything that changes has a place of return. In the sky, there is rain, hail, lightning, thunder, wind, air pollution, etc. They all return to the sky. Light returns to the sun, because it originates from the sun. Life returns to death, death returns to karma, and karma returns to rebirth. If one earns lots of money, it returns to money. Nothing lasts. Everything in samsara—other than the wondrous luminous true mind—must return to something. Only the wondrous luminous true mind is eternal and non-returning.
Sentient beings are pitiful because they regard the bubbles as the ocean and lose sight of the ocean itself. They are lost in external appearances, deluded by their own senses and consciousnesses.
Only after your karma is eliminated can you attain the wondrous luminous true mind—true understanding of the mind and seeing the buddhanature—and be liberated from the six rebirth realms. Otherwise, karma returns to karma—endlessly—and that is the rebirth cycle.
At the very least, one should aspire to be reborn in the heavenly realms, enjoying celestial blessings and a long lifespan. Brahma’s lifespan is one hundred kalpas; one kalpa is the time it takes for heaven and earth to go through a cycle of creation, existence, deterioration, and emptiness. But even this long lifespan will eventually come to an end, and rebirth will still follow. Only those who have transcended birth and death are truly liberated.