Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
What is the wondrous luminous true mind? How does one recognize it? Where can it be found? The mind that knows the presence of deities and their acceptance of offerings and responses; can see the whole saha world; without discernment; and is non-returning, non-arising and non-ceasing, is the wondrous luminous true mind.
Ananda said: “Though I recognize that this seeing-nature does not return [to any source], how can I be certain it is my true nature?”
The Buddha told Ananda: “I now question you: Though you have not yet attained the purity of complete outflow, by virtue of the Buddha’s divine power you can now perceive the First Dhyana Heaven without obstruction. Aniruddha sees the entire Jambudvipa continent as clearly as an amala fruit in his palm; bodhisattvas perceive hundreds and thousands of realms; the Tathagatas throughout the ten directions completely penetrate all purelands as numerous as dust motes, leaving nothing unseen; while ordinary beings cannot clearly discern anything beyond a limited distance.
“Ananda! You and I observe the palaces of the Four Heavenly Kings and all phenomena traversing water, land, and sky. Though they appear in various forms of brightness and obscurity, they are nothing but remnants of discernment—hindrances. You must now distinguish what is you and what is not you. I shall guide you to discern within your visual perception: What is you? What is the object?
“Ananda! Now trace the origin of your seeing. Begin with the sun and moon—they are objects, not you. Observe outward to the Seven Golden Mountains; though radiant, they too are objects, not you. Continue observing: clouds rising, birds flying, wind moving, dust stirring, trees, mountains, rivers, grasses, humans, and animals—all are objects, not you.
“Ananda! Whether near or far, all these objects, though they may differ, are all seen through the same clear and pure faculty of seeing. The objects vary, but the seeing nature remains without distinction. This clarity and marvelous brightness is the seeing-nature itself.
“If visual perception were an object, then you ought to perceive my visual perception. If our visual pereptions were identical, why do you not see when I do not see?
“Say you can see ‘not seeing’—that cannot be the same ‘not seeing’ experienced by others. But if you cannot see the place where I do not see, then that ‘not seeing’ is clearly not an object—so how could it not be you?
“Furthermore, when you now see external things—since you see them, do those things also see you? If the nature of perception were mixed and confused like this, then you, I, and all beings in the world would have no stable ground to stand on.
Once the wondrous luminous true mind is attained, it never regresses. It is never lost and ever-present. It is non-arising and non-ceasing.
Ananda had not reached the state of non-leakage. Though he could see the first dhyana, it’s due to the power of the Buddha that he was brought to the joyous state, away from the realm of desire. But he still did not quite grasp the wondrous luminous true mind.
Aniruddha, one of the Buddha’s ten main disciples and foremost in celestial vision, used to fall asleep when listening to the dharma. The Buddha reprimanded him, saying that he would be reincarnated as a clam—trapped forever inside the shell, unable to see daylight. Thus, he vowed to never sleep again and became blind. Yet he was still diligent and eventually obtained the celestial eyes and could see the entire Jambudvipa—where the saha world is—as clearly as an amala fruit in his palm.
This mind that can see is the wondrous luminous true mind! Instead, what humans see is very limited; they can’t see through walls, let alone the entire saha world. Many great bodhisattvas can see many worlds. And all the buddhas can see through everything in all the worlds, as numerous as dust motes.
In Buddhist cosmology, surrounding Mount Meru are the four continents—Jambudvipa (Southern), Purvavideha (Eastern), Aparagodaniya (Western), Uttarakuru (Northern)—encircled by the Seven Golden Mountains, and the Iron-Fenced Mountain further out.
The mind that sees with the physical eyes is not the wondrous luminous true mind. The wondrous luminous true mind has no discernment. There are also no differences among the wondrous luminous true minds of everybody.
These are a few more examples of the wondrous luminous true mind:
One goes to Alaska to see the Northern Lights, but Grandmaster can see them just by closing his eyes.
Prior to giving blessings, Grandmaster always invokes his yidams. Upon union with the yidams, he uses their power to bless everyone. The wondrous luminous true mind clearly knows whether yidams have come and are in union or not.
Whenever he makes offerings to the deities or the spirits, he knows whether they have accepted them—that is the wondrous luminous true mind. This is the mind that allows him to have coffee with Sakyamuni Buddha, bestowing upon him the buddha’s name of the Great Light Self-Mastery Buddha, which was changed to Lotus Light Self-Mastery Buddha. The mind that cannot do these is the ordinary mind of a mundane being, even if one is a master.
Only the mind that can achieve the above is the wondrous luminous true mind—this is the key point in the Surangama Sutra.