Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
In this lengthy passage, Sakyamuni Buddha explains how karma is created. There are two kinds of karma: individual and collective, the latter generated by a group of people.
“What is meant by the deluded view arising from individual karma? Ananda, it is like someone in the world who has a cataract in their eye. At night, when they look at a lamp, they see an extra round halo of overlapping five-colored light. What do you think? Is this circular glow part of the lamp’s actual light, or is it something seen due to perception?
“Ananda, if it were truly the lamp’s color, then why don’t others without the disorder see the same thing? This round halo appears only to the one with the eye disorder. If it is a perceived color, and perception itself becomes form, then what should we call the round halo seen by the person with the disorder?
“Furthermore, Ananda, if that round halo truly exists apart from the lamp, then it should also appear reflected on nearby screens, curtains, or furniture. And if it exists apart from vision, then it should not be perceived by the eyes—so how is it that only the person with the eye disorder sees the halo?
“Therefore, you should understand: the form truly exists in the lamp, but the distortion of vision gives rise to the halo. Both the halo and the altered perception arise from the eye disorder. The visual distortion is not caused by the lamp itself.
“One must not say, ‘This is the lamp, this is vision, and apart from the two, there is something that is neither the lamp nor the vision.’
“It is like seeing a second moon due to double vision—it is neither a real object nor a reflection. Why is that? Because the appearance of the second moon is entirely a distortion of perception.
“Those with wisdom should not claim, ‘This distortion is fundamentally real—it is form and yet not form, apart from vision and yet not vision.’ The same applies here: what is seen is produced by the diseased eye. So then, whom or what will you name as the lamp or the vision? Or worse—what is neither the lamp nor the vision!
Individual karma is created when one lacks right view and does not follow the Noble Eightfold Path. Any thoughts, feelings, or actions that deviate from the right path propel the wheel of karma.
Collective karma, created by a group, results in shared retribution—such as famine, war, epidemics, or being born and living in a particular country. Living in the United States, for example, is very different from living in Ethiopia or Taiwan.
To describe individual karma, Sakyamuni Buddha uses the analogy of someone with an eye disorder who sees differently from those without the problem. This person may see halos, shadows, a second moon, or a mirage of a city floating above the sea, none of which truly exist. The problem lies with the eyes—not with the visual objects themselves. Whether one sees the lamp, its shadow, or two illusory lamps, it is not true seeing.
Once, there was someone who stood on the roof of a tall building and believed he saw heaven beneath him. He jumped off the building. That was his own karma. He killed himself due to delusion.
The wondrous luminous true mind is none of these.