Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
The Buddha explains the illusory and unreal nature of the five skandhas, elaborating on them one by one. In this excerpt, he talks about the skandha of form.
“Ananda, suppose a person with clear, pure eyes gazes at the bright, clear sky and sees nothing but open space. If for no reason they fixate their gaze and strain their eyes excessively, then they will start to see phantom flowers in the void, along with all sorts of other wild, unreal visions. You should understand that the skandha of form is the same. Ananda, these phantom flowers do not come from the sky, nor do they emerge from the eyes.
“Ananda! If they truly came from the sky, then they should return to the sky. But if they truly came from the sky and returned to the sky, then the sky would not be the sky. And if the sky were not empty, it could not accommodate the arising and ceasing of flower-like appearances—just as your body, Ananda, cannot contain another Ananda.
“If the flowers came from the eyes, then they should return to the eyes. If the flowers arose from the eyes, they too should be able to see. If the flowers could see, even after they disappeared, they should still be able to see the eyes. If they could not see, it would be like to having cataracts—an eye impairment. Only without cataracts can one see the flowers. Therefore, how can one call such eyes clear and bright?
“Therefore, you should understand that the form skandha is false and illusory; it is neither produced from causes and conditions nor does it arise naturally.”
The Buddha asked Ananda why the five skandhas are considered as tathagatagarbha, manifestations of the wondrous luminous true mind.
When one has clear eyesight and looks up at the bright clear sky, all one sees is the bright clear sky, with nothing in it. However, when one strains the eyes and fixates the gaze, all sorts of mirages, such as dancing flowers, start to appear. These flowers come neither from the eyes nor from the sky. They are illusory.
Just because the eyes have seeing nature, it does not mean that the flowers that supposedly came from the eyes also have seeing nature. The flowers cannot see, just like the nose or ears cannot see.
Sometimes seeing flowers in the sky is due to an ailment in the eyes. And then, of course, everything seen would be false. Without any eye problems, one has pure eyes that see the bright, clear sky.
Take for example the mysterious cardboard box that both Grandmaster and Shimu saw for a few moments before it mysteriously disappeared. Because it was seen by both, it could not have been a problem with their eyes. The sighting was not due to causes and conditions, nor did it arise naturally. Yet they both saw it appear and disappear. That is inconceivable! There are indeed many such inconceivable things.
Sometimes, when we gaze at a lamp, or at the many lamps hanging from the ceiling of the Homa Hall, we see not only the light of the lamp, but also halos around it. When we turn away and look at other things, we still see an image of light in our vision. But these are not real.
The Buddha says that everything we see is illusory and unreal. They are all aggregates and combinations—all false without inherent reality. Originally, they are neither dependent-arisen nor self-arisen. Inherently, the true reality is that there is nothing!