Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
In this passage, the Buddha reiterates that the sense faculty of the nose, the sense object of smell, and the nose-consciousness are likewise false and illusory, devoid of any self-nature.
Grandmaster Lu added that one should make use of the eighteen sense-bases as tools for spiritual cultivation. Through them, one can transform ordinary sensory awareness into the wondrous luminous true mind. This is the essential meaning of the Surangama Sutra.
“Ananda, you also know that the nose smells scents, and this nose-consciousness arises from their interaction. Tell me, does this sense of smell come from the nose itself, or does it originate from the scent?
“Ananda! If it comes from the nose, then what exactly do you mean by ‘nose’? Is it the fleshy lump with two openings on your face, or the faculty that responds to scents? If it is merely flesh, then it is part of your body, and what the body perceives is touch, not smell. In that case, it should not be called a nose at all, let alone be said to establish a sense-field.
“If it is the ability to perceive smells, then what exactly does the perceiving? If the flesh perceives, then flesh should feel touch, not scent. If emptiness perceives, then emptiness would be aware, not the flesh. In that case, emptiness would be you, and your body would be unaware—then today, Ananda, you would have no location at all. If the scent perceives, then the consciousness would belong to the scent, not to you.
“And if fragrant and foul airs arise only in your nose, then those two streams of scent would not arise in yilan or sandalwood. If those two things are absent, will you sniff your own nose and call it fragrant or foul? If foul, it is not fragrant; if fragrant, it should not be foul.
“If you can smell both fragrance and foulness, does that mean you have two noses? Would that make two Anandas standing before me? Which one would be your body? If there is only one nose, and fragrant and foul are not two, then foul would be fragrant and fragrant would become foul. With these two natures not established, how could a sense-field be set up?
“If the awareness comes from scents, then just as eyes cannot see themselves, this awareness should not recognize the scents it comes from. If it recognizes them, it was not born from them; if it does not recognize them, it is not true awareness. Scents do not depend on awareness to exist, so there can be no fixed sense-field of scent. Without a “middle,” how could inner and outer be formed? Thus, all so-called smelling-natures are ultimately unreal.
“So you see, what we call the nose, scents, and the sense of smell—none of these truly exist. They are neither products of causes and conditions nor of any self-existing nature.
The nose is the sensory root of smell, and scents are the objects of smell. Their contact gives rise to nose-consciousness. If there is a nose but no scent, consciousness cannot arise. Likewise, if there is scent but no nose, there is no perception. Therefore, nose-consciousness arises from neither the nose, nor the scent, nor the void. The nose, scent, and nose-consciousness all lack inherent nature.
The sutra gives two examples of yilan and sandalwood. The yilan tree has beautiful flowers but gives off a strong unpleasant odor. Because it can make the entire surroundings smell bad, it is often used as a symbol for afflictions. Sandalwood, on the other hand, is fragrant and symbolizes bodhi. You cannot smell both simultaneously unless you had two noses, which would mean two bodies.
Fragrance and foulness are also impermanent and interchangeable. Fragrant food turns foul after digestion; saliva that tastes sweet in a kiss becomes unpleasant once spat out. Ultimately, fragrance and stench are the same in nature. Thus, the sensory root, the object, and the consciousness associated with smell all lack self-nature—they neither arise by dependent-arising nor self-arising.
Grandmaster reminded us that it is rare to be born a human. Everyone should respect their body and take good care of it. One should find the meaning of one’s own life so that it is radiant and memorable. If you waste this life or live without meaning, you will continue to suffer in samsara. It’s important that we take care of our health and live wisely and meaningfully.
The Buddha taught: “Cease all evil, cultivate all good.” This is the fundamental rule of practice. By following it, one can at least be reborn in the heavenly realms. But if one knowingly commits evil, one will fall into the three lower realms. Cause and effect never fail—after death, only karma follows, determining the next rebirth.
Ultimately, the Tathagata teaches that the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind all have no self-nature. As stated in the Heart Sutra: “No eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, nor mind; no forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, nor mental objects…”
At the beginning of the Surangama Sutra, the Buddha teaches the meaning of nonexistence and emptiness—that all phenomena are without self-nature. Practitioners must make use of these very conditions that lack self-nature to cultivate, transforming deluded consciousness into the wondrous luminous true mind. When one realizes that there is nothing to gain, one becomes a bodhisattva and attains the wondrous luminous true mind.
This is the heart of the Surangama Sutra.