Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
The wondrous luminous true mind manifests as both the true emptiness and marvelous existence, where they coexist. All the myriad forms and appearances came from these manifestations.
“You observe the nature of earth: in its coarse form it is the great earth, and in its subtle form it is fine dust. When divided further to the level of infinitesimal particles, each ultimate atom consists of seven parts at its limit of form. If you continue to divide until it borders upon emptiness, it becomes truly empty in nature.
“Ananda, if this infinitesimal boundary, when divided, becomes emptiness itself, then you would think that emptiness gives rise to form.
“You have just said that all phenomena and their transformations arise due to the coming together of aggregates. Then look closely at this minute speck of dust—through the combination of how many spaces does it come to exist? It is unreasonable to think that empty space can be combined to form a particle.
And if this minute particle, when analyzed, becomes emptiness, then through the combination of how many forms can emptiness be produced? The combination of forms will never become emptiness, and the combination of emptiness will never become form. Form can still be divided, but how can emptiness be combined?
You truly do not understand that within the Tathagata-garbha, the nature of form is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is true form—pure, intrinsic, and pervading the entire dharma realm, manifesting in accord with the minds of sentient beings and the measure of their understanding.
According to karma it manifests; yet the ignorant of the world are deluded, mistaking it for causation or inherent nature. All such notions arise only from the discriminating mind—mere words and speech, without true meaning.”
A human body is made up of earth, water, fire, wind, consciousness, awareness, and emptiness—so it seems there are seven elements! Now, the Buddha talks about the “earth.”
The earth element can be divided into large components, such as the earth itself and into minute components such as microscopic dust. When this microscopic “earth” is subdivided further and further, it is close to emptiness, yet it is still not emptiness, because emptiness combined with emptiness will never become earth. In this example, form is form and emptiness is emptiness. Yet, the Heart Sutra states: form is emptiness, emptiness is form; form is no other than emptiness, emptiness is no other than form. This is spoken again in the Surangama Sutra.
These things are difficult to explain. Grandmaster likened it to asking how many rays of light the sun produces, how many grains of sand exist in the Ganges River, how many trees or blades of grass grow on earth, how many pores or hairs exist on a human body, or how many dust particles there are.
Within the tathagatagarbha, everything—both phenomena and emptiness—is a manifestation of the wondrous luminous true mind. It cannot be quantified and is beyond words and imagination. All are neither dependent-arising nor self-arising.
Each of us embodies the wondrous luminous true mind, which encompasses both true emptiness and marvelous existence. The two go hand in hand.
All phenomena in the world are produced by the heart-mind. Yet, people are unaware of this truth and mistakenly believe that things come about due to causes and conditions, or occur naturally on their own. Sentient beings have karma, and this karma gives rise to the consciousnesses, which generate all kinds of discernments. Yet, none of these are true or real.
The Buddha says that the tathagatagarbha is pure and pervades all dharma realms. This is the real thing! This statement is important: within the Tathagata-garbha, the nature of form is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is true form—pure and intrinsic, pervading the entire dharma realm.