Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
In a single thing, all the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space are present. Tantric spiritual cultivation utilizes the body’s earth, water, fire, and wind to eventually transform the body into rainbow light. It is crucial to first practice and attain the Treasure Vase Qi, as it is the foundation of all attainments.
“Ananda! The nature of fire has no self; it relies on various conditions. Observe those households in the city that have not yet prepared a meal. When they wish to cook, they take a burning mirror and seek fire from the sun.
“Ananda, when we speak of ‘combination,’ it is like you and I, together with the twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, forming one assembly now. Though we are united as one assembly, if we trace back to the origin, each has his own body, and each has his own clan and family name from which he was born.
“For example: Sariputra is of the Brahmin caste; Uruvilva is of the Kasyapa clan; and you, Ananda, are of the Gautama clan.
“Ananda, if the nature of fire arose from conditions coming together, consider when one holds a lens to the sun to seek fire: does this fire come from the lens, from the tinder, or from the sun?
“Ananda, if the fire came from the sun, it should be able to burn the tinder in your hand by itself, and all the trees in the place where the sunlight reaches should likewise catch fire.
“If it came from the lens, it should be able to emerge from the lens and ignite the tinder; then why does the lens itself not melt? As you hold it in your hand, the lens does not even show a sign of heat—how could it become molten?
“If the fire originated from the tinder itself, why must it rely on the sunlight and the lens coming together, with their light connecting, for the fire to then arise?
“Furthermore, examine closely: the lens is held by the hand, the sun comes from the sky, and the tinder grows on earth. From which direction does the fire come to be here? The sun and the lens are far apart from each other—they are neither blended nor combined. It wcannot be that this firelight has no source and exists on its own.
“You still do not understand that within the tathagata-garbha, the nature of fire is identical to true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is truly fire. Pure and originally so, it pervades the entire dharma-realm, responding to the minds of beings in accordance with their capacity to perceive.
“Ananda! Understand this well: if a person holds a lens in one place and fire appears in another, then if lenses were held everywhere throughout the dharma realms, fire would arise throughout the realms all at once—where then could such fire be said to have a location?
“All of this manifests only according to karma. The ignorant of the world are deluded, thinking it is merely caused by causes and conditions or by inherent nature. In fact, it is entirely the discriminating calculations of the consciousness-mind. There is only talk without any true meaning at all!”
Fire appears only through many conditions coming together. In ancient times, people lit fires by focusing sunlight through a lens onto tinder, or by rubbing sticks together. The sun, the mirror, and the tinder together can create fire, but the fire does not originate from any of the three. Fire is empty, yet it can appear. It is neither self-arising nor dependent-arising, nor does it come from aggregates. Yet, all arise from the wondrous luminous true mind.
The eight trigrams are symbols of heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, and lake. In a single thing, there exists all the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. In other words, the fire element exists even in a speck of dust. The four elements have no specific form or location, yet they exist ubiquitously.
In Tantric inner practices, qi (air) that is focused and cultivated at the navel cakra can generate heat (inner-fire). The cultivated qi is called the Treasure Vase Qi and is the foundation of all attainments. Once the Treasure Vase Qi has been formed, it can ignite the inner-fire, which rises through the central channel from the lower dantian to the middle dantian and all the way up to the upper dantian to burn the reservoir of the frozen lightdrops (Bindu Visarga). Once melted, water will blend with fire to open the cakras one by one. It can also open all the channels in the body to reach the skin pores. At such time, the whole body will emit clear light radiance. Through persistent practice, one will transform into rainbow light. This is the highest teaching of Guru Padmasambhava—direct buddhahood in this lifetime by transforming into rainbow light.
Qi is wind, tummo (inner-fire) is fire, and bindu (lightdrops) are water. The four elements in the body must be in harmony for a person to be free of illness. Tantric spiritual cultivation utilizes the earth, water, fire, and wind of the body to transform into light. When buddhanature emerges, the child light merges with the mother light, returning to empty space. Only this is called “siddhi,” the highest attainment. All karma must first be cleared before attainment is possible.