Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
The empty space is truly vast, without any fixed form or shape, and it is indescribable.
“Ananda, the nature of space has no form. It becomes apparent only when revealed by physical matter. In the distant region of Shilo by the river, the ksatriyas, brahmins, vaishyas, sudras, together with those of mixed or low caste, build new settlements and dig wells to obtain water.
“When they remove one foot of earth, one foot of space appears. If they dig to one yard, they gain one yard of space. The depth of space depends on how much earth is removed.
“Does this space arise from the soil? From the act of digging? Or does it exist on its own without any cause?
“Ananda, if space arises without cause, then before the earth was broken open, why was there no passage? Only an unbroken stretch of ground lay before them.
“If space arises because soil is removed, then when the soil comes out, space should be seen to enter. If the soil emerges first without space entering, how can you say that space arises from the earth?
“If there is neither entering nor exiting, then earth and space should share the same cause. If they are identical, then when the soil comes out, space should come out with it.
“If space arises because of digging, then digging should produce space, not soil. If not from digging, and digging simply removes earth, then why does space appear?
“Examine this more closely—carefully, thoroughly, and with deep contemplation. The digging follows the movement of a person’s hand. The soil moves because the earth is displaced. Where then does space come from? Digging, space, solidity, and emptiness do not interact as cause and effect; they neither merge nor combine. Therefore, space cannot appear without a source.
“If the nature of space is originally complete and all-pervading, unmoving and ever-present, then you should know that earth, water, fire, wind, together with space—these five elements—are each fundamentally complete and perfectly interpenetrating. All are the tathagata-garbha, originally without arising or ceasing.
“Ananda, your mind is confused and does not realize that the four great elements are the tathagata-garbha itself. Consider: does space come forth or return, or does it neither come nor go?
“You do not yet understand that within the tathagata-garbha, the nature of awareness is true emptiness, and space is true awareness. Pure and innate, it pervades all dharma realms, and manifests according to the minds of sentient beings and the measure of their perception.
“Ananda, one well reveals one space; a single space reveals one well. Throughout the ten directions, space is the same—perfectly complete in all directions, without any fixed location.
“All appearances arise in accordance with karma. The world, lacking true knowledge, becomes confused—believing in causes and conditions or inherent nature. Yet these are merely discriminations of consciousness, empty words without real meaning.”
Empty nature and empty space have no form. Until now, humanity still does not know how vast cosmic space is, nor where its boundaries lie. Where are the edges of the great ocean or the horizon? How big is the sky? Without walls, there is no way to notice that a room is empty.
Empty space does not come from empty space, nor does it come from soil, nor from the tools used to dig the soil. It has no home or specific location, does not mix or combine with anything and does not arise from existence or from non-existence.
We see only one sun, one moon, and nine planets in our solar system. Our galaxy contains many planets and stars, but we do not know what lies beyond it. Although science is advancing, there is still much we do not know. Some say there may be a hundred suns in the universe, yet we only see one. The rays of the other ninety-nine don’t reach us, so don’t notice them. This is why the cosmic space cannot be measured and has no definite form. For example, in the Amitabha Sutra, it is mentioned one needs to pass through ten trillion buddha-lands to reach Sukhavati. How can such a distance ever be measured?
We used to chant the mantra, “The heaven is round and the earth is square, execute the nine laws…” Yet the earth is not square and heaven is not necessarily round. If heaven were round, it would have form. But in reality, we do not even know how vast the sky is, so we cannot say what shape it truly has.
There is a poem: The mountain is near, the moon is far, so the moon looks small. One might think the mountain is bigger than the moon. But if our eyes were as wide as the sky, we would see that the mountain is high, but the moon is even bigger. [What we see may not be the truth; there are many things we do not know.]
The empty space is truly vast. It is without fixed form or shape, and it is indescribable.