Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
The Buddha teaches that the world forms in successive stages, beginning with a deluded thought arising from a lack of illumination.
“From emptiness arises movement; from firm luminosity, obstruction is established. That which is gold and precious is luminous awareness establishing firmness; therefore, there is the golden wheel that upholds the land.
“When firm awareness forms the precious, moving luminosity gives rise to wind. When wind and gold rub against each other, fire-light appears, possessing the nature of transformation.
“The precious luminosity gives rise to moisture; fire-light steams upward, therefore there is the water wheel that contains the ten directions.
“Fire and water descend; interacting, they generate firmness. The moist becomes the vast ocean; the dry becomes continents and sandbanks.
“For this reason, within the great ocean, fire-light constantly arises; within the continents, rivers and streams constantly flow.
“When the force of water is weaker than that of fire, it congeals into high mountains;
thus mountain rocks, when struck, produce flame, and when melted, become water.
“When the force of earth is weaker than that of water, it is drawn out as grasses and trees; thus forests and groves, encountering fire, return to earth, and when crushed and pressed, become water.
“Through these intermingled delusions, arising and giving birth to one another in succession, they mutually serve as causes and seeds. Through such causes and conditions, the world continues in succession.
This excerpt explains how the world came into being, as a response to Purna asking the Buddha how the mountains, rivers, and great earth arose from the emptiness of the wondrous luminosity.
The “space wheel” comes into being first. At any moment, there is empty space—the space wheel. When luminosity is lacking, deluded thought arises; when delusion or ignorance arises, movement begins within empty space. This initial motion is called the “wind wheel.” As the wind wheel interacts with empty space, lighter elements rise to form the heavens, while heavier elements settle to form the earth, also called the “golden wheel.”
When the golden wheel and the wind wheel rub against one another, the “fire wheel” is produced. The dry aspect of fire becomes mountains and land, while its moist aspect transforms into water, giving rise to the “water wheel.” As the lighter part of water rises, the denser part sinks to form the oceans. Flowing across the land, water becomes rivers and streams. Fire-light remains within the oceans, while rivers continually flow across the continents.
The interaction between water (rivers) and earth (land) gives rise to vegetation, forming trees and grasses—the wood element. In this way, the [Chinese] five elements—wood, fire, earth, metal, water—come into being. When stones collide, sparks of fire appear. When trees encounter fire, they return to earth or water. Through these continual cycles and interactions among the elements, causes and conditions give rise to this world.
The Buddha teaches that the world forms in stages: space wheel → wind wheel → earth wheel → fire wheel → water wheel. The great earth is ever changing—arising, transforming, and ceasing.
This is similar to the Taoist explanation, in which each stage gives rise to the next:
Wuji (primordial limitless absolute)
Taiji (supreme ultimate, the first movement within wuji)
Liangyi (the Two: Yin and Yang)
Sancai (The Three: Heaven, Earth, Humanity)
Sixiang (Four Phenomena: Greater and Lesser Yang and Yin)
Wuxing (Five Elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space)
Liuhe (Six Spatial Completeness: East, West, North, South, Up (Heaven) and Down (Earth))
Qizheng (Seven Governances/Luminaries: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn)
Bagua (Eight Trigrams: Heaven, Earth, Thunder, Wind, Water, Fire, Mountain, Lake)
Jiugong (Nine Palaces: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Ten Completeness (the last being Grandmaster’s own addition).
The same principle applies to the human body, which is composed of the four elements. When these elements are in harmony, health is present; when they are not, illness arises. Excessive fire manifests as fever; excessive water as edema; imbalance in earth as bodily pain; and disordered wind affects breathing and the lungs. The elements both generate and restrain one another.