Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
Grandmaster, through his own direct experiences, shows us and asks us to reflect and correct ourselves. Even the slightest deviation can lead us astray and leave us disoriented. In confusion, one needs someone to prompt us and guide the way.
“Purna, such is the threefold inverted continuity—it is luminous awareness, the knowing nature of illumination. From knowing, appearances arise, born of false perception. Mountains, rivers, the great earth, and all conditioned forms change and flow in succession. Thus, this empty delusion revolves, ending and beginning again.
Purna said,
“If this wondrous awareness is originally wondrous and luminous, and it is the Tathagata’s mind that neither increases nor decreases, how do mountains, rivers, the great earth, and all conditioned phenomena suddenly arise without form? Now that the Tathagata has attained wondrously empty and luminous awareness, how could conditioned habits, and outflows such as mountains, rivers, and the great earth, ever arise again?”
“Suppose a confused person in a certain village mistakes south for north. Does this confusion arise because of confusion itself, or does it come from awakening?”
The Buddha said to Purna,
Purna said,
“Such a confused person is not confused because of confusion itself, nor because of awakening. Why is this so? Confusion originally has no root—how could it arise from confusion? Awakening does not give rise to confusion—how could it arise from awakening?”
The Buddha said,
“While that person is in the midst of confusion, suppose someone who is enlightened points it out and enables him to understand. Purna, what do you think? Even if this person was confused before, is he confused now? Will he be confused again in the future?”
Purna replied,
“No, World-Honored One.”
The Buddha continued,
“Purna, the Tathagatas of the ten directions are likewise. This confusion is rootless; its nature is ultimately empty. Originally there was no confusion—only an illusory appearance of confused awareness. When one awakens to the confusion, the confusion ceases. Awakening does not give rise to confusion.
Sakyamuni Buddha explained to Purna that the saha world exists because of the threefold inverted continuity. All of it is the Tathagata’s luminous awareness, yet due to a single deluded thought, the entire world comes into being. Sentient beings and their habitual tendencies—killing, stealing, desire, greed, anger, delusion and so on—together with all conditioned phenomena, continue to cease and arise.
Purna then asked: If the Tathagata has realized the wondrous luminous true mind that neither increases nor decreases, why do conditioned phenomena, such as mountains, rivers, and the great earth, still arise?
The Buddha indicated that the endless arising and ceasing of the deluded world has nothing to do with the wondrous luminous true mind of the Tathagata. He gave an analogy to show that confusion does not arise from awakening nor from confusion itself. It arises spontaneously; it has no root. Yet once a confused person is awakened, confusion no longer remains.
Grandmaster gave personal examples. When he first went to Hong Kong, he went out for a walk and forgot where his hotel was. On another occasion, while studying surveying, he became lost in the mountains. Being lost is not intentional; it happens when one loses one’s sense of direction, and guidance is then required.
Grandmaster explained that even spiritual practitioners can often be lost—deluded or disoriented—without realizing it. Even the slightest deviation can lead one astray. He saw many great cultivators— masters, monastics, and laity alike—end up in the asura realm in this way. Therefore, as cultivators, we must always be vigilant and introspective, abiding by the right principles and the words of the sages.
Amid confusion and delusion, one needs someone to guide the way. During a recent bout of flu, while in a stuporous sleep, Grandmaster himself became lost and could not find his way home. He entered the asura world, where an asuri woman asked him a question that prompted him to reflect on his own wrongdoings: “Do you think everything you have done in your life has been right?”