Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
When one realizes the wondrous luminous true mind and merges with the tathagata-garbha, one’s perception of the world is completely transformed. One is many, and many are one; the great can contain the small, and astonishingly, the small can also contain the great.
Thus, within it, wind moves, the sky clears, the sun shines, and clouds darken. Sentient beings, confused and obscured, turn away from enlightenment and merge with dust, thereby stirring the toils of dust and giving rise to worldly appearances.
“I, by means of non-arising and non-ceasing wondrous luminosity unite with the tathagata-garbha. And the tathagata-garbha itself is the perfect illumination of the dharma realm through wondrous enlightened awareness.
“Therefore, amidst it, one equates to boundlessness, and boundlessness equates to one. Within the small, the great appears; within the great, the small appears.
“The immovable bodhimanda pervades the realms of the ten directions. When the body encompasses the ten directions, it is boundless. On the tip of a single hair, jeweled king buddhaverses appear; within a single mote of dust, the great dharma wheel is turned.
“Eliminating dust and merging with awareness, the wondrous luminous nature of true suchness is revealed.
Sakyamuni Buddha explains that the saha world arises from the manifestation of innumerable phenomena. These appearances further confuse deluded sentient beings, giving rise to afflictions. Yet all such phenomena originate from the tathagata-garbha itself.
The tathagata-garbha is the non-arising and non-ceasing buddhanature—the wondrous luminous true mind, the immovable bodhimanda that neither comes nor goes. It pervades the entire dharma realm and manifests everywhere. From the immovable, countless transformations arise.
It manifests as infinite phenomena across countless worlds. As such, one becomes many. Since all these phenomena are originally the wondrous luminous true mind itself, the many are also one.
The one can become many, and the many can return to one. The great can become the small, and the small become the great. The great contains the small, and the small likewise contains the great.
The universe consists of earth, water, fire, and wind, and it includes all human beings. Compared to the whole universe, a human body appears very small, yet it contains the same four elements. Each of the cells within the human body contains these elements, as does a speck of dust or the tip of a needle.
Sakyamuni Buddha says that on the tip of a single hair, a pureland appears, within which he turns the dharma wheel. Likewise, Vimalakirti can place the entire Abhirati Pureland of the East upon his palm and accommodate countless bodhisattvas within his small room. Thus, the minute can contain the immense.
Although this may seem astonishing, it becomes understandable once one can manifest dharma bodies. From a single body, countless dharma bodies can arise—thus, one becomes many. Yet as they are all one’s own dharma bodies, the many are also one. The dharma body can be as vast as the sky or as subtle as a drop of light; it may appear exactly like the human form or manifest in countless other ways.
When one realizes the wondrous luminous true mind and merges with the tathagata-garbha, one’s perception of the world is completely transformed.