Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
Although Ananda understands delusion and inversion in theory, he still cannot recognize them when they arise. He mistakes sound for the hearing itself. Sound arises and ceases, but the hearing nature never changes. The Buddha teaches that the only thing that is non-arising and non-ceasing is our buddhanature—the wondrous luminous true mind.
The Buddha told Ananda, “You have studied and heard much, yet you have not exhausted all outflows. You understand the causes of inversion only in theory. When true inversion appears before you, you still cannot recognize it. I will now use an ordinary worldly example to dispel your doubts.”
The Buddha asked Rahula to strike a bell. When the bell sounded, he asked Ananda whether he heard it, and Ananda replied, “Yes.” After the sound ceased, the Buddha asked again, and Ananda replied, “No.” The Buddha then distinguished between hearing and sound. Sound may arise and cease, but hearing itself does not. Knowing there is sound or no sound only reflects whether sound is present or absent—it does not mean the hearing nature appears or disappears.
The Buddha said, “Within hearing, sound itself has arising and ceasing. It is not your hearing that arises and ceases with the sound. You are inverted, confusing sound with hearing, and mistaking what is permanent for what is impermanent.”
Ananda and the assembly focused only on whether there was sound, overlooking that the hearing nature remains constant. This is what the Buddha calls inversion and confusion.
Ordinary people are similarly inverted. We mistake what we see for the seeing nature, what we hear for the hearing nature, and constantly confuse appearances with reality. Spiritual cultivators, however, are not carried away by external conditions but remain rooted in their original nature.
For example, during Grandmaster’s birthday celebration, Jessica and Wudong played a couple on stage, and many people suggested they should become a real couple. In reality, Wudong is married with two children. Mistaking a performance for reality is inversion.
Likewise, life itself is like a long play or a movie. We become attached to wealth, fame, love, success, and failure, forgetting that they are all temporary appearances. Our buddhanature has never changed, but deluded thoughts make us forget it.
Golden Mother teaches that when you feel depressed, you should actively find wholesome joy—such as writing, painting, listening to music, spending time in nature or at the zoo, or doing anything positive that uplifts the mind. As Confucius taught, it is fine to fulfill ordinary desires as long as they stay within proper bounds. When attachment becomes excessive, inversion begins.
The Buddha’s teaching is to maintain our original buddhanature while letting all arising conditions come and go naturally. Do not cling to good or bad experiences. Empty the rubbish from your body and mind, abide in the pure original buddhanature, and afflictions will gradually disappear.