Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
The eighteen sense fields bind us to the cycle of rebirth; therefore, we must awaken. There are two levels of awakening. The first is recognizing that the six roots lead us to create karma and learning to stop following them. The second is true enlightenment: realizing that everything except buddhanature is illusory and false.
“Apart from movement and stillness, obstruction and openness, closing and clearing, one would say that hearing has no nature of its own.
“It is like a person sleeping soundly on a bed and pillow. While this person is asleep, someone in the household is pounding cloth and husking rice. In the dream, the person hears the sounds of pounding and husking, but mistakes them for the beating of a drum, or the striking of a bell.
“While dreaming, this person even wonders why the bell sounds like wood striking stone. Then, suddenly waking up, the person immediately realizes it was the sound of a pestle. The person tells the family, ‘While I was dreaming just now, I mistook the sound of pounding for the sound of a drum.’
“Ananda, while this person was dreaming, did they remember stillness and movement, opening and closing, openness and obstruction? Although the body was asleep, the nature of hearing was not dimmed.
“Even if your body dissolves and the light of life passes away, how could this nature be extinguished along with you?
“Since beginningless time, sentient beings have followed forms and sounds, and have been carried along by their thoughts. They have never awakened to the pure, wondrous, and eternal nature. Instead of following what is constant, they chase after all that is subject to arising and ceasing. Because of this, life after life, they drift in defilement and continue to transmigrate.
“If one abandons arising and ceasing and abides in the true and constant, the constant light will appear before one. The sense roots, sense objects, consciousnesses, and mind will immediately fall away.
“The appearances of thought are dust. The emotions of consciousness are defilement. When both are completely left behind, your dharma eye will immediately become clear and bright.
“How, then, could you not attain the unsurpassed awakened knowledge?
Even while a person is dreaming or asleep, the six roots remain, although misperceptions may arise. For example, one may mistake the sound of pounding rice for the beating of a drum.
When we are sound asleep, the ringing of an alarm clock can still awaken us, demonstrating that our hearing nature remains present. When Grandmaster suffered from severe lower back pain, he even experienced the same pain in his dreams.
The hearing nature is likened to the wondrous luminous true mind, which always remains, unlike sounds and other external phenomena that continually arise and cease. Even when the physical body dies, the wondrous luminous true mind remains.
From beginningless time, sentient beings have wandered through samsara, reincarnating life after life. We experience the world through the six roots, six dusts, and six consciousnesses, constantly chasing after forms, sounds, and phenomena.
In doing so, we stay trapped in the cycle of rebirth. One moment we are born, the next we die; one moment we love, the next we hate; happy one day, sorrowful the next; rich today and poor tomorrow. Love and hatred, affection and enmity are all part of samsara.
When we understand the buddhadharma, we realize that life is like a dream. All worldly experiences—including praise and slander—are like the sounds of pounding cloth and husking rice: they arise and cease.
We must recognize and preserve our pure, wondrous luminous true mind while letting go of everything that arises and ceases. Our bodies, beauty, homes, cars, wealth, and youth all arise and cease. Everything, except for our buddhanature, is impermanent.
When attachment to the six roots, six dusts, and six consciousnesses—the eighteen sense fields—comes to an end, our inherent buddhanature naturally manifests.
In this way, we attain supreme perfect enlightenment. If we remain attached to the eighteen sense fields, we will continue wandering through samsara, reincarnating life after life.
To attain arhatship, we must regard the six roots as the six thieves, for they cause us to create karma without even realizing it. Therefore, we must awaken.
There are two levels of awakening. The first is to recognize that the six roots give rise to karma and to stop following them. The second is true enlightenment: realizing that the six roots are illusory, letting go of the false, and preserving the true—namely, the wondrous luminous true mind.