Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
A master can only teach the methods, but we must put them into practice ourselves; no one can cultivate on our behalf.
Then Ananda and the entire assembly heard the Tathagatas of the ten directions, as numerous as motes of dust, speaking with one voice to Ananda:
“Well done, Ananda! If you wish to know the innate ignorance that has arisen together with you, and the very root of the knot that causes you to revolve through birth and death, it is nothing other than your six roots.
“If you also wish to know the unsurpassed bodhi, so that you may swiftly attain peace, liberation, and eternal and quiescent wonder, it is likewise your six sense roots, and nothing else.”
Everything perceived through the six roots gives rise to delusion, because the six roots are deceived by the external phenomena of the saha world. The karma created due to these delusions, together with the consciousnesses that arise from them, causes us to revolve endlessly through the rebirth realms.
Yet, in order to liberate ourselves from the bondage of samsara, spiritual cultivation also relies on the very same six roots. The six roots are both the cause of our bondage and the means of our liberation. How to cultivate the six roots to go from mundanity to liberation will be covered later in the Surangama Sutra.
We must cultivate ourselves; the gurus only teach the methods. No one, not even Grandmaster, can cultivate on our behalf. Just as no one can eat for us to satisfy our hunger, no one can attain realization for us.
The Buddha teaches dharma to awaken sentient beings. Similarly, Jesus said he came to be the guiding light so people can see clearly. To awaken, one must realize the ultimate truth. Otherwise, we cannot be liberated. We are bound by our attachments—to children, parents, spouses, and so on—which hold us in bondage. In fact, we only come together due to affinity and part when affinity ceases.
Everything that occurs in the world is predestined. The people we encounter, the age at which we meet them, and even how much money we may lose are not coincidences—they are all part of fate. Each person has a unique destiny. Just as no two people, not even identical twins, have exactly the same face, no two people share the same destiny. Even our parents and children are not accidental; they arise from our own karma.
Shao Kang Jie, from the Song Dynasty, understood this long ago and wrote Shaozi Numerology, texts that map out a person’s destiny based on their birth year, month, day, minute, and second. It can read one’s marriage, relationships, number of children, career progression, income at different ages, promotion, wealth, up to their death. Everything in one’s life is indeed predestined; the only way to change it is through spiritual cultivation that reaches attainment, and through major great deeds or bad deeds.
Most people in this world are unawakened and lack a clear sense of direction, drifting with the current of ordinary life. We do not understand why we were born into this world or why we continue to revolve within the six rebirth realms.
Awakened beings are extremely rare. Among them are Sakyamuni Buddha, Jesus, and Laozi, who understood the true nature of reality. Confucius, however, was not awakened and could not fully comprehend what Laozi was saying.
The awakened sages recognize that life in the saha world is like a dream, while the unawakened continue to wander in cyclic existence.