Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
Mahakasyapa contemplated how all things (the six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousness) are ever-changing without anything inherently real about them, and gained realization and attained arhatship.
Mahakasyapa, together with Bhiksuni Purple-Golden Light and the others, rose from their seats, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and said to the Buddha:
“In a past kalpa, in this world, a Buddha appeared named Sun-Moon-Lamp. I was able to draw near, hear the dharma, and cultivate in accord with it. After that Buddha entered parinirvana, I made offerings to his relics, kept lamps burning in continuous light, and gilded his images with purple-gold. From that time onward, life after life, my body has always been perfect and radiant with purple-golden light. Bhiksuni Purple-Golden Light and the others here were my retinue at that time, and we all gave rise to the aspiration together.
“I contemplated how the six sense-objects of the world are constantly changing and deteriorating. By cultivating cessation through emptiness and quiescence, my body and mind were able to pass through hundreds of thousands of kalpas as if they were merely the snap of a finger.
“Through the dharma of emptiness, I attained arhatship. The World-Honored One declared me foremost in ascetic practice. The wondrous dharma opened and clarified, extinguishing all outflows.
“The Buddha asks about perfect penetration. According to my realization, the dharma sense-object is the supreme means.”
Mahakasyapa, Bhiksuni Purple-Golden Light, and others cultivated by contemplating the constant change and deterioration of the six-sense objects: form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects.
Everything in this world, including the Earth itself, will eventually perish. The world is ever changing. Houses can outlive people, but eventually they too deteriorate. Cars break down and become scrap metal. Our physical bodies likewise decay. Grandmaster no longer looks like he did in his younger days, and eventually he too will die.
Grandmaster studied geology, and when he went to the mountains to take measurements, he found seashells there. Islands are formed from volcanic activity; continents shift and split apart. Thus, seas can turn into mountains, and vice versa. Nothing lasts forever.
Only a few bricks and tiles remain of Nalanda University, where Buddhist monk Xuan Zang, who translated many Buddhist scriptures, once studied. The ruins are like a dream. Xuan Zang is no longer there either. All the past dynasties of China are like a dream too; they no longer exist. Grandmaster said that he had been reincarnated during the Zhou Dynasty era. That too is like a dream because everything from that time is gone. Those who think they are “new” in this world are actually “old”, having lived past lives and reincarnated again. Eventually we too will become the past and cease to exist.
Love is even more fleeting. Grandmaster illustrated this in his book “The Eternal Star”, where he recounted his fleeting romantic experiences since childhood. Once the feeling is gone, don’t remain attached to it. Don’t be attached to the self or to phenomena. Use this as a guide.
We may see Grandmaster speaking the dharma, many disciples listening, and the Surangama Sutra being expounded. Yet ultimately there is no speaker, no listener, and no dharma being spoken. Why? Because we are all dreaming a very long dream, and once it’s over, nothing remains.
Because the six-sense objects will deteriorate, empty everything. With a single snap of our fingers, thousands upon thousands of kalpas vanish. Because Mahakasyapa saw the saha world as empty, that there is nothing to gain, he extinguished all afflictions, realized self-emptiness and dharma-emptiness, and attained arhatship.
Thus, it’s all a dream that quickly vanishes like smoke. Human life is not real. Since we know everything will decay, what matters is to cultivate and manifest our original wondrous luminous true mind (buddhanature) or what the Taoists called our primordial spirit/essence/qi. Then, we can reach the buddhaverse, become an arhat, a pratyekabuddha, a bodhisattva, or a buddha (even in this very body). Other things are unimportant, unreal, and illusory. Let them go. We need to unite our own light (child light) with the mother light, like merging a drop of water into the ocean. Then, we will become one body and an eternal star.