The Esoteric Significance of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra
Chapter Six: Explanations of Passages from the Remaining Volumes
I. Original text of Volume Five: 知见立知，即无明本。知见无见，斯即涅槃。
Explanation: In the past, someone repunctuated these two lines from the Śūraṅgama Sūtra: 「知见立，知即无明本；知见无，见斯即涅槃。」 and thereupon became enlightened. What did he realize? The meaning of the first line is: when there is the knowing that knows the six sense objects, and this knowing is established as real, that is ignorance (avidyā). This knowing is an arising-and-ceasing, illusory dharma; it is the knowing of the seven consciousnesses, including the knowing of the mental objects of the various states within meditative concentration — it is the knowing of the mind consciousness, the knowing that one has entered samādhi. If one believes that at this time the mind has become empty, the same as the emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha, and that this is the state of enlightenment, then one has misunderstood; this mistaken apprehension is precisely ignorance.
The meaning of the second line is: there is a mind that has no knowing and no seeing, that does not know the six sense objects and does not see them; this mind is the mind of nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa neither arises nor ceases; He does not face the six sense objects, does not give rise to afflictions, has no ignorance, and is intrinsically pure. To find this mind and realize this intrinsically pure mind of nirvāṇa is enlightenment. Thereupon that person realized the Way, and later generations gave him the name "Breaker of the Śūraṅgama."
II. Original text of Volume Five: 真性有为空，缘生故如幻。
Explanation: "True nature, the conditioned is empty" means that all the dharmas actively produced by the tathāgatagarbha are empty, because the tathāgatagarbha not only possesses an unconditioned nature but also a conditioned nature. The conditioned nature of the tathāgatagarbha refers to His function of giving birth to the myriad dharmas. All dharmas are manifested and actively produced by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with the corresponding conditions; therefore all dharmas are illusory and unreal, all are empty. This is called "true nature, the conditioned is empty."
All dharmas actively produced by the true nature arise from conditions; they are produced in reliance upon corresponding conditions. Dharmas born of conditions are as illusory and unreal as the conjurations of a magician. The tathāgatagarbha is that magician. Without the tathāgatagarbha there would be no conjured dharmas; the conjured dharmas exist in dependence upon the tathāgatagarbha — only with the tathāgatagarbha as the true substance can all the myriad dharmas be conjured forth. Therefore, in the dharmadhātu there does exist a real substance; it is just that this substance is not a worldly kind of substance. Ordinary sentient beings, lacking prajñā wisdom, cannot see such a real substance.
Original text: 无为无起灭，不实如空花。言妄显诸真，妄真同二妄。
Explanation: The unconditioned dharma refers to the suchness nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and can also represent the substance of the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha is the substance; in dependence on the tathāgatagarbha there are also the true nature and the suchness nature; the true nature and the suchness nature together are called the nature of true suchness. The unconditioned dharma-nature of the tathāgatagarbha neither arises nor ceases, is unborn and undying, because the tathāgatagarbha has existed eternally throughout antiquity; His unconditioned dharma-nature likewise exists eternally, neither arising nor ceasing. The nature of true suchness refers to a quality; this quality has no real substance. The tathāgatagarbha is the real substance; the true-suchness nature that exists in dependence on the tathāgatagarbha is not a real substance. The true-suchness nature is a kind of unconditioned dharma-nature; a quality is not a substance. Therefore the unconditioned dharma is unreal like an illusion, and the true-suchness nature is likewise unreal like an illusion.
The self-nature of the true mind is not a conditioned dharma; it is not something born or fabricated afterward. Conditioned dharmas are produced by various causes and conditions; since they are produced afterward, they are like conjurations, whereas the true mind is not born of conditions and is not a conjuration. The self-nature of the true mind is an unconditioned dharma; within the world of the three realms it does nothing, and it does not, like the seven consciousnesses, fabricate and discriminate all things. He is not a dharma that was born, and in the future He will not perish.
Dharmas that arise and cease are illusory and unreal, like flowers in the sky, conjured forth and then vanishing. This self-nature of the true mind cannot display itself by itself, nor can it express itself; it can only be described through our words and language. Language and words themselves are illusory dharmas. Although this illusory dharma can describe the self-nature of the true mind, what is described is still an illusory dharma, not the self-nature of the true mind itself.
His substance does not come forth to display Himself; unlike the body of the five aggregates, which can step forward and display "this is me," the true mind cannot. Therefore both the language and the true-mind nature described and expressed by language are illusory dharmas; they still do not constitute a relationship between the true and the false — one cannot establish one as true and one as false, so both are false. The dharma that uses the false to reveal the true and realize the true is also false; added together they make two falsehoods. This perceiving and perceived, this described nature, all lack reality; all are arising-and-ceasing dharmas, like a plantain tree that has no real core — empty, not a real substance.
Original text: 犹非真非真，云何见所见。中间无实性，是故若交芦。
Explanation: The illusory language and the dharma by which language manifests the true mind — both are false; they still do not form an opposition between the true and the non-true; both are equally illusory dharmas. The perceiving seven consciousnesses and the perceived mark of true suchness both exist and manifest in dependence on the true substance, the tathāgatagarbha; neither has any reality in between, and therefore they are like intertwined reeds, hollow without a solid core.
"Still neither true nor non-true" means that the sentient being's Ālayavijñāna is not yet the true self, not yet completely real, because the mind-substance still contains the arising-and-ceasing seeds created by the seven consciousnesses; the seeds still have the nature of arising and ceasing, so it is not yet the self of permanence, bliss, self, and purity, nor is it completely permanent and unchanging. Only at buddhahood is the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) the true self, the complete and utter truth; when the seeds no longer arise, cease, and change, it transforms into permanence, bliss, self, and purity.
The dharma meanings of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra and all Mahāyāna sūtras are extremely profound. If we understand them only according to the surface of the words, we often misinterpret the sutra's meaning and run contrary to the Buddha's intent. When we explain according to the literal meaning, mistaken interpretations usually predominate. In explaining, one must rely on the preceding and following text, understanding each sentence and each paragraph according to the meaning of the whole sutra, and not take passages or sentences out of context. If one takes things out of context, the meaning often contradicts the Buddha's intent. The Buddha's meaning is that there exists a real substance, the tathāgatagarbha. If we take words out of context and say "unreal like flowers in the sky" — if you take just this one sentence or a few sentences and conclude that the tathāgatagarbha is unreal like flowers in the sky, saying the tathāgatagarbha is as unreal as sky-flowers, then you have exactly reversed and inverted the Buddha's meaning; that would slander the Buddha and the Buddha-dharma, with consequences too dreadful to contemplate.
Each of us who studies the Buddha-dharma must be down-to-earth, honest, and earnest. From beginning to end, connect the teachings before and after to penetrate the true meaning of the Buddha-dharma; do not forcibly interpret the dharma on the basis of a single sentence or a single paragraph. Having misinterpreted it, one then believes one's own interpretation is correct, and then trusts one's own views and opinions; having trusted them, one then spreads one's views and opinions everywhere. If one's views are wrong, one will mislead many people; misleading people is an offense, and this karmic offense will obstruct us so that in future lives we cannot attain liberation and will remain in the cycle of birth and death, unable to escape. Therefore, when we explain the Buddha-dharma, we must be cautious and cautious again, careful and careful again, not too self-confident, lest we create the offense of slandering the Buddha and slandering the dharma.
III. Original text of Volume Six of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra: 佛言：云何贼人。假我衣服。裨贩如来。造种种业。皆言佛法。却非出家。具戒比丘。为小乘道。由是疑误。无量众生。堕无间狱。
Explanation: The Buddha said: how do those thieves act? They borrow my name to peddle my teachings; they say what the Tathāgata did not say was said by the Tathāgata, and say what the Tathāgata did say was not said by the Tathāgata; they declare dharma to be non-dharma and non-dharma to be dharma, committing all kinds of evil karma. These thieves all say that the Buddha-dharma is not to be cultivated by those who have left home, that those who have left home cannot attain buddhahood, that the Buddha-dharma does not require leaving home to practice, and that those monastics who have received the full precepts are all of Small Vehicle capacity who can only cultivate the Small Vehicle path and cannot become buddhas. After the thieves speak thus, they mislead measureless sentient beings, causing measureless sentient beings to create the offense of slandering monastics and the offense of slandering the Buddha, and upon death they fall into the Avīci hell.
IV. The Delusive Thoughts of the Five Aggregates, Volume Ten of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra
Original text: 汝体先因。父母想生。汝心非想。则不能来。想中传命。如我先言。心想醋味。口中涎生。心想登高。足心酸起。悬崖不有。醋物未来。汝体必非。虚妄通伦。口水如何。因谈醋出。是故当知。汝现色身。名为坚固。第一妄想。
Explanation: Your material body was first born because of the perception of your parents. If your mind had no perception, you would not have been drawn to your parents and would not have come into your parents' desirous thoughts to continue your life. In the intermediate body (antarā-bhava), because the manas craves entering the womb and craves having a material body, sentient beings encounter their parents and enter the womb. As I said before, if the mind thinks of the sour taste of vinegar, saliva will arise in the mouth; if the mind thinks of climbing a high mountain, a sour, aching feeling will arise in the soles of the feet. There was no cliff before you, and no sour object appeared before you; your body certainly did not come into contact with the objects you imagined. Why then does saliva flow out because of speaking of the sour taste of vinegar? Therefore you should know that the material body that has appeared is called the first delusion, that of solidity. This means the aggregate of form is a delusion of solidity.
Original text: 即此所说。临高想心。能令汝形。真受酸涩。由因受生。能动色体。汝今现前。顺益违损。二现驱驰。名为虚明。第二妄想。
Explanation: The delusive perceiving mind just described — imagining oneself standing at the edge of a cliff — can make your soles produce a real sensation of sourness and aching; because of the arising of the inner feeling, the material body can be made to change. For example, the arising of the two phenomena just described makes your mind feel that the sour object and the cliff are right before you, and thus changes appear in the body. The comfortable feelings that arise when you now encounter favorable circumstances that benefit the body, and the painful feelings that arise when you encounter adverse conditions that harm the body — these two phenomena are called the second delusion, that of illusory brightness.
This means the aggregate of feeling is the delusion of illusory brightness, also a product of delusion, and therefore not real. If one grasps at the aggregate of feeling, there is the suffering of birth-and-death in saṃsāra and one cannot be liberated from afflictions. All feelings are the delusion of illusory brightness, with no reality at all — merely self-deception. To be able to know that one deceives oneself is the prelude to awakening; to know how one has deceived oneself and how to no longer deceive oneself is to be awakened; from then on, no longer deceiving oneself, one is liberated.
All people live around feelings — they live for a sensation. What is a sensation? How many people are clearly suffering, yet feel good about themselves? How many people, for the sake of feelings, do not hesitate to create evil karma and then suffer its painful retribution? All of this stems from ignorance, foolishness, and afflictions. How much suffering has foolishness brought upon oneself — who, in the end, can awaken? What does "feeling good about oneself" mean? It means there is a self within the mind, satisfied with that self; as long as that self can be displayed, the mind feels satisfied, happy, and smooth. When encountering adverse conditions, one becomes depressed, gives rise to anger, and complains. Why is this? Because there is a self in the mind that has been affronted, and one feels unhappy, gloomy, and distressed — this is the mark of self of sentient beings.
Original text: 由汝念虑。使汝色身。身非念伦。汝身何因。随念所使。种种取像。心生形取。与念相应。寤即想心。寐为诸梦。则汝想念。摇动妄情，名为融通。第三妄想。
Explanation: Because of your deliberation (manasikāra), your material body can be driven. The body and your mental thoughts are not of the same kind, yet why is your body driven by your thoughts? The various graspings at images of objects within the mind give rise in the mind to the shapes of those images, consistent with what the mind thinks of. When awake, these are the mind's thoughts; when asleep, they become various dreams. Thus your thoughts stir your own delusive emotions — this is called the third delusion, that of interfusion. This means the aggregate of perception is the delusion of interfusion.
In the aggregate of perception's delusion of interfusion, who interfuses with whom? Because certain objects are delusively imagined, the body changes along with the delusion; the body has not actually contacted any real object, yet merely by the mind's thinking of it, the body changes. This shows that the body moves in accordance with the mind's thinking and is directed by mental thought. How deluded and incomprehensible such bodily movement is! Who is directing and controlling the body in this way? It is the aggregate of perception. The aggregate of perception mainly refers to the mind consciousness's perceiving; and the mind consciousness's perceiving is, on the one hand, governed and determined by the manas, and on the other, can govern and influence the manas.
When the conscious mind recalls sad events, why do the eyes shed tears? When it recalls things that make one angry, why do the hands clench into fists and the heart pound? When the mood is depressed, why does the body fall ill? When the mood is joyful, why does the illness heal? The body and the conscious mind are interconnected and can merge into one; mental thought determines the body's movements and can drive the body. Therefore good thoughts — positive, optimistic, uplifting thoughts — can make the material body healthy; conversely, evil thoughts — pessimistic, negative thoughts — can bring weariness and illness to the material body. When a physician of Chinese medicine sees the illness in a patient's body, he knows the person's inner thoughts and emotions, and in order to treat the bodily illness, he will counsel the patient's mind, treating the body's disease starting from the psyche. All of these belong to the delusion of interfusion, extremely illusory and unreal — all wild fancy with nothing real in it. "There was never anything amiss in the world; fools only trouble themselves over it."
Original text: 化理不住。运运密移。甲长发生。气销容皱。日夜相代。曾无觉悟。阿难。此若非汝。云何体迁。如必是真。汝何无觉。则汝诸行。念念不停。名为幽隐。第四妄想。
Explanation: The body's changes have never stopped; instant after instant it is secretly moving and transforming. For example, nails grow, hair sprouts, vitality wanes, the countenance wrinkles; the body's various functions are renewed day and night, yet one has never been aware of it. Ānanda, if this aggregate of volitional formations were not you, why would your body change? If this aggregate of volitional formations were the real you, why have you not awakened to it or discovered it? Therefore all your aggregate of volitional formations, thought after thought without pause, is called the fourth delusion, that of obscurity and hiddenness.
This means the aggregate of volitional formations is a dark, secret, hard-to-detect delusion. "Obscure" means dark and secret; "hidden" means concealed — both refer to the phenomena of the material body's arising, ceasing, and changing that are not easily perceived. These phenomena cannot be controlled by the subjective conscious mind; due to the power of karma, the body undergoes various changes as time flows. If karmic power were to vanish, one would enjoy eternal life and never age, forever young — for example, the beings of the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) and the devas of the desire and form realms.
The obscure and hidden delusion is also a delusion; the aggregate of volitional formations, which is not easily felt, is also a product of delusion, flowing on thought after thought without abiding — the prior thought arises and the subsequent thought ceases, like subtle waves flowing darkly, with birth, aging, sickness, and death never interrupted. If the delusion is extinguished, the aggregate of volitional formations does not arise; nirvāṇa is tranquil, with permanence, bliss, self, and purity.
Original text: 又汝精明。湛不摇处。名恒常者。于身不出。见闻觉知。若实精真。不容习妄。何因汝等。曾于昔年。睹一奇物。经历年岁。忆妄俱无。于后忽然。覆睹前异。记忆宛然。曾不遗失。
Explanation: Furthermore, your essence of consciousness, the primal brightness, seems pure and unshakable and is called the eternally unchanging conscious mind; yet within the body it is merely the functions of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing. If these functions were pure and real, they should be incompatible with deluded habitual tendencies; yet why is it that you once, in bygone years, saw a strange object, and after many years could no longer recall or remember it? Then, at some unknown moment, you suddenly saw that same object seen before, and thereupon remembered having seen it — the memory reappeared, and had not been lost.
The Buddha said: if the seemingly unshakable pure-bright mind were that true, real, unchanging true mind, then this mind should not admit those deluded habits; yet such a mind does admit deluded habits, and therefore it is not the true mind. For example, in sitting in meditation and cultivating concentration, when one has cultivated to the point of having no deluded thoughts at all, the mind is clear and bright; suddenly one recalls a matter — the mind consciousness suddenly recalls events from many years ago, events from childhood. Before this, the mind consciousness on the surface seemed unmoving, but in fact the seeds within were still churning; the mind consciousness could not feel the seeds churning, and when the churning reached a certain degree, the seed manifested, the mind consciousness recalled a matter, and one thereupon emerged from samādhi.
The clear and bright mind at this time is not pure and real, because it still admits illusory dharmas; the deluded habits have been lurking and lying hidden within, the seeds have been running all along, and we cannot feel it. Therefore this "limpid, unshakable" state is a brief, clear state of the mind consciousness, not pure reality. The Buddha gave an example to show that the mind consciousness in a clear state is not the true mind, because this mind still has the capacity to remember worldly dharmas. Someone once saw a strange object, and after many years could not remember it; but when by chance he saw the object again, he recalled having seen it in a certain year, month, hour, and place, with the scene at that time vividly remembered — not a bit of the impression had been lost.
Original text: 则此精了。湛不摇中。念念受熏。有何筹算。
Explanation: Then this essence of consciousness, this capacity of knowing, amid its limpid unshakability, is being perfumed thought after thought — where is there any independent, solid, unshakable nature of its own? Amid being perfumed thought after thought, the essence of consciousness does not plan, think of, deliberate upon, or calculate anything; on the surface there is no subjective activity.
For all these years this pure-bright mind did not cognize that strange object, yet why, upon seeing it, did one remember it? In fact, the pure-bright mind was being perfumed thought after thought; the seed of having seen that strange object back then had been churning in the field of the eighth consciousness all along, continuously perfuming the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness temporarily did not think of it. But when suddenly, in some year, at some time, in some place, one saw the strange object again, one suddenly remembered it. Why could one remember it? Because in the field of the eighth consciousness there was the seed of having seen that object, which had been perfuming the conscious mind all along; upon encountering it again, one remembered.
Ordinarily the mind consciousness on the surface seems not to be thinking of it, but the Buddha said that in fact it is being perfumed thought after thought, with no calculating involved — one has never considered this matter, no deliberation, no brooding; the mind has not thought of this strange object thought after thought. Yet when the seed manifests and the karmic condition presents itself, the memory arises, and the pure-bright mind recalls that this is the strange object one saw in a certain year.
Original text: 阿难当知。此湛非真。如急流水。望如恬静。流急不见。非是无流。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Ānanda, you should know that this superficially pure and limpid state is not real. It is like swiftly flowing water that appears tranquil; in fact it flows extremely fast, which is why its flowing cannot be discerned — it is not that it does not flow.
This limpid, unshakable mind consciousness, with no thoughts in the mind, appearing calm and quiet, without entertaining delusions, without recollection, not brooding over some matter, object, or person — is not that unmoving true mind. It is like extremely swiftly flowing water: because it flows too fast for the eyes to keep up, one cannot see its surface flowing, and it appears very calm; in fact, it is precisely because it flows too fast that it seems calm. If it flowed more slowly, one would notice the mark of movement in the flowing water.
The Buddha said the mind consciousness at this time is just like this: it is not that there is no flowing, but that it is being perfumed thought after thought — there still are thoughts, but these thoughts flow too fast; the mind is dark and lacks awareness, is veiled, and so it feels as if there were no movement. If something moves too fast, its mark of movement cannot be detected. For example, if a torch is whirled too fast, it forms what appears to be a stationary ring of fire; the moving torch cannot be seen, and we do not know that the ring of fire is in fact a torch that has been moving all along. We keep looking only at the ring and cannot see the torch's movement; but once the torch is whirled more slowly, we discover it is a torch, not a ring. All along we thought it was a ring of fire; as the torch moves slower and slower, we finally discover that the ring was a false appearance formed by the rapid whirling of the torch.
Original text: 若非想元。宁受妄习。非汝六根。互用开合。此之妄想。无时得灭。故汝现在。见闻觉知。中串习几。则湛了内。罔象虚无。第五颠倒。微细精想。
Explanation: If the essence of consciousness were not the root of your aggregate of perception, how could it be perfumed by those deluded habits? Before one has cultivated to the point of the six faculties interpenetrating, interacting, and interfunctioning, the mind's delusions cannot be extinguished for even a moment. Only when sentient beings have cultivated to the point of the six faculties interpenetrating and interfunctioning can the delusion of the aggregate of consciousness be extinguished; otherwise the delusion persists without a time of cessation. Therefore your present seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are all being perfumed by deluded habits, with many illusory habits threaded through them. Then this seemingly unmoving, inner-object-knowing aggregate of consciousness, as insubstantial as the water spirit of ancient legend, is the fifth inverted, subtle refined thought of the essence of consciousness. Although on the surface it is ethereally numinous and pure, without deluded thoughts or imaginings, it still belongs to the fifth inverted subtle refined thought. This means the aggregate of consciousness is the inverted subtle refined thought.
V. The Aggregate of Form Is the Product of the Delusion of Solidity
Because of the manas' firm delusion that the aggregate of form is the self, real and indivisible, real and indestructible, the aggregate of form severely obscures and seals off one's own mind, and the mind's functions are severely constrained; unable to break through the constraint, its functions are obstructed. Whatever we take to be ourselves, to be real, becomes our burden, dragging us down so that we cannot attain liberation, cannot manifest great supernatural powers, and cannot be unobstructed and harmonious with all dharmas.
In fact, due to ignorance and afflictions, we obscure ourselves. We could clearly be buddhas, could possess measureless supernatural powers and powers of the Way, with no limitations whatsoever, yet everywhere we cannot penetrate, everywhere there are obstructing conditions. So many people are laden with afflictions all day long, with endless disputes, each insisting "I am right, you are wrong," competing for wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep, competing for power, status, and renown, envying and hating one another — utterly foolish. All are everywhere setting up obstacles for themselves, and in the end it is themselves who suffer. Because sentient beings' afflictions are so heavy, whenever they gather together — whenever there are three or more people — there must be disputes and quarrels, mutual competition and jealousy, openly or covertly vying with one another to highlight themselves and overpower the other.
In any group, one part will always squeeze out another; after the split, the remaining part will again compete, envy, and exclude one another, leaving a small remnant, and the disputes continue until only one person is left, and only then is there some peace. That is why I fear crowds most, fear people of heavy afflictions most, fear people full of disputes whose minds are impure most, fear people who love to sow discord most, fear people of heavy anger and heavy jealousy most, and also fear foolish people who cannot tell right from wrong. Yet such people are everywhere, impossible to avoid — this is the visage of sentient beings in the Saha world.
Chapter after chapter, section after section, everywhere the Śūraṅgama Sūtra points out to us how to see the mind and behold the nature, to discard the false and see the true, and to eliminate afflictions, ignorance, and karmic obstructions. Every sentence is a pearl, every paragraph gold and jewels — the supreme dharma treasure for attaining the Way and becoming a buddha. In order to free ourselves from ignorance and afflictions and liberate body and mind, no matter how difficult the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is to understand, we must study and cultivate it. As long as the Śūraṅgama Sūtra exists, the Buddha-dharma will not perish; as long as the Śūraṅgama Mantra exists, the Buddha-dharma will not perish.
VI. When the Śūraṅgama Sūtra discusses the unreality of the aggregate of perception, it says that imagining oneself standing at the edge of a cliff makes the soles feel sour and aching, and thinking of sour plums makes saliva flow in the mouth — all of this is delusion, being deceived by objects. Sentient beings take all the six sense objects they contact to be their own, and as a result they are constrained by the six sense objects and cannot be free. Since beginningless kalpas we have been fooling ourselves, deceiving ourselves, and the outcome has been miserable. Since beginningless kalpas sentient beings have taken the material body as the self, with the result that the body constrains them and they are not free, with boundless distress — all due to delusion at work, living in vain and dying in drift.
In this passage of Volume Ten of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the World-Honored One speaks entirely of the unreality of the five aggregates of clinging. These unrealities are of five kinds: the body born from the mutual resonance and combination of one's own and one's parents' deluded perceptions is the first delusion, that of solidity; the manifestation of feelings of suffering and bliss, of benefit and harm, produced by delusion is the second delusion, that of illusory brightness; the agitated mental emotions of deluded grasping at marks and taking of forms is the third delusion, that of interfusion; the continuous physiological changes caused by the continuity of deluded volitional formations — nails growing, hair sprouting, vitality waning, countenance wrinkling — is the fourth delusion, that of obscurity and hiddenness; the hidden refined consciousness threaded with habits formed by delusive perfuming — the functions of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing — is the fifth inverted subtle refined thought.
The first delusion is called the delusion of solidity. The Buddha said the aggregate of form of clinging — this aggregate of form — is formed by the first delusion of solidity; the Buddha said the aggregate of form of clinging is formed by delusion, not the true mind, not pure reality. The second delusion is called the delusion of illusory brightness; the Buddha said this is sentient beings' aggregate of feeling of clinging — all delusion, all illusory. The third delusion is called the delusion of interfusion; the delusion of interfusion is sentient beings' aggregate of perception of clinging, also all illusory. The fourth delusion is called the delusion of obscurity and hiddenness; this refers to sentient beings' aggregate of volitional formations of clinging — the extremely subtle modes of operation of the aggregate of form and the aggregate of consciousness all belong to the aggregate of volitional formations. The fifth delusion is called the inverted subtle refined thought; the aggregate of consciousness of clinging is the fifth inverted subtle refined thought — the subtle refined thought is precisely the aggregate of consciousness the Buddha is speaking of.
VII. The Fifty Māra States of the Five Aggregates in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra
Original text: 阿难当知。汝坐道场。销落诸念。其念若尽，则诸离念。一切精明。动静不移。忆忘如一。当住此处。入三摩提。如明目人。处大幽暗。精性妙净。心未发光。此则名为。色阴区宇。若目明朗。十方洞开。无复幽黯。名色阴尽。是人则能。超越劫浊。观其所由，坚固妄想。以为其本。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Ānanda, you should know that when you sit in the place of practice and eliminate all thoughts, if the thoughts are exhausted, then the conscious mind, without any thoughts, is nonetheless clear about all the dharmas around it; whether moving or still it is unmoved, whether remembering or forgetting it is the same, without thoughts. Abiding in such a state, one enters samādhi, like a person with bright eyes who can see all objects clearly yet is in an extremely dark environment: the essence of consciousness is extremely refined and pure, but the mind cannot see any light. This is called the precinct of the aggregate of form — blocked by the aggregate of form, not seeing forms, unable to break through the aggregate of form. If one can break through, darkness will no longer be an obstruction to seeing forms.
If the eyes open bright, shining on everything, the worlds of the ten directions will be fully illuminated, with no more darkness; all material forms will manifest before one's eyes. This is called the exhaustion of the aggregate of form — no more obstruction — and such a person can transcend the kalpa of turbidity. Observing the person still within the precinct of the aggregate of form: why can he not break through the aggregate of form and is blocked by darkness? It is because of the firm delusion that takes the aggregate of form to be a real, indestructible dharma, grasping it firmly without letting go.
Original text: 阿难。当在此中。精研妙明。四大不织。少选之间。身能出碍。此名精明。流溢前境。斯但功用。暂得如是。非为圣证。不作圣心。名善境界。若作圣解。即受群邪。
Explanation: Ānanda, you should, within this state, investigate further with refinement, so that the subtle four great elements are no longer tightly interwoven and inseparable; the instant the four great elements loosen, the body can break through obstruction and is no longer limited by the four great elements. This situation is produced by the essence of consciousness pouring forth onto the object; it is a temporary function of the conscious mind, not the realization of any sage's state. Having not realized sagehood, and not taking the arising-and-ceasing essence of consciousness as the sage mind, such a state is called a good state; but if one believes one has realized the sage's fruit and become a sage, taking the essence of consciousness as the unborn-and-unceasing sage mind, one will suffer many māric disturbances.
When reading Buddhist sutras, one must read with the preceding and following text cross-referenced and connected; one must not cut out a certain paragraph or a few lines and grasp at their meaning — that easily leads to taking things out of context and misunderstanding the dharma. Since this passage is discussing the content of the fifty māra states of the five aggregates, it refers to the various illusory object-marks that appear in the course of cultivating concentration, not real states. One should not grasp the meditative states described therein as real and ultimate, and should not give rise to attachment to such states, lest one fall into māric realms and be unable to extricate oneself.
What is described here are all states of meditative concentration, and the states of meditative concentration are states of the mind consciousness, not states of the true mind; therefore they are not states of seeing the mind and enlightenment. This passage describes the meditative states of one sitting in meditation who is about to break through the precinct of the aggregate of form; the five aggregates and the mind consciousness are still within the aggregate of form, not having transcended the limitations of the aggregate of form and the aggregate of feeling. Therefore the Buddha said this state must not be taken as a sage's state of realization; hence it is not a state of enlightenment. One should continue cultivating onward, not grasping this state as real — if one grasps it, one will enter māric realms. This is the general meaning of the whole passage; it does not involve seeing the mind and enlightenment. Non-Buddhists can also cultivate to such states — nothing remarkable.
The states manifested in cultivating concentration are delusive states of the mind consciousness, temporary meditative states. No matter how pure the mind consciousness is, even without thoughts or delusions, it is still the mind consciousness within meditative concentration; non-Buddhists can cultivate to such states. Therefore the Buddha repeatedly admonished: do not interpret it as sagehood; there is nothing extraordinary about it. Do not grasp it as the sage's realm of seeing the mind and enlightenment, or one will be possessed by māras.
The language of Buddhist sutras is somewhat obscure and rather hard to understand, so misunderstandings are inevitable; therefore no one should lightly assume that one's own understanding is necessarily correct — that is by no means certain. Why is it easy to be possessed by māras when studying Buddhism and cultivating meditative concentration? Because one grasps some state as sagehood, clings to some state as real; with such grasping one easily enters māric realms and the mind goes mad. The Buddha said: all states are illusory. All states are states of the mind consciousness; the true mind has no state — tranquil, utterly tranquil. He does not care whether you sit in meditation or not, whether you are tranquil or not, whether you have thoughts or no thoughts; He cares about nothing, and no matter what, He remains as He is — what a pure mind this is.
Many people take the states of meditative concentration as enlightenment, and some believe that enlightenment requires extinguishing all the conscious minds, even extinguishing the manas so that it ceases to function, for that to be the true state of enlightenment. Let us consider: what is wrong with this? In such "enlightenment," who is enlightened? Enlightened to what? In that state there is no person, no five aggregates and seven consciousnesses, only the tathāgatagarbha remaining — clearly this is the arhat's nirvāṇa state, which has nothing to do with enlightenment. Moreover, it is impossible for an ordinary person, through cultivating concentration, to directly extinguish the manas and realize the great arhatship of liberation in both ways and immediately enter nirvāṇa without remainder; even extinguishing the five sense consciousnesses is extremely difficult, the mind consciousness is even harder to extinguish, let alone extinguishing the manas.
Some people always insist that the falling away of faculties and objects is the state of enlightenment. But when faculties and objects fall away, there are no faculties and no objects; faculties and objects do not come together, and of course there is then no six-consciousness mind either. If this is enlightenment, then who is enlightened? Taking the state of "empty space shattering and the great earth sinking flat" as enlightenment — but what exactly is realized in that state? Not even knowing what relation this state has to the tathāgatagarbha, there is no way to prove it is a state of enlightenment. As for why everyone misinterprets and misunderstands the Buddha-dharma, the fundamental problem is that the illusory dharmas and the real dharmas have not been clearly distinguished or understood; merit and wisdom are still insufficient, and afflictions and karmic obstructions severely block and hinder the growth of merit and wisdom, so the true and the false cannot yet be truly comprehended and integrated.
The true mind and the deluded mind each have their different natures. For example, awareness has the true mind's awareness and the deluded mind's awareness; equality has the true mind's equality and the deluded mind's equality; purity has the true mind's purity and the deluded mind's purity; freedom from marks has the true mind's freedom from marks and the deluded mind's freedom from marks; the conditioned has the true mind's conditioned and the deluded mind's conditioned; the unconditioned has the true mind's unconditioned and the deluded mind's unconditioned — and so on, many more. In short, in studying the dharma, it is very hard to distinguish the true from the false; they are often confused, and misunderstandings abound. This is because the conditions of the bodhisattva's six perfections are not yet complete; once they are complete, one will have the wisdom to distinguish the natures of the true and the false, and realizing the Way will come quickly.
VIII. Question: The myriad dharmas are produced by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with various conditions. That is to say, if there are no various conditions, even though the tathāgatagarbha inherently possesses the seeds of the myriad dharmas, it still cannot produce the myriad dharmas? The mind consciousness arises from the three conditions of the manas, its object, and the mental object — so can this be rephrased as the tathāgatagarbha producing the myriad dharmas by means of causes and conditions?
Answer: All dharmas are born of causes and conditions; the tathāgatagarbha, availing itself of causes and conditions, uses the seeds of the seven great elements and karmic seeds to give birth to all dharmas. Without conditions, dharmas will not be born; without the cause — only the created karmic seeds — dharmas still cannot be born. Although the tathāgatagarbha inherently possesses the seeds of the seven great elements, without the condition for the mind consciousness to be born there is no mind consciousness; therefore the mind consciousness can cease under five circumstances, or simply not arise. If the manas' grasping at the world of the five aggregates ceases, the six consciousnesses all cease and do not arise; the manas itself can even be extinguished — the arhat extinguishes the manas and enters nirvāṇa without remainder. Although the tathāgatagarbha still has seeds, no dharma can be born, because the manas no longer cognizes the dharmas of the three realms.
Supplementary Notes
This book explaining the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is a collection of passage explanations compiled from replies to the requests of many disciples; it is not a systematic, comprehensive explanation of the full text from beginning to end. Because each disciple asked about different content, the compilation appears unsystematic; it was assembled in excerpt form as a book only so that the many people who love the Śūraṅgama Sūtra may soon have something to rely upon and refer to in their practice. At present only one volume has been compiled; later, when there is time and practice has further advanced, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra will be explained systematically and comprehensively, supplementing, revising, and perfecting what is incomplete. I hope the assembly will wait patiently.
