The Esoteric Significance of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Section 5  The Fifth Inquiry into the Mind — Wherever There Is Convergence, the Mind Exists Accordingly

Original text: 阿难言。我尝闻佛。开示四众。由心生故。种种法生。由法生故。种种心生。

Explanation: Ānanda said to the Buddha: I have often heard the Buddha instruct the fourfold assembly (the fourfold assembly refers to the two assemblies of male and female monastics and the two assemblies of male and female laity; together they are the Buddha's fourfold assembly) that because the mind is born, various dharmas arise accordingly; and because various dharmas are born, the minds corresponding to them are born.

The mind that is born is not the true mind that neither arises nor ceases; it is the mind of the seven consciousnesses, born by the true mind. After the seven consciousnesses are born, the eight consciousnesses operating in conjunction produce all the dharmas of the world of the three realms. After the seven consciousnesses are born, the three transformative consciousnesses (parināma) operate in conjunction, and the dharma of the five aggregates, the dharma of the eighteen realms, the receptacle world of the universe, and all the dharmas of the three realms' world are born, and the eighteen-realm dharmas that sentient beings need are born. The tathāgatagarbha alone cannot by itself give birth to the dharmas of the five-aggregate world; there must be the later-born seven consciousnesses cooperating with the tathāgatagarbha before these dharmas can be produced. Especially with the existence of the seventh consciousness, He can lead the tathāgatagarbha to give birth to the dharmas of the three realms' world. What is born later is the deluded mind; the seven deluded minds are formed by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting consciousness seeds. Once the seven consciousnesses are born, they begin to operate, bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear, and the eight consciousnesses together create all dharmas.

"Because dharmas arise, various minds arise": after all the dharmas of the three realms' world are born, this in turn leads to the birth of various minds. The various minds are not one single mind; they are the first six consciousness-minds born in dependence on dharmas — whatever dharma there is, there is a corresponding mind. The various minds are also born later; they are the arising-and-ceasing deluded mind, not the true mind. This sentence represents the gate of deluded consciousness-only. There are two gates of consciousness-only: one is the gate of true consciousness-only, and one is the gate of deluded consciousness-only. The gate of true consciousness-only refers to "the three realms are mind-only." The three realms refer to the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. The three realms' world of one great-thousand world, and of countless great-thousand worlds, is entirely born from a single mind, and this mind is the true tathāgatagarbha mind — this is the meaning of "the three realms are mind-only." All dharmas, all the dharmas of the three realms' world, are born by the tathāgatagarbha by means of its self-nature of the great elements; when the seeds of the seven great elements of the tathāgatagarbha are transmitted out, they can produce all the dharmas of the three realms' world — this is called "the three realms are mind-only."

After "the three realms are mind-only" there is also "all dharmas are consciousness-only," and "all dharmas are consciousness-only" refers to the gate of deluded consciousness-only. All dharmas also belong to the dharmas of the three realms' world. Although the dharmas of the three realms' world are all born from the tathāgatagarbha, if there were only the tathāgatagarbha, it could not give birth to all the dharmas of the three realms' world; there must be the gate of deluded consciousness-only — the deluded seven consciousnesses cooperating with the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha — and with the eight consciousnesses operating in conjunction, all the dharmas of the three realms' world can then be born. This is the function of the three transformative consciousnesses. The gate of deluded consciousness-only means that the deluded consciousness-mind cooperates with the true mind, and the three transformative consciousnesses operate together in conjunction to produce all the dharmas of the three realms' world. Although all the dharmas of the three realms' world are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha itself, alone, by means of seeds, this at the same time requires the conjoint operation and cooperation of the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses.

In the gate of deluded consciousness-only, first there is the manas, the seventh consciousness, and then the six consciousnesses are born; the seven consciousnesses together with the tathāgatagarbha in conjunction give birth to all dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha transmits consciousness seeds; the consciousness seeds of the manas are born instant after instant and cease instant after instant, and only then can the seventh consciousness manifest and operate. As soon as the seventh consciousness, the manas, operates, it greedily seeks outward; the tathāgatagarbha, cooperating with the manas, produces the receptacle world of the universe, produces the body faculty, and then gives birth to the six consciousnesses; thus the five aggregates are complete, and thus all the dharmas of the three realms' world are born. With the tathāgatagarbha alone, the dharmas of the three realms' world cannot be produced; with the seven consciousnesses alone, without the tathāgatagarbha, there are no seeds, and the dharmas of the three realms' world also cannot be produced. It must be that the tathāgatagarbha, the seventh consciousness manas, and the first six consciousnesses — these three transformative consciousnesses — operate in conjunction before the three realms' world dharmas of the five-aggregate world can be born. The transformative consciousnesses refer to the consciousnesses that can transform the dharmas of the three realms' world.

After all the dharmas of the three realms' world are born, various minds are born along with them; the various minds refer to the six consciousness-minds. For example, after the form object is born, there is contact between faculties and objects — the form object, the mental object, and the faculties touching one another — and the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the six consciousnesses, so the eye consciousness-mind and the mind consciousness are born. After the dharma of sound is born and makes contact with the ear faculty, the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the ear consciousness and then gives birth to the mind consciousness; the ear consciousness and the mind consciousness then discern the sound object — this is the meaning of "because dharmas arise, various minds arise."

When various minds are born, various dharmas are in turn produced; mind and dharmas serve as conditions for one another, with the tathāgatagarbha as the cause, cycling round and round, arising without end — thus the birth-and-death saṃsāra of sentient beings continues on. Within this, who exactly gives birth to whom? For example, the manas now wants to type: this is the mind of the manas being born. The manas wants to type, the tathāgatagarbha cooperates and gives birth to the six consciousnesses, and the six consciousnesses have bodily, verbal, and mental actions; as the six consciousnesses operate, they type on the mobile phone or computer. In this way, from the birth of the mind of the manas, the six consciousnesses are further born; the six consciousnesses and the seventh consciousness operating in conjunction produce the dharma of typing, and characters are typed out one by one on the computer or mobile phone — the actions and creations of bodily, verbal, and mental conduct come forth. The bodily action is typing, the verbal action gives rise to observation, the mental action is deliberation; bodily, verbal, and mental actions operate in conjunction, the dharma of bodily, verbal, and mental actions is born, and dharmas such as characters and essays are born.

After various dharmas are born, various faculties again make contact with various objects, and various consciousness-minds — the six consciousness-minds — are again produced. For example, after the characters have been typed, the seventh consciousness wants to proofread; the tathāgatagarbha cooperates and gives birth to the six consciousnesses, and the six consciousnesses begin, on the computer or mobile phone, to proofread and revise the text: the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness look at the text, the mind consciousness deliberates on the text, and the body consciousness and the mind consciousness revise and polish the text on the computer or mobile phone — the bodily, verbal, and mental actions are again created. When the mind is born, dharmas arise; after the dharmas are born, various consciousness-minds are again produced, operating and creating without cease, producing new bodily, verbal, and mental actions. This entire sentence means that first there is the mind — the mind being born refers to the manas; the manas wants to act, and the tathāgatagarbha cooperates to give birth to the six consciousnesses; then the six consciousnesses and the seventh consciousness operating in conjunction produce dharmas. After these dharmas are produced, the manas again has mental activity, the tathāgatagarbha again cooperates and gives birth to the six consciousnesses, and the six consciousness-minds again create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, giving birth to various dharmas.

In this way there is ceaseless cycling: because the mind arises, various dharmas arise; because dharmas arise, various minds arise. The mind can give birth to dharmas and is one condition for the birth of dharmas; after dharmas are born, dharmas are in turn one condition for the birth of the six consciousness-minds. Mind and dharmas serve as conditions for one another, mutually generating and mutually assisting; thus the various dharmas, together with the minds of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, are continuously born and continuously operate, and the five-aggregate world of sentient beings arises endlessly without end. This is the true meaning of "the three realms are mind-only, all dharmas are consciousness-only" — the eight consciousnesses operating in conjunction produce all the dharmas of the world.

Original text: 我今思惟。即思惟体。实我心性。随所合处。心则随有。亦非内外。中间三处。

Explanation: Ānanda said: What I now deliberate with is precisely the mind-substance of deliberation, and this mind-substance is truly my mind-nature. Wherever faculty and dharma converge, the mind appears accordingly; it is also not in the three places of inside, outside, and the middle of the body.

Ānanda took the mind-substance that can think and mentally engage with objects, make plans, and scheme as his own true mind; in fact this is still the arising-and-ceasing mind consciousness. Once this sentence was uttered — and moreover asserted with such confidence that "this is my true mind" — it was nothing less than taking the false as the true.

"The place of convergence" generally refers to the place where the six faculties converge with the six objects. For example, when a form object appears and the eye faculty converges with the form object, the consciousness-mind is born; when the faculty and the form object come together, the mind manifests. When the ear faculty comes together with sound, the ear consciousness-mind appears; when the nose faculty and the scent object come together, the nose consciousness-mind appears; when the tongue faculty and the taste object come together, the tongue consciousness-mind appears upon the taste object; it is the same with the object of touch, and the same with the mental object. Whenever a dharma appears, the dharma converges with the faculty, and the consciousness-mind manifests right there.

Ānanda's meaning is that his mind appears in accordance with the appearance of objects; a mind that appears in this way has no location — it is neither inside the body, nor outside the body, nor in the middle of the body; it is in none of the three places. Because the Buddha had previously refuted the consciousness-mind being in the three places of inside, outside, and middle of the body, Ānanda avoided these three places in his attempt to locate the mind. This time Ānanda confirmed that his mind is indeed not in the three places of inside, outside, and middle, but exists at any moment wherever the mental object appears — wherever there is convergence, there is my mind. Ānanda thus took his deliberating mind as his own true mind-nature, taking the false as the true. The deliberating mind is, of course, the nature of the mind consciousness, arising, ceasing, and illusory; at this point Ānanda had not yet recognized this.

Original text: 佛告阿难。汝今说言。由法生故。种种心生。随所合处。心随有者。是心无体。则无所合。若无有体。而能合者。则十九界。因七尘合。是义不然。

Explanation: The Buddha told Ānanda: You now say that because dharmas are born, various minds are born, and that wherever there is convergence with a dharma, the mind appears accordingly. But such a mind has no self-substance, and then there can be nothing to converge with. If the mind, lacking self-substance, could still converge, it would be as if there were a nineteenth realm appearing from the mind converging with a seventh object — this makes no sense.

The mind Ānanda spoke of has no self-substance, because it is born, and moreover is determined by dharmas — without dharmas there is no mind. Such a mind cannot determine its own existence and cannot converge together with dharmas. If your mind has no substance and yet can converge with dharmas, that would mean there is a nineteenth realm, appearing from the convergence of a seventh object. The seventh object is utterly nonexistent, without any appearance or self-substance, and cannot converge to become the nineteenth realm. Apart from the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses — the eighteen realms — the nineteenth realm can by no means be found. If a nineteenth realm existed, it would be because there was a seventh object converging with the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses to become the nineteenth realm; in fact this is impossible. By the same reasoning, the six consciousnesses also have no self-substance, no place of coming and no place of going; without a fixed location, how could they converge? If the six consciousnesses cannot converge, then one cannot say that "wherever there is convergence, the mind exists accordingly."

The seventh object and the nineteenth realm are like a tortoise's hair and a hare's horns — utterly nonexistent. The deliberating consciousness-mind, like the tortoise's hair and the hare's horns, is equally illusory and without substance. What has no substance cannot converge and cannot converge together with any dharma whatsoever; therefore "wherever there is convergence, the mind exists accordingly" is incorrect.

Original text: 若有体者。如汝以手。自挃其体。汝所知心。为复内出。为从外入。若复内出。还见身中。若从外来。先合见面。阿难言。见是其眼。心知非眼。为见非义。

Explanation: If the mind you speak of has a substance, then it is like this: when you use your hand to touch your own body, a mind capable of awareness appears. Does this aware mind come out from within the body, or enter in from outside the body? If this aware consciousness-mind of yours comes out from within your body and knows that you have touched yourself, then this consciousness-mind of yours should be able to see inside the body; if this aware mind enters from outside the body, it should first see your own face. Ānanda rebutted: Seeing the face and seeing all dharmas is the seeing of the eye faculty, not the knowing of the mind; knowing is the mind's knowing, not the eye faculty's knowing. The mind's knowing is the function of the consciousness-mind; seeing the face is done by the eyes, not by the eye consciousness-mind.

The Buddha then made a further supposition, stepping back: If the consciousness-mind you, Ānanda, speak of has a substance, then does this mind-substance of yours come out from inside the body, or enter in from outside? For example, when you take your own hand to touch your arm, touch your leg, or feel your face, once you have touched and felt, the body faculty has converged together with the dharma; at that moment a mind capable of perception appears and knows that you have touched yourself. Then where does this knowing consciousness-mind of yours come from? Does it come out from within the body, or enter in from outside the body?  

If the mind came out from within the body, it should know the conditions inside the body — for example, the flowing of the blood, the turning of the sinews and the movement of the vessels, the muscles and bones, the temperature within the body, and the various conditions inside the body; you should be able to see everything inside the body. But your mind now does not know the conditions inside the body: it does not know the flow of the blood, does not know the body temperature, does not know the muscles and bones, does not know the movement of gases within, and does not know the metabolism of the cells. Since it knows none of the conditions inside the body, this shows that your consciousness-mind did not come out from within the body.

If this knowing consciousness-mind of yours entered from outside the body and knows that you have touched yourself, then this knowing consciousness-mind should first see your own face; but you now cannot see your own face, which shows that the consciousness-mind did not enter in from outside the body. Therefore the consciousness-mind neither comes out from within nor enters from outside, which shows that the consciousness-mind has no substance and is illusory. This passage of the Buddha shows that it is incorrect to claim that a mind without self-substance exists wherever there is convergence.

Original text: 佛言。若眼能见。汝在室中。门能见不。则诸已死。尚有眼存。应皆见物。若见物者。云何名死。

Explanation: The Buddha said: If the eye faculty could see, then when you are in a room, can the door see? If the door could see, then those who have already died but still have eyes present should all be able to see objects. If the eyes of dead people could see objects, then what would be called death?

This is a crucial analogy. For example, Ānanda is in a room and through the door can see the objects outside the door. The door is a metaphor for Ānanda's eye faculty, and Ānanda inside the room is a metaphor for the consciousness-mind. The Buddha said: If your eye faculty can see the form objects outside, then the door of the room should be able to see the objects outside; the door corresponds to your eyes, and the consciousness-mind corresponds to you, Ānanda, inside the room. Now look: that which sees the form objects outside — is it the door that sees, or is it you, Ānanda, the consciousness-mind, that sees? Is it the eye faculty that sees, or the eye consciousness that sees?

The Buddha said: If the door could see the form objects outside, then by analogy, if your eye faculty, Ānanda, could see the form objects outside, then people who have already died all have eye faculties, and dead people should all be able to see objects; if dead people could also see objects, how could they be called dead? They should still be living people. The above analogies and metaphors refute all of Ānanda's views, showing that what sees objects is the consciousness-mind, not the faculty. If it were the faculty that sees, dead people also have faculties, and dead people could also see; but dead people cannot see objects — if a dead person could see objects, he would not be dead.

Your eye faculty, Ānanda, is like the door frame\: if the door frame cannot see the form objects outside, then the eye faculty also cannot see the form objects outside. What sees the form objects outside is you, Ānanda, the person — corresponding to your eye consciousness. It is the eye consciousness-mind of sentient beings that sees, which shows that it is the consciousness-mind that sees and not the faculty; this refutes Ānanda's sophistry. It shows that what sees is not the eye but the consciousness-mind. Since the consciousness-mind can see, and now your consciousness-mind cannot see your own face, this shows that your consciousness-mind did not enter in from outside the body, nor did it come out from within the body; that is to say, the consciousness-mind has no location, and without a location there is no substance. Without substance it is something illusory, not your mind-nature; therefore you cannot take this deliberating mind as your true mind-nature to awaken to.

Original text: 阿难。又汝觉了。能知之心。若必有体。为复一体。为有多体。今在汝身。为复遍体。为不遍体。若一体者。则汝以手。挃一支时。四支应觉。若咸觉者。挃应无在。

Explanation: Suppose that this aware, knowing consciousness-mind of yours, Ānanda, definitely has a substance. Then I must ask you: is this substance one with the body as a single substance, or is it many substances? The consciousness-mind is in your body — does it pervade the entire body, or does it not pervade the body and exist only in one place? If your aware mind and the body are a single substance, then when you touch one arm with your hand, all four limbs should have awareness; if all four limbs have awareness, then the so-called touch has no location.

Suppose the aware mind and the body are a single substance: then when your hand touches one of your arms, your other arm and your two legs — all four limbs — should have sensation; when you touch one place on the body, all the other places should have sensation, and an awareness should appear in each. But sentient beings are not like this, which shows that awareness and the body are not a single substance. If touching one arm should produce sensation in all four limbs, could that still be called touching? What meaning would there be in touching one arm? If you touch your head and your feet also know it, what meaning would there be in touching the head? There would be no meaning at all.

Original text: 若挃有所。则汝一体。自不能成。若多体者。则成多人。何体为汝。

Explanation: The Buddha continued: If there is a location when the body is touched and felt, and yet the whole body has sensation, then it is incorrect that the consciousness-mind and the body are a single substance. Suppose the aware mind and the body are many substances, not one substance: then you, Ānanda, would become many persons — which substance would be you, Ānanda?

For example, when your arm is touched, one mind-substance appears; when your foot is touched, another mind-substance appears; when your nose is touched, yet another mind-substance appears; when your eyes are touched, still another mind-substance appears. Then how many mind-substances do you, Ānanda, have? Clearly this does not hold. One mind-substance is one person; if you have this many mind-substances, then you, Ānanda, are this many persons. Which mind-substance would you take as Ānanda? Would you take the mind-substance that touches the arm as Ānanda, or the mind-substance that touches the nose, or the mind-substance that touches the eyes? Taking any one of them as Ānanda would be wrong; therefore it is incorrect that you, Ānanda, have multiple mind-substances.

Original text: 若遍体者。同前所挃。若不遍者。当汝触头。亦触其足。头有所觉。足应无知。今汝不然。是故应知。随所合处。心则随有。无有是处。

Explanation: The Buddha said: If your aware mind-substance pervades the entire body, then, as just said, when the hand touches one place, the whole body from top to bottom has sensation. If awareness does not pervade the entire body but exists only in one place of the body, then when you touch the head and at the same time also touch the foot, the head has sensation while the foot should have no awareness. Therefore you should know that "wherever there is convergence with a dharma, the mind exists accordingly" makes no sense at all.

If awareness does not pervade the body, then when the hand touches the head, it shows that awareness is in the head and not in the feet; when you then use your hand to touch the feet, the feet should have no awareness. But it is not so — wherever the hand touches, there is sensation. If the mind-substance were in your head, then when you use your hand to touch your waist, your waist should have no sensation; yet when you touch your waist with your hand, the waist does indeed have sensation, which shows that the aware mind-substance not pervading the entire body is also incorrect.

The Buddha refuted all the several possible ways in which the mind-substance might exist, showing that Ānanda's view that the mind has a substance is incorrect. Ānanda's thesis that his own mind has a substance is simply wrong, because this mind has no substance, and what has no substance cannot converge. For example, since a tortoise has no hair, one can no longer discuss the matter of tortoise hair; since a hare has no horns, we can no longer discuss anything about hare horns, because it would all be meaningless. Ānanda, it is incorrect that this deliberating mind-substance of yours is your own true mind. In this way the Buddha refuted Ānanda's thesis in the fifth inquiry into the mind's location.