The Esoteric Significance of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Section 2  The Deluded View of Individual Karma and the Deluded View of Shared Karma

1. Original text: 阿难。一切众生。轮回世间。由二颠倒。分别见妄。当处发生。当业轮转。云何二见。一者众生。别业妄见。二者众生。同分妄见。云何名为。别业妄见。

Explanation: Ānanda, all sentient beings transmigrate within the world because of the false discriminating views produced by two kinds of inversion; at the very moment of the inverted deluded view, karma arises, and due to karmic actions they transmigrate through birth and death. What are the deluded views of discriminating transmigration? The first is the deluded view of sentient beings' individual karma; the second is the deluded view shared by sentient beings. What is the deluded view of individual karma?

This short passage discusses sentient beings' shared karma and individual karma. Whether shared karma or individual karma, everything sentient beings see—the universe, the world, mountains, rivers, and the great earth—is a deluded view. Individual karma is the karma of a single sentient being, or the karma of a portion of sentient beings that differs from that of other sentient beings. Shared karma is the karma common to a portion of sentient beings, or the karma common to all the sentient beings of a region or a country, or the common karma of the sentient beings of a planet. Because sentient beings have individual karma and also shared karma, all the living environments and six sense-object realms that sentient beings see are deluded views. A deluded view means falsely seeing that all these realms exist and taking all these realms as real; in fact none of them is real, there is no such thing, and these realms do not exist.

Then, if it is not a deluded view, what should one see? If not a deluded view, one should, within the receptacle world of the universe and within the six sense-object realms, see the wondrous function of one's own true suchness buddha-nature, rather than seeing the real existence of mountains, rivers, and the great earth. The mountains, rivers, and great earth that sentient beings can see, the living environment and six sense-object realms they can see—all these belong to deluded views. If one no longer sees deludedly, then upon all these scenes one can see one's own wondrous true suchness nature, see the wondrous function of one's own buddha-nature, and no longer take the six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses as truly existent. But sentient beings do not see the wondrous function of their own buddha-nature; they only deludedly see mountains, rivers, the great earth, lands, and the world as truly existing, seeing only these realms; hence it is called a deluded view. In fact, the true seeing is the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha; only the seeing that does not see sense-object realms is true seeing.

Original text: 阿难。如世间人。目有赤眚。夜见灯光。别有圆影。五色重迭。于意云何。此夜灯明。所现圆光。为是灯色。为当见色。阿难。此若灯色。则非眚人。何不同见。而此圆影。惟眚之观。若是见色。见已成色。则彼眚人。见圆影者。名为何等。

Explanation: Ānanda, it is like people in the world whose eyes have a film ailment, with a layer of red film in the eyeball: at night after dark, when they see the lamplight, besides the lamp's image there is additionally a circular image with five colors overlapping together. What do you make of this phenomenon? The circular light manifested by tonight's lamplight—that mass of circular image—is it a form-mark on the lamp, or a form-mark on the seeing? Ānanda, if this circular image is a form-mark on the lamp, then why do people without eye disease not see it, and only those with diseased eyes can see it? If this circular image is a form-mark on the seeing, then the seeing-nature has already become form; then what should the circular image seen by the person with eye disease be called?

2. Original text: 复次阿难。若此圆影。离灯别有。则合傍观。屏帐几筵。有圆影出。离见别有。应非眼瞩。云何眚人。目见圆影。是故当知。色实在灯。见病为影。影见俱眚。见眚非病。终不应言。是灯是见。于是中有非灯非见。

Explanation: Furthermore, Ānanda, if this circular image exists apart from the lamp, unrelated to the lamp, then in other places such as folding screens, tents, tea tables, and dining tables circular images should also appear; if they do not appear, this shows that the circular image is related to the lamp and does not exist apart from the lamp. If a circular image could appear apart from the seeing-nature, then this circular image would not be seen by the eyes and would be unrelated to the eyes; since it is unrelated to the eyes, why does the person with eye disease nevertheless see the circular image?

Therefore you should know: the form-mark is indeed manifested by the lamplight; it is that one sees the eye-film ailment on the eyes and takes it as the circular image. In that case, both the circular image and the eye's seeing are [products of] the eye-film ailment. But the seeing-nature that can reflect and reveal the eye-film ailment itself has no disease. Therefore one should not say: the seeing of the circular image is on the lamp or on the seeing-nature, and then within this further say that the circular image exists apart from the lamp or apart from the seeing-nature. Apart from the lamp there is no seeing; apart from the seeing there is no lamp. The lamp and the seeing are both the wondrous bright true mind, the true and refined wondrous essence—the perfect bodhi.

Original text: 如第二月。非体非影。何以故。第二之观。捏所成故。诸有智者。不应说言。此捏根元。是形非形。离见非见。此亦如是。目眚所成。今欲名谁。是灯是见。何况分别。非灯非见。

Explanation: The circular image seen is like the second moon. The second moon is neither the moon's own body nor the moon's shadow; apart from the original body there is no second moon—the second moon merely stands for the original body. Why is this said? Because the second moon is seen only due to the false appearance produced by pressing the eye with the hand. Those with wisdom should not say that the thing produced by pressing with the hand is either with form or without form, or that it can exist apart from seeing and not-seeing. The circular image is likewise: it is caused by a disease of the eyes; there is not truly any circular image. Now if one wants to determine to whom the circular image belongs—whether it belongs to the lamp or belongs to the seeing—probably neither is the case; how much less should one discriminate that it does not belong to the lamp and does not belong to the seeing.

3. Original text: 云何名为。同分妄见。阿难。此阎浮提。除大海水。中间平陆。有三千洲。正中大洲。东西括量。大国凡有。二千三百。其余小洲。在诸海中。其间或有。三两百国。或一或二。至于三十。四十五十。阿难。若复此中。有一小洲。只有两国。惟一国人。同感恶缘。则彼小洲。当土众生。睹诸一切。不祥境界。或见二日。或见两月。其中乃至。晕蚀佩玦。彗孛飞流。负耳虹霓。种种恶相。但此国见。彼国众生。本所不见。亦复不闻。阿难。吾今为汝。以此二事。进退合明。

Explanation: What is the deluded view of shared karma? Ānanda, this continent of Jambudvīpa, apart from the great ocean waters, has flat land in the middle; on the land there are three thousand islands. In the very middle there is a great continent, open and vast to the east and west; the great countries within it number two thousand three hundred. The remaining small islands are situated in the various seas; among them some have two or three hundred countries, some have one or two countries, and some have thirty, forty, or fifty countries.

Ānanda, if among these islands there is a small island with only two countries, and the people of only one country—their land has attracted evil conditions—then the sentient beings of that country on the small island see all kinds of inauspicious phenomena, such as seeing two suns, or seeing two moons, as well as the various ominous phenomena among the stars that appear in this country, such as solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, and broom stars (comets). Only the people of this country can see them; the sentient beings of the other country do not see them at all, nor do they hear of them. Ānanda, I now use these two matters to demonstrate for you what the deluded view of individual karma and the deluded view of shared karma are.

4. Original text: 如彼众生。别业妄见。瞩灯光中。所现圆影。虽现似境。终彼见者。目眚所成。

Explanation: It is like that sentient being with the deluded view of individual karma who sees the circular image appearing in the lamplight. Although the circular image appears in the lamplight as if there were truly a realm there, ultimately it is produced by the eye disease of the person who sees the circular image.

"瞩" means to see. People in the past used oil lamps for lighting at night: they placed an oil lamp on the table, and after lighting the lamp, it would give off light. But sentient beings with individual karma, besides seeing the light emitted by the lamp, also see within the lamplight another mass of circular image. How does this circular image appear? This is the deluded view of individual karma.

This sentient being has a karmic-obstruction disease called an eye disease. Here the Śūraṅgama Sūtra calls this eye disease "sheng" (眚). What does "sheng" mean? It means that a film has grown in the eye; in our modern Mandarin it might be called something like a cataract, but here it is a red film. Because a red film has grown in his eye, when he sees the lamplight, a mass of colored circular image also appears within the lamplight. This circular image differs in color from the lamplight; it is five-colored and is a single mass, called a circular image, distinct from the lamplight. Because his eye has a film, when he sees the lamplight he sees within it another mass of color different from the lamplight. He sees this circular image as if it were truly right before his eyes. Why say "as if"? "As if" means it seems there is a circular image, but in fact there is not. A person whose eyes have no film ailment cannot see the circular image in the lamplight; only a person whose eyes have a red film will see this mass of circular image. This circular image is the result of the deluded view of individual karma.

How is this circular image formed? The lamplight outside passes through the eye faculty; the tathāgatagarbha takes in the particles of the four great elements and transmits them through the eye faculty into the supreme faculty at the back of the brain, forming the internal object-aspect of the lamplight. For a person with an eye disease, there is a red film on the eye faculty. When the particles of the four great elements pass through the red film, they encounter obstruction; after being obstructed, the particles of the four great elements transmitted over are altered. After the alteration, when they are further transmitted to the eye's supreme faculty at the back of the brain, the internal object-aspect formed by the particles of the four great elements undergoes mutation and differs from the external object-aspect of the lamplight, transforming into a distorted internal object-aspect. The person with the eye disease will then see an additional ring of circular light—that is, the portion of the particles of the four great elements that did not pass through the red film and get transmitted. From this example we know that the six sense-object realms each sentient being contacts are all his own internal object-aspect, not the external object-aspect shared by sentient beings.

This internal object-aspect not only has the color of the brightness of the lamplight outside, but also has an additional circular image—that is, the internal object-aspect formed by the mutation of the particles of the four great elements transmitted through the part with the red film. This circular image is caused by the red film. Because the particles of the four great elements were altered, an additional circular image appears. This circular image is individual karma. After the circular image appears, when the person with the individual karma of an eye disease sees it, it is called a deluded view, not true seeing. After he sees the circular image, he feels the circular image is extremely real, facing his eye faculty, as if right before his eyes; in fact it does not exist.

A person whose eyes have a red film, besides seeing the lamplight, additionally sees a five-colored circular image within the lamplight—that is the circular image he additionally sees. A person without the film ailment, seeing the lamplight, sees only pure lamplight and does not additionally see the so-called ring of circular image. What does this show? It shows that the realm-images each sentient being sees are in fact all his own internal object-aspect. Because each person's karmic obstructions differ, the internal object-aspects they see differ. When the eye has a red film, the tathāgatagarbha, through the eye faculty, takes in the external object-aspect of the lamplight outside; after taking it in, the image becomes deformed and an additional circular image appears. The seeing of the other faculties is also like this: because karmic obstructions differ, what is seen differs; all are deluded views, not true seeing.

The circular image is caused by the film ailment of the eyes of the person with individual karma; only he can see the additional ring of circular image. Others without this eye disease cannot see it; the form objects they see are all normal, without hallucinations or illusory vision. By the same token, a person whose mind has disease will deludedly see mountains, rivers, the great earth, and the five-aggregate receptacle world; a person whose mind has no disease will see the wondrous function of the true suchness buddha-nature of himself and all sentient beings.

Original text: 眚即见劳。非色所造。然见眚者。终无见咎。

Explanation: His eye-film ailment is the weariness disease that arises after the seeing-nature has wearied in contacting objects; it is not an eye disease created by form-marks. However, the seeing-nature that sees the eye-film ailment has no fault of seeing.

The character "sheng" means the eye has a red film; the character "lao" means defiled toil, weariness, and fault—a kind of diseased blemish. Because sentient beings have faults in their views, they have had the disease of seeing since beginningless kalpas; this is called "sheng." Because there is the disease of seeing, there is deluded seeing, and one will see mountains, rivers, the great earth, the universe, the receptacle world, and so forth, which do not exist, resembling the circular image. After sentient beings deludedly see these dharmas, they take these dharmas as truly existent, and thus they condition upon and cling to them without relinquishing, constantly grasping and seizing, creating karma without cease.

Because sentient beings have the disease of seeing, their mind-eye sees dharmas with obstruction, and so they recognize only the false dharmas resembling the circular image and do not see the true suchness buddha-nature resembling the lamplight. This is caused by the beginningless disease of seeing, not caused by external forms and external dharmas. True suchness has no fault, and the seeing-nature also has no fault. It is just like a person whose eyes have the film ailment: his vision has an obstruction, and seeing forms produces an illusion. The nonexistent circular image he sees is not caused by the lamplight but caused by his diseased eyes, and thus he additionally sees a ring of circular image.

The Buddha says that sentient beings seeing the circular image is called the deluded view of individual karma. For a person whose eyes have a red film, everything he sees is caused by his diseased eyes. Then does everything seen by a person whose eyes have no disease still have any defect? The Buddha then continues below, expanding this example, taking it as an illustration to show that all sentient beings are in fact just like this sufferer of eye disease: all sentient beings have a disease of the mind.

Why is the seeing-nature that sees the film ailment without fault? Because this seeing-nature merely illuminates and sees in a simple, unadorned way; whether realms are good or bad, wholesome or unwholesome, right or wrong, beautiful or ugly, it pays no heed and makes no discrimination; it merely presents the realms as they are, without knowing what the realms are about. Therefore, whatever realm appears, He is without fault.

Original text: 例汝今日。以目观见。山河国土。及诸众生。皆是无始。见病所成。见与见缘。似现前境。

Explanation: This example analogizes to the mountains, rivers, lands, and sentient beings now observed with the eyes: all are formed by the disease of seeing from beginningless kalpas. The seeing-nature that can see form-marks, together with the conditions the seeing-nature requires—such as mountains, rivers, lands, sentient beings, and so forth—all appear before one's own eyes as if they were real realms. For sentient beings with the disease of ignorance and seeing, their seeing-nature that sees the six sense-object realms and the dharmas their seeing-nature takes as objects all surface within their own conscious mind as if real.

Why can all sentient beings see mountains, rivers, lands, and sentient beings? Since beginningless kalpas, due to inverted views, everything sentient beings see is false seeing; everything seen is a deluded mark; they cannot see ultimate reality, taking unreal dharmas as real dharmas. Therefore they can see mountains, rivers, lands, and sentient beings, and only then is there the suffering of birth-and-death transmigration, just like the five-colored circular image seen under the lamplight by the person with the film ailment. If sentient beings' disease of ignorance were eliminated and they had no inverted views, then what they saw would all be their own buddha-nature, all the wondrous bright true essence; they would not deludedly see false six sense-object scenes, mountains, rivers, the great earth, sentient beings, and so forth, and take them as real. Just like a person without the film ailment who, under the lamplight, sees only the lamplight without the circular image.

The Buddha uses the circular image seen by sentient beings with eye disease as a metaphor, illustrating that all sentient beings, because their minds have the disease of ignorance, cannot see their own true suchness buddha-nature. In fact, sentient beings cannot see the true suchness buddha-nature; they only see the false images of the six sense objects, including mountains, rivers, the great earth, the receptacle world of the universe, and all sentient beings. Mountains, rivers, the great earth, the receptacle world of the universe, and sentient beings are just like that circular image. The Buddha uses this deluded view of individual karma—seeing the lamp's image—as a metaphor: the mountains, rivers, and great earth seen by all sentient beings whose minds have the disease of ignorance are likewise a deluded view of individual karma, different from the true suchness buddha-nature seen by all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

The Buddha uses the person with the film ailment seeing the circular image to analogize that the mountains, rivers, and great earth seen by sentient beings are all formed by the beginningless disease of seeing. Because sentient beings' minds have the disease of ignorance, their views are inverted; this is beginningless ignorance. Because of sentient beings' beginningless ignorance and beginningless disease of seeing, everything they see is false seeing; whether seeing mountains, rivers, lands, the receptacle world of the universe, or seeing all sentient beings, it is all deluded seeing; even seeing the buddhas of the ten directions is deluded seeing.

5. Original text: 元我觉明。见所缘眚。觉见即眚。本觉明心。

Explanation: The originally awakened bright essence of the original self is pure and clear, yet the dharmas that the seeing-nature of the original awakening takes as objects—such as mountains, rivers, and the great earth—have the film ailment, produced by the faults of the disease of seeing. The seeing that goes to awaken to the seeing-nature of the original awakening is also the film ailment. The original awakening remains as ever, and the seeing-nature is ever-present; if there were no ignorance, why add this superfluous awakening? The original awakening is inherently the perfect wondrous bright true mind—what need is there to awaken to and see anything further?

"Yuan" means the original source, the root—that which has existed since beginningless kalpas and was not born later is called "yuan"; of course this refers to the original awakening. "元我觉明" means that I originally possess an extremely clear awakening-nature; this awakening-nature is bright and can comprehend all dharmas and see all dharmas. But the false dharmas that the seeing-nature takes as objects have the film ailment, with the faults of birth and death. Because the operation and manifestation of the seeing-nature depend on the six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses, and depend on the five aggregates and the receptacle world; without these conditions—the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses—the seeing-nature would have nothing to see.

Original text: 觉缘非眚。觉所觉眚。觉非眚中。此实见见。云何复名。觉闻知见。

Explanation: The wondrous bright true mind—the essential body that awakens to and sees the objects of all dharmas—has no film ailment; the able-to-awaken and the awakened are within the film ailment, yet the original awakening is not within the film ailment. Only with such determination (adhimokṣa) can one truly see the seeing-nature of the original awakening; how could one still take the seeing-nature of the original awakening as the seeing-hearing-knowing-awareness nature of the seven consciousnesses?

All seeing is the wondrous true suchness nature of the original awakening, the wondrous bright true essence of the one true dharma realm. The original true awakening has no ignorance and no disease-obstruction; it is not within sentient beings' film ailment, nor is it the result of sentient beings' film ailment; it is the perfect and clear awakening-nature inherently endowed in sentient beings. If we can see our own original true awakening that is not within the film ailment, only this seeing is called true seeing. Upon all false dharmas one should see the non-false originally awakened buddha-nature and see the wondrous true suchness nature of all dharmas; only then is it seeing without the film ailment, only then is it clear seeing and real seeing. Deluded seeing can only see mountains, rivers, the great earth, world lands, and sentient beings; true seeing must see our original awakening-nature. If sentient beings give rise to real seeing and see the true suchness buddha-nature in all dharmas, then they know that all dharmas are the wondrous function of the true suchness buddha-nature; all seeing—the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha—then has no deluded seeing of the film ailment, and is no longer called the seeing, hearing, knowing, and awareness of the seven consciousnesses.

Original text: 是故汝今。见我及汝。并诸世间。十类众生。皆即见眚。

Explanation: Therefore it is said: that now you all can see me (referring to the Buddha, the World-Honored One himself) and yourselves, and can also see the ten classes of sentient beings in the world—these seeings are all seeing with the film ailment, all deluded seeing, the result of the disease of seeing.

Because sentient beings' minds have ignorance, all their seeing is seeing with the film ailment, and what they see has faults. With the disease of seeing, one will see all the deluded marks of the world; all marks seen are false; the seeing of sentient beings is all deluded seeing. Even seeing the Buddha is deluded seeing, because the Buddha's five-aggregate body is also one of the marks within the six sense-object realms; therefore, when looking at the Buddha, seeing the Buddha's five-aggregate marks is also deluded seeing. When not seeing deludedly, one will see one's own buddha-nature, not merely seeing the Buddha's five-aggregate body.

Original text: 非见眚者。彼见真精。性非眚者。故不名见。

Explanation: People without the film ailment and the disease of seeing will at all times and in all places see that true, refined, wondrous bright nature; the original awakening's wondrous refined bright nature has no film ailment, so one cannot say it possesses a seeing-nature similar to that of the seven consciousnesses.

That true refined essence is the seeing-nature of the original awakening. The seeing-nature has no defiled toil or faults, no film ailment, no ignorance; therefore the seeing-nature is inherently bright, without deluded seeing. It is not like the seven consciousnesses, which must discriminate specific six sense-object realms; He merely illuminates and reveals all dharmas equally, without making discriminations upon specific sense-object realms, utterly different from the dharma-marks discriminated by the seven consciousnesses; therefore it is not said that He has the seeing of the six sense objects.

6. The Deluded View of Individual Karma and the Deluded View of Shared Karma

What is a deluded view? A deluded view is an unreal seeing, a false seeing, an inverted seeing; the dharmas seen are likewise unreal and false, conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha; the seeing is also what our deluded mind sees—what sees is the mind of the seven consciousnesses, and what is seen is the six sense-object realms. In short, both the seeing and the seen are false. The mind of the seven consciousnesses and the six sense-object realms are all transformed and produced by the tathāgatagarbha; they are not real dharmas—even the karmic seeds are false, because they can be eliminated, can change, have arising and ceasing, and do not endure forever.

Individual karma is karma that differs from that of other sentient beings. Looking at the smallest individual karma: it is the wholesome and unwholesome karma attracted by a single sentient being himself, called individual karma. Expanding a bit: the wholesome and unwholesome karma separately attracted by two or three people, or by a region, a certain village, a certain community, a certain province, or a certain country is also called individual karma. The deluded view of individual karma: the karma of individual sentient beings themselves, or of a portion of sentient beings alone—karma not shared with other sentient beings—is called individual karma; when individual karma manifests and sentient beings have attracted it, this is called a deluded view.

The deluded view of shared karma refers to the common karmic obstructions of sentient beings possessing identical karmic force, falsely perceived by these sentient beings in common. "Shared" means common; the karma common to a portion of sentient beings is called the "shared portion," called shared karma. The deluded view is sentient beings' deluded mind perceiving these illusory karmic marks; it is an erroneous and inverted view.

Shared karma refers to the karma common to many sentient beings, such as the shared karma of the sentient beings of the entire Saha world, or the shared karma of the sentient beings of the entire southern continent Jambudvīpa in the Saha world, or the karma of all sentient beings of our entire China within Jambudvīpa, or the karma common to all sentient beings of a certain province within China—this is called the "shared portion." "Shared" means common; the wholesome and unwholesome karma commonly seen and commonly attracted by sentient beings of shared karma is called the deluded view of shared karma—of course what is seen is also an erroneous, inverted view.

Individual karma and shared karma are both relative, not absolute; it depends on which portion of sentient beings they are relative to. For example, a karma of our entire region of China within Jambudvīpa can be called shared karma and can also be called individual karma. If called shared karma, it is the karma common to all sentient beings within the entire region of China; if called individual karma, it is that China's karma is not shared with the karma of the other sentient beings of the entire earth or of Jambudvīpa—this too is called individual karma. Only the karma of an individual sentient being—the karma of a single sentient being—is completely individual karma, not called shared karma. The karma of two people is the same karma, shared karma, for the two of them, but for other sentient beings it is also called individual karma. Whether shared karma or individual karma, all are the result of deluded seeing.

All dharmas except the tathāgatagarbha are false; therefore the Buddha calls it deluded seeing. Whether the deluded view of individual karma or the deluded view of shared karma, all are deluded seeing; what we see are all false images within the supreme faculty of the brain. For example, suppose an earthquake occurs in a certain town and a fire breaks out: this counts as individual karma and also counts as shared karma. Whether individual karma or shared karma, the external object-aspect exists. The fire burns in the external world, the ground in the external world cracks and splits; the earthquake and the fire are phenomena of sentient beings' external world, that is, the external body; but what sentient beings' six consciousnesses see is all the internal world and internal body that exist in dependence on the external world. Sentient beings feeling the earthquake, seeing the fire, even being harmed by it—all that can be perceived are internal object-aspects, manifested in dependence on the external object-aspect. The external object-aspect, the internal object-aspect, shared karma, individual karma—all are within the tathāgatagarbha, all conjured by the tathāgatagarbha.

Take another example: a plane crash. There are several hundred people aboard the plane. The plane crash, for these several hundred people, belongs to the shared karma of these several hundred people; but these several hundred people, relative to the hundreds of millions, tens of billions, trillions, and countless sentient beings of other regions, belong to individual karma. Whether shared karma or individual karma, the plane crash has an external object-aspect and also an internal object-aspect; but what sentient beings see is all the internal object-aspect. The true external object-aspect, the essentially real object-realm, can only be contacted by the tathāgatagarbha; the six consciousnesses cannot contact it. The plane of the external object-aspect was smashed to pieces; the smashed plane they see is all internal object-aspect; they do not know what condition the external object-aspect is in—it is roughly the same as the internal object-aspect. This is the relationship among shared karma, individual karma, and the external and internal object-aspects.