The Falseness of the Eye-Faculty and Form-Object Bases in the Third Volume of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Original text:复次阿难。云何十二处。本如来藏。妙真如性。阿难。汝且观此。祇陀树林。及诸泉池。于意云何。此等为是。色生眼见。眼生色相。阿难。若复眼根。生色相者。见空非色。色性应销。销则显发。一切都无。色相既无。谁明空质。空亦如是。

Explanation: The World-Honored One said: Ānanda, why is it said that the twelve sense bases are intrinsically the wondrous true suchness nature of the tathāgatagarbha? Ānanda, for now look at this Jeta Grove and all the springs and ponds. What do you think—how does the phenomenon of seeing form come about? Does the form-appearance itself produce the seeing of the eye consciousness, or is the form-appearance produced by the eye faculty? Ānanda, if the eye faculty could produce form-appearances, then when seeing empty space, since empty space has no form-appearance, upon the eye faculty seeing empty space the form-appearance would vanish. Once the form-appearance vanishes, the seeing that sees form would also vanish. If the seeing of form vanished, one could not see empty space, and one could not see anything at all. If the form-appearance did not exist, the eye faculty would have no seeing, yet one can still know that empty space contains nothing—who then perceives the emptiness devoid of objects and the empty space itself? Yet you can clearly see empty space, and your seeing has not vanished; it does not vanish along with the disappearance of form-appearance. This shows that the eye faculty cannot produce form-appearance; rather, there is another thing that produces the form-appearance.

Original text:若复色尘。生眼见者。观空非色。见即销亡。亡则都无。谁明空色。是故当知。见与色空。俱无处所。即色与见。二处虚妄。本非因缘。非自然性。

If the form dust could produce the eye's seeing, then when seeing empty space, since empty space has no form-appearance, it could not produce the eye's seeing, and at that moment the faculty of seeing would not exist; then all perception would cease to exist. In that case, who would know and perceive that empty space is without form? Therefore it should be known that the faculty of seeing, empty space, and the form dust all have no location; the form dust and the seeing nature are both illusory—they are neither of the nature of causes and conditions nor of the nature of spontaneity; of course they are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha.

Here the Buddha implies that the tathāgatagarbha produces the form-appearance, and this form-appearance is the inner perceptual object (inner nimitra), a shadow of external form, a secondary manifestation of the tathāgatagarbha, or what may be called its revelation. If the form-appearance produced the seeing of the eye consciousness, then since empty space is not a form-appearance, it could not produce seeing. When seeing empty space, there would be no seeing; since there is no seeing, how could one see empty space and know it to be empty space?

Therefore it should be known that the seeing of the eye consciousness, form-appearance, and empty space all have no location; the form-appearance and the seeing of the eye consciousness are both illusory—they are neither of the nature of causes and conditions nor of the nature of spontaneity, but rather the tathāgatagarbha nature, all coming from the tathāgatagarbha. The thesis that the tathāgatagarbha produces all dharmas is thereby established, so the World-Honored One arrives at a substantive conclusion: all dharmas are born from the tathāgatagarbha and are manifested solely by the mind of the tathāgatagarbha.

As for the twelve sense bases—the six faculties and six consciousnesses—the World-Honored One informs sentient beings that they are all the tathāgatagarbha nature, all born from the tathāgatagarbha. They lack any self-nature or reality of the six faculties and six consciousnesses; they are dharmas that have been born, illusory and unreal. The form-appearance and the seeing of the eye consciousness have no location and no self-nature; they do not exist inherently, and therefore the World-Honored One calls them illusory.

If one understands the faculties, dusts, and consciousnesses in the Āgama sūtras, it becomes easier to read the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. When the six faculties contact the six dusts, the tathāgatagarbha then gives birth to the six consciousnesses; the six consciousnesses then contact the six dusts, and seeing arises. In fact, the three are constantly in combined contact, which is why seeing is continuous. The six faculties have already been born, the external six dusts have already been produced, and the tathāgatagarbha then transforms the external six dusts into the inner six dusts; the supreme faculty (indriya) then contacts the inner six dusts, and when the six consciousnesses emerge, they discriminate the inner six dusts. Viewed this way, are not the six faculties and six dusts—the twelve sense bases—very illusory? One also comes to know from where they are born.