The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Three: The Great Element of Space Is Illusory

Original text: 阿难。空性无形。因色显发。如室罗城。去河遥处。诸刹利种。及婆罗门。毗舍首陀。兼颇罗堕。旃陀罗等。新立安居。凿井求水。出土一尺。于中则有。一尺虚空。如是乃至。出土一丈。中间还得。一丈虚空。虚空浅深。随出多少。此空为当。因土所出。因凿所有。无因自生。

Explanation: Ānanda, emptiness has no form or shape; it is revealed and discovered by means of material form. For example, in Śrāvastī, in places far from the river, there were people of the kṣatriya caste, as well as brāhmaṇas, vaiśyas, śūdras, and also Bharadvājas, Caṇḍālas, and others. When they newly established their homes and settled there, they dug wells in search of water. When they dug out one foot of earth, there would be one foot of space in the ground; and so on up to digging out one zhang of earth, in which case there would be one zhang of space in the ground. The depth of the space depends on how much earth is dug out. Does this space come from the earth, does it exist because of the digging, or does it arise by itself without any cause?

Original text: 阿难。若复此空。无因自生。未凿土前。何不无碍。唯见大地。迥无通达。若因土出。则土出时。应见空入。若土先出无空入者。云何虚空。因土而出。若无出入。则应空土。元无异因。无异则同。则土出时。空何不出。

Explanation: Ānanda, if this space arose by itself without any cause, then before the earth was dug, why was there no such space? One saw only the obstruction of the solid earth, with no open space to be seen. If this space came from the earth, then when the earth came out, one should see the space enter. If the earth came out first but no space entered, how can it be said that the space appeared because of the earth? If there is no entering or exiting between the two, then space and earth should have no difference in their arising; if there is no difference, they are the same—then when the earth goes out, why does the space not go out?

Original text: 若因凿出。则凿出空。应非出土。不因凿出。凿自出土。云何见空。汝更审谛。谛审谛观。凿从人手。随方运转。土因地移。如是虚空。因何所出。凿空虚实。不相为用。非和非合。不应虚空。无从自出。

Explanation: If the space appeared because of the digging, then since the digging brought forth space, it should not have brought forth earth. If the space did not come from the digging, and the digging only dug out earth, why is it that space is seen to appear? Examine this again carefully; scrutinize and contemplate it attentively: the digging follows the movement of a person's hand, turning in whatever direction it is directed, while the earth moves out because of the ground being displaced. From what, then, does this space emerge? The digging and the space—one solid, one empty—cannot be of use to each other, nor can they blend or combine. Yet it should not be that space arises by itself from nowhere.

Original text: 若此虚空。性圆周遍。本不动摇。当知现前。地水火风。均名五大。性真圆融。皆如来藏。本无生灭。阿难。汝心昏迷。不悟四大。元如来藏。当观虚空。为出为入。为非出入。汝元不知。如来藏中。性觉真空。性空真觉。清净本然。周遍法界。随众生心。应所知量。

Explanation: If the nature of this space is perfect and pervades everywhere, being fundamentally unmoving and unshaking, then you should know that it, together with the earth, water, fire, and wind presently before us, are all equally counted among the five great elements. Their nature is true and perfectly harmonious without obstruction; all are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, fundamentally without arising or ceasing. Ānanda, your mind is benighted and confused; you have not awakened to the fact that the four great elements are originally the tathāgatagarbha. You should contemplate whether space has exiting and entering, or whether it has no exiting or entering. You fundamentally do not know that within the tathāgatagarbha, the nature of awakening is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is true awakening—pure by nature, fundamentally so, pervading the entire Dharma realm, manifesting in accordance with the minds of sentient beings and in response to the measure of what they should know.

Original text: 阿难。如一井空。空生一井。十方虚空。亦复如是。圆满十方。宁有方所。循业发现。世间无知。惑为因缘。及自然性。皆是识心。分别计度。但有言说。都无实义。

Explanation: Ānanda, just as when a well is dug, space appears in that one well, so it is with the space of the ten directions: when wells are dug in the ten directions, the space of the ten directions likewise manifests. Space perfectly pervades the ten directions without obstruction; how could it have any direction or location? It only manifests in accordance with the karma of sentient beings. Worldly people, in their ignorance, deludedly take it to be produced from causes and conditions, or to exist naturally by itself. These are all nothing but the discriminating calculations and measures of sentient beings' deluded consciousness; whatever words may be said about it, none of them has any real meaning.