Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Three: The Ear Sense Base Is the Wondrous True Suchness Nature of the Tathāgatagarbha

Original text: 阿难。譬如有人。以两手指。急塞其耳。耳根劳故。头中作声。兼耳与劳。同是菩提。瞪发劳相。因于动静。二种妄尘。发闻居中。吸此尘象。名听闻性。此闻离彼。动静二尘。毕竟无体。

Explanation: Ānanda, for example, if someone uses the fingers of both hands to press tightly into both ears, because of the fatigue of the ear faculty, a buzzing sound will arise in the head. Both the ear faculty and the mark of fatigue from the fingers touching the ears are illusory, worldly marks manifested by the运行 of the bodhi mind. Wait—these are all illusory worldly marks brought forth by the bodhi mind. The ear faculty, relying on the two kinds of illusory sense-objects of movement and stillness, gives rise to the hearing nature amid the fatigue of contact between the fingers and the ear faculty. The hearing nature absorbs these sense-object appearances of movement and stillness, manifesting the marks of movement and stillness; this is called the nature of hearing. When this hearing nature departs from those two sense-objects of movement and stillness, it ultimately has no inherent substance of its own. In other words, without movement and stillness there would be no hearing nature; apart from sense-objects, there is no consciousness and no hearing.

Original text: 如是阿难。当知是闻。非动静来。非于根出。不于空生。何以故。若从静来。动即随灭。应非闻动。若从动来。静即随灭。应无觉静。若从根生。必无动静。如是闻体。本无自性。若于空出。有闻成性。即非虚空。又空自闻。何关汝入。是故当知。耳入虚妄。本非因缘。非自然性。

Explanation: It is so, Ānanda. You should know that this hearing nature does not come from movement and stillness, does not emerge from the ear faculty, and is not born from empty space. Why is this said? If the hearing nature came from the mark of stillness, then when the mark of movement appeared, the hearing nature would vanish and disappear, and thus it could not hear the mark of movement. If the hearing nature came from movement, then when the mark of stillness appeared, the hearing nature would vanish and disappear, and you would never again perceive the mark of stillness.

If the hearing nature emerged from the ear faculty, it would follow the attributes of the ear faculty, in which there is neither the mark of movement nor the mark of stillness; it would then hear no movement or stillness at all, and such a hearing nature would originally have no inherent substance of its own. If the hearing nature came forth from empty space, then empty space would possess a hearing nature, and it could no longer be called empty space; moreover, it would be empty space itself doing the hearing—what would that have to do with your sense base? Therefore, you should know that the hearing of the ear base is illusory; it is originally neither a product of causes and conditions nor a natural nature—it is the tathāgatagarbha nature.