_Śūraṅgama Sūtra_ Volume III: The Mental Faculty as the Fundamental Tathāgatagarbha’s Wondrous True Suchness Nature

Original text: Ānanda, it is like a person who, when weary, sleeps; when sleep is deep, he awakens. When the mental faculty encounters objects, memories arise; the failure to recall is called forgetting. This is the inverted phenomenon of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. The mental faculty absorbs these objects into the mind, one after another, in orderly sequence, without confusion; this is called the root faculty of mental cognition. Both the mental faculty and the activity of contacting objects of mental cognition are manifestations of fatigue arising from bodhi. Relying on the two illusory objects of arising and ceasing, the faculty gathers cognition within, absorbing the internal objects of mental cognition. Perception and hearing flow against the current, unable to reach the source; this is called the nature of conscious awareness. This nature of conscious awareness, apart from the two objects of waking/sleeping and arising/ceasing, ultimately has no inherent substance.

Explanation: Ānanda, it is like a person who, when fatigued and weary, sleeps; when well-rested, awakens. When the mental faculty encounters objects (of cognition), memories (of consciousness) arise; the inability to recall is called forgetting. This is the inverted phenomenon of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing where the mental faculty dwells. The mental faculty absorbs these objects into the mind, one object following another in orderly sequence without disorder; this is called the root faculty of mental cognition. The mental faculty and the activity of contacting objects of mental cognition are both illusory manifestations arising from bodhi. Relying on the two illusory objects of arising and ceasing, the mental faculty gives rise to the nature of conscious awareness upon contact with objects of mental cognition, absorbing the internal objects of mental cognition, generating the nature of seeing and hearing, chasing external objects of mental cognition, forever unaware of their source, failing to realize the origin of all dharmas; this is called the nature of conscious awareness. This nature of conscious awareness, apart from the two objects of sleeping/waking and arising/ceasing, ultimately has no inherent substance.

The mental faculty is one of the six sense faculties; its activity of contacting objects of mental cognition is the volitional formation aggregate (saṃskāra). Both are illusory manifestations arising from bodhi. When the body is weary, the mental faculty arranges sleep, and consciousness ceases; when well-rested, it awakens, and consciousness arises, manifesting the nature of conscious awareness. When the mental faculty grasps objects, consciousness remembers; the failure to remember is called forgetting, termed amnesia. This nature of conscious awareness arises due to the two objects of sleeping/waking and arising/ceasing. When asleep, if the mental faculty does not grasp objects, consciousness ceases; when the mental faculty grasps objects, consciousness arises upon awakening. The mental faculty itself is inverted, constantly clinging to objects as real, causing consciousness to ceaselessly arise and cease while outwardly cognizing all phenomena, never realizing their source. Without these two illusory objects of sleeping/waking and arising/ceasing, there would be no nature of conscious awareness. Seeking the Dharma outwardly is against the Dharma-current; seeking inwardly, following the Dharma-current, one can know the source of Dharma and thereby awaken to the Way.

Original text: Thus, Ānanda, you should know that this root faculty of cognition does not come from waking or sleeping, nor does it exist due to arising or ceasing. It does not emerge from the faculty, nor does it arise from emptiness. Why? If it came from waking, it would cease upon sleeping. Then what would perceive sleep? If it necessarily existed when arising, then upon ceasing it would be non-existent. Who would perceive that ceasing? If it existed due to ceasing, then upon arising it would be non-existent. Who would perceive that arising? If it emerged from the faculty, the two phenomena of waking and sleeping follow the body’s opening and closing. Apart from these two states, this perceiver would be like flowers in the sky, ultimately without nature. If it arose from emptiness, it would be emptiness itself that knows. What connection would it have with your mental faculty? Therefore, you should know that the mental sense-base is illusory, fundamentally not born of causes and conditions, nor is it of a self-existing nature.

Explanation: Thus, Ānanda, you should know that this root faculty capable of cognizing objects does not arise from waking or sleeping, nor does it come into existence due to arising or ceasing. It does not emerge from the mental faculty, nor does it arise from emptiness. Why? If this nature of conscious awareness came from the state of being awake, it would cease upon sleeping. Then what would perceive sleep? If it necessarily existed when objects arose, then upon their cessation it would become non-existent. Then who would perceive that cessation? If the nature of conscious awareness existed due to the cessation of objects, then upon their arising it would become non-existent. Then who would perceive that arising? If the nature of conscious awareness emerged from the mental faculty, the mental faculty, without the two objects of sleeping and waking, would, following its own nature, necessarily be unaware of sleeping and waking. Sleeping and waking arise with the body’s opening and closing – opening being waking, closing being sleep. Apart from sleep and waking, the nature of conscious awareness would be like flowers in the sky, fundamentally non-existent. If the nature of conscious awareness arose from emptiness, it would of course be emptiness itself that knows. What connection would it have with your mental faculty’s intake of objects? Therefore, you should know that the mental sense-base is illusory, fundamentally not born of causes and conditions, nor is it of a self-existing nature, but is the nature of Tathāgatagarbha.