Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (47)

What is the external wind element?

Original text: 云何外风界。谓若此风。从四方来。或狂暴起。摧折树木。堕裂山峰。若微细起。飘举身衣。动多罗树。名外风界。

Explanation: What is the external wind element? It is the wind that arises outside the body, blowing from all directions—either a violent gale that breaks and snaps trees, or a fierce storm that topples and splits mountain peaks; if it is a gentle breeze, it lifts the clothes on one's body and sways the tāla trees—all of these belong to the external wind element.

The external wind element arises outside the body; winds exist in all directions within the material world (bhājana-loka). The greatest winds are storms, tornadoes, and violent gales, which can snap trees and split mountain peaks—yet even these are not the greatest winds. The greatest wind in the universe can destroy a trichiliocosm (three-thousandfold great world system); tornadoes and storms are nothing by comparison. When a world is about to be destroyed, when that wind calamity arrives, the entire material world is blown to destruction—this is the function of the great external wind. If a fine breeze blows, light and thin objects are lifted up, and small grasses and leaves sway, giving people a deep sense of comfort—this is the function of the external gentle breeze.

When wind arises in the external sky, before the wind arises, where was the wind? It had no location; the wind has no place to hide. If the wind could hide somewhere, the place where it was hidden would be constantly shaking. Great storms usually arise for no reason at all; after blowing objects apart, the storm disappears—where has the wind gone? There is nowhere for it to go. If there were a place where the storm could be stored, that location would also be blown apart and would cease to exist.