Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (70)

What Is the Ear Base?

Original text: 大王。云何耳处。谓四大种。所造净色。分别行相。如前所说。大王。诸法解脱。决定现前。如法界空。不可施设。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, what is the ear base? The ear base is the pure material form created by the seeds of the four great elements; the characteristics of the ear base are similar to those of the eye base, arising from the combination of the seeds of the four great elements. When the seeds of the four great elements are pure, the ear base is pure, and within it not the slightest dharma can be obtained. Because the four great elements are empty, the self-nature of the ear base is empty; because the four great elements are liberated, the ear base is intrinsically liberated, and there is not a single dharma that can bind a person. Great King, all dharmas are intrinsically liberated, and this liberation is everywhere proclaiming and manifesting itself; like the emptiness of the one true dharma realm, it is originally so, not something contrived by human beings.

The ear base refers to the ear faculty, including both the external ear faculty and the internal ear faculty, both of which are formed by the pure four great elements; therefore they are themselves pure material form, without afflictions and without defilement. What is meant by "pure" is that there is no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, no craving, delight, or aversion. When the ear faculty comes into contact with sound-dust, it never says "I like this sound and dislike that sound"; it has no mental activity—neither wholesome nor unwholesome mental activity exists in it. Defilement lies in the mind being defiled; the ear faculty is not defiled. The four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind that constitute the ear faculty are empty, and the ear base is also empty; its inherent self-nature is utterly unobtainable. The four great elemental natures of earth, water, fire, and wind are utterly unobtainable, and the ear base is likewise unobtainable.