The Esoteric Significance of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Section Three   The Falsehood of the Five Aggregates (pañca-skandha)

1. Original text:佛言阿难。汝犹未明。一切浮尘。诸幻化相。当处出生。随处灭尽。幻妄称相。其性真为。妙觉明体。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Ānanda, you have not yet understood all the floating dust and the conjured illusory false marks. These false marks arise right where they are and cease right at the place of their arising. Being conjured, false, and unreal, they are therefore called "marks," whereas true dharmas have no marks; the essence of these marks is indeed the wondrous bright essence of fundamental enlightenment.

The floating dust includes the external six dusts and the internal six dusts. After the external six dusts have been conjured forth, when our six faculties contact them, the fundamental enlightenment manifests them once again, casting them upon the supreme faculties (indriya), where the six consciousnesses are produced to discriminate them. This second conjuring is even more illusory and unreal.

"Arising right where they are": these floating dusts are all born of the wondrous enlightened bright essence; they are born within the mind of this wondrous enlightened bright essence, not outside the mind-essence, and outside the mind-essence there is nothing at all. "Ceasing wherever they are": when they perish, they likewise perish within the mind-essence, not outside it; even the Buddha-lands of the ten directions do not lie beyond this mind-essence—all is the one true dharma realm, the one true suchness nature. These conjured, false things are called marks, having form and appearance; whereas the fundamental enlightenment that can conjure forth these floating dusts is truly real and not false, not existing by way of conjuring, without form and without mark, possessing no dharma-mark whatsoever.

This "place" refers to the birthplace of all false dharmas—the tathāgatagarbha. It is not elsewhere, nor does anywhere else exist; apart from the tathāgatagarbha there are no dharmas. Thus the tathāgatagarbha, in accordance with karmic seeds and relying on conditions, outputs the seeds of the seven great elements and gives birth to the world of the five aggregates; when the conditions are exhausted, the false dharmas cease—and they still cease within the tathāgatagarbha, not elsewhere, for there is no elsewhere. That amounts to saying that all dharmas arise yet do not arise, and cease yet do not cease. The seeds of the seven great elements are output yet not output—since nothing goes outside the tathāgatagarbha, where could they be output to? In particular, the consciousness-seeds of the seventh consciousness (manas)—where could they be output to? Without the impetus of the manas there would be no world of the five aggregates. Among false dharmas, the manas is the first to exist; apart from it there is no other false dharma at all. Where does the manas exist, and when it ceases, where does it cease into? All within the tathāgatagarbha, at the place of the tathāgatagarbha; and all the other illusory and false dharmas are likewise so.

Reflecting on this is most interesting, and even more meaningful: the world originally has no dharmas, nor is there even a world—there is nothing at all. To see a dharma is to see the tathāgatagarbha; to have seeing is the tathāgatagarbha's seeing. What else could there be, apart from the tathāgatagarbha? All dharmas are utterly without attainment—unattainable, absolutely unattainable.

What is called "arising"? Emerging from the essence—the appearance of another thing—is called arising. No dharma has ever emerged outside the tathāgatagarbha; all abide within the tathāgatagarbha, and therefore none has ever been born. Since none has been born, none ceases either; all dharmas are originally the tathāgatagarbha, unborn and unceasing. Hence it is also said that all dharmas are empty and without self-nature. We bustle about every moment of every instant—what meaning is there in it?

To accept and acknowledge this principle is to attain the patience of non-arising and the patience of the non-arising of dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti). The mind consciousness can accept it easily and acknowledge it easily; the crux lies with the manas. If the manas can accept it, that is realization; complete and thorough realization would make one a Buddha. To think about it is easy; to accomplish it takes three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas—it is extremely difficult. "Stretching out both legs and lying at ease, caring not a whit about any affair." Why such leisure? All dharmas have nothing to do with me, and there is no "me" either; the myriad dharmas are at ease, and I too am at ease. What is there in the world worth making a fuss about?

Original text: 如是乃至。五阴六入。从十二处。至十八界。因缘和合。虚妄有生。因缘别离。虚妄名灭。殊不能知。生灭去来。本如来藏。常住妙明。不动周圆。妙真如性。性真常中。求于去来。迷悟生死。了无所得。

Explanation: The Buddha said: The same principle applies. Extending these illusory false dharmas to the five aggregates and the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana), and from the twelve places (āyatana) on to the eighteen realms (dhātu)—all of them are falsely born only when causes and conditions combine; when causes and conditions separate and no longer combine, they falsely cease. Yet sentient beings do not know that the arising, ceasing, going, and coming of these dharmas are originally the tathāgatagarbha's everlasting wondrous brightness, its perfection, its limpidly unmoving wondrous true suchness nature pervading all dharmas. Within this wondrous true suchness nature, to seek the coming and going of all dharmas, or the delusion and awakening and the birth and death of sentient beings, is utterly unattainable—fundamentally nothing can be obtained, nothing exists.

The five aggregates are form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness; the six sense bases are the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; the twelve places are the six faculties plus the six dusts; the eighteen realms are the six faculties, the six dusts, and the six consciousnesses. All of these are falsely produced when causes and conditions combine. The conditions for the production of the aggregate of form are karmic conditions and the conditions of father and mother, plus the manas's nature of craving, attachment, and grasping; the production of the external six dusts is due to the karmic conditions of all sentient beings who have karmic connections with them. When the six faculties contact the six dusts, the six consciousnesses are born. Each of the six consciousnesses has its own conditions; only when these conditions are complete does each and every one of the eighteen realms arise; if the conditions are not complete, it cannot arise. This shows that the eighteen realms, which arise in dependence on conditions, are false and illusory.

When the six consciousnesses are born, the functions and activities of the five aggregates appear; the five aggregates, too, are born of causes and conditions. The Buddha said that it is with cause and conditions that the world assembles; having conditions but lacking the cause still will not do—the five aggregates and eighteen realms cannot be assembled. The cause and source of the myriad dharmas, of the five aggregates and eighteen realms, is the tathāgatagarbha, fundamentally enlightened and wondrously bright. When cause and conditions separate, the false phenomena vanish and perish, and the five aggregates and eighteen realms perish as well. Yet sentient beings do not know that these floating dusts ever arising and ceasing, and the comings and goings of the body of the five aggregates, are originally the tathāgatagarbha's everlasting wondrous bright nature.

The tathāgatagarbha abides constantly and unmoving; though unmoving, its essential nature pervades all Buddha-lands of the ten directions, perfectly accomplishing all dharmas. All dharmas are the tathāgatagarbha's wondrous true suchness nature, which is also the Buddha-nature. Within the true and everlasting suchness nature, to seek the comings and goings of the five aggregates, the arising and ceasing of the myriad dharmas, or the delusion, awakening, birth, and death of sentient beings—all is utterly unattainable. For all these dharmas are the wondrous true suchness nature, manifested and transformed by suchness—illusory and empty-phantasmal—and therefore utterly unattainable.

2. Original text:佛言阿难。云何五阴。本如来藏。妙真如性。阿难。譬如有人。以清净目。观晴明空。唯一晴虚。迥无所有。其人无故。不动目晴。瞪以发劳。则于虚空。别见狂华。复有一切。狂乱非相。色阴当知。亦复如是。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Ānanda, how is it that the five aggregates are originally the wondrous true suchness nature of the tathāgatagarbha? Ānanda, suppose there is a person who with pure eyes gazes at the clear, bright sky: there is only clear, clean emptiness, with nothing whatsoever. For no reason at all, this person stares fixedly into the sky without moving his gaze. After staring for a long time, the eyes grow weary; because of the weariness, hallucinations appear, and he sees in the sky wildly flitting and dancing specks of flowers, along with all manner of wild, disordered marks that were never there. These flower-specks and disordered marks are not real things; they are all conjured-up false dharmas. The aggregate of form is just like these wild flowers: it does not originally exist; it is a conjured, illusory, falsely existent dharma—an illusory mark seen through the inverted delusion of sentient beings' minds, without real substance.

Original text: 阿难。是诸狂华。非从空来。非从目出。如是阿难。若空来者。既从空来。还从空入。若有出入。即非虚空。空若非空。自不容其。华相起灭。如阿难体。不容阿难。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Ānanda, these wild flower-specks do not come from the sky, nor do they emerge from the eyes. Ānanda, the fact is this: if the wild flowers came from the sky, they would also return and vanish back into the sky. If anything could come out of and enter into the sky, then the sky would no longer be called sky, no longer be empty nothingness; the sky would have become a solid entity. Were it a solid entity, it naturally could not accommodate the arising, ceasing, exiting, and entering of these flower-marks—just as your body, Ānanda, could not accommodate another Ānanda.

Original text: 若目出者。既从目出。还从目入。即此华性。从目出故。当合有见。若有见者。去既华空。旋合见眼。

若无见者。出既翳空。旋当翳眼。又见华时。目应无翳。云何晴空。号清明眼。是故当知。色阴虚妄。本非因缘。非自然性。

Explanation: If these wild flowers emerged from the eyes, they would also enter back into the eyes. Since they emerged from the eyes, the nature of these flower-specks ought to possess the seeing nature just as the eyes do. If the flower-specks had the seeing nature, then when the flowers went out from the eyes into the sky, and when they came back from the sky, they should be able to see the eyes—but in fact they cannot. Clearly the flowers lack a seeing nature like that of the eyes; therefore the flower-specks do not exit and enter through the eyes.

If the flower-specks lacked the seeing nature, then when they went out from the eyes they would obstruct the entire sky, and when they came back from the sky they should obstruct both eyes, whereupon the eyes should see nothing at all. But in fact it is not so: neither the sky nor the eyes are obstructed. Clearly the flowers do not exit and enter through the eyes. Moreover, when the eyes see the wild flowers, there should be no weariness or pathological hallucination; yet it is precisely because the eyes have grown weary and hallucination has arisen that the wild flowers are seen. If the wild flowers are seen because of weary hallucination, how could this be called clear eyes and a clear sky? This shows that the wild flowers do not exit and enter through the eyes.

In short, the wild flowers do not come from the sky, nor do they exit and enter through the eyes; they come from nowhere and go nowhere—they are originally illusory. Their nature is originally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor a natural nature, but the tathāgatagarbha nature—the function and wondrous operation of the tathāgatagarbha. The aggregate of form is likewise false: coming from nowhere, going nowhere, neither the nature of causes and conditions nor a natural nature—it is all the tathāgatagarbha nature.

3. The Falsehood of the Aggregate of Feeling

Original text: 阿难。譬如有人。手足宴安。百骸调适。忽如忘生。性无违顺。其人无故。以二手掌。于空相摩。于二手中。妄生涩滑。冷热诸相。受阴当知。亦复如是。

Explanation: The Buddha said to Ānanda: Suppose there is a person whose hands and feet are at ease, still and unmoving, every joint and every part of his body comfortable and well-adjusted; at that moment he forgets himself, his mind temporarily oblivious to the body's existence, with no feelings of good or bad either. For no reason, this person rubs his two palms together in the air, and the moment the two hands touch, feeling-marks such as coarseness, smoothness, cold, and warmth falsely arise.

These feelings originally did not exist; they arise only because the two hands make contact—coming from non-existence into existence—and are therefore false. The aggregate of feeling is also like this: originally there are no feelings of any kind; only because the six faculties contact the six dusts do feelings of suffering, happiness, sorrow, joy, and neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) falsely arise and then vanish. From non-existence to existence and back to non-existence—false feeling throughout.

Original text: 阿难。是诸幻触。不从空来。不从掌出。如是阿难。若空来者。既能触掌。何不触身。不应虚空。选择来触。

Explanation: The Buddha said to Ānanda: These illusory sensations of touch neither come from the sky nor emerge from the palms. It is thus, Ānanda: if the sensation of touch came from the sky, then since it can touch the palms, why can it not touch the body? The sky should not choose selectively what it comes to touch. Now the body produces no feeling at all—only the two hands have feeling—so this sensation of touch does not come from the sky.

Original text: 若从掌出。应非待合。又掌出故。合则掌知。离则触入。臂腕骨髓。亦应觉知。入时踪迹。

必有觉心。知出知入。自有一物。身中往来。何待合知。要名为触。是故当知。受阴虚妄。本非因缘。非自然性。

Explanation: If the sensation of touch came from within the palms, then the palms would naturally produce feelings all the time, without needing the two hands to rub against each other to produce feeling. Moreover, if the sensation emerged from the palms, then when the hands come together the palms have awareness, and when the hands part, the sensation should return into the palms and pass from the palms into the body; then the wrists, arms, and bone marrow should also be aware of the sensation entering the body—all parts of the body should have awareness.

If that were so, there must be a knowing, aware mind that knows the sensation has gone out from the palms and returned into the palms; in that case there would naturally be some thing coming and going within the body. Since there is this knowing thing, why should it be known only when the two hands come together? There would be no need for feeling to arise only when the two hands rub together; even when the hands are apart there should constantly be touch-sensation and feeling; then even when the body is not in contact with the dust of touch, there should be feeling and awareness of touch.

In that case, the very definition of contact would have to change: it would no longer be the contact of faculty contacting dust, for there would be feeling even when faculties do not contact dust. This would violate the principle that the six faculties contacting the six dusts give rise to the six consciousnesses. If the consciousness's feeling could arise without cause and without condition, then when meditators sit in meditation and enter meditative concentration (samādhi), extinguishing the functions of the six faculties, they would still have feelings, and could not enter concentration and attain tranquility. Therefore know: illusory touch does not come from the sky nor emerge from the palms; it comes from nowhere and goes nowhere; it is originally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor a natural nature—it is all the tathāgatagarbha nature. By the same reasoning it can be proven that the aggregate of feeling is equally false: coming from nowhere, going nowhere, originally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor a natural nature—it is precisely the tathāgatagarbha nature.

4. The Falsehood of the Aggregate of Perception

Original text: 阿难。譬如有人。谈说酢梅。口中水出。想踏悬涯。足心酸涩。想阴当知。也复如是。

Explanation: The Buddha said to Ānanda: Suppose someone is talking about sour plums, and as he talks, sour water begins to flow from his mouth. He has not eaten a sour plum; merely talking about one brings forth sour water—an extremely false phenomenon. Words do not produce sour water; it is that sentient beings' minds engage in perception, cognizing the sourness of the plum, and a physiological reaction follows—the sour water flows out. Or suppose someone imagines himself standing at the edge of a cliff; as he keeps imagining, fear arises within, and the accompanying reaction is soreness in the soles of his feet—he is afraid his footing will be unsteady and he will fall off the cliff—when in fact he is sitting at home.

Originally, mental thinking has nothing to do with the feet; the sore reaction appearing in the soles is therefore completely false, and there is no reason for such a thing to occur—the aggregate of perception is likewise unreal. Perception means cognizing, knowing, deliberating, imagining, thinking of, and recollecting. When one talks about sour plums, the mind cognizes the sourness and a feeling arises. When the mind thinks of the cliff, it cognizes the danger and a feeling arises. With the feeling, physiological reactions immediately follow. This cognizing nature is false: there is no sour plum in the mouth, and the two feet are not standing at the edge of any cliff; yet through false thinking—thinking without cause, thinking contrary to fact—false feelings nevertheless appear. It is truly illusory.

It is like a mentally ill person: his cognition of the external world is deranged, so his inner thinking cannot be correct, and the whole series of actions he subsequently performs certainly violates common sense; his cognition and perception are thus false, unrealistic, incorrect, and contrary to reason. Our aggregate of perception is likewise contrary to reason and contrary to reality, because of ignorance (avidyā). The perception and knowing of the Buddhas, however, have no ignorance: they are wholly in accord with reason and with the Dharma, without the slightest derangement.

Original text: 阿难。如是酢说。不从梅生。非从口入。如是阿难。若梅生者。梅合自谈。何待人说。若从口入。自合口闻。何须待耳。若独耳闻。此水何不。耳中而出。想踏悬崖。与说相类。是故当知。想阴虚妄。本非因缘。非自然性。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Ānanda, this talk of sour plums is not produced from the plum, nor does it enter through the mouth. If the talk were produced from the plum, the sour plum could do the talking itself—would it still need a person to talk about it? If the talk entered through the mouth, the mouth would hear by itself, with no need for the ears to hear. If the ears alone heard, why does the sour water not come out of the ears instead of from the mouth? Therefore such talk appears falsely. When within the mind there is perception and initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra), language comes forth; language in turn stirs up deeper levels of perception and knowing, producing the examination of sourness, and the saliva flows out. They influence and interconnect with one another—all of it false, with nothing real in it; if one clings to it, birth and death continue on and on.

The thought of one's feet stepping at the cliff's edge is likewise false. This thought does not come from the cliff—otherwise the cliff would do the thinking itself, with nothing to do with the person; nor is it born from the feet—if the feet could produce thoughts, they would think constantly and be sore constantly, and normal life would become impossible. The mind falsely imagines standing at the edge of a cliff, stirring up trouble out of nothing; then, without any reason, the feeling of fear arises, and even more without reason the soles of the feet grow sore. Not one of all these is a real event—it is all several consciousness-minds turning things topsy-turvy. Such are sentient beings, toying with themselves and steeped in misery—truly worthy of compassion. The Buddha said the aggregate of perception is likewise false: these thoughts and recollections come from nowhere and go nowhere. Originally not the nature of causes and conditions, not a natural nature—they are all the tathāgatagarbha nature.

5. The Falsehood of the Aggregate of Volitional Formations

Original text: 阿难。譬如暴流。波浪相续。前际后际。不相踰越。行阴当知。亦复如是。

Explanation: Ānanda, it is like a rushing torrent: wave follows upon wave in unbroken succession; the waves behind always follow the waves ahead, none overstepping another, the sequence undisturbed. The aggregate of volitional formations is also like this: one flow of volitional formations follows another flow of volitional formations, the order of before and after perfectly orderly.

Take, for example, the volitional-formation flow of the eye consciousness: the previous eye-consciousness seed arises and ceases, and the next eye-consciousness seed arises and ceases at the very same position, one after another arising and ceasing, forming the flow of the eye consciousness, whereby sentient beings are able to see forms. The body consciousness is also like this; only thereby are there the body's feelings and the body faculty's movements and activities. The mind consciousness is thus, the manas is thus, and the flowing of the blood is also thus. Whatever moves and revolves without ever being still belongs to the aggregate of volitional formations.

Original text: 阿难。如是流性。不因空生。不因水有。亦非水性。非离空水。

Explanation: Ānanda, this flowing nature of water is not produced from the sky, nor is it produced because of water, nor does it belong to the nature of water. For water has the nature of wetness, whereas the torrent has the nature of flowing; the two are not the same attribute. Yet the torrent also cannot exist apart from the sky and the water: apart from the sky there would be no space, and the torrent could not flow—it would become static, like a bottle brimful of water which, having no space within, remains static no matter how it is shaken. And apart from water there would be no water-flow either—how could it surge?

Original text: 如是阿难。若因空生。则诸十方。无尽虚空。成无尽流。世界自然。俱受沦溺。

若因水有。则此暴流。性应非水。有所有相。今应现在。若即水性。则澄清时。应非水体。若离空水。空非有外。水外无流。是故当知。行阴虚妄。本非因缘。非自然性。

Explanation: It is thus, Ānanda: if the torrent were produced because of the sky, then since the sky is boundless, torrents would arise everywhere throughout the boundless sky; all the worlds of the ten directions would suffer the torrent's assault and submersion, and no living being could survive. Clearly the torrent does not exist because of the sky.

If the torrent existed because of the water—water has the nature of wetness, so the torrent should have the nature of wetness; yet the torrent has the nature of flowing, with its own attributes and appearance, lacking the wetness of water. If the torrent were born of water, then wherever there is water there should be a torrent; then when the water is clear and still, why is no torrent seen—only water? Clearly the torrent does not exist because of water. If the torrent existed apart from the sky and the water—outside the sky there is nothing at all, so the torrent could not exist; it can only exist within the sky; and apart from water there is no flowing nature of water, so the torrent could not exist either.

In short, the torrent is not produced from the sky, not produced from water, yet it also cannot exist apart from the sky and the water. It comes from nowhere and goes nowhere; it is originally false. The aggregate of volitional formations is likewise so: coming from nowhere, going nowhere, originally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor a natural nature—it is all the tathāgatagarbha nature.

6. The Falsehood of the Aggregate of Consciousness

Original text: 阿难。譬如有人。取频伽瓶。塞其两孔。满中擎空。千里远行。用饷他国。识阴当知。亦复如是。

Explanation: Ānanda, suppose someone takes a kalaviṅka bottle, fills it with empty space, stops up its two openings tightly so that the space cannot escape, and then carries the space in this bottle to present it to another country a thousand li away. This is a foolish act; the whole affair is originally false and cannot be established. For empty space is not a dharma, not truly existent: the bottle is empty to begin with, and filling it with space leaves it just the same empty space as before—no different from not filling it at all. Therefore space has no coming or going, no movement, and cannot be transported from here to there. The aggregate of consciousness of sentient beings is likewise false, blindly cognizing realms of the six dusts that never existed in the first place.

Original text: 阿难。如是虚空。非彼方来。非此方入。如是阿难。若彼方来。则本瓶中。既贮空去。于本瓶地。应少虚空。若此方入。开孔倒瓶。应见空出。是故当知。识阴虚妄。本非因缘。非自然性。

Explanation: Ānanda, such empty space cannot come from that other place, nor can it enter into the space of this place. If space could come from that place, then since the bottle was filled with that place's space and carried off, the space at that place should have diminished; and when the space in the bottle is poured out here, upon opening the bottle one should see the space come out of it, and the space here should have increased. In fact there is no such thing whatsoever; clearly the moving of space is originally false. The aggregate of consciousness's taking up of the six dusts is likewise false: the six dusts do not exist to begin with—how could they allow us to grasp them at will? It is merely several consciousness-minds falsely discriminating. And the aggregate of consciousness is neither the nature of causes and conditions nor a natural nature—it is all the tathāgatagarbha nature.