Section Two   The Twelve Sense Bases Are Illusory

I. Original Text: Furthermore, Ananda, why are the twelve sense bases fundamentally the wondrous true suchness nature of the Tathagatagarbha? Ananda, you now observe this Jetavana Grove and its various springs and ponds. What do you think? Does this seeing arise because forms generate the eye’s seeing, or because the eye generates forms?

Ananda, if the eye faculty were to generate forms, then when seeing emptiness, which is without form, the nature of form should vanish. If it vanishes, then everything becomes manifestly nonexistent. Since forms are nonexistent, what then makes the substance of emptiness evident? The same applies to emptiness.

Explanation: The World-Honored One said: Ananda, why are the twelve sense bases fundamentally the wondrous true suchness nature of the Tathagatagarbha? Ananda, you may observe this Jetavana Grove and all its springs and ponds. What do you think? How does the seeing of forms arise? Do the forms themselves generate the seeing of the eye consciousness, or does the eye faculty generate the forms?

Ananda, if the eye faculty could generate forms, then when seeing emptiness, which has no form, the forms generated by the eye faculty upon seeing emptiness would vanish. If forms vanish, the seeing that sees forms would also vanish. If the seeing that sees forms vanishes, one could not see emptiness, nor could one see anything at all. If forms are nonexistent, the eye faculty would have no seeing; yet one can still know that emptiness is nothingness. Who is it that knows and perceives the nothingness and emptiness? But you clearly can see emptiness; your seeing has not vanished. It does not vanish along with the disappearance of forms. This indicates that the eye faculty does not generate forms; rather, another entity generates the forms.

Original Text: If forms generate the eye’s seeing, then when observing emptiness, which is without form, the seeing would vanish. If it vanishes, everything becomes nonexistent. Then who makes emptiness and forms evident?

Explanation: If forms could generate the eye’s seeing, then when seeing emptiness, which has no forms, emptiness could not generate the eye’s seeing, and the ability to see would then be nonexistent. Thus, all phenomena would be nonexistent. In that case, who then knows and perceives that emptiness is without form? Therefore, it is said that the ability to see, emptiness, and forms have no fixed location. Both forms and the seeing nature are illusory; they are neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature. Naturally, they are the nature of the Tathagatagarbha.

Here, the Buddha implicitly indicates that the Tathagatagarbha generates forms, and these forms are internal manifestations, shadows of external forms, a secondary manifestation of the Tathagatagarbha, or what may be called a manifestation. If forms generated the seeing of eye consciousness, then emptiness, not being a form, could not generate seeing. When seeing emptiness, there would be no seeing. Since there is no seeing, how could one see emptiness and know it as emptiness?

Original Text: Therefore, you should know that seeing, forms, and emptiness all have no fixed location. That is, forms and seeing—these two bases are illusory. They are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature.

Explanation: Therefore, you should know that the seeing of eye consciousness, forms, and emptiness all have no fixed location. Forms and the seeing of eye consciousness are both illusory; they are neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature, but are the nature of the Tathagatagarbha, all originating from the Tathagatagarbha. Thus, the thesis that the Tathagatagarbha generates all dharmas is established. Therefore, the World-Honored One draws a substantive conclusion: All dharmas are born from the Tathagatagarbha; they are solely manifestations of the Tathagatagarbha mind.

The twelve sense bases—the six faculties and six consciousnesses—the World-Honored One informs sentient beings, are all the nature of the Tathagatagarbha, all born from the Tathagatagarbha. They lack inherent and true nature; they are dharmas that are born, illusory and unreal. Forms and the seeing of eye consciousness have no fixed location and no inherent nature; they do not originally exist. Therefore, the World-Honored One says these dharmas are all illusory.

If one comprehends the faculties, sense objects, and consciousnesses as taught in the Agama Sutras, understanding the Shurangama Sutra becomes easier. The six faculties contact the six sense objects, then the Tathagatagarbha gives rise to the six consciousnesses. The six consciousnesses then contact the six sense objects, resulting in seeing. Actually, the three continuously interact, giving rise to uninterrupted seeing. After the six faculties have been born, and the external six sense objects have already been born, the Tathagatagarbha transforms the external six sense objects into internal six sense objects. The subtle faculty then contacts the internal six sense objects, and the six consciousnesses arise to discriminate the internal six sense objects. Viewed this way, are not the six faculties, six sense objects, and twelve sense bases utterly illusory? The source from which these dharmas arise thus becomes clear.

II. Original Text: Ananda, you further hear in this Jetavana Garden: when food is ready, drums are beaten; when the assembly gathers, bells are struck. The sounds of bells and drums succeed one another. What do you think? Do these sounds come to your ear, or does your ear go to the place of the sound? Ananda, if these sounds come to your ear, then just as when I beg for food in Shravasti City, I am not in the Jetavana Grove. Similarly, if the sound must come to Ananda’s ear, then Maudgalyayana and Kasyapa should not hear it simultaneously. How much less could twelve hundred and fifty shramanas all hear the bell sound at once and come together to the eating place?

Explanation: Ananda, you further hear in this Jetavana Garden the sound of drums beaten to summon for meals and the sound of bells struck to call the assembly together. The sounds of bells and drums succeed one another without interruption. What do you think? Do you hear the sound because the sound comes to your ear, or does your ear go to the place of the sound? Ananda, if these sounds come to your ear, just as when I go to Shravasti City to beg for food, I am not present in the Jetavana Grove. Similarly, if the sound comes to your ear, then Maudgalyayana and Mahakasyapa would have no sound there; they could not hear it simultaneously. Even less could those twelve hundred and fifty bhikshus hear it; how could they all arrive at the eating place simultaneously upon hearing the bell sound?

Original Text: If your ear goes to the place of the sound, then just as when I return and dwell in the Jetavana Grove, I am not in Shravasti City. If you hear the drum sound, your ear has already gone to the place where the drum is beaten. When the bell sound arises simultaneously, you should not hear it concurrently. How much less could you hear the various sounds of elephants, horses, cows, sheep, and so forth. If there is no coming or going, then there would also be no hearing. Therefore, you should know that hearing and sound both have no fixed location. That is, hearing and sound—these two bases are illusory. They are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature.

Explanation: If your ear goes to the place of the sound, just as when I return from begging for food to the Jetavana Grove, I am not present in Shravasti City. If you hear the drum sound, your ear has gone to the place where the drum is beaten. When the bell sound arises again, you should not be able to hear it simultaneously. Then you could hear even less the sounds of elephants, horses, cows, sheep, and various other sounds. If your ear and the sounds do not move toward each other, you would hear nothing at all. Therefore, you should know that hearing and sound—these two bases—are both illusory. They are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature; they are the wondrous true suchness nature of the Tathagatagarbha.

III. Sound is illusory; fundamentally the Tathagatagarbha. Sound does not come to the ear, nor does the ear go to the place of sound, yet one can hear sound. This indicates that what is heard is not real sound but false sound; the act of hearing sound is illusory. If sound came to one person’s ear, it could not come to another person’s ear. Then one person could hear it, but others could not.

If the ear faculty goes to the place of sound to hear it, then the ear faculty can go to one place of sound but cannot simultaneously go to another place of sound; thus, it could not hear other sounds. In reality, we can simultaneously hear sounds from various different places. This shows that the sound we hear is not real sound.

Similarly, when seeing forms, if forms come to the eye faculty and seeing occurs, others could not see them, because forms cannot be in two or more places simultaneously. If the eye faculty goes to the place of forms to see them, then the eye faculty cannot simultaneously go to other places of forms; thus, it could not see other forms. In reality, we can simultaneously see forms in multiple places. This indicates that the forms we see are not real forms but illusory; the act of seeing forms is not real.

Therefore, the six sense objects contacted by sentient beings are illusory; the act of discriminating the six sense objects is an illusory dharma, not real. The vibration and propagation of sound is an illusion; it seems to be transmitted to everyone’s ears, but in reality, it is not. Sound is a material dharma composed of earth, water, fire, and wind. Matter is a fixed entity; if this matter goes to one place, it cannot go to another place. Sound is the same; if it reaches one person’s ear, it cannot reach another person’s ear.

Yet everyone hears the same sound. This shows that what everyone hears is not the real external sound but a shadow of sound manifested again by the Tathagatagarbha; it is an internal manifestation. Therefore, what sentient beings hear are all internal manifestations, shadows, illusions. The World-Honored One says they are all the nature of the Tathagatagarbha; sound and forms are both the nature of the Tathagatagarbha. When hearing sound, it feels as if one is hearing sound, but this is actually an illusion; there is no such real event.

All phenomena in the world are not truly existent. Our conscious mind is deceived by superficial appearances, thinking that everything we contact is so real. After enlightenment, when various contemplations arise, one will feel that everything is illusory, like a mirage, like a dream, like looking at a reflection in a mirror. At that time, although afflictions and habits may still remain, the inner feelings often become different. If not for the support of vows, there would be no need to live on; no one wishes to live in an illusion.

Everything we contact is unreal, illusory. Yet the fundamental substance that gives birth to all dharmas, including the birth of the five aggregates, eighteen elements, and the universe—this fundamental mind is real. Only by realizing it and contemplating it can one truly know its reality and all its attributes. Before enlightenment, one can study and learn about its attributes through cultivation, attaining a similar understanding.

IV. Original Text: Ananda, you again smell the sandalwood incense from this incense burner. If this incense, when one zhu is burned, can be smelled simultaneously within forty li around Shravasti City, what do you think? Does this fragrance arise from the sandalwood, from your nose, or from emptiness? Ananda, if this fragrance arises from your nose, being called nose-born, then it should emerge from your nose. But the nose is not sandalwood; how could the nose have the fragrance of sandalwood? To say that you smell the fragrance, it should enter your nose for you to smell. If the fragrance emerges from your nose, to say that you smell it with your nose is not reasonable.

Explanation: Ananda, you again smell the sandalwood incense from the incense burner. This sandalwood incense, if one zhu is burned, can be smelled simultaneously by all sentient beings within forty li around Shravasti City. What do you think? Does this fragrance arise from the sandalwood, from your nose, or from emptiness? Ananda, if this fragrance arises from your nose, being called nose-born fragrance, then the fragrance should emerge from your nose. But the nose is not sandalwood; how could the nose have sandalwood fragrance? The reason it is said that you can smell the fragrance is that the fragrance should enter your nose for you to smell. If the fragrance emerges from your nose, to say that the nose smells the fragrance is incorrect.

Original Text: If it arises from emptiness, emptiness is constant and eternal; the fragrance should always exist. Why then rely on burning this dry wood in the incense burner? If it arises from the wood, then this fragrant substance, because of being burned, becomes smoke. If your nose smells it, it should be affected by the smoke. But the smoke rises into the air and does not travel far; how can it be smelled within forty li? Therefore, you should know that fragrance, the nose, and the faculty of smelling all have no fixed location. That is, the faculty of smelling and fragrance—these two bases are illusory. They are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature.

Explanation: If the fragrance arises from emptiness, emptiness is constant and unchanging; the fragrance should constantly exist. Why then rely on the incense burner burning sandalwood? If the fragrance arises from the sandalwood, then this sandalwood’s fragrant substance, because of being burned, becomes smoke. If your nose smells it, it should be affected by the smoke. But after the smoke rises into the air, it does not reach far; how can it be smelled within forty li? Therefore, you should know that the fragrance, the nose, and the faculty of smelling have no fixed location. Among them, the faculty of smelling and fragrance—these two bases—are illusory. They are neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature but the nature of the Tathagatagarbha.

V. Original Text: Ananda, you regularly hold your alms bowl in the assembly twice daily. Occasionally, you encounter ghee, cheese, or the finest butter, called supreme flavors. What do you think? Does this flavor arise from emptiness, from your tongue, or from the food? Ananda, if this flavor arises from your tongue, in your mouth there is only one tongue. At that moment, your tongue has already become the flavor of ghee. When encountering black rock sugar, the flavor should not change. If it does not change, it cannot be called knowing flavor. If it changes, the tongue is not multiple; how can one tongue know many flavors?

Explanation: Ananda, you regularly go for alms with the assembly twice daily. During alms gathering, you may encounter ghee, cheese, or the finest butter, the best flavors in food. What do you think? Does this flavor arise from emptiness, from your tongue, or from the food? Ananda, if this flavor arises from your tongue, in your mouth there is only one tongue. If the tongue generates the flavor of ghee, cheese, and the finest butter, then when encountering black rock sugar, it should still be the flavor of ghee, cheese, and the finest butter; it should not change to the flavor of black rock sugar. If the flavor on the tongue does not change, one cannot say the tongue can taste and know flavors. If the flavor on the tongue can change, then a person has only one tongue, not multiple tongues; how can one tongue taste many flavors?

Original Text: If it arises from the food, the food is not conscious; how could it know itself? Moreover, if the food knows itself, that would be like another eating it; what does that have to do with you, to be called your knowing of flavor? If it arises from emptiness, if you taste emptiness, what flavor would it be? If emptiness must be salty, then it would not only make your tongue salty but also your face salty. Then people in this world would be like fish in the sea. Since they constantly experience saltiness, they would not know blandness. If they do not know blandness, they would not perceive saltiness either; they would necessarily know nothing. How then could it be called knowing flavor? Therefore, you should know that flavor, the tongue, and the faculty of tasting all have no fixed location. That is, tasting and flavor—both are illusory. They are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature.

Explanation: If the flavor of ghee, cheese, and the finest butter arises from the food, the food has no tongue consciousness; how could it taste its own flavor object? Furthermore, if the food knows its own flavor, that would be knowing external to your tongue, not your tongue tasting the food. Then the act of eating would have nothing to do with you; how could you know the flavor of ghee, cheese, and the finest butter?

If the flavor arises from emptiness, if you taste emptiness, what flavor would you taste? If emptiness were salty, then tasting emptiness would not only make your tongue salty but also your face salty. Then people in this world would be like fish in the sea. Since people constantly experience saltiness, they would no longer perceive blandness. If people cannot perceive blandness, they also cannot perceive saltiness; they would necessarily know no flavors at all. In that case, how could they taste and know flavors? Therefore, you should know that the flavor object, the tongue, and the consciousness that tastes have no fixed location. Tasting and flavor—both are illusory. They are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature but the nature of the Tathagatagarbha.

VI. Original Text: Ananda, you regularly touch your head with your hand in the morning. What do you think? Regarding this knowing produced by touching, what is the knower that can touch? Is the ability in the hand or in the head? If it is in the hand, the head should be without knowing; how then is touching established? If it is in the head, the hand is useless; how then can it be called touching?

Explanation: Ananda, you regularly touch your head with your hand in the morning. What do you think? Regarding the knowing produced by touching the head, what is the knower that can touch? Is the hand the knower that can touch, or is the head the knower that can touch? If the hand is the knower that can touch, then the head cannot know the touch; how then can it be called the hand touching the head? If the head is the knower that can touch, the hand is useless; it does not know the touch; how then can it be called the hand touching the head?

Original Text: If each has it, then you, Ananda, should have two bodies. If the head and hand are produced by one touch, then the hand and head should be one entity. If they are one entity, touching cannot be established. If they are two entities, then where is the touching located? What is the toucher is not the touched; what is the touched is not the toucher. It should not be that emptiness and you establish touching. Therefore, you should know that the sensation of touch and the body both have no fixed location. That is, the body and touch—both are illusory. They are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature.

Explanation: If both the hand and the head are knowers that can touch, then you, Ananda, have two bodies that can touch and know. If the head and hand are produced by one touch sensation, then the head and hand are one entity. If they are one entity, touching cannot be established, because one cannot touch oneself. For example, a nose cannot touch a nose, a neck cannot touch a neck; A cannot touch A itself, B cannot touch B itself. There must be A and B touching each other for touching to be established.

If the head and hand are two entities, then which is the toucher? The toucher has knowing; the touched has no knowing. If the hand is the toucher, the head is the touched; the touched has no knowing, yet the head has knowing just like the hand. If the head is the toucher, the hand is the touched; the hand should have no knowing, yet the hand has knowing simultaneously with the head. It should not be that the head and hand touch emptiness; emptiness is the touched and has no knowing, while the head and hand are touchers and both have knowing. This reasoning is invalid. Therefore, the touch sensation and the body have no fixed location. The body and the touch object are both illusory; they are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature; they are the nature of the Tathagatagarbha.

VII. Original Text: Ananda, in your mind, you regularly encounter the three natures: good, evil, and neutral, which generate dharmas. Are these dharmas generated within the mind, or do they exist separately from the mind in another location? Ananda, if they are within the mind, then dharmas are not sense objects; they are not what the mind cognizes. How then can they constitute a base? If they are separate from the mind in another location, then is the self-nature of these dharmas knowing or not knowing? If knowing, it is called mind; different from you, it is not a sense object. Similar to another’s mind, yet it is your own mind. How then can your mind be dual, separate from you?

Explanation: Ananda, in your mental faculty, you regularly encounter dharmas born from the three natures: good, evil, and neutral. Are these dharmas born within the mental faculty, or do they have a separate location apart from the mental faculty? Ananda, if dharmas are born within the mental faculty, then dharmas are not sense objects; the mental faculty could not cognize them. Then how could the mental faculty become a base for contact between faculty and object? If dharmas exist apart from the mental faculty in another location, then does the self-nature of these dharmas possess knowing or not? If dharmas possess knowing, they are called mind; a mind apart from your mental faculty is not a sense object but another mind, identical in nature to the mental faculty. There would be two minds: one is you, Ananda, and the other is a mind. Why then are there two minds for you, Ananda?

Original Text: If they are not knowing, this dharma is not form, sound, smell, taste, touch, separation, union, cold, warmth, or the characteristic of emptiness. Then where should it reside? Now, regarding forms and emptiness, it has no manifestation. There should not be, in the human realm, anything beyond emptiness. The mind does not cognize it. From whom then is the base established? Therefore, you should know that dharmas and the mind both have no fixed location. That is, the mental faculty and dharmas—both are illusory. They are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature.

Explanation: If dharmas have no knowing, they are not mind but sense objects. Yet this dharma is not form, sound, smell, taste, or touch; it lacks the characteristics of separation, union, cold, warmth, or the characteristic of emptiness. Where then does this non-form, non-empty dharma reside? It cannot be represented by form or emptiness; it has no manifestation in form or emptiness. There should not exist, in the human realm, any dharma beyond emptiness. If dharmas are separate from the mental faculty, the mental faculty cannot cognize them; then a base cannot be established. The mental faculty is not the base for dharmas, nor are dharmas the base for the mental faculty. Therefore, dharmas and the mental faculty have no fixed location. Thus, the mental faculty and dharmas are both illusory; they are fundamentally neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature; they are the nature of the Tathagatagarbha.

The mental faculty contacts dharmas, giving rise to mental consciousness. Dharmas include dharmas based on the five sense objects and the realm of mere images, with the three natures of good, evil, and neutral. For example, when someone is performing the good deed of giving, the Tathagatagarbha manifests this dharma and transmits it to the mental faculty. The mental faculty contacts this dharma and cognizes it. If interested, it will give rise to the five sense consciousnesses simultaneously present to further discriminate this dharma; if not interested, the five sense consciousnesses simultaneously present do not arise. The Tathagatagarbha manifests yesterday’s fight and transmits it to the mental faculty. The mental faculty contacts this realm of mere images. If interested, it will give rise to solitary mental consciousness to discriminate and contemplate this dharma of mere images. Therefore, the mental faculty must always be with dharmas, in the same location, inseparable; otherwise, there would be no dharmas, and the mental faculty would have nothing to cognize.

VIII. How to Contemplate That All Dharmas Are the Nature of the Tathagatagarbha

In the Shurangama Sutra, the World-Honored One repeatedly explains that the five aggregates and eighteen elements are all the nature of the Tathagatagarbha; they are neither conditional nor spontaneous in nature. That they are neither conditional nor spontaneous can be understood through contemplation. However, the nature of the Tathagatagarbha is extremely difficult to understand; even after realizing the Tathagatagarbha, it is hard to observe, and comprehension is not easy.

Formless and shapeless seeds of the four great elements combine to form the tiniest particles. These particles further aggregate to form slightly larger particles. Then the seeds of the four great elements continuously form particles, and the particles continuously gather together, ultimately forming material dharmas visible to the naked eye. From nothing to something, from the emptiness of formless seeds to the form of the tiniest particles—this itself is incredibly wondrous, like magic. That is why it is said the Tathagatagarbha is the magician.

It is said that the Tathagatagarbha outputs the seeds of the four great elements, but essentially, the seeds of the four great elements do not leave the Tathagatagarbha; the particles formed do not leave the Tathagatagarbha; the material dharmas formed do not leave the Tathagatagarbha. Our physical body arises and ceases within the Tathagatagarbha; it does not go outside the Tathagatagarbha. The Tathagatagarbha is formless and shapeless; the physical body cannot be formless and shapeless. So what exactly is the state?

If it is said that material dharmas are born, they must leave the Tathagatagarbha, go outside it, and have a separate form. The seeds of the four great elements leave the Tathagatagarbha; when they cease, the seeds return to the Tathagatagarbha. But the seeds are formless; how do they transform into formed matter? How is this conversion achieved? Outside the Tathagatagarbha, how do material dharmas exist and change? What supports them?

The seeds of the four great elements form particles; particles aggregate to form larger particles. The seeds continuously form particles; particles continuously aggregate. Finally, the physical body appears, with form and characteristics. Yet the physical body is unarisen; it does not leave the Tathagatagarbha. The seeds of the four great elements do not leave the Tathagatagarbha; the physical body cannot leave the Tathagatagarbha. If the seeds of the four great elements leave the Tathagatagarbha to form particles, how do they acquire functional power? Who gives it to them? If seeds leave the Tathagatagarbha, how do they operate? How do they transform from formless to formed? If the physical body leaves the Tathagatagarbha, how does it exist and change? What supports it? At death, when the four great elements separate, how do the seeds return to the Tathagatagarbha? If they never left the Tathagatagarbha, there is no question of returning to it. It turns out it is all the Tathagatagarbha playing by itself, creating a game for itself, performing magic for itself to see, entertaining itself.

Consciousness seeds are born, forming conscious minds. The seeds do not leave the Tathagatagarbha; the conscious minds do not leave the Tathagatagarbha. Apart from the Tathagatagarbha, there are no seeds; apart from the Tathagatagarbha, there are no conscious minds, no mental factors of consciousness, no feeling, perception, mental formations, or consciousness. If feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness operate within the Tathagatagarbha, arising and ceasing, chaotically appearing and disappearing, then form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness are all affairs within the Tathagatagarbha’s household. The illusions do not even leave the household; the Tathagatagarbha enjoys them alone, entertaining itself.

All dharmas do not leave the Tathagatagarbha; therefore, they are unarisen. They do not return to the Tathagatagarbha; therefore, they are unceasing. No phenomena exist in the world; there is no world; nothing exists. Then one might as well sleep all day. But who is it that sleeps? The rules and principles within the Tathagatagarbha are so mysterious, so enigmatic. Without understanding them, one probably cannot sleep soundly either.