Original Text of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Four

Original text: 富楼那。又汝问言。地水火风。本性圆融。周遍法界。疑水火性不相陵灭。又征虚空。及诸大地。俱遍法界。不合相容。富楼那。譬如虚空。体非群相。而不拒彼诸相发挥。所以者何。富楼那。彼太虚空。日照则明。云屯则暗。风摇则动。霁澄则清。气凝则浊。土积成霾。水澄成映。于意云何。如是殊方诸有为相。为因彼生。为复空有。若彼所生。

富楼那。且日照时。既是日明。十方世界。同为日色。云何空中。更见圆日。若是空明。空应自照。云何中宵云雾之时。不生光耀。当知是明。非日非空。不异空日。观相元妄。无可指陈。犹邀空花。结为空果。云何诘其相陵灭义。观性元真。唯妙觉明。妙觉明心。先非水火。云何复问不相容者。真妙觉明。亦复如是。

汝以空明。则有空现。地水火风。各各发明。则各各现。若俱发明。则有俱现。云何俱现。富楼那。如一水中。现于日影。两人同观水中之日。东西各行。则各有日。随二人去。一东一西。先无准的。不应难言。此日是一。云何各行。各日既双。云何现一。宛转虚妄。无可凭据。

Explanation: This passage from the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is a dialogue between the World-Honored One and Pūrṇa. The gist of the premise is this: Pūrṇa deliberately asked the World-Honored One, saying: the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind are by nature perfectly harmonious and pervade the entire dharma realm, so why do water and fire not tolerate each other—water can extinguish fire, fire can evaporate water, and earth can obstruct space?

The World-Honored One replied: this principle is like the analogy of empty space. The essence of empty space is not any of the various material forms, yet space does not obstruct the existence of those forms. Because within vast empty space, when the sun shines, space is bright; when clouds gather, space is dark; when the wind blows, space takes on the mark of movement; when the rain stops, the sky becomes clear; when vapors condense, the air becomes turbid; when earth piles up, it forms hazy mounds; and when water settles clear, it can reflect objects.

What do you think, Pūrṇa? These various distinct conditioned dharmas—such as brightness, darkness, wind and movement, clear skies, and so forth—do they arise because of the sun, clouds, wind, rain, earth, rivers, and so on, or do they exist because of empty space? If they arise because of things like the sun, then when the sun shines, the brightness is produced by the sun, and the worlds in the ten directions all have brightness, so they should all be sunlight—why then do the worlds in the ten directions not show a sun, but only brightness? (The point here is that brightness is not produced by the sun; it is produced by the tathāgatagarbha. Worlds without a sun still have brightness.)

If brightness were produced by empty space, then there should be brightness in space at all times, and there should never be times of darkness. Therefore, brightness is not produced by the sun, nor is it produced by empty space; rather, it is produced by the tathāgatagarbha. Yet brightness also does not exist apart from the sun and empty space—the sun and empty space are the supporting conditions through which the tathāgatagarbha produces brightness.

Observing these marks, one finds that they are all false and unreal, yet one still seeks to bring in those flowers of space and form them into fruits of emptiness—this is even more impossible, even more illusory. Therefore, water and fire do not actually extinguish each other; the arising and ceasing of water and fire all come from the tathāgatagarbha, not from each other. The great earth and empty space are likewise so—all are due to the tathāgatagarbha.

Therefore, upon observing the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, it is found to be true and real, not false. The nature of all dharmas is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha; all are the wondrous enlightened luminous nature of the tathāgatagarbha. Yet the wondrous enlightened luminous nature of the tathāgatagarbha has no nature of water or fire—so why ask whether water and fire are incompatible?

The true mind's wondrous enlightened luminous nature is also like this—it is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. When your mind wishes to apprehend empty space, empty space appears; when your mind wishes to apprehend earth, water, fire, and wind, they will appear one by one. If you wish for these dharmas to appear all at once, then these dharmas will appear all at once.

How do they appear all at once? Pūrṇa, for example, in a body of water, the reflection of the sun appears. Two people observe the sun in the water together, and then each walks off in an opposite direction, east and west; there will then be a sun following each of the two people, one going east and one going west, with no fixed reference beforehand. You should not object, saying: the reflection of the sun was originally one, so why do two now appear, each following one of the two people to their respective places? The two people's suns together make two, so why did only one sun's reflection appear in the water at first? However you think about it, it is all illusory, and no evidence can be found to account for these phenomena. In fact, no matter how many sun reflections there are in the water, all are produced and conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha; even the sun in the sky is produced and conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha. Do not suppose that these sun reflections have any true reality, and then speculate about them, saying: clearly there was one sun, so why did it turn into two, three, or many? When conditions exist, the tathāgatagarbha produces the myriad phenomena; when conditions do not exist, the tathāgatagarbha does not produce them. Such is the law of the dharma realm.