The Shurangama Sutra, Volume IV: Original Text

Pūrṇa, you also asked, "The natures of earth, water, fire, and wind are perfectly interpenetrating and pervade the entire Dharma Realm. Yet I doubt that the natures of water and fire do not destroy each other. Moreover, I question how space and the great earth, both pervading the Dharma Realm, can coexist without conflict." Pūrṇa, it is like space: its essence is not any of the myriad phenomena, yet it does not obstruct the manifestation of those phenomena. Why is this so? Pūrṇa, in that great void, when the sun shines, it becomes bright; when clouds gather, it becomes dark; when the wind sways, it moves; after rain clears, it becomes pure; when vapor condenses, it becomes turbid; when earth accumulates, it forms mounds; when water clarifies, it becomes reflective. What do you think? Are these various conditioned phenomena in different places—such as brightness, darkness, movement, clarity, turbidity, mounds, and reflections—produced by those [causes like sun, clouds, etc.], or do they arise from space itself? If they are produced by those [causes]...

Pūrṇa, when the sun is shining, it is the sun that brings brightness, and the worlds in the ten directions are all illuminated by the sun's light. How is it that in the sky, a round sun is still seen? If the brightness were from space itself, space should illuminate independently. Why then, during midnight or when clouds and mist arise, does it not emit light? You should understand that this brightness is neither from the sun nor from space, yet it is not separate from the sun or space. The observed phenomena are fundamentally illusory, with nothing substantial to point out. It is like expecting flowers in the sky to bear fruit in emptiness—how can one question the meaning of their mutual destruction? The observed nature is fundamentally true, solely the wondrous enlightenment and luminous mind. The wondrous enlightenment and luminous mind was never water or fire to begin with—why then ask about their incompatibility? The true wondrous enlightenment and luminous mind is also like this.

When you take emptiness as the object of clarity, emptiness manifests. When earth, water, fire, and wind each serve as the basis for manifestation, they each appear. If they all serve as the basis simultaneously, they all appear together. How do they appear together? Pūrṇa, it is like the reflection of the sun appearing in a body of water. If two people observe the sun in the water and then walk separately east and west, each will see a sun following them—one to the east, one to the west. There was originally no fixed standard. It is unreasonable to argue: "This sun is one—how can each walk separately? Since each person’s sun is dual, how did only one appear initially?" It twists and turns in delusion, with nothing to rely upon.

Explanation: This passage from the Śūraṅgama Sūtra records a dialogue between the World-Honored One and Pūrṇa. The context is roughly as follows: Pūrṇa intentionally asked the World-Honored One, "The four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—have natures that are perfectly interpenetrating. Why then are water and fire incompatible? 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 space. The essence of space is not any form, yet space does not obstruct the existence of forms. For within the great void, when the sun shines, space becomes bright; when clouds gather, space becomes dark; when the wind blows, space has movement; after rain ceases, the sky clears; when vapor condenses, the air becomes turbid; when earth accumulates, it forms small hills; when water clarifies, it can reflect objects.

What do you think, Pūrṇa? Are these various conditioned phenomena in different places—such as brightness, darkness, wind-movement, clarity, etc.—produced by causes like the sun, clouds, wind, rain, earth, and rivers, or are they produced by space itself? If they are produced by the sun and other objects, then when the sun shines, the brightness is produced by the sun, and the worlds in the ten directions all have brightness—all should be the sun's light. Why then do the worlds in the ten directions lack the sun and only see brightness? (This means brightness is not produced by the sun but by the Tathāgatagarbha; worlds without the sun still have brightness.)

If brightness were produced by space, space should always be bright and never dark. Therefore, brightness is not produced by the sun nor by space—it is produced by the Tathāgatagarbha. Yet it does not exist apart from the sun and space; the sun and space are supporting conditions for the Tathāgatagarbha to produce brightness.

Observing these phenomena, one finds they are all illusory and unreal. Yet to then seek flowers in the sky and expect them to bear fruit in emptiness is even more impossible, even more delusional. Therefore, water and fire do not have the characteristic of destroying each other; the arising and ceasing of water and fire are both due to the Tathāgatagarbha, not because of each other. The same applies to earth and space—all are due to the Tathāgatagarbha.

Thus, observing the nature of the Tathāgatagarbha reveals it is true and real. The nature of all phenomena is the Tathāgatagarbha nature, the wondrous enlightenment and luminous nature of the Tathāgatagarbha. Yet the wondrous enlightenment and luminous nature of the Tathāgatagarbha has no water or fire nature—why then speak of water and fire being incompatible?

The true mind, the wondrous enlightenment and luminous nature, is also like this—it is the Tathāgatagarbha nature. When your mind seeks to perceive space, space appears. When your mind seeks to perceive earth, water, fire, or wind, they each appear individually. If you wish for these phenomena to appear simultaneously, they will all appear together.

How do they appear together? Pūrṇa, it is like the reflection of the sun appearing in a body of water. Two people observe the sun in the water together, then each walks east and west separately. Each will have a sun following them—one east, one west. You should not argue: "This sun is one—why do they now appear separately with each person going their own way? The suns for the two people total two—why did only one sun reflection appear initially in the water?" However one thinks about it, it is all delusion, with no evidence to substantiate these phenomena. In truth, whether there is one or many sun reflections in the water, all are produced and manifested by the Tathāgatagarbha. Even the sun in the sky is produced and manifested by the Tathāgatagarbha. Do not think these sun reflections have any reality and speculate why one sun seemingly becomes two, three, or many. With conditions, the Tathāgatagarbha produces all phenomena; without conditions, it does not produce. Such is the principle of the Dharma Realm.