The Surangama Sutra (Leng Yen Ching)愣严经: Expedient Instruction on the One Mind

An enlightening read from Surangama sutra (Leng Yen Ching)愣严经. To read more, click here.

Ananda said: World Honoured One, as the Buddha has said, the causal ground used as the point of departure in quest of Reality should be compatible with the fruit-ground. World Honoured One, though realization of the fruit-ground is called by seven different names: Bodhi, Nirv‡ıa, the Absolute, Buddha-nature, Immaculate Knowledge (Amalavij§‡na), Immaterial Tath‡gata Store, the Great Mirror Wisdom, it is pure, clean and perfect, and its substance does not change, like the royal diamond which is permanent and indestructible. 

Now the faculties of seeing and hearing have no independent nature in the absence of brightness and darkness, stillness and motion, and clearance and obstruction, and are like the thinking mind which ceases to exist in the absence of sense data. How can they be used as the point of departure in the search for the Tath‡gataís seven permanent fruits? World Honoured One, seeing ceases to exist in the absence of light and darkness, like the thinking mind which comes to an end when there are no external phenomena. As I look into all this, I search in vain for my mind and its objects: what then should I set up as the cause in my quest of Supreme Bodhi? Does the Tath‡gataís previous teaching on (the nature of) seeing which is profound, pure, perfect and permanent, contradict your true words and become sophistry (as well)? Will you please be compassionate enough to clear away my delusion and perplexity?

The Buddha said: "You have widened your knowledge by hearing but have failed to get out of the stream of trans- migration completely. Though you know the cause of your upset, yet when you find yourself in the presence of that cause, you fail to recognize it. Lest your trustfulness remain incomplete, I will now do something to clear away your doubt and suspicion. The Buddha then ordered R‡hula to ring the bell and asked Ananda: "Do you hear it?" Ananda and the others in the assembly replied that they did. When the bell was no more heard, the Buddha asked again: "Do you still hear it?" They all replied that they did not. R‡hula again rang the bell and the Buddha asked: Do you hear it?í They replied that they did. The Buddha then asked Ananda: "What do you mean by hearing and not hearing?‚Ananda and the others replied: "When the bell is rung, we call it hearing and when the sound and its echo stop, we call it not hearing."The Buddha again ordered R‡hula to ring the bell and asked ‚Ananda: "Is there any sound?" ‚Ananda and the others replied that there was a sound of the bell. A little later when it could no longer be heard, the Buddha asked again: "Is there any sound?" They all replied that there was none. Then Ràhula rang the bell again and the Buddha asked: "Is there any sound?" They all replied in the affirmative. 

The Buddha then asked ‚Ananda: What do you mean by sound and no sound?" Ananda and the others replied that if the bell was rung, there was sound and when both the sound and its echo stopped, this was called no sound. The Buddha said: "Why did you talk so wildly?"‚Ananda and the others asked: "Why do you say that we talked wildly?" 

The Buddha said: "When I asked you about hearing, you spoke of hearing and when I asked you about the sound, you spoke of it. So merely about hearing and sound, your answers were ambiguous; how could they not be called wild? ‚Ananda, when both the sound and its echo ceased, you said there was no hearing: if there really was no hearing, its nature would have died and would be like a withered log, but when the bell was rung again, how did you hear it? Existence and non-existence concern only the sound which may be present or not, but how can the nature of your hearing follow your discrimination to exist or not? If it really ceased, who then knew there was no sound?  Therefore, ‚Ananda, in your hearing, the sound may exist or not, but this does not mean that the sound, whether heard or not, (can) cause your hearing to exist or not. In your delusion you mistake the sound for your hearing and so regard the permanent as transient. You should not say that hearing has no nature when it exists apart from (the conditions of) disturbance, stillness, obstruction and clearance. 

"For instance, when a man sleeps soundly, if people pound rice, he may hear the beating of a drum or the ringing of a bell. So when asleep he may find it strange that the bell is like the beating of a (piece of) wood or stone, but if he suddenly wakes up and hears the pestle, he will tell his family about his mistake when asleep. "Ananda, does that man remember in his sleep (the conditions of) stillness, disturbance, clearance and obstruction? Although his body rests, the nature of his hearing is present. "Even when your body perishes and your life comes to an end, how can this nature vanish? For since the time without beginning all living beings have followed forms and sounds and pursued the flow of their thoughts without awakening to their pure, profound and permanent nature. By straying from the permanent and by following birth and death, they have been contaminated with defilements in successive lives. If you (only) keep away from sams‡ra and dwell in real permanence, your eternal Light will appear thereby causing your organs, sense data, consciousness and (mad) mind to vanish simultaneously. The objects of your thinking process are (polluting) dust and the feelings that arise from your consciousness are impurities; if both are kept away, your Dharma eye will appear pure and bright instantly. Why then cannot you realize Supreme Bodhi?"