The Esoteric Significance of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra
Section 2: The Parable of the Deluded Person Suddenly Awakening
Original text:富楼那言。若此妙觉。本妙觉明。与如来心。不增不减。无状忽生。山河大地。诸有为相。如来今得。妙空明觉。山河大地。有为习漏。何当复生。
Explanation: Pūrṇa asked the Buddha: if this wondrously awakened wondrously luminous true mind neither increases in the Buddha nor decreases in sentient beings, and is by nature untainted, without ignorance, why did it, without any cause, give rise to conditioned dharmas such as mountains, rivers, and the great earth? The Tathāgata has now completely returned to the perfect wondrous awakened luminosity of His own mind, without a trace of habitual outflows — how could He still give rise to conditioned, tainted dharmas such as mountains, rivers, and the great earth?
This must be explained in two points. First, when the minds of sentient beings produce the marks of conditioned dharmas, it is not without cause: it is all because the karmic seeds created by ignorance exist within the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. When the conditions ripen, the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, will inevitably produce conditioned and tainted dharma-marks in accordance with those karmic seeds, corresponding to the karmic seeds of sentient beings and corresponding to the ignorance of sentient beings. On the other hand, as long as the ignorance of sentient beings is not extinguished, the tainted habitual tendencies of the seven consciousnesses will always manifest, and this will resonate with the arising of conditioned and tainted dharmas.
Second, the Buddha has already realized the perfect, wondrously awakened wondrous luminosity, has returned to that wondrously awakened wondrous luminosity, and has exhausted all habitual outflows; therefore He will no longer give rise to any tainted conditioned dharmas. However, in order to liberate sentient beings, the Buddha can expediently manifest conditioned dharmas — these are called untainted conditioned dharmas (anāsrava-saṃskṛta) — for the purpose of expediently guiding sentient beings onto the Path. The Buddha's own mind of intrinsic awakening still possesses the nature of conditioned dharmas, with the seeds of the four great elements still present. The Buddha does not extinguish these conditioned dharmas; according to the conditions of sentient beings, He can use the four great elements to manifest these conditioned dharmas again, thereby benefiting and bringing joy to sentient beings without end. Although He manifests these conditioned dharmas, it is not because of ignorance or habitual outflows, but because of His compassionate mind and great vows, His refusal to abandon sentient beings. The conditioned dharma-marks manifested by sentient beings, however, arise because of ignorance, because of delusion — and delusion is precisely ignorance.
Original text:佛告富楼那。譬如迷人。于一聚落。惑南为北。此迷为复。因迷而有。因悟所出。富楼那言。如是迷人。亦不因迷。又不因悟。何以故。迷本无根。云何因迷。悟非生迷。云何因悟。佛言。彼之迷人。正在迷时。倏有悟人。指示令悟。富楼那。于意云何。此人纵迷。于此聚落。更生迷否。否也世尊。
Explanation: The Buddha told Pūrṇa: Suppose there is a person who has lost his way in a village, so deluded that he takes south for north. Does this delusion arise because of his delusion, or does it come forth because of awakening, when he is no longer deluded? Pūrṇa said: This lost person became lost neither because of delusion nor because of awakening. Why do I say this? Because delusion itself has no root and no cause — how could one become deluded because of delusion? And once awakened, one is no longer deluded — how could delusion be caused by awakening?
The Buddha said: That lost person, while he was in the midst of his delusion, suddenly encountered someone who was not deluded, who knew the way, and who pointed out the correct path to him, enabling him to understand the right direction. Pūrṇa, what do you think — even though this person was originally deluded and could not tell south from north, would he still be deluded and unable to find his way in this village? Pūrṇa said: He would no longer be deluded.
The Buddha used this parable to explain this principle: delusion fundamentally has no root; there is no cause that produces delusion — if there were a cause, one would not be deluded. But the breaking of this delusion does have causes and conditions: because someone else points out the direction out of the confusion, the delusion disappears, and from then on one will never be deluded again. Delusion is ignorance; it is not knowing, not understanding. It has no place of origin, and there is no place where ignorance is stored. Once one knows and understands, ignorance vanishes; and when it vanishes, the delusion also has nowhere to go.
Sentient beings have ignorance in dependence upon their own intrinsic awakening; ignorance is precisely the nature of intrinsic awakening, the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. All dharmas are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and all dharmas exist in dependence upon the tathāgatagarbha. Then, having exhausted ignorance, will the Buddhas in the future become deluded again and transmigrate once more through the six realms? Of course not. When deluded, one is like gold containing impurities; when awakened, the impurities are removed and the gold is refined. Once the gold has been refined, it will never again be mixed with impurities, and there will be no impurities forever. That is to say, after the Buddhas have exhausted all ignorance and attained the Way, they will no longer give rise to ignorance, and will never return to the deluded and inverted state of sentient beings to become sentient beings again.
Original text:富楼那。十方如来。亦复如是。此迷无本。性毕竟空。昔本无迷。似有迷觉。觉迷迷灭。觉不生迷。亦如翳人。见空中花。翳病若除。花于空灭。忽有愚人。于彼空花所灭空地。待花更生。汝观是人。为愚为慧。
Explanation: Pūrṇa, the Tathāgatas of the ten directions are also like this: once they have thoroughly awakened, they will never again be deluded and inverted. This delusion has no foundation; its nature is ultimately empty (śūnyatā). In the past, there was originally no delusion; it merely seemed as if there was an awakening that came after delusion. In fact, once a person awakens from delusion, the delusion disappears and is gone; the absence of delusion is awakening. There is no real thing called "awakening," and awakening does not give birth to or induce delusion. It is also like a person with an eye disease (timira) who sees flowers floating in the sky; if the eye disease is cured, the flowers vanish from the sky. If some foolish person were to wait at the spot in the sky where the flowers vanished, expecting the flowers to appear again — look at this person: is he foolish or wise?
Original text:富楼那言。空元无花。妄见生灭。见花灭空。已是颠倒。敕令更出。斯实狂痴。云何更名。如是狂人。为愚为慧。佛言。如汝所解。云何问言。诸佛如来。妙觉明空。何当更出。山河大地。又如金矿。杂于精金。其金一纯。更不成杂。如木成灰。不重为木。诸佛如来。菩提涅槃。亦复如是。
Explanation: Pūrṇa said: Empty space originally has no flowers; it is the discriminating mind that falsely sees the arising and ceasing of the flowers. To see the flowers vanish from the sky is already inverted; to demand that the flowers appear again — such a person is truly mad and foolish. How could one even ask whether such a madman is foolish or wise? The Buddha said: Just as you have understood it, then why do you ask me why the Tathāgatas, whose wondrous awakening is luminous emptiness, should ever again give rise to mountains, rivers, and the great earth, and manifest conditioned habitual outflows? It is like a gold mine mixed with refined gold: once the gold has been purified, it will never again become adulterated. It is like wood burned to ash: the ash will never become wood again. The Tathāgatas, having realized bodhi and nirvāṇa, are also like this — they will no longer give rise to conditioned habitual outflows.
