The Esoteric Significance of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Chapter 2  Explanations of Paragraphs in Volume Two

Section 1  The Seeing Nature Possesses Four Conditions

Original text: 阿难白佛言。世尊。必妙觉性。非因非缘。世尊。云何常与比丘。宣说见性。具四种缘。所谓因空因明。因心因眼。是义云何。佛言。我说世间。诸因缘相。非第一义。

Explanation: Ānanda asked the Buddha: World-Honored One, if that subtle nature of awakened clarity is definitely not a nature of causes and conditions, yet you have often told the bhikṣus that the seeing nature possesses four conditions—for example, the so-called seeing nature of eye consciousness: because there is empty space, there is light, there is the conscious mind, and there is the eye faculty, one can see form objects—what does this mean? The Buddha said: What I spoke of were the marks of causes and conditions of the mundane world, dharmas born of causes and conditions; I was not speaking of the seeing nature of the ultimate truth.

Here the seeing nature refers to the functional operation of the seeing nature by which the six consciousnesses perceive the six sense objects, such as the function of eye consciousness seeing forms; it is a dharma born of causes and conditions, requiring the four conditions or nine conditions in order to see forms. When causes and conditions are not complete, this kind of seeing nature no longer exists. Therefore, the seeing that perceives sense-object realms is subject to arising and ceasing and is a false dharma, not the seeing nature of the true mind of the ultimate truth. The seeing nature of the true mind has no conditions; it uses neither causes nor conditions. Regardless of light or darkness, with space or without space, with eyes or without eyes, with an eye-consciousness mind or without an eye-consciousness mind, the functional operation of the seeing nature is always present.

Original text: 阿难。吾复问汝。诸世间人。说我能见。云何名见。云何不见。阿难言。世人因于。日月灯光。见种种相。名之为见。若复无此。三种光明。则不能见。

Explanation: Ānanda, I ask you again: all people in the world say that they possess the capacity to see. What is called seeing? What is called not seeing? Ānanda said: People in the world, relying on the sun, the moon, and lamplight, can see the appearances of various things; this is called seeing. If without these three kinds of light they cannot see, it is called not seeing.

Original text: 阿难。若无明时。名不见者。应不见暗。若必见暗。此但无明。云何无见。阿难。若在暗时。不见明故。名为不见。今在明时。不见暗相。还名不见。如是二相。俱名不见。若复二相。自相陵夺。非汝见性于中暂无。如是则知。二俱名见。云何不见。

Explanation: Ānanda, if the time without light is called not seeing, then one should also not see darkness; if one can indeed see darkness, then it is merely that there is no light—how can it be called not seeing? Ānanda, if not seeing light while in darkness is called not seeing, then now, when there is light and one does not see darkness, it should likewise be called not seeing. If both light and darkness involve not seeing, with the two obstructing and encroaching upon each other, it is not that your seeing nature temporarily vanishes and ceases to exist within them. Therefore, one should know that in both light and darkness there is the seeing nature, and both are called seeing; how can it be said to be not seeing?

Original text: 是故。汝今当知。见明之时。见非是明。见暗之时。见非是暗。见空之时。见非是空。见塞之时。见非是塞。四义成就。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Therefore you should now know that when seeing light, the seeing nature is not the light; when seeing darkness, the seeing nature is not the darkness; when seeing empty space devoid of a single thing, the seeing nature is not empty space; when seeing something present that is not empty, the seeing nature is not obstruction and matter. Only thus can the four dharmas—light, darkness, emptiness, and obstruction—be established, and the seeing nature can also be established.

Here the Buddha speaks of the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha of the ultimate truth, which does not belong to sense-object realms; of course, the seeing nature of the six consciousnesses also does not belong to sense-object realms, except that the seeing nature of the six consciousnesses arises from sense-object realms, whereas the seeing nature of the true mind of the ultimate truth does not arise from sense-object realms. When the six consciousnesses see light, the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha is not the light; when the six consciousnesses see darkness, the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha is not the darkness. When seeing emptiness, the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha is not emptiness; when seeing obstruction, the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha is not obstruction. The seeing of the tathāgatagarbha is not related to light and darkness: there is seeing in light and seeing in darkness—what continuously operates without interruption is the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha. It is not related to emptiness and obstruction: there is seeing in emptiness and seeing in obstruction—that is the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha.

The seeing of light and darkness is the seeing of the six consciousnesses; the seeing of emptiness and obstruction is the seeing of the six consciousnesses; the seeing of the tathāgatagarbha does not see these marks. What does the tathāgatagarbha see? The marks seen by the tathāgatagarbha do not belong to worldly marks, do not belong to the six sense-object realms; what it sees is all related to seeds, not falling into worldly marks. It has no worldly mind, no emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, no afflictions, and it does not create karmic actions of good and evil.

Original text: 汝复应知。见见之时。见非是见。见犹离见。见不能及。云何复说。因缘自然。及和合相。汝等声闻。狭劣无识。不能通达。清净实相。吾今诲汝。当善思惟。无得疲怠。妙菩提路。

Explanation: The Buddha said: You should know that when you see your seeing nature, this seeing by which you see the seeing nature is not the seeing of the seeing nature of the ultimate truth. The seeing of the seeing nature can exist independently, apart from the seeing that perceives the seeing nature; it possesses seeing without relying on the seeing that perceives the seeing nature. Whether you see it or not, the seeing of the seeing nature exists without ceasing. The seeing by which you see the seeing nature and the seeing of the seeing nature are not of the same kind; the two cannot be equated. How can you still say that the seeing nature is generated by causes and conditions, or that it exists naturally, or that the seeing nature is a mark of combination? You śrāvakas all have narrow and inferior minds with little knowledge and insight, and therefore cannot penetrate the meaning of the pure true reality within the dharmadhātu. I now instruct you: you should contemplate well, and must not again give rise to a mind of laxity toward the wondrous great path of bodhi.

The seeing nature of the ultimate truth can be apart from the six faculties and six sense objects, and can also be apart from the seeing of the six consciousnesses; on its own, independently, it can have seeing. The seeing nature originally exists; it is not born of causes and conditions and does not rely on external conditions. The seeing of the six consciousnesses—eyes seeing forms and ears hearing sounds—cannot be equated with the seeing nature. Therefore, one cannot say that the seeing nature is a nature of causes and conditions born from causes and conditions; nor is it a natural nature that exists naturally; nor is it something patched together from various things combined. To realize Him, one must cultivate merit and wisdom, and use the eye of wisdom—the formless wisdom-eye—to discover Him; the fleshly eye cannot see Him.

In "when seeing the seeing," the first "seeing" is the seeing of the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, and the second "seeing" is the seeing of the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha. When we see the realms of the six sense objects, it is the seeing of the deluded mind; behind it there is still the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The two seeings are one true and one false; they must not be confused as indistinguishable, nor equated. The seeing nature of the deluded six consciousnesses is not the original seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha; the two seeings must be distinguished—do not take the seeing nature of the six consciousnesses to be the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha can exist apart from the seeing nature of the six consciousnesses; it can exist independently without needing the seeing nature of the six consciousnesses. Where there is the tathāgatagarbha, there is the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha (except during Nirvāṇa without remainder).

The seeing nature of the six consciousnesses cannot be mentioned in the same breath as the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha, nor can one see the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha in the way one sees the realms of the six sense objects. Yet the seeing nature of the six consciousnesses is false seeing; the true seeing, the seeing of substance, is still the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha—just like a shadow-puppet play: what you see are all false appearances, but in substance it is all done by the person behind the screen. Therefore, do not again take the seeing of the six consciousnesses as true seeing; true seeing does not see the realms of the six sense objects.