Dear Dharma friends, have you ever wondered why the world turns endlessly while we remain lost within it, ignorant of our true home? Today, guided by the wondrous teachings of the Shurangama Sutra, we explore how we’ve ignored the ever-present spirit, mistaken the three continuities for reality, and how awakening cuts through illusion to perfect enlightenment. Let us join together in this pure Dharma feast and unlock the true mind!
Purna’s Doubt: Why Does the Spirit Give Rise to Illusions?
Purna asked the Buddha: “You say the five aggregates, six entrances, twelve sense fields, and eighteen realms are the spirit. Why then does the spirit suddenly produce these phenomena, persisting until now?” The Buddha replied: “The path to Buddhahood rests on the spirit as its root. I’ve often told you the inherent nature is spiritually aware and all-knowing, called ‘innate clarity,’ while beings rely on consciousness to perceive, called ‘perceptive awareness.’ Which ‘awareness’ do you mean—innate spiritual awareness or the perceptive awareness of beings?” Purna said: “If ignorance is also awareness, doesn’t that mean no clarity?” The Buddha answered: “Beings’ clarity depends on a locus; with a locus, it’s not spiritual awareness. Without one, the spirit still knows. Clinging to a locus—whether clear or unclear—you miss your own spirit. Innate awareness simply is, not born of a locus; beings, taking loci as real, establish illusions.”
The Source of the Three Continuities: Karma Fuels the Cycle
The Buddha explained with a metaphor: “Like water vapor turning to water when cooled, then ice when frozen, shaped into forms. The spirit is like vapor—pure and formless—becoming water with the first deluded thought, then ice with karma, sculpted into heavens or hells. The inherent nature has no joy or pain, yet manifests them through karma. Deeming them real binds you to karma; knowing them as illusory frees you from obstruction.” He continued: “Clinging to perceptive awareness amid the six sense objects, karma gives rise to myriad phenomena, birthing the continuity of worlds. Mixed with emotion, thought, union, and separation, it forms seed-like life forms, yielding the continuity of beings. Killing, stealing, and lust create debts, repaid endlessly, forming the continuity of karmic fruition. These three arise from mistaking perceptive awareness for truth, acting amid karmic phenomena, conjuring all phenomena in ceaseless succession.”
The Buddha’s Realm: Illusion Ends with Awakening
Purna asked: “If the spirit neither grows nor shrinks, and the Buddha’s mind is perfectly empty and aware, free of illusions, when do these mountains, rivers, and beings appear before the Buddha?” The Buddha countered: “Does a lost traveler’s confusion arise from delusion or clarity?” Purna replied: “Neither.” The Buddha said: “Once guided, he’s no longer lost. Likewise, Buddhas, having ended delusion, shine with innate clarity. Like an eye patient seeing flowers in the sky—when healed, they vanish. No fool asks when they’ll reappear. The Buddha’s mind is pure gold, free of dross; like ashes, not reverting to wood. Beings, deluded by illusions, turn from the spirit, birthing dependent and direct retributions, seeking good or bad within them, creating myriad karmic phenomena. The Buddha abides in the Tathagata’s treasury—spiritual awareness pervading the Dharma realm, a single hair manifesting infinite worlds, preaching within a mote, unmoving yet wondrous.”
Practice of Stillness: Extinguishing Karmic Phenomena, Merging with the Spirit
The Buddha taught: “Don’t follow the three continuities; train in stillness. Like muddy water settling—karmic phenomena sink, clarity emerges—initially subduing the guest-karmic afflictions. Filter out the sediment entirely, and fundamental ignorance is forever severed. The six faculties no longer chase greed, anger, or delusion; karmic habits fall away, and the spirit shines freely.” Dear friends, the spirit is an unmoving dojo. Focus on one task, count breaths, or recite the Buddha’s name—hold steady without chaos. When karmic phenomena clear, the spirit reveals its marvels.
Delusion Without Cause: The Parable of Yannadaduo
Purna asked: “If my spirit matches the Buddha’s, why does delusion trap me in samsara? Whence comes this delusion?” The Buddha illustrated: “Yanruodatduo saw his face in a mirror, doubting his own head, and ran off in madness. What caused this?” Purna said: “A delusional fit, no cause.” The Buddha affirmed: “The spirit is pure and omnipresent; delusion has no root. It’s a mix of past memories, present greed and folly, stirred into thought—unreal. Knowing confusion lacks cause, without adding guesses, delusion finds no foothold. It never truly arises, so how could it cease? The awakened are like dreamers awake—dreams, however vivid, can’t be grasped. Cease distinguishing the three continuities, their conditions break; without pursuit, their causes don’t form. Delusion naturally stills, revealing the spirit, ever-present across the Dharma realm, not gained from outside.”
Conclusion: Severing Illusions to Return to the Spirit, Entering Perfect Enlightenment
Dear friends, the spirit endures unchanging, the three continuities mere illusions. Knowing delusion has no root, we cease chasing karmic phenomena. With the Ten Good Deeds and steadfast focus, we sever the three continuities, letting the true mind shine. May we abide in the Shurangama’s sublime truth, distinguish truth from delusion to awaken the true mind, and enter the boundless peace of perfect enlightenment. Wishing you all the bliss of this Dharma path!
