–Volume 3(Part8)
Author: Fafu
Translator : Gemini
Hello, Dharma Friends! Welcome to this podcast episode provided by the Buddha’s Practice Association of Australia.
Today, we continue to investigate the illusory nature of the Great Elements of Seeing, Consciousness, and Space (Emptiness), leading us to awaken to the pure fundamental mind of the “Tathagata-garbha, the Wondrous True Suchness Nature.”
1. The Illusion of the Space Element:
Our common understanding suggests that empty space (void) is produced by the removal or excavation of material substance. However, the Buddha’s teaching overturns this view.
When we dig a well to seek water, the earth is removed, and empty space seemingly “appears.” Does space arise spontaneously without cause? Does it arise due to the earth’s departure? Or does it arise due to the act of digging?
- If Space arose spontaneously without cause: Before the earth was dug out, the space should have been everywhere without obstruction. Why then did we only see the great earth and not unimpeded empty space? This shows that space does not arise spontaneously without cause.
- If Space arose due to the earth’s departure: When the earth departs, space should be seen to “enter.” Yet there is no phenomenon of space entering. This indicates that space and earth are not the same thing, and space does not arise due to the earth’s departure.
- If Space arose due to the digging: Digging is merely the action of a human hand moving the earth away. Space does not arise due to the digging, but it manifests through the condition of “excavation.”
The Buddha further clarifies that the relationship between space and the great earth is “neither combined nor not-combined.” The fundamental essence of space is “Pervasive throughout the Dharma Realm and fundamentally unshakable.”
2. The Illusion of the Seeing Element:
The Buddha points out that the faculty of Seeing-Awareness (seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing) is inherently “unknowing.” It “arises due to form and space.” This means that only when we have previously seen some kind of substance or empty space does the sense and feeling of seeing arise.
This Seeing-Awareness appears to exist, but is, in reality, an illusory phenomenon. It is the “illusory source of affliction for seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing.”
For example, in the Jetavana Grove, we see brightness in the morning and dimness at night. This distinction between “brightness and dimness” is analyzed and differentiated by our “seeing.”
The question arises: “Is this seeing fundamentally the same substance as the nature of brightness, darkness, and the great empty space? Or is it not the same substance?” If seeing, brightness, darkness, and empty space were the same substance, then as brightness and darkness alternate, the faculty of seeing should also arise and cease accordingly, but the seeing faculty is fundamentally without arising or ceasing.
If seeing is not the same substance as brightness, darkness, and empty space, then what form does the faculty of seeing assume when separated from brightness, darkness, and empty space? The Buddha clearly states: “Separated from brightness, separated from darkness, and separated from empty space, the seeing faculty is originally the same as a turtle’s hair or a rabbit’s horn”—meaning the faculty of seeing fundamentally does not exist.
Our Seeing-Awareness is “conscious and perceptive,” but it does not arise spontaneously without conditions. It also “arises dependent on karma and manifests according to karma.”
The “self-nature capable of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing” is the “Spiritually Knowing and Spiritually Aware.” It is “pure and fundamentally existing, pervading the Dharma Realm.” It reflects everything like a mirror; yet, it is never the things it reflects, but it can manifest everything. What we perceive as “seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing” are merely the “phenomena and illusions” produced by this Self-Nature. The fundamental essence of the “Seeing Element” is “Nature’s True and Perfect Fusion, all is the Tathagata-garbha, fundamentally without arising or ceasing.”
3. The Illusion of the Consciousness Element:
The Buddha guides Ananda to investigate the root of the “Consciousness Nature.”
“The Consciousness Nature has no source, it spuriously arises from the Six Roots and Six Objects.” This means that our Consciousness Nature (latent habits) does not exist without a source, but is produced illusorily by the Six Consciousnesses which arise from the spurious interaction of the Six Roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) with the Six Objects (form, sound, scent, taste, touch, dharma). For example, the production of eye-consciousness is due to the interaction between the eye-root and the form-object.
The eye cycles through seeing, reflecting like a mirror. However, “your consciousness” can “sequentially label and point,” saying: this is Manjusri, this is Pūrṇa, and so on.
“Does this discriminating consciousness arise from seeing? Does it arise from form? Does it arise from empty space? Or does it arise suddenly without cause?”
- If Consciousness arose within seeing: If there were no brightness, darkness, form, or space, there would be no seeing. From where would consciousness be manifested?
- If Consciousness arose within form: If even the form-object is absent and cannot be seen, from where would consciousness arise?
- If Consciousness arose from space: In the absence of both form and seeing, empty space is as if non-existent. What then could your consciousness discriminate?
- If it arose suddenly without cause: Why is the bright moon not recognized during the daytime? This proves that the arising of consciousness is dependent on causes and conditions.
The Buddha points out that consciousness “is entrusted to your eye, being propelled by the former environment,” relying on the eye-root and arising when facing the object of the environment. Our discriminating mind is capable of differentiation, thus it is the “moving aspect,” while the seeing nature is “immovable.” “You should know that the fundamental nature of discrimination, seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing is perfectly full and tranquil; its nature does not arise from a source.”
The fundamental essence of the “Consciousness Element” is “Nature’s True and Perfect Fusion, all is the Tathagata-garbha, fundamentally without arising or ceasing.”
4. Conclusion:
The Seven Great Elements (Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, Space, Seeing, Consciousness) are illusory concepts established through repeated conditioning and repeated definition. They are the karmic existence created through repeated actions, like a dream, like an illusion. They all arise from causes and conditions and perish by causes and conditions, being mere illusory phenomena. Their fundamental essence is “Nature’s True and Perfect Fusion, all is the Tathagata-garbha, fundamentally without arising or ceasing.”
Thank you!
