Author Description

This is the second of two volumes of selected lectures on the Shurangama Sutra by Master Sheng Yen that appeared in Chan Newsletter. In Volume One, Master Sheng Yen discussed the nature of the phenomenal world, which consists of the eighteen realms, namely: the six sense organs, the six sense objects, and the six sense consciousnesses. These eighteen realms are the products of the twelve links of conditioned arising, and the law of cause and effect (karma), which together give rise to the five skandhas, the foundation of what we perceive to be our individual self. Taking each of the realms separately, Master Sheng Yen explained the fundamental nature of the eighteen realms is that of emptiness. And since the five skandhas are nothing more than the product of the eighteen realms, they too are empty of self. In Volume Two, Master Sheng Yen continues his explanation of the eighteen realms and conscious existence. He explains how the eighteen realms are not only the causal ground of the illusion of an existing self, but that they are also the means by which sentient beings can attain liberation. In the chapter "The Story of Vision," he says: "Those [enlightened beings] act within the eighteen realms unfettered by vexations. Such perfected beings perceive that the eighteen realms are neither separate nor different from Buddha Nature, or True Suchness. They perceive that the Dharma Body of all Buddhas has always been within these eighteen realms." The perfected beings that Master Sheng Yen refers to are Bodhisattvas who practice to transform the mind of illusion into the mind of wisdom, one that is free of the three karmas of action, speech, and thought. In the final chapter, Master Sheng Yen tells us, "When penetration is complete, everything is as it is. No matter what you consider good, no matter what you consider bad, everything is as it is. There is no need to seek or to abandon, or to increase or decrease anything. Whatever needs to be done, a Bodhisattva still proc