According to the Surangama Sutra, physical sense perception is by its very
nature limited. It says that the objective world arises from the mind itself.
Taking these manifestations of the mind as being real we go on discriminat-
ing them and cherishing the dualism of ‘this’ (i.e. an attribute) and ‘that’ (i.e.
its complementary attribute). The multiplicity of objects, however, has no
reality in itself and is like a dream. It is not until discrimination is gotten rid
of that the fact that ‘all things are empty, unborn and without independent
existence’ can be appreciated. In ignorance things are perceived and in per-
fect knowledge they are not perceived, the Sutra says. Objects and the world
neither exist nor do not exist — it depends on your frame of reference.
Over time, the Sutra says, sentient beings have been led astray by mis-
taking the nature of their mind to be the same as the nature of any other
object. Their minds became bewildered by outer objects and the perception
of their sight changed to conform to the dimensions of its visual field and
to become limited strictly according to outer conditions. If you learn to see
things by your true mind, says this Sutra, so perfectly universalized will
your mind become that ‘even at the point of a single hair all the kingdoms
of the universe will be seen.’ 5
We must be careful to distinguish between the perception of our eyes
and the intrinsic perception of sight by our enlightened mind that is con-
scious of the fallible perception of the eyes. Though there may be all degrees
of illumination between brightness and darkness, intrinsic perception possess-
es no differentials (in other words no complementary pairs of attributes are
discerned). According to the Surangama Sutra, as soon as consciousness (i.e
divergent awareness) appears, then all such phenomena as sight, space, mo-
tion etc., will be manifested; and as soon as this consciousness disappears,
all such phenomena also disappear. This discriminating consciousness has
‘no originality of its own,’ in other words it is derivative; it is an illusive
manifestation developed by our sensory systems.
