“Six Linglong Windows, Eyes Hearing and Ears Seeing”: The Influence of the True Mind of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra on the Imageries of Guanyin and Sages in Song Literature

Abstract

The “Functional interchangeability of Six Roots” also known as the “Six Roots being unrestraint” is according to thoughts regarding Tathagatagarbha in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, rather than mysterious personal experience of Buddhist meditation. The true mind and the delusive mind are distinguished in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. The true mind recognizes the world through six roots so that the six roots can be functionally exchangeable. Scholars represented by SuShi, Huang Tingjian, and Hui Hong not only identify thoughts of the True mind of Buddhism but also apply them to literary creation, overthrowing previous aesthetics and literary performances and giving rise to changes. First, seeing with the ears and listening with the eyes originate from descriptions of Guanyin Bodhisattva’s enlightenment from hearing, whereby poets break through the limit of the eyes and ears. Second, burning incense, tasting tea, and admiring food become poetry themes. The emphases of those poems and essays are fantastic functions of the true mind. These changes are closely related to the new images of sages in their mind.