How Does Consciousness Arise? — Insights from the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

In everyday life, we often take consciousness to be who we really are. We assume that our thoughts and awareness are permanent and central. Yet, in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha points out that consciousness is not a fixed “self,” but rather a phenomenon that arises through conditions.

1. Consciousness Is Not Fixed

When Ānanda thought the mind must be located inside or outside the body, the Buddha dismantled each assumption. Consciousness has no permanent location. It does not exist as an eternal entity—it only appears when conditions converge.

2. The Condition for Consciousness: Six Faculties and Six Objects

The Buddha explains that consciousness arises when the six sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) encounter the six sense objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, dharmas).

Like a mirror reflecting images, consciousness is nothing more than a projection, dependent on interaction.

3. The False Mind and the True Mind

The consciousness we usually experience is called the “false mind”—it is conditioned, fluctuating, and tied to attachment and discrimination. The “true mind,” however, is pure awareness, beyond arising and ceasing. This is our innate Buddha-nature.

4. Conclusion

In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, consciousness arises as a dependent process: faculties + objects + conditions = awareness. It is like a shadow, appearing only when the right light and surface meet.

True liberation lies not in clinging to the shifting stream of thoughts, but in returning to the pure, unborn awareness that never comes and never goes.

✨ Thus, consciousness is not the real “self.” It is a temporary appearance. What is real is the luminous awareness that remains when illusions dissolve.

࿐འོད་ཟེར། Woser

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