The Void is Finite, the Mind is Infinite

To summarize these two points, let us further explore the concept of the "world": the world has boundaries, while the void is boundless. The worlds in which we sentient beings reside are all born of our karma—impure lands brought forth by tainted, afflictive karma. Due to the vast differences in the karma of sentient beings, the number, shape, abode, and lifespan associated with these worlds all vary. Therefore, it can be said that there are countless worlds.

Today, astronomers use radio telescopes to discover worlds many light-years away. Not only is there the Earth, the solar system, and the Milky Way, but also extragalactic star systems and massive galaxies beyond our own. Within them, individual planets are constantly being destroyed and born. It is a dazzling, immeasurable, and boundless display, revealing that worlds are indeed infinite in number. However, compared to the void, they still fall short—the void is boundless, whereas worlds have boundaries.

Why is this so? The Śūraṅgama Sūtra states: "The tainted lands, as numerous as motes of dust, all arise from the void." "Tainted" refers to the lands—Buddha-fields (kshetras)—manifested by the tainted karma of ordinary beings. Though they are as numerous as motes of dust, all these countless worlds are born from the void. Clearly, therefore, the void is far greater than they are. Because they depend on the void to exist, it is established that worlds have boundaries, while the void is boundless.

The following phrase is even more fascinating: "The void has boundaries, but the nature of the mind is boundless."

We generally consider the void to be the largest expanse imaginable, but can anything be larger than the void? We should not belittle ourselves: the inherent nature of our mind in this very instant is far vaster than the void! The void is still but a perceived domain manifested by the tainted karma of sentient beings; it is a conditioned phenomenon. Our mind-nature, however, is unconditioned and untainted—that is what is truly boundless. Therefore, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra states: "Space arises within the Great Awakening, like a single bubble forming in the sea." What does the void depend upon to exist? It arises within the innate awakened nature of our own minds. Thus, our fundamental nature—our awakened awareness—is incomparably larger than the void. It is not merely a hundred times larger, nor just a few times larger. This is the meaning of "like a single bubble forming in the sea." Using this metaphor, our mind-nature is like the great ocean, while the void is merely a small floating bubble—there is simply no comparison. Another metaphor illustrates that the entire void is like a solitary cloud, whereas our mind-nature is like the vast, infinite cosmic space. The infinite cosmic space is our mind-nature, and the void is just a cloud within it.

We have been lost in delusion for far too long. Had the Buddha not revealed this truth, we sentient beings could rack our brains for lifetimes and never conceive of it. We must truly feel gratitude for the Buddha's virtues, for he has revealed it to us in its entirety! This is why the Śūraṅgama Sūtra poses the "Seven Inquiries into the Location of the Mind" and presents the "Ten Demonstrations of the Nature of Seeing"—all to point directly to the inherent nature of our present thought. The Great Śūraṅgama Samādhi is not a worldly dharma: "Wonderfully profound, sovereign, and unmoving Honored One, the King of Śūraṅgama is rare in the world." Thus, while the void has boundaries, the nature of the mind is boundless—this is the true dignity of our lives. This is spoken of from the perspective of pervading the ten directions horizontally, transcending space.

Transcending time, it is said: "The present has boundaries, but the past and future are boundless." Regarding the immediate present, time does not abide. The moment you say "now," that "now" has already passed, because it is constantly changing. Time is established upon the foundation of our deluded thoughts: the arising of a thought marks the present, its cessation marks the past, and its unarisen state marks the future. This is how the three periods of time are established. When we speak of the "present," this present is non-abiding; it is changing in every fleeting instant.

Because of this constant, instant-by-instant flux and change, we remain profoundly oblivious, as our minds are constantly darting outward. We never observe how our own thoughts arise, abide, change, and cease in every split second—so swiftly, like a rushing torrent. Because it is so incredibly fast, it is compared to a spinning firebrand. The points of light are originally discrete dots, but when spun too rapidly, the individual dots can no longer be seen, giving the illusion of a solid ring of light. Therefore, when the Śūraṅgama Sūtra describes the Five Aggregates, it explains that within the aggregate of consciousness, because it moves as swiftly as a rushing torrent, it appears tranquil from afar. From a distance, it looks calm and still, but in reality, it is extremely rapid. Thus, the instantaneous, moment-to-moment transformation of the aggregate of formations within us sentient beings is exactly like this: like a rushing current, like a roaring waterfall.

So, can we truly halt aging? Can we ward off death? This is why, in our evening recitation, we are taught to "simply recollect impermanence." We are aging with every passing instant, dying with every passing instant. Should we not arouse a profound sense of renunciation and determination to cultivate the spiritual path? Instead, we busy ourselves daily with nourishment and bodily maintenance, as if we are going to live to be a hundred and twenty years old. Things are not truly like this. Therefore, "the present has boundaries"—it is impermanent and non-abiding—and it is by contrasting the present with the past and future that we see their vastness.

We often use the phrase "without beginning and without end"—meaning we do not know when the past began, nor do we know when the future will end. Why is it beginningless and endless? This, too, is a concept articulated based on our afflicted minds. Take dreaming, for example: when a dream begins, it is hard to say exactly when. If someone asks you, "When did you enter the dream?" you would shake your head and say, "I don't know."

If you were aware of it, you wouldn't be dreaming. It is precisely because you do not know that you slipped into the dream. Therefore, compared to the fleeting, non-abiding nature of the present moment, the past and future appear to be boundless. But how do these boundless, beginningless, and endless past and future eons compare to our inherent mind-nature? In comparison, the past and future have boundaries, while the nature of the mind is boundless.

Why do we say this? Because both the past and the future are generated by the mind. "When the mind arises, all dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, all dharmas cease." Without the arising and ceasing of this single thought, there is no past and no future. Thus, when compared to our mind-nature, it is the past and future that have boundaries, while the mind-nature is boundless.