Efficacies of the Six Senses #The Shurangama Sutra L51 #khenposodargye

The Shurangama Sutra L51 Efficacies of the Six Senses

In this session of the Shurangama Sutra, Khenpo Sodargye conducts a detailed analysis of the twelve hundred efficacies of each of the six sense faculties, drawing on the Buddha's direct instruction to Ananda. After establishing that some faculties fully possess twelve hundred efficacies while others only eight hundred, Khenpo examines each faculty in turn. The eye-faculty, which sees in front but not behind, has only eight hundred. The ear-faculty, which hears in all ten directions without exception — whether far or near, in silence or in sound — possesses a perfect twelve hundred. The nose-faculty lacks one third of its range because each breath is divided into inflow and outflow, giving it only eight hundred. The tongue-faculty, capable of proclaiming all worldly and world-transcending phenomena and wisdom, reaches a full twelve hundred. The body-faculty, which requires physical contact and therefore ceases to function when separated from objects, has only eight hundred. The cognitive faculty, which ranges across past, present, and future without limitation, achieves a perfect twelve hundred. The Buddha then urges Ananda to reverse his outflows and focus deeply on a single gateway, explaining that the ear-faculty — which hears in all directions equally and is never obstructed — has won first place as the perfectly penetrating faculty. The session ends with the Buddha teaching Ananda that a single day of practice through a perfectly penetrating faculty is vastly superior to countless eons of practice through an incomplete one.