“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.

1. Introduction

Within the “Functional interchangeability of Six Roots” also known as the “Six Roots” in Ancient Chinese poetry and literature, there exists a rhetorical technique of “Synaesthesia 通感”, that is, that the senses of each sense can be transferred to each other. Qian Zhongshu 錢鐘書 (1910–1998) categorized the phenomenon of “penetrating sense” into two types: the first one is psychological common sense, such as “the red apricot branches are bustling with spring 紅杏枝頭春意鬧” and “the temple is full of red leaves that burn people’s eyes 寺多紅葉燒人眼, and the ground is full of moss that stains the horse’s hooves 地足青苔染馬蹄”, etc. The second is the mystical experience of symbolism, promoting the idea that all kinds of senses can be mingled and mixed, which is the theoretical basis for the theory of “Synaesthesia”. Qian cites “Eyes Hearing and Ears Seeing 耳視目聽” in the traditional Taoist Lie Zi 列子, the mutual use of the “six roots 六根互用” in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra (SS), as well as the Song dynasty person praises of Guanyin Bodhisattva 觀音菩薩 “ear-roots penetration 耳根圓通”, to argue that the above “Synaesthesia” is based on mystical experience (Qian 1985, pp. 63–75). However, Zhou Yukai 周裕鍇 argued that Qian Zhongshu’s description of the phenomenon of “Synaesthesia” was relatively general and did not distinguish between the theoretical differences between Taoism and Buddhism in exploring the functions of the senses. Poets in the Song dynasty had a conscious awareness of the “mutual use of the six roots”. Second, the concept of the “mutual use of the six roots” originated in the mystical experiences of Song scholars studying the SS. Then, this concept permeated their daily lives and aesthetic activities (Zhou 2011, pp. 136–37).

However, attributing the Synaesthesia of these poems to mystical experiences involving the Buddhist phenomenon of the “functional interchangeability of the six roots” is to misunderstand their ideological basis. Its theoretical basis is the true mind of Buddhist thought. Buddhism calls everything in the world the aggregate of form 色陰, the aggregate of sense perception 受陰, the aggregate of cognition 想陰, the aggregate of mental formations 行陰, and the aggregate of consciousness 識陰. It assumes that they are all illusory and unreal. The nature of the True mind was accepted and recognized by the scholars of the Song Dynasty, and their poems on the “functional interchangeability of the six roots” were closely related to it.

2. The Relationship between Tathagatagarbha 如來藏 and the Six Roots 六根

Before discussing the rhetoric of the Song poets and writers, it is important to first clarify the differences between the six Buddhist roots 六根 and the six Chinese faculties.1 The Chinese tradition considers the five faculties to be the sensory organs, through which one perceives the world. Xunzi 荀子 said the following:

The eye, ear, nose, mouth, and body each have the capacity to provide sense contact, but their capacities are not interchangeable-these are termed “the faculties given us by nature.” the heart/mind that dwells within the central cavity is used to control the five faculties-it is called “the lord provided by nature”. 耳，目，鼻，口，形，能各有接而不相能也，夫是之謂天官，心居中虛，以治五官，夫是之謂天君。

(Xunzi 1999, p. 537)

The heart, also known as the heavenly ruler, is the administrator of the five faculties, equivalent to what modern medicine calls the “central nervous system 中樞神經”. In this way, the “six faculties” superficially correspond to the six roots of the Buddhist: “eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and consciousness”. But this kind of equivalence ignores the differences between Buddhist epistemology and the Chinese tradition: Firstly, the basic unit of Buddhist epistemology is consciousness 識, generated by the contact of roots and objects 塵 in order to be cognized. The first five roots come into contact with dusts, giving rise to the consciousness of the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, and the body, while the root of the mind comes into contact with “mental-objects 法塵” to generate the sixth consciousness. Secondly, roots are subdivided into the floating dust-root 浮塵根, which is the external sense organ, and the pure color-root 淨色根, which is the nervous system around the senses. However, the mind-root does not correspond to any of the sensory entities. It is a cognitive function of the mind and is not “central nerves”. These “mental-objects” have no corresponding apparent basis, and are not a concrete substance but refer to the brain’s thinking, which is mainly abstract thoughts. Consciousness can also be subdivided into the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses. While primitive and sectarian Buddhism explore only the sixth sense (Citta), Mahāyāna Buddhism follows the sixth sense with the seventh sense 第七識 (manas), also known as the sense of what is mine or the sense that puts the individual at the center, and then the eighth sense, Alaya consciousness 阿賴耶識 (vijñāna), also known as the storehouse consciousness 藏識. An individual’s past knowledge, memories, and experiences, called “seeds or habits”, are hidden in the Alaya consciousness. The eight consciousnesses 八識 are also known as the mind 心, which changes according to realms, and are also known as the delusional mind 妄心, constantly living and dying. Finally, traditional culture believes that people use their senses to perceive external realms, and external realms are the objective objects, whereas Mahāyāna Yogacara 瑜伽行派 believes there is no realm but “consciousness 境無唯識” and advocates that what is perceived by the senses is not objective objects of external realms, but rather the emergence of past experiences. Moreover, the SS believes that the eight consciousnesses are also illusory; while sentient beings have the Buddha-nature, unborn, and indestructible. Buddha-nature could be called Tathagata 真如心, “True Mind 真心”,2 “The Matrix of the Thus-Come One 如來藏”, or Tathagatagarbha for short. All dharmas are manifestations of the true mind, and the six roots are only different mediums through which the true mind is manifested. Although the six roots are closely related to the true and delusional minds, the basis of the “six roots perfect penetration 六根圓通” is thought to be the true mind. Therefore, the SS begins with the phrase “seeking the mind from seven places 七處征心”, distinguishing the differences between the delusional mind and the true mind.

2.1. Where the True Mind Lies

The SS tells us that Ānanda 阿難 asked the Buddha how the Buddhas of the Ten Directions had achieved the highest achievement. The Buddha told Ānanda that all beings continue to live and die because they do not know “the everlasting true nature; and pure understanding”. If you practice wrongly without knowing where the true mind and the deluded mind are, you are just like a king sending out an army to fight thieves, but not knowing where thieves are, and even recognizing thieves as his sons. However, the Buddha did not directly tell Ānanda where the “True mind” was, but rather inspired him to think about it:

Ānanda first realized that the mind was inside his body, and then the Buddha asked him how he could see the outside woods, from inside the lecture hall. Ānanda said that he would first see the Buddha, then the lecture hall, and then through the window, he would see the woods outside, a process from near to far. The Buddha then said that if the mind were inside the body, the eyes should first see the body, and then look at external objects, i.e., first see the viscera and bowels, and then see the external world. However, now I did not see the body, so I knew that the mind was not in the body. Secondly, Ānanda turned to the idea that the mind was outside the body. But the Buddha asked Ānanda if he ate food, could it make the others full? Ānanda said no because individual bodies are different. The Buddha said that if the mind was outside the body, it had nothing to do with the body. The mind can know, but the body cannot feel. Feelings were in the body and the mind could not know them, so the mind was not outside the body. Thirdly, Ānanda also said that the mind is latent in the roots, i.e., in the five senses and nerves. The Buddha said that if you covered your eyes with crystals, you would see crystals first and then the external world. If eyes were like crystals, and the mind was in the eye-faculty, then one saw the eyes first and then the external world. It was like wearing pair of glasses when you see the lenses first and then the outside world. Fourthly, Ānanda also said that the mind was both inside and outside, saying: “Our viscera are located inside our bodies, while our orifices are open to the outside. Our viscera lie concealed in darkness, but at the orifices there is light”. “Facing the Buddha, with my eyes open, I see light, Seeing that light I would call ‘see outside’. Seeing darkness when I close my eyes I would call ‘see inside’.” (DRBA 2019, p. 10). The Buddha said that roots and objects were relative to each other to recognize; if the dark realm 暗境 was relative to the eyes, then the dark realm was in front of the eyes and not within. If it was not the opposite, then how can you see? Similarly, when you opened your eyes to see the light, why couldn’t you see your face? There are three other cases similar to the above.

Ānanda’s seven questions about the mind were all rebutted by the Buddha’s reductio ad absurdum. In the end, the Buddha pointed out the root of the problem: the mind is divided into the permanent mind and the perishable mind, or the true mind and the delusional mind. The delusional mind is bound by birth and extinction and is the root of birth and death. The true mind, neither born nor extinguished, is the Buddha-nature 佛性 of all beings. How can they be distinguished? The Buddha again raised his arm bent his fingers into a fist and then asked Ānanda how he could see. Where was the mind? Ānanda replied that he saw with his eyes and judged with his eyes, believing that this mind, which can be searched for, was the true mind. But the Buddha rebuked him and stated that it was not his true mind, but a delusional mind. The SS describes the delusional mind as “mental processes that assign false and illusory attributes to the world of perceived objects 前塵虛妄相想”. The so-called “perceived objects” are only past experiences and thoughts, or “seeds” for short. They are stored in the mind’s memory storehouse (eighth sense). The eye-root and visible objects 色塵 are the conditions for generating eye-consciousness. However, eye-consciousness has to be generated by the recognition of the sixth sense, bound to the seed of the eighth sense, and affected by the seventh sense of the ego. This is because the sight seen by the eye-sense is not the real sight of the external world, but only a “seed” of the eighth sense appearing in the eye-sense 眼識. It is only similar to scenes of the external world, so it is called the delusional mind. The eight senses 八識 are also known as the king of the mind 心王, so the delusional minds are also known as delusional consciousnesses 妄識, and roots and perceived objects will perish if they are separated from each other. It is the delusional mind that combines the causes of birth and death, and so there is nobody apart from objects. Once the objects are extinguished, the dharma-body 法身 will be severed and destroyed, so how can you practice? The true mind, however, is “separate from perceived objects” and is not conditioned by the existence and extinction of the external realm, i.e., it still exists without the realm and has abilities to distinguish. This is the reason why the SS calls it “the essence of consciousnesses 識精元明”. It is also known as awareness 覺性 and Buddha-nature 佛性. It has no boundaries, no beginning, and no end. Through the six roots, awareness is manifested as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking. The six roots are different but their bodies are the same because they belong to different manifestations of awareness. Therefore, it is not the root of the eyes, but the nature of visual awareness 見性 that sees the Buddha’s hand, and this is the conclusion that Buddha wants to guide Ānanda with.

The truthfulness talked about in the SS is the theory of Buddha-nature represented by Tathagatagarbha. Rather than focusing on how the mind recognizes the external realm, it explores the origin and ultimate nature of cognitive ability, which is the realm of Buddhist “ontology”. In short, the Six Roots of Enlightenment discussed in the SS is a philosophical discourse based on the Buddha-nature theory of Buddhism holistically.

2.2. The Six Roots 六根 and the Six Dusts 六塵

The “functional interchangeability of the six roots 六根互用” mentioned in the SS is also known as the “full penetration of the six root 六根圓通”. The term “penetration” is not the same as “Synaesthesia”, which is the borrowing of mental sensory experiences, while “penetration” is the meaning of being able to realize the dharma-nature 法性 without any hindrance. The “true mind” is not the mind that sees, hears, and perceives in daily life, nor is it emotional effects or mystical experiences of meditation, but it is the Buddha-nature according to Mahāyāna Buddhism. The various sensations, thoughts, and ideas of individuals in the SS are collectively referred to as “delusional consciousness” and are all rejected by the Buddha-nature. The SS definitely states that the basis of the “functional interchangeability of the six roots” is the true and permanent nature of awareness. However, the following paragraph is often quoted and misinterpreted by scholars as an example of “Synaesthesia”. It is analyzed in detail below:

Ānanda, you know, do you not, that here in this assembly, Aniruddha 阿那律陀 is blind and yet can see; that the dragon Upananda 跋難陀龍 is deaf and yet can hear; that the goddess of the River Ganges 殑伽神女 has no sense of smell and yet can discern fragrances; that Gavāṃpati 骄梵鉢提’s malformed tongue cannot taste, and yet he is aware of flavors; and that the spirit Śūnyatā 舜若多神 is incorporeal but just now has a sense of touch- you can him here temporarily as he is illumined by the light of the Thus-Come One 如來. By nature, however, he is as bodiless as the wind. And like all who abide in the Samādhi of cessation and who have attained the stillness of the Hearers of Teaching, Mahākāśyapa 摩訶迦葉, here in this assembly, long ago caused his cognitive faculty to cease, and yet without relying on the thinking mind, his understanding is clear and perfect.

(DRBA 2019, p. 211)

Aniruddha is a cousin of the Buddha, who becomes blind due to his meditation, but later gains the power of divine vision by practicing meditation and can see without the use of his eyes. Mahākāśyapa, who is the Buddha’s great disciple, without moving the mind is omniscient of the external world because of the realization of the fruit of Arahant 阿羅漢果. The above two examples are still mortal. But other examples are not ordinary people: The Upananda is the Indian divine dragon with no ears to hear. River Ganges is the goddess of the Ganges River, who does not use her nose to taste. Gavāṃpati is a heaven deity who eats without using his tongue. Śūnyatā is the deity of vacancy, who can perceive without a body. Scholars believe that the above example is equivalent to “Lao Dan 老聃’s ears hearing and eyes seeing” in Lie Zi 列子, which is a “mystical experience” in which the various senses are mingled and mixed (Qian 1985, p. 73). This explanation inevitably ignores differences between them: not only are the figures cited in the former mostly mythological, but more importantly, the former can see without the eyes and hear without the ears, rather than seeing and hearing with different senses. Aniruddha sees from the front and back of his head and sees not only this world but the three thousand worlds, which is far beyond our empirical understanding. Scholars also believe that “if one realizes the illusory nature of the ‘six dusts 六塵’, then the distinctions between the roles of the ‘six roots’ naturally disappear”, and that one can attain enlightenment (Zhou 2011, p. 139). However, in the above case of seeing without the eyes, roots (indriyas)3 and dusts do not come into contact with each other to develop eye-consciousness, especially since the mana-indriya 意根 has lost its effect, and there is no combination of the mana-indriya and mental objects 法塵. Neither the indriyas (senses) nor mind-consciousness arise. So how could each of the above see, hear, and realize outside of this? This involves the core of the SS: the idea of “the true and permanent mind “. The “true mind” is also known as the nature of the indriyas 根性, the nature of awareness. It is the nature of the indriyas that can see, hear, and perceive the external realm, not just the six indriyas 六根.

The SS further holds that the six roots, the six dusts, and the six consciousnesses do not have independent physical natures but originate from the “true Mind”. Scholars have cited this passage below as one of the most focused on the philosophy of the body. However, the opposite is true, as summarized below:

Does the presence of visible objects cause your eye-faculty 眼根 to see? Or to the contrary, does the eye-faculty cause the visible objects to be present?… These two sites—the eye-faculty and visible objects—are illusions. Fundamentally, they are not dependent on causes or conditions, and yet they do not come into being on their own. Do the sounds come to the ear-faculty? Or to the contrary, does the ear-faculty go out to the sounds?… These two sites—sounds and the ear-faculty—are illusions. Fundamentally, they are not dependent on causes or conditions, and yet they do not come into being on their own. Does the fragrance come into being from the sandalwood incense? Does it come into being from your nose-faculty? Or does it come into being from space?… These two sites—the nose-faculty and odors—are illusions. Fundamentally, they are not dependent on causes or conditions, and yet they do not come into being on their own… Do these flavors come into being from space, from the tongue, or from the food?… These two sites—the tongue-faculty and flavors—are illusions. Fundamentally, they are not dependent on causes or conditions, and yet they do not come into being on their own… Is the awareness of the contact present in your hand or in your head?… These two sites—the body-faculty and the objects of touch—are illusions. Fundamentally, they are not dependent on causes or conditions, and yet they do not come into being on their own… Now, do these objects of cognition arise from your cognitive faculty, or do they arise from some source other than your cognitive faculty?… These two sites of perception—the cognitive faculty and objects of cognition—are illusions. Fundamentally, they are not dependent on causes or conditions, and yet they do not come into being on their own.

(DRBA 2019, pp. 112–21)

The above is ostensibly an exploration of the question of whether one’s senses are due to the six roots or the six dusts, but it is still a discussion of the nature of the mind. In denying the illusory nature of the roots and dusts, the Buddha was not trying to affirm the existence of sensation (the six consciousnesses) or the existence of rupas 色陰 (material existence), but rather that they are both illusory. In fact, in the SS, the five aggregates 五陰, the six faculties 六入, the twelve sites 十二處, and the eighteen constituents 十八界 are all called delusional, meaning that not only are the six consciousnesses delusional, but also the five aggregates 五陰, which are the basic elements of the human body, namely, the carnal body, feeling, thought, intention, and consciousness, which are also delusional. The conclusion is that all of these are “non-causal and non-natural”. Because the six roots are illusory, the physiological category of the six roots is denied; because the six senses are also illusory, the category of religious mystical experience is denied. Because of “non-naturalness”, it denies the existence of a permanent Creator. But “non-causal birthing” further rejects the early Buddhist epistemology that consciousnesses arise when roots and dust come into contact. So how do they arise? The SS states this explicitly in the following paragraph:

Fundamentally, everything that comes and goes, that comes into being and ceases to be, is within the true nature of the Matrix of the Thus-Come One 如來藏, which is the wondrous everlasting understanding—the unmoving, all-pervading, wondrous suchness of reality. But, though you may seek within the everlasting reality of the Matrix of the Thus-Come One for what comes and goes, for confusion and awakening, and for coming into being and ceasing to be, you will not find them there.

(DRBA 2019, pp. 94–95)

Thus-Come One is the Buddha-nature, and the wonderful true nature is the nature of Tathagatagarbha. Since all dharmas originate from the pure presentation of the true mind (Thus-Come One), and does not differentiate between birth and death, or between confusion and enlightenment, then all the dharmas are of course “non-causal, non-natural”.

Co-depending arising 緣起論 is the basic doctrine of primitive Buddhism, stating that there is no Creator behind the emergence of phenomena due to causes. The Mādhyāmika 中觀學派 summarizes Śūnyatā 空性 from phenomena; and considers Śūnyatā to be the essential characteristic of all things. The Yogacara 瑜伽行派, on the other hand, summarizes the mind from co-dependent origination and believes that “there is no realm but consciousnesses 境無唯識”, that is, there is no external realm that can be perceived independently of the cognitive subject, and that it is the mind that produces the recognition effect that makes all things cognized by us. The focus of attention shifts from the outside world to the mind. However, in the system of Tathagatagarbha thought, it is believed that the nature of the eight consciousnesses is the true mind, originating all dharmas, so it is claimed that all dharmas are not co-depending arising. It is a criticism and development of previous Buddhist thought.

3. Eyes Hearing and Ears Seeing: Images of Guan-Shi-Yin 觀世音 (Avalokiteśvara)

Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅 (1045–1105) of the Song Dynasty used metaphors to express the ideas of the SS. He composed a poem in the late summer when he traveled to a garden:

There is a lonely man,\ Who knows himself to have a perfect awareness;\ The ape in his heart rises from his sleep,\ And he laughs at the silence of the six windows. 中有寂寞人，自知圓覺性，心猿方睡起，一笑六窗靜。

(Ren 2003, p. 461)

This “perfect awareness” is the true nature of the mind, and Huang Tingjian embodied the nature of the mind in silence. In Buddhism, the six windows are a metaphor for the six senses. It means that when the delusional mind is calmed down, the six senses will naturally be quiet. As the six roots chase external objects to raise the delusional mind, the delusional mind is called an ape. It is constantly born and extinguished, just like an ape jumping up and down. Huang Tingjian also used the phrase “six linglong windows 六窗玲瓏”, but it is worth noting that this refers to the state achieved by the Bodhisattva, rather than practitioners. Linglong means sparkling clarity of perception, literally light through the darkness. His “The white lotus nunnery ode 白蓮庵頌” said the following:

Into the mud out of the holy work,\ Fragrant light through the dust through the wind.\ You see the essence of roots and species-nature,\ The six windows and nine orifices are linglong. 入泥出聖功，香光透塵透風，君看根元種性，六窗九竅玲瓏。

(Huang 1922, p. 11)

The white lotus symbolizes the Bodhisattva’s entry into the world to save all sentient beings without being tainted. Fragrant light is a metaphor for the light of Buddha’s Prajñāpāramitā (perfection of wisdom). The SS calls it “fragrant light and solemnity 香光莊嚴”.4 Here, “the essence of roots and species-nature” refers to the Buddha-nature. This is similar to Su Shi蘇軾 (1037–1101)’s praise of Guanyin 觀音 (Avalokiteśvara):

The ears are like Plantains,\ The heart is like a lotus flower.\ A hundred joints unclogged,\ Thousands linglong orifices. 耳如芭蕉，心如蓮花，百節疏通，萬竅玲瓏。

(S. Su 1986, p. 2083)

This is a literary imagery of Guanyin Bodhisattva’s flexible use of the six roots after realizing the mind’s nature, rather than for a specific practitioner. However, Huang Tingjian also used the “six windows” as a metaphor for specific practitioners; Huang Tingjian’s “Farewell to Li Ciweng 贈別李次翁” said the following:

Virtuous people travel in the sky, the cold river in the fall moon.\ Reflecting all things, linglong six windows.\ In the mud of lust, like a lotus from a pond.\ The water is transcendent, and the fragrance is out of the mud.\ Orifices penetrating, like bright ice surface.\ The root of a lotus, and its essence contains brilliant rays.\ Virtuous Ciweng, with all his heart and mind.\ He learns by day and by month, as the traveler remembers his hometown. 德人天遊，秋月寒江。映徹萬物，玲瓏六窗。於愛欲泥，如蓮生塘。處水超然，出泥而香。孔竅穿穴，明冰其相。維乃根華，其本含光。大雅次翁，用心不忘。日問月學，旅人念鄉。

(Huang 1922, p. 3)

Huang Tingjian utilized the meaning of the “penetrating six roots “ of the SS to praise his friend’s ability to use the six roots of the mind by the nature of the mind and to attain the state of a Bodhisattva. Later on, the literati occasionally used the phrase “linglong Six Windows” to describe the state of enlightenment they had achieved. Zeng Ji 曾幾 (1084–1166)’s “Gift to the Empty Master 贈空上人” said the following:

The four walls are peacefully relative to each other, and I have settled down on a futon.\ The six linglong windows quiet, the ape mind rests down all day.\ From time to time, I start from Zen, and write with my brush. 四壁澹相對，安身一蒲團。玲瓏六窗靜，竟日心猿閑。時從禪那起，遊戲於筆端。

(Zeng 1986, p. 478)

He said that he had realized the inherently luminous mind, his six roots were pure, and his delusions ceased when he sat in meditation. After coming out of meditation, he can create poems. An ape or ape mind is a common metaphor used in the Buddhist scriptures to refer to a delusional mind that is scattered and restless, clinging to external realms and having a constant flow of thoughts. For example, Ci En Chuan said “Keeping watch over the mind of the ape, one observes the reality of the Dharma”. 《慈恩傳》曰：守察心猿，觀法實相。 But it is literary imagination, not to be taken seriously. Li liuqian 李流謙 (1123–1176)’s “title juean 題覺庵” said the following:

It is hard to inhibit pain, moan, and itch-scratching. People say consciousnesses are not real awareness.\ When I ask him if there are not suffering from pain or itching, he can’t recognize where the awareness is. 疾痛呻呼癢搔抑，人言是覺豈真覺。問君非痛非癢時，覺何所之了不識。

(Li 1986, p. 592)

This is an application of the SS’s distinction between genuine and delusional awareness.

It means that behind the delusion is true awareness. The poem also said the following:

The six windows are linglong and the realm is beyond contours, for there is true meaning in them. 六窗玲瓏境超廓，個中自有真消息。

(Li 1986, p. 592)

It means that the six roots of the body are fully realized by the Buddha-nature. According to the title of the poem, Li was talking about the realm of a Bodhisattva, rather than a Buddhist monk, slightly different from what Zeng said.

3.1. The Image of the Bodhisattva Who Hears the Cries of the World

The poems of Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Hui Hong 惠洪 (1071–1128) often depicted Guan-Shi-Yin Bodhisattva 觀世音菩薩 with all kinds of magical powers. Qian Zhongshu believes that “Hieun-tsang 玄奘 (602–664) has contradicted the ‘Guanyin Bodhisattva’ is an erroneous translation, but the later generations continue to use the unchanged. Monks, as well as the literati, follow misinterpretation of the ‘erroneous’, distorting the meaning of the text, using of Synaesthesia to bridge the gap” (Qian 1985, p. 74). Whether “Guan-Shi-Yin” is a mistranslation is still debatable. Avalokiteśvara is translated by Hieun-tsang as Guan Zi Zai 觀自在, according to the Sanskrit meaning.5 But Kumarajiva 鳩摩羅什 is this translated as “Guan-Shi-Yin”, according to the Saddharma-Pundarika-Sūtra 法華經. The Volume VII “Universal Door Chapter Of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva 觀世音菩薩普門品” said the following:

Good man, suppose there are immeasurable hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of living beings who are undergoing various trials and suffering. If they hear of this bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds and single-mindedly call his name, then at once he will perceive the sound of their voices and they will all gain deliverance from their trials.

(Watson 1993, pp. 298–99)

This is what Kumarajiva is basing it on. The descriptions of the various mythological transformations of Guanyin Bodhisattva in the poems are not based on Synaesthesia, but on the theoretical basis of the chapter on Guanyin Bodhisattva’s hearing perfect penetration 耳根圓通 in the SS, which has nothing to do with the problem of whether the translation of Guanyin Bodhisattva is erroneous or not. For example, Su Shi wrote that Guanyin Bodhisattva has “six linglong windows” and “eighty-four thousand” embodiments, saying “This meaning is from the SS, and I does not know who knows it in the world. 此義出《楞嚴》，世未知有知之者。” (S. Su 1986, p. 2083). It is clearly stated that this is based on the thoughts of the SS. Qian Zhongshu’s examples are analyzed below:

Hui Hong said: “From hearing and contemplating develop into enlightened mind, the purified mind leaves behind mere hearing 從聞思修入悟心，心精遺聞而得道。” The above example quotes the allusion to Guanyin Bodhisattva’s practice from the ear-root in the SS. You Dong 尤侗 (1618–1704) in the Qing Dynasty said: “I have a hymn: making Guan guan 觀觀; the ears and the eyes penetrate each other, to eliminate the sufferings of beings. 予有贊云：而作觀觀；耳目互治，以度眾難。” You Dong even explicitly said: “The SS chooses ways to be enlightened, and only selects the ear-root 《楞嚴》擇選圓通，獨取耳根。” (You 1996, p. 450). In the SS, the Buddha asked each of the twenty-five sages to speak of their methods to enlightenment and then asked Mañjuśrī 文殊師利 to choose a method that would be easiest to accomplish them, and Mañjuśrī chose the Guanyin’s ear-root penetrating method. The word “Guan” here can be interpreted as seeing, but more precisely, it means observing,6 i.e., observing the suffering of sentient beings. As Qian cited: “As sound can also be viewed, it is believed that Intelligence has non-dual use 音亦可觀，方信聰明無二用。” The so-called “non-dual use”7 is a proverb in southern Fujian, which means useless. Intelligence is a discerning wisdom, but there is a limit to this wisdom for the Prajñā-pāramitā 圓滿智 of the true mind.

How can sound be observed? You Dong even recorded a Gatha 偈 from the Guanyin Cave: “If you hear outside with your ears, it is difficult to understand it (Zen), but if you listen with your eyes, then you will comprehend it 若將耳聽終難會，眼處聞聲方得知。” (You 1996, p. 450). This Gatha is difficult to understand, as it relates to the SS’s claim that sound is different from hearing nature. Su Shi’s “Fayun Temple Bell Inscription 法雲寺鐘銘” said the following:

If there’s a bell, who’s going to bang strike the bell? There is a bump bell who rang it, and who bumped it? A bumping sound originates from three factors. Adding hearing and to be heard, there are five factors. If one factor is missing, you can’t hear a bump bell. how can you hear it? Where did you hear it? The ears see and the eyes hear. One knows what one hears still sound in the stillness.有鐘誰為撞？有撞誰撞之？三合而後鳴，聞所聞為五。闕一不可得，汝則安能聞？汝聞竟安在？耳視目可聽。當知所聞者，鳴寂寂時鳴。

(S. Su 1986, pp. 561–62)

Su Shi thought that hearing sound required five factors, namely, the bell, the act of striking the bell, and the person striking the bell, as well as the hearing and what is heard, in other words, the ear-root and the sound. However, according to Yogacara, eight causes are required for the rise of ear-consciousness 耳識. There needs to be the sixth sense, having functions of identification; the seventh sense, meaning the idea of self-centered; and a seed of the eighth sense, that is past experiences emerging. The five causes are not enough to recognize the bells.

The last sentence of Su’s poem says that even if the bell is not rung, the sound of the bell still makes a sound in the silence as if it were heavenly music. This refers to an allusion to the Buddha “striking the bell to test the everlasting 擊鐘驗常” in the SS. However, it is slightly different from the purpose of the SS. The SS holds that it is sound-dust 聲塵 that comes into being or ceases to be, not the nature of hearing that is generated and perishes; therefore, it is the nature of hearing listening all the time. The SS gave an example of the bell sound as follows:

The Buddha then instructed Rāhula 羅睺羅 to strike the bell once, and he asked Ānanda,“Do you hear?”Ānanda and the others in the assembly answered, “we hear.”When the bell had ceased ringing, the Buddha asked again, “Now do you hear?” Ānanda and the others in the assembly answered, “we do not.” Then Rāhula struck the bell once more, and the Buddha asked once again, “Now do you hear?” Ānanda and the others again replied, “We hear.”… The Buddha said to Ānanda and the others in the assembly.“Why have you given such muddled answers?”

(DRBA 2019, pp. 214–17)

The Buddha then told Ānanda that there was confusion about the difference between the essential capacity for hearing and the sound-dust. The sound was absent, but the hearing nature did not die out with it. If the nature of hearing is extinguished with it, then how do you know there is a sound when the bell is struck again? When the bell is not rung, who knows that there is no sound? Therefore, it is the sound-dust that perishes in the hearing nature, not the hearing nature that perishes with the sound-dust. In the final analysis, The Buddha concludes with the following: “It cannot be said that hearing in its essential nature is dependent on the presence of sound or silence, or dependent on whether the ears are obstructed or unobstructed.” (DRBA 2019, p. 218). This means that the smelling nature is detached from roots and dust; not only is the smelling nature present when there is sound (dust), but it is also displayed when there is no sound. Even if the ear-root is damaged, such as in deafness, and you cannot hear sounds, the hearing nature still exists, because hearing nature is always present and everlasting.

The SS further states that even in dreams, the hearing nature is not extinguished, and the sound of pounding rice is taken as the sound of a drum beating and a bell ringing. Huang Tingjian’s poem said the following: “A horse gnawing on a withered beanstalk makes sounds.\ The dreamer hears and mistakes them for stormy dreams turning rivers upside down 馬龁枯萁喧午枕，夢成風雨浪翻江。” (Ren 2003, p. 403). Huang adopted the thought of the SS.

The hearing nature is derived from the abiding true nature of Tathagatagarbha, and when it is embodied in the ear root, it is the nature of hearing. Correspondingly, it is embodied in the eye-root as the nature of seeing. The Buddha tells Ānanda that a blind man sees darkness in the same way that a normal person sees darkness in a dark room. Similarly, if a blind person’s eyes are cured and they can see all sorts of colors and dust, it is the same as if he has a light in a dark room and can see things. The ability to see is from the nature of seeing, not from the ears or the light. The blind man sees only darkness because his eye-root is damaged and cannot see light, but his seeing nature is always at work, otherwise, the blind man would say he sees nothing, not darkness.

Su Shi’s “Chengdu Da Bei Ge Ji 成都大悲閣記” thought that mortals used both hands and eyes, and still could not take care of themselves, but Guanyin Bodhisattva can use a thousand hands and a thousand eyes at the same time. Su said “There must be a reason”. He believed that this reason is found through sitting in silence, stopping the mind, and as the heart is like a big mirror, then in the mirror appears images of things coming before. “There’s nothing he can’t touch.but there is a way to touch 物無不接，接必有道。” (S. Su 1986, p. 395). The big mirror is a metaphor for the true mind. Otherwise, the basic unit for recognizing the external world in Buddhism is consciousness, and the emergence of the six senses requires “attention”, i.e., the intention to pay attention to the objects. If not, you cannot even recognize the external world, so how can you receive things?

3.2. Enlightenment to the Gateway of the Ear-Faculty and Its Foundation

In the SS, the Buddha said that the great Bodhisattvas and Arhats each speak of the methods of enlightenment, also known as the gates of enlightenment. Then, he asked Mañjuśrī 文殊師利 to choose a method of practice that was suitable for sentient beings (ordinary people). Mañjuśrī then considered that the roots of the ear, the tongue, and cognition were more powerful than the eye, nose, and body roots. Among these three roots, the tongue-root could not attain enlightenment without leaving the taste-dust 味塵. The cognitive root, on the other hand, is prone to indulge in fantasy and is not easily stabilized, so it is also difficult to attain enlightenment. The ear-root is chosen because the world is always full of sounds, and beings permit their attention to go out pursuing sounds. Therefore, starting from the ear-root, beings can start practicing at any time. The basis for Su Shi’s and Hui Hong’s compositions on the various divine transformations of Guanyin is the “Ear-Root Breaking through to Enlightenment 耳根圓通” chapter of the SS. This chapter describes in detail the process by which Guanyin Bodhisattva unties the “six knots” from the ear-root:

I began with a practice based on the enlightened nature of hearing. First I redirected my hearing inward in order to enter the current of the sages. Then external sounds disappeared. With the direction of my hearing reversed and sounds stilled, both sounds and silence ceased to arise. So it was that, as I gradually progressed, what I heard and my awareness of what I heard came to an end. Even When that state of mind in which everything had come to an end disappeared, I did not rest. My awareness and the objects of my awareness were emptied, and when that process of emptying my awareness was wholly complete, then even that emptying and what had been emptied vanished. Coming into being and ceasing to be themselves ceased to be. Then the ultimate stillness was revealed.

(DRBA 2019, p. 264)

The ear-root can act outwardly or inwardly: if the Bodhisattva tracks to the sound, it is “outflow”. If he reverses the direction of his aural attention, to go inward to find a subject who can listen, it is “entering the current”. When you get rid of the noisy sound outside, this is to release the “moving knot 動結” of the sound in the “six knots”. At this time, you will feel the silence. However, it is still a knot, called the “quiet kno 静結”. the Bodhisattva has to go inward and ask who it is that feels the silence. The next step is “the exhaustion of hearing,” because the roots and dusts are opposite to each other. When moving or static dusts are not generated, the roots that can be heard also perish. Since the combination of roots and dust produces cognition, and when the roots and dust are gone, cognition cannot be produced, the third knot, the root knot 根結, is untied. At this point, one realizes the “emptiness of man and self 人我空”, similar to the realm of “God merging with nothing”, as described by the Taoist monk Kang Cangzi 亢倉子 in Liezi 列子. However, the SS considers this to be incomplete, because there are still three more “knots” that have to be untied, thus demonstrating the difference between Taoism and Buddhism. The quote “what I heard and my awareness of what I heard came to an end” means that the root that can be heard and sounds that can be heard are both exhausted, presenting the realm of both root and dust being obliterated 根塵雙泯. “I did not rest” means he did not cling to this realm. Since the roots and dust are extinguished, the six roots are useless. Mañjuśrī’s gatha said the following:

Just so are our six faculties.\ Originally a pure and single understanding, they divide;\ And once divided, each of them makes contact with its objects.” 六根亦如是，元依一精明，分成六和合。 “Return just one of the perceiving faculties.\ Back to its source, and all six faculties will then be free. 一根既返源，六根成解脫。

(DRBA 2019, pp. 294–95)

This means that originally the One Essence 一精明, Tathagatagarbha’s true nature, is divided into six roots. Now, as soon as one root is unleashed, the other five roots are also liberated at the same time. “My awareness and the objects of my awareness were emptied”; this awareness is the realization of a blissful and boundless realm. However, it is still a sort of distinguishable wisdom. The SS still calls it a delusion, stating the following:

Due to your deranged confusion about the nature of your mind, your awareness has become distorted, and these distortions have not ceased.”

(DRBA 2019, p. 229)

“Emptying and what had been emptied vanished” means that after the emptying of awareness and realization, this emptiness is still a knot. Because if there exists emptiness of subject and object, emptiness is not complete. This is also a subtle form of clinging to emptiness, called “emptiness clinging”. According to the SS, even the emptiness of the phenomena has to be transcended, and the mind capable of emptiness has to be put down as well, to untie the knot of “void”. After the thought of emptiness is extinguished, there is still the extremely subtle thought of “I can extinguish”, and it has to be turned away to come to the realm of “ultimate stillness 寂滅”. It is far from the treatment of motion and stillness because it is the immovable nature of the true mind. The above are steps in which the six knots are unraveled, starting from the ear-root. Su Zhe 蘇轍 (1039–1112), said the following:

I view the SS to see that the Buddha’s great sages from the six faculties:“Once the attention has been redirected inward, the faculties become one and cease to function in six separate ways.” (DRBA 2019, p. 382). They mix into the sea of Buddha’s nature, although ordinary people can go straight to accomplish the Buddha’s stage. 觀《楞嚴經》，見如來諸大弟子多從六根入，至“返流全一，六用不行”，混入性海，雖凡夫可以直造佛地。

(Z. Su 2009, p. 1557)

This is based on the above principle, only skipping the middle process of unraveling the “six knots”.

Hui Hong did study the SS in depth. As a monk, he traveled to various temples all the time, and therefore his collection of poems and writings, Stone Character Zen 石頭文字禪, contains many praises of Guanyin Bodhisattva. This is Hui Hong’s artistic re-creation of the images of Guanyin Bodhisattva based on the interplay of the six roots. For example, the “Tanzhou Dongming Shi Guanyin Praise 潭州東明石觀音贊” said the following:

Though the six roots are different in speed and functions, they are the results of One Essence.\ I know that the darkness cannot be dimmed, and the place of my hearing has disappeared into the essence of my mind.\ Perceived objects fallaciously distinguish his hearing from smelling, tasting, tactile awareness, and cognition. There is no such thing in the real reality. 六根遲速雖不齊，要是一精明所現。我知暗相不能昏，與彼心精遺聞處。眾塵隔越妄分別，真常實中無是事。

(Hui 2012, p. 1139)

It quotes the SS’s allusion. The Buddha tells Ānanda that the function of seeing is not in the eye-root. When a person’s eyes are closed, the eye-root does not play a role, but when a person is in front of him, he only needs to touch the other person with his hands in a circle, and he can know the other person’s head and feet. Darkness does not dim perception. That is to say, the manifestation of awareness does not require the aid of external causes of roots and dust. “The essence of my mind 心精” is from the SS:

Once my hearing had disappeared into the essence of my mind, my hearing became indistinguishable from seeing, smelling, tasting, tactile awareness, and cognition. All six were completely interfused into a single pure and magnificent awareness.

(DRBA 2019, p. 279)

Hui Hong’s poem is an elaboration of this passage. “The essence of my mind” is the source of six faculties. Hui’s “Praise to the Ten Lives Guanyin of Mount Wu-wei 無為山十生觀音贊” said the following:

All sounds, when heard with the eyes. They are not to be referred to each other, because they come from ultimate Silence. 一切聲音，當以眼聽。俱不相參，以本寂靜。

(Hui 2012, p. 1154)

Why can the eyes hear sound? Hui Hong said that the eyes and sound are not intermingled and that the real cause is that they are both from “silence”, referring to the true nature of the awareness. Hui Hong’s point of view is based on the SS, stating that the six roots and the six dusts are “non-causal and non-natural”, but they are within the true nature of the Matrix of the Thus-Come One如來藏. Hui Hong explained this opinion in detail in his “Praise for the Lianshui Guanyin Statue 漣水觀音像贊”:

The forms of sound and language are extinct, and how is it that he is called Guang Shi Yin 光世音? When sound and language are born and extinguished, why are they called the sound of Silence? Wherever there is sound and speech, it is touched by the ears and not by the eyes. But this Bodhisattva’s name is Guanyin, and it is with the eyes that he observes the form of sound. If the sound reaches the eyes, then the ears can see the rupa dharmas 色法. If the ears cannot see, then the eyes see sound as ultimate Silence. Seeing and hearing cannot be separated, but the Pure Precious Consciousness is self-contained. There is light because of non-attachment, although there are a thousand arms like two hands. There is ultimate Stillness because there is no separation, though a thousand arms are like one body. There is neither separation nor clinging, though a thousand eyes are like a pair. Therefore, he is called Guanyin, Jijing-Yin, and Guan-Shi-Yin, three different names. 聲音語言形體絕，何以稱為光世音。聲音語言生滅法，何以又稱寂靜音。凡有聲音語言法，是耳所觸非眼境。而此菩薩名觀音，是以眼觀聲音相。聲音若能到眼處，則耳能見諸色法。若耳實不可以見，則眼觀聲是寂滅。見聞既不能分隔，清淨寶覺自圓融。以無執故則有光，雖有千臂如兩手。以無分別故寂滅，雖有千手如一身。既無分別亦無執，雖有千眼兩目同。故稱光音，寂靜音，及觀世音三種異。

(Hui 2012, p. 1150)

How can sound and speech be seen since they have no form? How can they be called silent when they come into being and perish? They can be combined with the ear-root to form ear-consciousness, but they cannot be combined with the eye-root to form eye -consciousness. However, Guanyin Bodhisattva can see the appearance of sound with his eyes. What about the theoretical basis of the phenomenon? It is still based on the idea of the true mind. The above text omits two sentences, meaning that if the ears cannot see, then of course the eyes cannot hear. But the eyes can hear sound, it is not the effect of eye-consciousness, but the true mind, called “ultimate stillness” in the SS. It is impossible to separate the sources of abilities to see and to hear, because both come from “ultimate Stillness”, which is harmonious and unobstructed, for the true mind has no clinging to differences. Therefore, there is no distinction between a thousand hands and double hands, or between a thousand eyes and two eyes, in the case of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Hui Hong, in his “Praise of the Sandalwood and White-clothed Guanyin of the Sizhou Courtyard 泗州院旃檀白衣觀音贊” adds the following:

The bells and drums are struck with different sounds, and to know their difference is a distorted mind bound to death and rebirth. But two kinds of sound do not participate in each other, that is to say, they are the simultaneous ultimate Stillness. 鐘鼓俱擊聲不同，知其不同是生滅。而二種聲不相參，即是同時寂滅法。

(Hui 2012, p. 1136)

To hear two sounds and then to distinguish whether they are drums or bells are the actions of the deluded mind, whereas to perceive two disjointed sounds without distinguishing what they are is the action of the true mind. The term “Stillness” here refers to the nature of the true mind. In contrast to Su Shi, concerning the sound of the bell, Hui Hong can discern subtle differences between the true and delusional minds from the details of listening to the bell sound. It can be said that Hui Hong has an accurate understanding of the thought of the SS. Not only that, Hui Hong even said the following:

The dragons have no ears to hear with spirit, and the snakes have no ears to listen with eyes. Cows have no ears, so they hear with their noses, and ants have no ears, so they smell with their bodies. The six roots use each other in such a way that it is not reasonable to say that hearing cannot be left out. The Wondrous is subtle and uninterrupted, even amid the inferiorities. 龍本無耳聞以神，蛇亦無耳聞以眼。牛無耳故聞以鼻，螻蟻無耳聞以身。六根互用乃如此，聞不可遺豈理哉？彼於異類昧劣中，而亦精妙不間斷。

(Hui 2012, p. 1136)

“The Wondrous” refers to the subtle nature of Buddha, and the Avatamsaka Sūtra 華嚴經 states that all living beings have the nature of Buddha. Hui Hong thought that since these beings could hear without ears, by analogy, so could human beings. He also extended the effect of the true mind to other kinds of beings.

In short, in the Song Dynasty, the focus of poems such as “Eyes Hearing and Ears Seeing” was on the true nature of the mind. For example, Su Shi’s “Inscription of Shen Jun’s Zither 題沈君琴” said the following:

If you say there’s a sound on the Chinese zither, why doesn’t it sound when it’s in the box? \If the sound is on your finger, why don’t you listen to it on your finger? 若言琴上有琴聲，放在匣中何不鳴？若言聲在指頭上，何不於君指上聽？

(S. Su 1982, p. 2543)

Annotations of Feng Yingliu 馮應榴 (1740–1800) in the Qing Dynasty quoted the Gatha from the SS as follows:

Our hearing does not lapse; it does not cease.\ With silence;neither is it born of sound.\Our hearing, then, is genuine and true.\ It is the everlasting one. 聲無既無滅，聲有亦非生。生滅二緣離，是則常真實。

(DRBA 2019, p. 292)

Tracing the source of hearing and sound, one would realize that they are from the true nature of the everlasting One. It is only in this way that the deeper meaning of Su’s poem can be realized.

4. Conclusions

The “functional interchangeability of the six roots” is based on the SS’s idea of the true nature of the Matrix of the Thus-Come One. True nature can also be called the nature of awareness, the nature of the true mind, and wondrous enlightenment. The true mind is embodied in the six roots: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and awareness. They could be collectively called the root-nature. In the Song Dynasty, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Huang Tingjian, and Hui Hong, for example, applied the idea of the six roots in their poetic compositions, by using eyes hearing and ears seeing to describe the divine transformation of Guanyin Bodhisattva.

After Emperor Xining 熙寧 of the Northern Song Dynasty (1068–1077), the style of Zen meditation 參禪 spread throughout the scholarly world. At that time, the scholars particularly praised the SS highly, because it advocated that the true mind was inherent in everyone, and was not to be sought externally. So, the focus of meditation shifted to removing delusion and returning to the true mind. In the SS, the Buddha said the following:

Thus the madness in your mind that is like Yajñadatta’s madness will cease of its own accord, and just that ceasing is enlightenment. That supreme, pure, luminous mind that understands has always extended everywhere throughout the Dharma-Realm. It cannot be bestowed upon you by someone else. What need is there to work yourself to be bone in pursuit of awakening? 汝心中演若達多，狂性自歇，歇即菩提。 勝淨明心，本周法界，不從人得，何籍劬勞，肯綮修證？

(DRBA 2019, p. 184)

Yajñadatta, the man from Śrāvastī 室羅城, looked in the mirror one morning and saw his face, but thought it was someone else’s, mistaking his head for a missing one, and thus walked wildly for no reason. The Buddha used this as a metaphor for the true nature that has never been lost. Madness is a metaphor for the delusional mind; enlightenment is a metaphor for the true mind; and work yourself is a metaphor for painstaking practice. As soon as the delusional mind stops, the true nature is immediately revealed. It is as if a Mani bead is covered with dirt, but dirt does not penetrate the bead, and the light of the bead appears as soon as the dirt is removed.

In the Song Dynasty, the scholarly elite readily embraced the true mind in the SS, since they found that whether they were composing poems, paintings, sipping tea, or smelling incense, they could all achieve enlightenment. This means that Buddhist thought began to be secularized. They also used “perfect penetration of the six roots 六根圓通” to expand their ways of artistic expression. Scholars considered that the psychological phenomenon of “synesthesia” triggered a turning point in philosophical and religious thought (Zhou 2011, p. 140). On the contrary, it was precisely the influence of Buddhist thought that triggered the innovation of artistic creation by the literati. For instance, the SS also details that the nose-root and the nose-dust, and the tongue-root and the tongue-dust, are not dependent on causes or conditions and do not come into being on their own, but are “the Matrix of the Thus-Come One”, whose nature is the wondrous suchness of reality. (DRBA 2019, p. 115–17). The most used by scholars of the Song Dynasty were the “Nose-observe 鼻觀” and the “Tongue-observe 舌觀”, having greatly expanded the themes and methods of literary expression. For example, Su Shi’s poem said the following:

Although illusionary substances are not real, the true fragrance is also empty.\ Where is there a slight fragrance, and the nose-observe has already been perceived in advance? 幻色雖非實，真香亦竟空。云何起微馥，鼻觀已先通。

(S. Su 1982, pp. 1695–96)

Suddenly the tasting is reversed, and there is a sweet feeling in the tongue-root; We know each other in silence, I don’t need to tell you more. 忽然反自味，舌根有甜相。我爾默自知，不煩更相說。 (S. Su 1986, p. 389)

Following this, there is an article entitled “Si Wen Lang 司文郎” in Pu Song-ling 蒲松齡’s Liaozhai Zhiyi 聊齋志異 in the Qing Dynasty, in which a blind monk decides whether an article is good or bad by sniffing an article that has been burned to ashes. Qian Qianyi 錢謙益 also commented on the poems of Xu Yuanqiang 徐元歎 and the monk Jie Lidan Gong 介立旦by smelling, citing the story of the virgin youth Sublimity of Fragrance8 香嚴童子 smelling sandalwood incense to break through to enlightenment in the SS. The above two cases are funny depictions of Nose-observe.