Everyone wants to go home—because home brings ease, comfort, and warmth. Just like Elon Musk has always longed to return to his true home—Mars. But you probably also know, even when we are at home, we can still be disturbed by the pressures of life: tense relationships, raising children, illness, and the ever-approaching shadow of death. Even on Mars, these problems won’t simply disappear...
Yet, there is another home—a home where none of these things can touch you. Not even death. In that home, there is profound stillness, peace, joy, and eternity. We must give thanks to Gautama Siddhartha—the Buddha—who discovered that home, pointed the way back, and devoted his life to guiding us toward it. He told us that this eternal home is called the True Mind, the Suchness, the Buddha-nature.
“How amazing! The self-nature is originally pure.
How amazing! The self-nature is unborn and undying.
How amazing! The self-nature is complete in itself.
How amazing! The self-nature is immovable.
How amazing! The self-nature gives rise to all dharmas.”
— Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism
“The Śūraṅgama for awakening, The Lotus Sūtra for becoming a Buddha.” This is the guiding saying passed down by those who have returned home, and by countless followers of the Buddha. If you want to return home, the first step is to recognize it—that is awakening. This work, The Śūraṅgama Sūtra Retold as a Story, seeks to point out the signposts on that path, making it easier for you—amid the busyness of life—to notice the road home. If you feel drawn to this path, we highly encourage you to read the original sūtra and directly experience the Buddha’s teachings for yourself.
This series will unfold in ten parts, each corresponding to one scroll of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.
May everyone find their way home—soon.