Śūraṅgama-Sūtra is an important text in Chinese Buddhism. Regarded as one of the primary source of references by the Buddhists, the sutra consists explanation of Buddhist philosophies and stages of spiritual development, and has been highly praised by numerous great Buddhist masters since the Tang Dynasty. This thesis focuses on the “interaction between the six sensory organs (ṣaḍ-indriya)” as illustrated in Śūraṅgama-Sūtra. By comparing this with related explanations found in other Buddhist sutras and commentaries, the origination of “six sensory organs”, their definitions, and the way they interact with each other are studied. The similarities and differences found between these texts are examined and discussed throughout the paper. This thesis consists of 5 chapters. The first chapter, Introduction, includes the explanation on the research motivation, methods of study, the structure of each chapter, as well as a review on previous studies of the topic. The second chapter provides an outline of Śūraṅgama-Sūtra, beginning with an analysis of the name of the sutra, a brief overview of its 10 volumes, and its place in Chinese Buddhism. The third chapter focuses on the interaction and cooperativeness between the six sensory organs. It extracts related texts from Śūraṅgama-Sūtra, analyses and compares them with texts found in other sutras and commentaries, which also include explanation on stages of spiritual development. The fourth chapter, on the other hand, is about the connection between the “interaction between the six sensory organs” and the perfection of hearing. In this chapter the reason for starting the practice using a particular sense organ as well as the exceptional practice of the perfection of hearing are discussed. In particular, the way Bodhisattva Avalokitevaśra obtained ultimate mastery of the cooperativeness between the six organs through the practice of perfection of hearing is also briefly discussed. The final chapter is the concluding chapter, which summarizes discussions in the previous chapters.
