“Ānanda, you now smell the sandalwood in this brazier. If even one zhu of this incense is burned, its fragrance can be smelled simultaneously throughout Śrāvastī for forty li around. What do you think? Does this fragrance arise from the sandalwood, from your nose, or from empty space?”

Sandalwood here refers to red sandalwood, whose fragrance is very rich. As long as one zhu of it is burned—twenty-four zhu make one liang—the fragrance can be smelled simultaneously throughout Śrāvastī for forty li around.

Ānanda, what do you think? Does this fragrance arise from the red sandalwood, from your nose, or from empty space? With this sandalwood fragrance, the nose faculty is within and the object of fragrance is without; thus, as soon as the nose encounters the object of fragrance, it smells it. Since one is within and the other without, each has its own location.

The Buddha now asks Ānanda: From where does this fragrance that your nose smells arise? In fact, it has no place of arising. It arises neither from the nose, nor from the sandalwood, nor from empty space.

This kind of sandalwood is not found in China. Old records say that it was presented as tribute from foreign lands, four pieces at a time, each about the size of an egg. The emperor did not believe that there could be such an excellent fragrance, so he burned a piece the size of a soybean to test it. Ah! The entire palace could smell it; its fragrance was extraordinary. This incense probably comes from India. China has ordinary sandalwood as well, but it is also quite rare.

“If this fragrance arises from your nose, then, being produced by the nose, it should emerge from the nose. But the nose is not sandalwood; how could there be a sandalwood fragrance within it? If you say that you smell the fragrance, it should enter through the nose. If fragrance emerges from the nose, it is not meaningful to speak of smelling it.”

If this fragrance arose from your nostrils—“being produced by the nose”—you could say that the nose produces the fragrance. But the nose is not sandalwood, so how could it contain a sandalwood fragrance? Your nose is fundamentally neither fragrant nor foul-smelling; how could it produce such a fragrance?

“If you say that you smell the fragrance, it should enter through the nose.” If you say that you smell this fragrance, the fragrance should enter your nose. “If fragrance emerges from the nose, it is not meaningful to speak of smelling it.” If a fragrance comes out from within the nose, it is incorrect to say that one smells the fragrance; this cannot be called smelling it. This explanation, too, cannot stand.

“If it arises from empty space, the nature of space is constant and enduring; the fragrance should always be present. Why would one need to burn this dried wood in a brazier?”

If the fragrance arose from empty space, then the nature of space, being constant and unchanging, would mean that the fragrance should always be present. One would not smell it at one time and fail to smell it at another. If the fragrance were always present, why would we need to burn this fragrant wood in a brazier? Thus, this fragrance does not arise from empty space.

“If it arises from the wood, then this fragrant substance becomes smoke when burned. If the nose is to smell it, it must be permeated by the smoke. Yet before the smoke has risen far into the air, how can it already be smelled throughout forty li?”

If this fragrance arose from the wood, then the sandalwood would become smoke when burned by fire. If the nose were to smell this fragrance, the smoke would have to reach and permeate the nose before it could be smelled.

But now the smoke has only just risen into the air and has not gone far; smoke is present only in a very small area. Why, then, can this fragrance be smelled throughout forty li? That is, you should be able to smell it only where your nose is reached by the smoke; where the smoke does not reach, you should not be able to smell it.

Yet once this sandalwood is burned, its fragrance can be smelled throughout forty li. This shows that the fragrance does not arise from the wood. Nevertheless, the fragrance is not separate from the wood: without the wood, there would be no such fragrance.

This is what we said just now: although it is not existent, neither is it nonexistent; its outward appearance and provisional function are still present. We are told not to cling, because these illusory appearances are fundamentally unobtainable; they are all shadows of the true nature of suchness. If you cling to external or illusory appearances, you are mistaken. You will create karma, undergo karmic retribution, and continue to revolve in birth and death.

After recognizing the Buddha-nature of suchness, we must completely destroy all inverted deluded thoughts and understand that all appearances are illusory and have no independent substance. Only then can we be liberated from birth and death and transcend saṃsāra.

“Therefore, you should know that fragrance, the nose, and smelling have no fixed location. Smelling and fragrance—the two locations—are illusory and unreal; they are fundamentally neither causes and conditions nor self-arising nature.”

Here, the text refutes location. If the location of the faculty of smelling were real and truly existent, one should be able to smell the fragrance only where the smoke has reached. Yet as soon as the incense is lit, the fragrance can be smelled even where the smoke has not reached. This shows that the faculty of smelling has no fixed location.

Fragrance, the nose, and the faculty of smelling have no fixed location. The two locations of smelling and fragrance are both illusory and unreal: “fundamentally neither causes and conditions nor self-arising nature.” What is neither causes and conditions is also called the locus of non-arising; what is not self-arising is also called the locus in which nothing fails to arise. Since there is neither a locus of arising nor a locus of non-arising, all are illusory and unreal.

Next, we will discuss the tongue and flavors: