The Profound Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (Second Edition)
Chapter Three: Subhuti’s Request, Part Two
Subhuti is known as Shanxian (Good Manifestation). Among Śākyamuni Buddha’s disciples, he was foremost in understanding emptiness. While still in his mother’s womb, he realized the emptiness and stillness of all phenomena. This was due to the profound roots of goodness accumulated over many kalpas in his past lives. He remained undeluded and unconfused throughout conception, gestation, and birth. At the moment of his birth, all the treasures in his household vanished, only to reappear spontaneously a few days later, demonstrating that all things are empty and that existence is merely illusory. He is respectfully addressed as Elder, a title for those of prestige and virtue among the multitude, those untainted by the three poisons of afflictions. Subhuti attained the fruition of an arhat through practicing the Hīnayāna teachings on emptiness, but when the World-Honored One expounded the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, he turned his mind toward Mahāyāna and embarked on the bodhisattva path. When the Buddha teaches a sutra, he often uses a specific circumstance as a catalyst to expound the scripture. It is rare for him to teach without a request unless the teaching is exceptionally important. This sutra was initiated by Subhuti’s request.
Original Text:
At that time, the Elder Subhuti, amidst the assembly, rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, joined his palms respectfully, and addressed the Buddha: “Rare and Precious World-Honored One! The Tathāgata skillfully protects and contemplates the bodhisattvas and skillfully entrusts and instructs the bodhisattvas.”
Explanation:
The World-Honored One had just finished his meal and sat in full lotus posture. Subhuti rose from his seat amidst the assembly, bared his right shoulder, knelt on his right knee, joined his palms respectfully, and inquired of the Buddha: “Rare and Precious World-Honored One! The Tathāgata has always skillfully protected and contemplated the bodhisattvas and skillfully entrusted and instructed them.”
Why is the World-Honored One rare and difficult to encounter?
Subhuti first praised the World-Honored One as the rarest and most difficult-to-meet sage in the world. Indeed, the World-Honored One is exceedingly rare. In a trichiliocosm, there is only one Buddha. A small world consists of one sun and moon, extending from the hells beneath the four great oceans to the earth, up to Mount Sumeru, and encompassing the six heavens of the desire realm. One thousand small worlds, along with the heavens of the first dhyāna in the form realm, form a small chiliocosm. One thousand small chiliocosms, along with the heavens of the second dhyāna, form a medium trichiliocosm. One thousand medium trichiliocosms, along with the heavens above the third dhyāna in the form realm, form a great trichiliocosm. In such a vast world, there is only one Buddha, and the duration of his manifested presence is extremely brief. The interval between two successive Buddhas is also very long. Only between Śākyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha is the interval relatively short—5.67 billion years. In many cases, the interval spans many great kalpas or even longer, during which no Buddha appears. This demonstrates that the World-Honored One is truly rare and difficult to encounter.
The title “Tathāgata” refers to the nature of sentient beings. The Tathāgata comes from suchness (tathatā). Suchness is the true and unmoving nature. Where there is suchness, there is the Tathāgata; where there is no suchness, there is no Tathāgata. In the Tathāgata’s storehouse, the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses is completely eradicated, never again subject to defilement or change. This is called the true suchness of permanence, bliss, self, and purity. In contrast, the Tathāgatagarbha of sentient beings contains seeds of unwholesome karma, including momentary ignorance, beginningless ignorance, and sand-like ignorance, as well as seeds for segmental birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death. This is also called the storehouse consciousness. Through practice, the unwholesome seeds in the Tathāgatagarbha of sentient beings gradually diminish, while wholesome seeds increase. Ignorance decreases bit by bit, and wisdom increases bit by bit. The Tathāgatagarbha as a whole undergoes continuous change, so it is not yet truly “such” and differs from the Buddha’s true suchness.
However, the essence of the Tathāgatagarbha is unmoving. When forms come, it does not see; when sounds come, it does not hear; when scents come, it does not smell; when tastes come, it does not savor; when tactile objects come, it does not feel; when mental objects come, it does not know. It remains utterly indifferent to the six dusts, never giving rise to thoughts, never swayed by the six dusts, possessing true and unmoving nature. The Tathāgatagarbha is sometimes called true suchness, as its essence is unchanging. The Tathāgatagarbha itself is like a clean cup, while the seven evolving consciousnesses are like the water in the cup. The water may be pure or defiled, so the cup-water is divided into undefiled and contaminated. The seven evolving consciousnesses of sentient beings are defiled. The seeds reside in the true mind, this cup, so the true mind contains defilements. The poured-out water is thus polluted. Therefore, the true mind of sentient beings is called Tathāgatagarbha, Ālayavijñāna, or vipākavijñāna, etc. In contrast, the Buddha’s true mind, undefiled, is called the amalavijñāna (immaculate consciousness). Practice means purifying the seven evolving consciousnesses and eradicating ignorance. To eradicate ignorance, one must study the principles of the Tathāgatagarbha. Fully penetrating these principles leads to Buddhahood.
How does the Tathāgata skillfully protect and contemplate the bodhisattvas?
A sentient being begins cultivation from the ten stages of faith for ordinary people, progressing through the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, and then the ten grounds, equal enlightenment, and wondrous enlightenment—fifty-two stages in total. At every stage, the Buddha’s blessings and contemplation are indispensable. Without them, practitioners would be obscured by karmic hindrances and unable to advance. Thus, the Buddha’s grace is vast and boundless; only by becoming a Buddha can one repay it. Can the Buddha protect and contemplate so many sentient beings? Yes, because the Buddha is also called the All-Knowing One, perfect and complete in wisdom and virtuous power. He knows all phenomena of the mundane and supramundane realms without exception. He knows the minds of every sentient being in the ten directions, and he knows the affairs of every sentient being throughout countless kalpas. He even knows the exact number of raindrops falling simultaneously in all ten directions. Since the Buddha knows the minds of sentient beings, he can protect them in their practice, helping them overcome every obstacle until they attain Buddhahood.
Beginning from the ten stages of faith, bodhisattvas cultivate faith in the Three Jewels, learn about the Buddha’s thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks, the causes and conditions for practicing the bodhisattva path over kalpas, the merits of the Buddha’s ten epithets, and the formation and scope of Buddha-lands, thereby developing aspiration. They then study the basic content of the three baskets and twelve divisions of the sutras, the meaning of the three refuges and five precepts, and the Jewel of the Sangha—what constitutes an ordinary monastic, a presiding monastic, a sublime monastic, and the Three Jewels as one essence and the Three Jewels of self-nature. Thus, they progress from blind faith to reverent faith and then to correct faith, believing that the Three Jewels truly exist in the ten directions, that all sentient beings possess the true-suchness Buddha-nature, that all can become Buddhas, and that they themselves can become Buddhas. With full confidence in attaining Buddhahood, the ten stages of faith are completed. The duration of this cultivation depends on the depth of one’s roots of goodness, merit, and diligence. All such practice is inseparable from the Buddha’s protection.
After this stage is completed, the Buddha protects and contemplates the bodhisattvas as they enter the cultivation of the three virtuous positions. In the first abode, they practice giving, accumulating merit and wisdom provisions to prepare for realizing the mind and seeing nature. In the second abode, they practice precepts, abandoning evil and cultivating goodness, purifying the mind, and refraining from false attachments. In the third abode, they practice patience, including patience toward worldly affairs, people, phenomena, and principles, as well as patience toward the Mahāyāna principle of the unborn Dharma of the Tathāgatagarbha. In the fourth abode, they practice diligence, diligently cultivating giving, precepts, patience, and meditation. In the fifth abode, they practice meditation, stabilizing the mind in a single state and in the principles of the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna without wavering, attaining the concentration before the dhyānas (anāgamya-samādhi), enabling them to contemplate the emptiness of Hīnayāna and the emptiness-nature of Mahāyāna. In the sixth abode, they cultivate prajñā wisdom. When this is relatively complete, they realize the mind, giving rise to the view of illusion, understanding that all phenomena are illusory, like a magician’s conjurations or clouds and mist in the sky—insubstantial.
After completing the ten abodes, they enter the ten practices, attaining the view of mirages, perceiving all phenomena as illusory like a mirage. A mirage occurs when sunlight heats the sand, causing rising heat waves that create illusory scenes—appearing as buildings, carriages, horses, and people, even seeming to move—yet upon approach, nothing is there. Similarly, a thirsty deer may see a mirage of a river in the distance, but upon reaching it, finds not a drop of water. Sentient beings, like that thirsty deer, perceive all phenomena falsely.
After mastering this, they pass through the Chan school’s third barrier—the prison barrier of birth and death—and enter the ten dedications, cultivating the view of dream-like illusion, realizing that all phenomena are like dreams. In a dream, all people, events, and things seem real, so one experiences joy, anger, sorrow, and delight within the dream, clinging to and grasping at the dream. Upon awakening, not a single hair can be found, yet tears of mixed sorrow and joy may still stain the cheeks. Sentient beings in their waking state are no different from being in a dream, utterly unaware of the falsity of the world. They come and go within the dream, never waking up. At this point, after further cultivation of some path-wisdom (dharmadhātu-jñāna), they enter the first ground (bhūmi), becoming noble ones (ārya). One-third of the path to Buddhahood is complete.
Throughout this entire cultivation process, bodhisattvas, life after life, have never been without the blessings, protection, and contemplation of the Buddhas. When bodhisattvas become attached to worldly pleasures and forget their practice, the Buddha warns them with impermanence. When they must leave home to cultivate, he subtly obstructs their worldly paths. When they become engrossed in Hīnayāna, he guides them toward Mahāyāna. When they are capable of liberating beings, the Buddha arranges for them to go to worlds in the ten directions where they have affinities. When they inadvertently fall into the three evil realms, the Buddha himself or other bodhisattvas rescue them. When they attain the fourth fruition of arhatship and wish to enter nirvāṇa, the Buddha skillfully persuades them to remain in the world to benefit themselves and others until Buddhahood, without entering nirvāṇa. All these are the Buddha’s protection, contemplation, and entrustment for the bodhisattvas. The Buddha’s compassion surpasses that of parents by millions of billions of times beyond expression. His grace is inexhaustible and beyond all praise.
This is the protection and contemplation of the manifested reward and transformation bodies of the Buddha for sentient beings. Most crucial is the protection and contemplation of the Dharma-body Buddha, which is extraordinary and indispensable. Throughout the bodhisattvas’ cultivation over three great asamkhyeya kalpas, the Dharma-body Buddha within their own Tathāgata nature protects and contemplates them ceaselessly, never leaving them for an instant. It provides all the seeds needed for their cultivation, storing all the seeds of the path attained through their practice, without the slightest loss or omission. Only when the seeds of wholesome karma are fully perfected can the bodhisattvas accomplish the Buddha Way.
Original Text:
“World-Honored One, if virtuous men and virtuous women have developed the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, how should they abide? How should they subdue their minds?” The Buddha said: “Excellent, excellent, Subhuti! It is as you have said: the Tathāgata skillfully protects and contemplates the bodhisattvas and skillfully entrusts and instructs the bodhisattvas. Now listen carefully, and I shall explain it to you. Virtuous men and virtuous women who have developed the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi should abide thus and subdue their minds thus.” “So it is, World-Honored One. With joy we wish to hear.”
Explanation:
Subhuti further asked: “World-Honored One, if virtuous men and virtuous women have developed the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, how should they abide? How should they subdue their minds?” The World-Honored One replied: “Excellent, Subhuti! Just as you have said, the Tathāgata indeed skillfully protects and contemplates the bodhisattvas and skillfully entrusts and instructs them. Now listen carefully, and I shall explain it to you. Virtuous men and virtuous women who have developed the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi should abide thus and subdue their minds thus.” Subhuti then responded: “So it is, World-Honored One. I am most willing to listen.”
