The Profound Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (Second Edition)
Chapter Seventeen The Section on the Ability to Purify Karmic Obstacles (Sixteenth Section)
First, the title\: "The Section on the Ability to Purify Karmic Obstacles." Karmic obstacles, as everyone knows, refer to the ripening of the seeds of unwholesome karma created by sentient beings in past lives, whose retribution manifests now, hindering and obstructing their various wholesome endeavors. For those cultivating the path to Buddhahood, the greatest obstacle is that which hinders their study and practice of the Dharma, obstructs the attainment of correct knowledge and views, and impedes their meditative concentration. In summary, karmic obstacles can hinder all the wholesome retribution (正报) and dependent conditions (依报) of sentient beings. Obstacles to studying and practicing the Dharma will cause the wholesome retribution and dependent conditions of the five aggregates (五阴) in future lives to be even more unsatisfactory. Therefore, the ability to purify karmic obstacles is extremely important. Once karmic obstacles are cleared, the cultivation of the path to Buddhahood proceeds without hindrance, leading to the attainment of perfect merit and wisdom, the severance of all ignorance, and the accomplishment of the ultimate, unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment (anuttara-samyak-sambodhi).
In this section of the Diamond Sutra, the World-Honored One explains that studying the Diamond Sutra, realizing the Diamond Reality Mind (实相心), and cultivating based on this Reality Mind will gradually purify karmic obstacles and reduce hindrances. This is because the Diamond Sutra directly shatters the sentient beings' four marks (四相: self, being, life, and person). Once the four marks are shattered, the hindrances of conventional, conditioned phenomena are uprooted. Furthermore, through the merit of realizing the Reality Mind, the Tathagatagarbha (如来藏), one experiences heavy offenses being requited lightly, causing the karmic retribution of unwholesome deeds to manifest earlier, thereby eradicating these karmic obstacles. When all such karmic obstacles are thus uprooted and eliminated one by one, ignorance is extinguished, there is no retribution from unwholesome karma, and sentient beings attain Buddhahood.
Original Text: Furthermore, Subhuti, if good men or good women accept, uphold, read, and recite this sutra, and if they are despised by others, it is because this person, due to the sinful karma of past lives, ought to fall into the evil destinies. But because in this present life they are despised, the sinful karma of past lives is thereby eradicated, and they shall attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
Explanation: Continuing further, Subhuti, if there are good men or good women who can accept, uphold, read, and recite this Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, and when they practice according to its profound meaning, if at that time someone slanders, humiliates, reviles, or scorns them, then their unwholesome karma will be eradicated. This person, because they created unwholesome karma in past lives, would have fallen into the evil destinies to suffer retribution if the unwholesome conditions matured. Now, because they read, recite, accept, and uphold the Diamond Sutra, it causes the karmic conditions of the unwholesome deeds created in past lives to ripen prematurely. However, because they are now scorned by people in this world, heavy offenses are requited lightly; the unwholesome karma created in past lives is immediately eradicated, and they will soon accomplish the path to Buddhahood.
Why does reading, reciting, accepting, and upholding the Diamond Sutra in this life cause the karmic conditions of past unwholesome deeds to ripen prematurely? Because this person, by reading, reciting, accepting, and upholding the Diamond Sutra, cultivates merit and virtue (功德). One manifestation of this merit and virtue is that the conditions for unwholesome karma ripen prematurely, resulting in receiving lighter retribution – heavy offenses are requited lightly. Whether wholesome or unwholesome karma, both accrue high interest, also called karmic accretion (孽息), like money deposited in a bank. The longer it is deposited, the higher the interest, and the deposit increases. This deposit is analogous to the karmic retribution of wholesome and unwholesome deeds. The longer wholesome karma is stored, the greater the wholesome retribution one should receive; conversely, the longer unwholesome karma is stored, the greater the unwholesome retribution one should receive.
When one's cultivation becomes potent, it causes the conditions for unwholesome karma to ripen, bringing the retribution forward, and the resultant suffering becomes slight. Therefore, when everyone creates wholesome karma, do not wish for its retribution to manifest quickly so you can enjoy it sooner. This is an unwise state of mind. The sooner the wholesome retribution is received, the less you enjoy the high interest and the benefits of compounding interest. True cultivators should not be short-sighted, thinking only of their immediate retribution. They should instead consider and plan for future lives, for the supreme retribution countless eons hence. It is best to be unattached to wholesome fruits and rewards.
Therefore, this person who reads, recites, accepts, and upholds the Diamond Sutra, because their cultivation is potent and merit and virtue manifest, not only causes the conditions for unwholesome karma to ripen but also transforms the unwholesome karma that would cause falling into the evil destinies into merely receiving the slight retribution of being scorned by others. That unwholesome karma is then eradicated. They thus lightly receive the retribution; this is induced by their wholesome karma and merit. If a person continuously cultivates diligently, their merit becoming ever greater and their virtue ever more abundant, adversities will manifest one after another continuously. Then, all the unwholesome karma from past lives will be eradicated one by one. When all unwholesome karma is eradicated, this person will soon accomplish the path to Buddhahood; when karma is exhausted, the Buddha path is accomplished.
Original Text: Subhuti, I recall that in the past, for immeasurable asamkhyeya kalpas, prior to encountering Dipankara Buddha, I encountered eighty-four hundred thousand million billion nayutas of Buddhas, all of whom I served and made offerings to without missing a single one. If, again, in the latter degenerate age, there is someone who can accept, uphold, read, and recite this sutra, the merit attained will be such that compared to the merit of my offerings to all those Buddhas, it does not amount to a hundredth part, nor a thousandth, ten-thousandth, millionth part, nor even any numerical fraction or analogy that can express it.
Explanation: Subhuti, I recall that in the past, during immeasurable asamkhyeya kalpas, before encountering Dipankara Buddha, I met immeasurable World-Honored Buddhas. To all these Buddhas, I personally made offerings of the four necessities: food, clothing, bedding, and medicine. Moreover, I served each Buddha, obeying all their instructions. I did not miss encountering a single Buddha when each appeared.
If, in the latter degenerate age when the Dharma is about to perish, there is someone who can accept, uphold, read, and recite this Diamond Sutra, the merit this person can attain surpasses the merit I accumulated over immeasurable lifetimes making offerings to immeasurable Buddhas. The merit of my offerings to immeasurable Buddhas does not amount to even a hundredth part of the merit attained by this person who accepts, upholds, reads, and recites the Diamond Sutra, nor even a thousandth, ten-thousandth, millionth part. Using all numbers to analogize and describe it, it cannot be described, nor analogized; it is inexpressible. The merit of accepting, upholding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra is beyond analogy; it is supremely great, leading all the way to Buddhahood.
This is because what the Diamond Sutra points to is purely the unconditioned Dharma (无为法). Cultivating this unconditioned Dharma to perfection will perfect the path to Buddhahood and lead to swift attainment of Buddhahood. Therefore, the merit of accepting and upholding the Diamond Sutra is, of course, incomparably vast. No merit from conditioned phenomena (有为法) can compare to it. This is the World-Honored One recounting events prior to meeting Dipankara Buddha, also events prior to attaining the eighth Bodhisattva ground (八地菩萨). At that time, the World-Honored One's mind had not yet reached true unconditioned purity; he was still engaged in conditioned, defiled actions. His offerings to the Buddhas were all made with attachment to marks, defiled offerings. Therefore, no Buddha gave the prediction of Buddhahood (授记) to the Bodhisattva Shakyamuni. Only when the Bodhisattva Shakyamuni's mental conduct reached pure unconditionedness, having cultivated to the fruit of the immovable eighth ground, and encountered Dipankara Buddha, did Dipankara Buddha then predict Buddhahood for the Bodhisattva Shakyamuni. By this time, the World-Honored One had already encountered immeasurable Buddhas.
"Eighty-four hundred thousand million billion" is an Indian expression; in Chinese, it should be forty-eight hundred thousand million billion, representing an extremely large, uncountable number. We should know that in the process of cultivating the path to Buddhahood, everyone will encounter and make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas. Not only offerings of the four necessities, but also personally serving the Buddhas. Most importantly and crucially, one must make Dharma offerings; Dharma offerings are supreme. So-called Dharma offerings mean personally following the Buddhas to study various Buddhist teachings, and also universally instructing sentient beings to cultivate the Dharma together, propagating the Buddha's teachings on his behalf. If one can practice according to the Buddha's teachings, gradually becoming attuned to the unconditioned essence within the Dharma, and the mind attains pure unconditionedness, this is the true offering to the Buddhas, and one will inevitably receive the prediction of Buddhahood from the Buddhas.
Original Text: Subhuti, if good men or good women, in the latter degenerate age, accept, uphold, read, and recite this sutra, the merit attained, if I were to explain it in detail, some people, upon hearing it, would become mentally disturbed, skeptical, and disbelieving. Subhuti, you should know that the meaning of this sutra is inconceivable, and its retribution is also inconceivable.
Explanation: Subhuti, if good men or good women, in the degenerate age when the Dharma is about to perish, can accept, uphold, read, and recite this Diamond Sutra, the merit they attain is extremely vast and abundant. If I were to explain in detail exactly what merit this person attains, how much there is, and specifically what it consists of, then some people, hearing me say this, would become mentally disturbed, filled with doubt, and unable to believe it. Subhuti, from this we should know that the profound Dharma meaning contained within this Diamond Sutra is so inconceivable and profoundly subtle that it is difficult to fathom. Consequently, the karmic retribution of accepting and upholding this Diamond Sutra is also inconceivable.
This shows that the merit of accepting and upholding the Diamond Sutra is too supreme; ordinary people cannot imagine or believe it. Cultivating according to the principles within the Diamond Sutra, realizing the Prajna Reality Mind (般若实相心), from then on merit and wisdom gradually increase and expand, wisdom becoming ever more profoundly subtle and incomparable. When merit and wisdom are both perfectly complete, one becomes the unsurpassed one (无上士) and the unsurpassed honored one (无上尊) within the threefold world. This retribution is truly inconceivable and also cannot be conceived by thought. This retribution and merit cannot be fully spoken of or praised even over countless kalpas.
