Lecture on the Diamond Sutra: Why Does One with a Single Moment of Pure Faith Have No Four Marks, No Dharma Marks, and No Non-Dharma Marks?

One who has pure faith in the Buddha's teaching that "if one sees that all marks are not marks, then one sees the Tathāgata" has extremely deep roots of faith, having already planted profound good roots and merit at the places of countless thousands and millions of Buddhas. To attain pure faith, none can do so without directly realizing the vajra mind (Vajracitta), emptying the four marks, and emptying the marks of dharmas. Only after direct realization can one be free of doubt regarding dharma-marks and non-dharma-marks, and only then is one's faith pure. Realized faith is pure faith; faith prior to direct realization contains varying degrees of doubt and is thus not pure or clean. After directly realizing the vajra mind, there will be no mark of self, no mark of person, no mark of sentient being, and no mark of life span in one's mind, for one directly observes that all these marks are false appearances conjured up by the vajra mind, and are therefore all empty.

The comparison of the four marks is relatively coarse and shallow, requiring observational wisdom that need not be too deep and subtle. The marks of dharmas are even more subtle than the four marks, requiring even deeper and subtler observational wisdom. Therefore, the wisdom of being without the four marks is shallower than the wisdom of being without the marks of dharmas, belonging to the prajñā wisdom of the three stages of worthy ones (śrāvakas in the stages of preparation), whereas being without dharma-marks and also without non-dharma-marks belongs to the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only (vijñapti-mātratā) attained after entering the bhūmis. The four marks fall within the scope of sentient beings' five aggregates (pañcaskandha). Although the marks of dharmas do not exceed the scope of the five aggregates, they are extremely subtle and difficult to observe—for example, all worldly customs and habits, all rules, regulations, laws, and institutions, all norms and standards of human conduct, the various thoughts and concepts of humanity, the academic and technical knowledge of every discipline and field, all phenomena of the natural world, as well as the various practices, principles, concepts, and cognitions within Buddhism—these dharma-marks are too numerous, too extensive, and too deep and subtle; many cannot even be articulated, and all belong to the category of seed-wisdom of consciousness-only. And all these dharma-marks are in fact non-dharma-marks; they are merely called dharma-marks.

One who can generate pure faith in a single thought toward the profound dharma principles spoken by the Buddha has not only no four marks in the mind, but has also broken through the marks of dharmas, and moreover has even broken through non-dharma-marks; the mind is extremely pure, grasping at and attaching to no marks whatsoever, with wisdom that is very deep and sharp. Ordinary sentient beings who have not broken through the four marks, although they also believe the profound dharma principles spoken by the Buddha, have doubts in their minds because they have not realized them; their faith is not realized faith, and so it is not very pure. Bodhisattvas who have only broken through the four marks have realized the Dharma and possess realized faith, but they still have dharma-marks not yet broken through; their realization is still insufficient and incomplete, and their faith is likewise not pure enough. Only when the dharma-marks and non-dharma-marks are broken through, and the mind is extremely empty and pure without attaching to marks, is one a bodhisattva of true pure faith.

If there is grasping and attachment in a person's mind, then there are the four marks, because grasping exists only when there is a self; if there is no self, who grasps? Therefore, as long as a person grasps at marks, there are the marks of self, person, sentient being, and life span. If one grasps at dharma-marks, there are the marks of self, person, sentient being, and life span; if one grasps at non-dharma-marks, there are the marks of self, person, sentient being, and life span. Therefore, a bodhisattva should neither grasp at dharmas nor grasp at non-dharmas. The Buddha said: The dharma I teach can be likened to a raft. A raft must be used when crossing the water, but upon reaching the shore it must be abandoned; otherwise one cannot get ashore. When the dharma is useful, use it; after direct realization, when it is no longer useful, it must be relinquished. Not only must the dharma be relinquished, the non-dharma must also be relinquished. Having dharma or non-dharma in the mind is neither empty nor pure, and one cannot get ashore to nirvāṇa. Dharma is existence; non-dharma is non-existence. Existence is wrong, and non-existence is also wrong. Since they are wrong, of course they must be relinquished. Once right and wrong are established and grasped, the four marks are not empty. Since existence is wrong, the non-existence opposed to it is of course also wrong. All dharmas are neither dharma nor non-dharma; only by departing from the four marks and cutting off the hundred wrongs is one ultimately and completely home. This section breaks through the dharma-marks and non-dharma-marks.

Original text of the Diamond Sutra, Chapter Six: Faith Rare and Precious: 以是义故。如来常说。汝等比丘。知我说法。如筏喻者。法尚应舍。何况非法。

Explanation: For this reason, the Tathāgata often said: You bhikṣus should know that my teaching of the Dharma to save people is like the parable of the raft—once you have crossed the river, you should discard the raft and not continue clinging to it. The Buddha-dharma is the same: after attaining buddhahood it is no longer of use; when one is on the verge of attaining buddhahood, one abandons all dharmas and thereby becomes a Buddha. Even this dharma must be relinquished; how much more so the non-dharma of annihilatory emptiness (uccheda-śūnyatā), which must be relinquished all the more.

Why did the Tathāgata use the raft as a parable when teaching the Dharma? A boat is used to ferry people across a river; upon reaching the bank, one must abandon the boat to get ashore—if one refuses to leave the boat, one cannot get ashore. The dharma spoken by the Buddha is the boat; riding this dharma-boat, sentient beings can reach the farther shore of great nirvāṇa. If there remains even a single dharma in a sentient being's mind that exists without ceasing, that is impurity, that is defilement, that is ignorance, and one cannot perfectly accomplish the Buddha-way and attain great nirvāṇa. One must relinquish all dharmas in the mind, attaching to neither existence nor non-existence, becoming empty and pure like the true-suchness mind, without a single dharma. But before reaching the bank, one must never abandon the boat—if the ocean of birth and death has not yet been crossed, what use is there in abandoning the boat? The Buddha-dharma is medicine, used to treat sentient beings' various illnesses of affliction and ignorance. The tathāgatagarbha dharma is a single-flavored powder that cures all the illnesses of ignorance in sentient beings; those who take it will surely remove their ignorance, cross the ocean of birth and death, and accomplish the path of nirvāṇa. Only this medicine can save and liberate sentient beings, ferrying them to the farther shore of nirvāṇa. Therefore, if a child of the Buddha wishes to reach the shore of nirvāṇa, he must relinquish all dharmas of existence and dharmas of emptiness—dharma and non-dharma alike.