Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: Why Do All the Noble Sages Who Have Realized the Unconditioned Dharma Still Have Differences?

Worthy and noble ones include the śrāvaka arhats from the first fruit to the fourth fruit, pratyekabuddhas who have realized the dharma of causes and conditions at their various grades, and bodhisattvas from the seventh abode of seeing one's true mind up to wondrous awakening. Śrāvakas of the first and second fruits are worthy ones; those of the third and fourth fruits, along with pratyekabuddhas, are noble ones. Bodhisattvas before the first bhūmi are worthy ones, and from the first bhūmi onward they are all noble ones. What they realize is all unconditioned dharma, yet the content and levels of these unconditioned dharmas differ greatly. A first-fruit person realizes the emptiness and non-self of the five aggregates, eliminates the three fetters, and from then on will not enter the three evil destinies, having no karmic activity toward the three evil destinies—this is the initial stage of the five aggregates being unconditioned.

A second-fruit person, because of realizing the emptiness of self regarding persons, has fewer mental activities, diminished afflictions, a somewhat purified mind, and is somewhat unconditioned; a third-fruit person further realizes the falsity of the five aggregates, with the meditative concentration of the form realm manifesting, attaining the first dhyāna and extinguishing sensual craving, eliminating anger and resentment, cutting off afflictions so the mind is pure, no longer creating evil karma, and the seven consciousnesses begin to be truly unconditioned; a fourth-fruit person is further unconditioned, extinguishing self-conceit, cutting off craving and attachment to the form realm and the formless realm, with afflictions completely eliminated, attaining liberation by wisdom (paññāvimutti), being unconditioned toward the three realms, and being able to use the wisdom of liberation to transcend the three realms; while an arhat liberated by meditative concentration can enter the fourth dhyāna, with breath and pulse both ceasing, realizing imperturbable unconditionedness, entering the concentration of non-perception, realizing the cessation of the aggregate of consciousness, and the mind attaining unconditionedness; an arhat liberated in both ways can enter the cessation of perception and feeling anytime and anywhere, extinguishing the feeling and perception mental factors of the manas, realizing the unconditionedness of the cessation of perception and feeling, and can at any time attain nirvāṇa and exit the three realms. Because śrāvakas realize the non-self of the five aggregates, their mental activities become increasingly unconditioned and increasingly pure, and the unconditionedness among them differs greatly.

Pratyekabuddhas include solitary realizers (pratyekabuddhas) and condition realizers (pratyekabuddhas). A solitary realizer, due to the wholesome roots cultivated life after life, at a time when there is neither a Buddha nor the Dharma abiding in the world, upon seeing a single phenomenon of arising and ceasing in the world, is stirred to deep contemplation, goes alone to a quiet place to cultivate the path, investigates the source of these phenomena of arising and ceasing, probes the dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination and the dharma of the ten links, finds that the root of sentient beings' birth-and-death transmigration is ignorance, and that the source is the eighth consciousness, and attains the fruit of a pratyekabuddha. A condition realizer, on the other hand, cultivates following the Buddha and, hearing the Buddha preach the Dharma, awakens to the twelve links and ten links of dependent origination and attains the fruit. Their wisdom of unconditioned dharma is deeper than that of śrāvaka arhats, and the fruit, wisdom, and supernatural powers of pratyekabuddhas also differ in shallow and deep levels—that is, the degree of unconditionedness of their mental activities differs.

Bodhisattvas see their true mind and realize the eighth consciousness, realizing the unconditionedness of suchness (tathatā), while also realizing the emptiness of self regarding persons, knowing that the eighth consciousness has never arisen or ceased since beginningless kalpas, and that within the worldly dharmas of the three realms it also gives rise to no mental activity—unconditioned and without self—and that the five aggregates are produced by the eighth consciousness, their essence being empty. In subsequent cultivation, the mind gradually turns pure; cultivating to the tenth abode, they realize the illusion-like contemplation of the five aggregates and of all dharmas as illusory; at the ten practices, they realize mirage contemplation, seeing that all dharmas are as unreal as a mirage; at the ten dedications, they realize dream-like contemplation, where the activities of the five-aggregate bodies life after life are like being in a dream, and the cultivation and practice of the bodhisattva path life after life are also like being in a dream; first-bhūmi bodhisattvas realize that all dharmas are as unreal as images in a mirror; up through the tenth bhūmi, wondrous awakening, and universal awakening, their realization of unconditioned dharma grows ever greater, their wisdom ever deeper, and their supernatural powers and conduct of the path ever more vast. As for the ultimate unconditionedness of the Buddha ground, it goes without saying—it is surpassing all śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas.

From the above content, because practitioners cultivate different dharmas, the unconditioned dharma they realize differs, the degree and essence of unconditionedness differ, their mental activities and mental capacity differ, their merit differs, their conduct of the path differs, their realms of supernatural powers and meditative concentration (samādhi) differ, and their wisdom differs even more. If one does not stop cultivating and cultivates to the Buddha ground, upon reaching the endpoint, everything is perfect, and all beings' supernatural powers, wisdom, and merit have no difference—it can be said that all Buddhas share the same path.