Explanation of the Diamond Sutra. The Marks of Bodhisattvas Adorning the Buddha Land Are Also Empty.

Chapter Ten: Adorning the Pure Land, Original text: 须菩提。于意云何。菩萨庄严佛土不。不也。世尊。何以故。庄严佛土者。即非庄严。是名庄严。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think about this matter? Does a bodhisattva adorn the Buddha-land? Subhūti replied: A bodhisattva does not adorn the Buddha-land. Why is this said? Because the so-called adornment of the Buddha-land is not something with real substance and true actuality; it is only adornment in terms of names and marks—the phenomena are illusory and transformed.

Speaking in terms of worldly dharmas and marks, all of a bodhisattva's cultivation—the practice of the six pāramitās and the ten pāramitās—is adornment of the Buddha-land, and all of a bodhisattva's endeavors to deliver sentient beings are adornment of the Buddha-land. The seeds of cultivation and the seeds of delivering sentient beings are retained within one's own mind, the tathāgatagarbha. When the seeds have accumulated to their maximum, the causes and conditions for attaining buddhahood ripen, and then these seeds are used to manifest and transform into an adorned Buddha-land. Therefore all bodhisattva conduct is the conduct of adorning the Buddha-land. So does a bodhisattva adorn the Buddha-land? Of course the bodhisattva adorns the Buddha-land.

But applying the World-Honored One's universal golden formula, it is: the so-called adornment is not adornment, and is therefore called adornment. This means that when a bodhisattva adorns the Buddha-land, there is no true mark of adornment. All of the bodhisattva's conduct is empty and illusory—marks exist but the principle does not; the existence is false existence, and the marks are also empty. There is no substantial, true matter of adornment; in essence everything is true suchness (tathatā), the one true dharmadhātu, the vajra prajñā mind of ultimate reality, and everything else is empty, illusory, and unreal. Apart from the never-perishing vajra mind, all dharmas are name-marks and false marks, and must not be grasped as truly existent. Bodhisattvas perform great buddha-deeds within a dream, all done with an empty mind and a mind of no attainment—doing yet not doing, never attaching, never coveting fame, reputation, or offerings, and not seeking reward. Ordinary beings are just the opposite: their minds always have attainment, seeking, and expectation; their minds are not empty, and they attach to marks.

How adorned a Buddha's land is depends on what the great vows specifically were that the Buddha made during the course of his cultivation, and what his actions and deeds were during the course of cultivation—that is, what seeds are contained within the Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). Thus a bodhisattva's cultivation over three countless eons is precisely the adornment of his own future Buddha-land. This method of adornment is fundamentally not a worldly method of adornment, and therefore the bodhisattva does not adorn the Buddha-land. This method of adornment does not truly exist; it is merely giving this method a provisional name, calling it "adornment."

Why is this adornment not real? Because the pure great vows made by the bodhisattva are made by the manas and the mind consciousness, which are illusory dharmas; after being made, they perish. Therefore making vows is a dharma of arising and ceasing, not a dharma that is originally existent and never perishing. All the actions and deeds of the bodhisattva while practicing the bodhisattva path are dharmas of arising and ceasing, and have all already vanished and perished. The deeds of the deluded minds of the seven consciousnesses, life after life, have also all perished. All the bodhisattva's myriad practices of the six pāramitās and ten pāramitās are done by the deluded minds of the seven consciousnesses and are dharmas of arising and ceasing; the bodhisattva's conduct is a dharma of arising and ceasing and has all perished. Because these methods of adornment through the bodhisattva practices of the six and ten pāramitās are not real dharmas, not dharmas that exist forever without perishing, and not dharmas that are originally existent, they are not true adornment.